Nikola Tesla’s name has been linked to many strange and wonderful stories on the internet—from time travel experiments to mysterious communications with Mars. While much of it is speculation, there are a few curious coincidences worth exploring.
The “Out of Time” Experience
One of the most famous tales comes from a supposed report in the New York Herald on March 13, 1895.
A reporter allegedly encountered Tesla in a café looking shaken. Tesla explained that while conducting an experiment with 3 million volts, he was nearly electrocuted and had an “out of time” experience, in which he could glimpse moments from both the past and the future.
“I am afraid you won’t find me a pleasant companion tonight,” Tesla said.
“The fact is, I was almost killed today. The spark jumped three feet through the air and struck me here on the right shoulder. If my assistant had not turned off the current instantly, it might have been the end of me.”
Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to find the original Herald article, though the story is widely repeated online.
What is certain, however, is that on that very day—March 13, 1895—a devastating fire swept through Tesla’s South Fifth Avenue laboratory. The blaze began in the basement and raged upward, destroying Tesla’s fourth-floor lab, which collapsed into the second floor. Decades of research and equipment were lost overnight.
Tesla and Mars
Nikola Tesla was fascinated in communicating with Mars and spent some time trying to detect planetary signals.
He thought he could use the Earth’s magnetic field as a means of transmission. And he was convinced that oscillations he detected in the magnetic fields were messages from Mars.
H.G. Wells, Tesla and Time Travel
By coincidence, H G Wells published his “Time Machine” in the same month as Tesla’s laboratory caught fire.
And in his book, First Men on the Moon, Wells reminds his readers that Tesla had received a message from Mars
“The reader will no doubt recall the little excitement that began the century, arising out of an announcement by Mr. Nikola Tesla, the American electrical celebrity, that he had received a message from Mars.
His announcement renewed attention to a fact that had long been familiar to scientific people, namely: that from some unknown source in space, waves of electro-magnetic disturbance, entirely similar to those used by Signor Marconi for his wireless telegraphy, are constantly reaching the earth.“
Inspiration for a Story
These coincidences were too much to pass up.
And I decided to write a story with Tesla and Wells for my intrepid adventurers.
In my novel “The Space Between Time” Nikola Tesla while working on his electrical resonant transformer accidentally causes a massive electromagnetic pulse. This causee a shift time into an alternative parallel world.
However, only a few people noticed the difference.
H G Wells is one of them of course.
And he decides the only way to return the world to normality is to call again on the services of James and Elizabeth.
Naturally they’d rather have a peaceful life but as usual Wells makes sure they no option but to help.