THE fascinating story of the Betz Mystery Sphere that behaved by itself has remained an unsolved mystery for 50 years.
The 22lb ball of metal was first uncovered in 1974 by a family from Florida and led to a frantic search for its eerie origins by scientists, the US Navy and conspiracy theorists alike.
After becoming a worldwide phenomenon for the ball’s apparent shocking ability to hum along to music, roll around on its own and even follow people about freely, it was at the centre of wild theories.
Ron Kivett, the host of local radio show on paranormal phenomena, was one of the first to go and see the sphere come to life and told his fans on-air his wacky theory.
Ron was convinced that the orb couldn’t possibly be from Earth and dubbed it “a device created by some cosmic intelligence for an opaque purpose”.
Jacksonville’s local newspapers then quickly jumped on the mystery bandwagon and offered several explanations for the orb’s existence.
According to Lindsey Kilbride, a reporter and later a host of a podcast about the sphere, it captured people’s crazy curiosity with UFOs around that time.
But greater concerns started to form over the ball when the US Navy asked to examine it.
They had it for two weeks and inspected the orb at Naval Station Mayport in great detail.
Reports from the time said a Navy spokesman stated that the ball was made of stainless steel but they had no idea what it was or where it came from, but they did say it was from Earth.
They suggested it moved around because of a small triangular chip on the ball that threw it off balance from time-to-time, before blaming the movements on the family who found it and their uneven floors.
The spokesperson said: “I believe it’s because of the construction of the house. It’s old and has uneven stone floors.
“The ball is almost perfectly balanced, and it takes just a little indentation to make it move or change direction.”
After the military drew mostly blanks with the sphere, a team of scientists took it upon themselves to solve the mystery.
J. Allen Hynek, a Northwestern University astronomy professor, was part of a team of experts who examined it.
Widely regarded as one of the most well known ufologists of all time, Hynek and his pals were reportedly unimpressed with what they saw and agreed that it was a man-made object.
After being thrown into the spotlight because of the ball, the Betz family was no closer to discovering the truth than when they first discovered it.
But the attention had grown old and with no solutions on the table they decided to hide the sphere away and never speak about it again.
The reporter closest to the family, Lindsey Kilbride said: “This is just extremely overwhelming for the family. (Gerri Betz) was getting calls 24-hours-a-day, the phone was just constantly ringing.
“People were just showing up at her house. It drastically changed their lives. This is kind of what they became known for.”
Despite the family keeping the sphere locked away people continued to be fascinated by it.
Some have theorised that if you drilled into it the sphere would explode with the same power of an atomic bomb.
But in 2012, an award winner podcast, famed for solving mysteries analysed the story of the ball and came to a much more down-to-earth solution.
Skeptoid revealed that the Betz sphere was most likely just a ball check valve produced by the Bell & Howell company.
They found that it matched up to the ones used at the time in its size, weight, and composition.
The investigative podcast also concluded that despite the tales of the ball moving on its own, it never really did.
They said that it more likely just “sat quietly on display inside the Betz home for nearly two weeks, and is not reported to have ever moved on its own at all”.
According to Skeptoid, it only started to act in a weird way when someone took it down to experiment on it and prove that it moved.
According to reports at the time, the Betz family was wandering around their home in Fort George Island after a small brush fire nearby when they laid eyes on the ball.
The family of three – made up of Antoine, Jerri, and son Terry – were the first to have a punt at where the ball had come from.
Their first thought was that the odd sphere was a cannonball left and never recovered from a horror battle in the Florida area.
At first glance, the mystery object appeared as just a heavy ball but after several days the sphere apparently came to life and sparked a search for answers.
A 21-year-old Terry was playing his guitar at home when he claims he noticed the ball moving around and making a humming noise back at the sound of the music.
As he continued to play, the sphere started to roll around the home, he said.
It could stop by itself and was able to change direction and swerve around with ease, it was claimed.
Intrigued by the new found possibilities, Terry started to do experiments with the sphere after figuring it probably wasn’t just a normal cannonball.
The ball would reverberate when hit by a hammer and move around frantically after it was shaken and put on the ground.
As a family the Betzes also reported that the sphere could move freely around the house, without anyone nearby.
It would follow them around and seemed to have a mind of its own and even let out a shrill screech followed by vibrations that would send dogs crazy and running away.
After a lot of guesswork the family decided to keep it locked up in a drawer in their home and only took it out on the rare occasion to impress guests.
