Tesla's Death Ray: A Murder Declassified (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Search for the Lost Lab - full transcript

Nikola Tesla was the greatest
inventor in American history.

A.c. Power, electric motors,

fluorescent lights,
x-rays, wireless energy...

Tesla paved the way for
all of these technologies.

Tesla was taking
several of his inventions

and putting them together
to become this superweapon.

He called it the death ray.

Did Tesla
invent the world's first

weapon of mass destruction?

And was he murdered for it?

Now a military investigator...



A historian... And an engineer

unlock the mysteries
behind what could be

the greatest cover-up
of the 20th century.

We're gonna
build Tesla's death ray.

I want to put
together a prototype,

throw some capacitors together,
get one of the Tesla coils out.

Ah, what the oh,
we blew this the up.

Pike's peak?

Yeah, that's Colorado Springs.

Tesla went there in 1899

and built an
experimental station.

You know, anything you can find

is really gonna
help me at this point.

Well, well, well. What
do we have here?



Look at that.

Tesla used the copper water
main here to ground his lab.

I want to dig a hole out back.
I want to fill it with copper.

I want to connect
it to the coil.

Let's hope this works.

Three... two... one.

- Wow! Holy!
- It works, guys.

On January 8, 1943,

Nikola Tesla is found dead
in a New York hotel room.

His safe is cracked,
documents are stolen,

but no autopsy is performed,

and no forensic
evidence is collected.

With the successful
test-fire of the death ray,

Tesla's superweapon

and his plans to send
wireless energy across the world

were closer to reality than
we had previously imagined.

And the team now believes
there's a definite connection

between Tesla's suspicious
death and his death ray.

- We got it done, huh?
- We did, man. We got it done.

We built a
prototype, and it did work.

This death ray could've
been the real deal.

Tesla was not just pulling
this stuff out of his ass.

Yeah. It's not magic.
It's engineering.

Exactly. But I think
we can go big with this.

I don't see any reason
why we can't scale this up

to something that's,
you know, 20, 25 feet tall.

We built a grounding
system for the prototype

that is similar to
the ones Tesla used

for his tests of wireless power
transmission, and it worked.

That current had to flow

from the capacitor bank
through the Tesla coil,

out the top, through the beam,

and into our target
without blowing anything up.

Tesla theorized that
this could destroy aircraft.

So we need to prove Tesla's
theory could work here,

and in order to do that,
we start to scale this thing.

At this point, you've
proven that the death ray

was a real, feasible concept,

which now introduces the idea

that there may have been
motivation for a murder.

People would've wanted
to get their hands on it.

So did someone
kill Tesla for it?

That's the next question
we have to try to answer.

It's a hell of a question.

We have to start
taking the theory

that Tesla might've
been assassinated

a little bit more seriously,
so I think the direction

that this
investigation is taking

is gonna have to shift.

In any murder investigation,

you want to look at who
had the means, the motive,

and the opportunity
to commit the crime,

and I think that's what
we need to start looking at.

This is something
that could've defeated

long-range nuclear bombers.

World superpowers
would've done anything

to get their hands on
these types of designs.

Now, who's the enemy in 1943?

Tesla died at the
height of world war ii.

There were so many countries
that were involved in this war,

and every one of
them were desperate

to get their hands on something

that could protect them
and keep them safe.

To understand the impact
the death ray would've had,

you have to understand
what was going on

in the world at that time.

Battles rage
over six continents,

devastating weaponry is being
developed and unleashed...

Machine guns, Nazi
v-2 rockets, torpedoes.

Any new weapon is being pursued,

and Tesla is telling the world

he has a superweapon
that can end all wars,

making him the most valuable
asset, or most dangerous threat,

to any world power.

We're looking at
an investigation

that's the ultimate cold case.

All the witnesses, suspects,

they're probably
all dead at this point.

But what we do have
is these FBI documents

that were written just
four days after Tesla died.

This one's dated
January 17, 1943.

It says that Tesla
has a distant relative

by the name of sava kosanovic.

This says the day
after Tesla died

that sava kosanovic
got into the hotel room,

cracked open the safe, and
made off with some documents.

He broke in. I mean,
this is pretty shady.

He actually had the
safe cracked open.

What did he get out of the safe?

- It's suspicious, at least.
- Yeah.

Towards the end of his life,

Nikola Tesla becomes
increasingly withdrawn,

spending all his time alone

in his hotel room
at the new yorker.

Rumors spread that the inventor
hates the touch of other people.

Few visitors are allowed,

but Tesla makes
special arrangements

to see his nephew sava.

Sava is likely one of the
last people to see Tesla alive

and perhaps the first
person to see him dead.

Here's what we know for sure.

When Tesla died, his
nephew sava kosanovic

made a beeline
for his hotel room

at the new yorker
in New York City.

Someone broke in to
the safe and took things

before the FBI got there.

Those documents
that were stolen...

Nobody knows what
those are or where they are.

There are rumors that
some of those documents

may be about the death ray.

Sava kosanovic,
allegedly an active communist,

returns home to
modern-day Serbia

shortly after Tesla's death,

reportedly carrying
the stolen documents

from Tesla's safe with him.

Years later, he petitions
the Serbian government

to open a Tesla
museum and archive

to store all of
Tesla's materials.

But this archive is
off-limits to the public,

and its full contents unknown.

This FBI document here

says there is a strong
likelihood that kosanovic

will make such information
available to the enemy.

Well, it seems to imply
that sava was up to no good.

Sava kosanovic is all
over these FBI documents.

And if they were
that interested in him,

then I want to know
what happened to him.

Sava kosanovic is the first
person we have to look at.

He's suspect number one.

There's not a lot of information

about what happened
when sava got back to Serbia.

We need to track down
where these documents went.

If that leads to Serbia, then
that's where we need to go.

While Aron and his team

get to work on the
scaled-up death ray,

Jack and Cameron
travel to Serbia,

hoping to learn more about
sava's movements there.

To the Serbs, Tesla is like
George Washington to Americans.

Tesla is a national
hero in Serbia.

The international airport
is named after Tesla.

He appears on their $1 bill.

He is a role model.

He embodies what it
means to be a Serbian.

I believe serbians
would do anything

to protect the legacy
of Nikola Tesla.

The FBI documents pit sava

as somebody who's
highly suspicious.

Everybody knows of him,

but they don't really
know anything about him.

And he's like the
ghost that we just can't pin down.

He preserved Tesla's legacy

by making sure those
records stayed intact.

We have to give him that.

I guess the question is why.
And why bring them to Belgrade?

We got a good place to start.

We have to get
access to the archives.

I wonder if sava
hid the stuff from Tesla's safe

in the rest of the materials
that are now in the archive.

But if we can't find them
there, then where are they?

- Let's go do some homework.
- Yeah.

My first move
in an investigation

is to interview witnesses

and people who have
firsthand information.

But Tesla's death is
colder than most cold cases,

so the only thing I can do is
go to the Tesla museum archive,

where his effects and documents,

contained in the 80 trunks

that were seized by
the U.S. government,

are all under lock and key.

But I want to just walk through

the front door of
the Tesla museum

and ask to see the archives,
just to do my due diligence

and make sure there isn't
any way to gain access to them.

Hey. How's it going?

So, my friend and I,

we're wondering if we can
get access to the archives.

There's no way we
can see the archives?

We don't have any idea
why the Tesla museum

keeps such a guard
on this material

and why they won't let
just anyone access it.

After being denied
access to the archives,

we need to regroup.

Cameron and I need
to find local sources

who can help us out here.

I didn't fly all the way to
Serbia just to spin our wheels.

Tapping the network
he developed in the military,

Jack makes contact
with a local informant.

The source is willing to talk

but only if they meet
out of the public eye.

Investigating Tesla,
a national hero,

is still taboo in Serbia.

An investigation like this

is all about who you
know and who knows who.

When you go into
a foreign country,

you want to make local
contacts, people who have a sort of

nuanced understanding
of the local situation

that, as Americans,
we won't have.

Hey. Good morning.

- Jack.
- Predrag.

So, we came to try to get the
Serbian perspective on things.

I was wondering if
you could tell us more

about sava kosanovic.

We kind of lose track of him

when he leaves america
and comes back to Serbia.

What was his role
in the government?

What did he do here
when he came back home?

Following Tesla's death,

sava kosanovic's time in
Serbia is shrouded in mystery.

Supposedly a loyal member
of the communist party,

he may have had
ties to the Soviet union,

leaving many
historians to wonder

if he was more
than just a politician.

In order to gain access to
the archives at the museum,

who do you think
we should talk to?

Uh...

We know it isn't going to be
easy, but we're really hoping

that you can get us
access to those archives.

- Very good.
- I really appreciate that.

Do you think they'll give
us access to the archive?

We're looking for the
missing pieces of the death ray.

Do you think they're
in the museum?

Yes.

We need to run
some structural tests on it.

- Think this is gonna hold?
- 250!

It scares the out of me.

We've been studying
Tesla for all these months.

I've been doing it all my life.
Never seen anything like that.

That makes the death ray real.

Aron and his team

have successfully tested
a small-scale death ray.

- Wow! Holy
- Wow.

All right, well, now
that we know this works,

we can move on to
something a little bit bigger.

They are now moving
on to a large prototype

of Tesla's weapon.

If they can prove the death ray

could shoot an
aircraft from the sky,

it will provide a motive for
the murder of Nikola Tesla.

Tesla, he used a
sphere on top of his death ray.

You know, a sphere
makes a lot of sense.

Fabricating one, it's going
to be pretty challenging.

It's a lot of metalwork. It
can be pretty time-consuming.

But it fits the original
model that Tesla had.

We're building a very
dangerous device here,

and we're building it
with a lot more energy,

and so before we connect
this big capacitor bank,

we need to make sure
that the weaponized part

that discharges the
energy is structurally sound.

We need to make sure
that we get the rings

and the structure right, in that
we don't have any sharp points

because if there's even
the smallest sharp point

in a place we don't want it,

that's where the discharge
from the death ray will leave.

If this beam goes somewhere
we don't expect it to,

it could cause
tremendous damage.

It could kill somebody. It
could blow something up.

We really need
to focus on getting

every little surface of
this thing perfectly smooth

so the death-ray beam leaves

from exactly where we tell it
to leave from and nowhere else.

Similar to the barrel of a gun,

it's building up, building
up, building up kinetic energy

until it finally exits
from the muzzle.

We'll attach a
muzzle to our sphere,

and that's where the
death-ray beam is gonna exit.

And at the very moment the
death-ray beam discharges,

all of that energy
flows down our point,

out our muzzle,
and to our target.

I think this is gonna be a hell
of a process, and it starts now.

Jack and Cameron
are in Belgrade, Serbia,

trying to find the
documents allegedly stolen

on the night of Nikola
Tesla's suspicious death.

All roads lead to the
archive at the Tesla museum,

an area that's still
kept under lock and key

by the Serbian government.

With the archive
heavily protected,

Jack and Cameron have
turned to local sources

to try to gain access.

The pair follow their first
local lead to a hidden landmark,

an abandoned power plant

where Tesla's technology
was first utilized in Serbia.

They are meeting
a potential source

who has firsthand knowledge
of the Tesla archives.

They hope he can
provide information

on how to gain access
to the forbidden room

and find out what exactly the
serbians are hiding from the public there.

So it's the system
that Tesla designed.

At the turn of the 20th century,

Tesla's alternating current
revolutionizes power generation

and helps create the
modern power grid.

Tesla's invention
changes the world

and leads to an a.C. Power grid

being built here
in his homeland.

But for Tesla, a.C.
Power is just step one.

His focus quickly moves
to his true obsession...

Wireless energy.

Me and Cameron,
we've been investigating

that whole chain of events
after Tesla passed away...

Sava kosanovic packing
up all the documents,

shipping them to Belgrade.

That came from New York?

We're looking for the missing
pieces of the death ray.

Do you think they're
in the museum?

Uh...

How do we get access to
the archive at the museum?

I think what abramovic
was trying to communicate

is that you have to
know the right people

and that you have to find
someone on the inside.

Why do you think they
limit access to the museum?

Tesla has
been dead for 75 years.

What is the Serbian
government trying to cover up?

Abramovic didn't
seem hopeful that we'd be able

to gain access to
the Tesla archives.

But we're not ready to give
up yet, especially considering

that there might be plans
to the death ray down there.

We've got one more lead.

Hopefully he can get us
access to the archives,

and maybe he can
illuminate us about sava.

Hi. Thanks for meeting
with us today. I'm Jack.

- Cameron.
- Vladimir.

I was wondering if you could

talk to us a little
bit about Tesla.

You spent eight
years researching him?

Yes. People think about Tesla

as a symbol of
unbridled creativity,

not marred by profit
or anything else.

He was not your usual scientist.

What about sava kosanovic?
What do you know about him?

Why are you so
interested in kosanovic?

Jack and Cameron
have reason to believe

there are documents
that could provide clues

about Nikola Tesla's death

hidden in the basement of
the national Tesla archive,

protected by the
Serbian government

and inaccessible to the public.

We've got one more lead.

Hopefully he can get us
access to the archives,

and maybe he can
illuminate us about sava.

I was wondering

if you could talk to us
a little bit about Tesla.

You spent eight
years researching him?

Yes. People think about Tesla

as a symbol of
unbridled creativity,

not marred by profit
or anything else.

He was not your usual scientist.

What about sava kosanovic?
What do you know about him?

Why... why are you so
interested in kosanovic?

When sava was
getting Tesla's estate

and bringing it over,

he kind of disappeared.

I don't know
why pistalo is evasive.

We're not finding any
more information about sava,

and based on my military
experience, that's suspicious

because politicians don't
just disappear, but spies do.

Kosanovic sent his
estate to yugoslavia.

It was approved by the
United States authorities,

and they probably had
a reason to approve it.

Regarding Tesla's death,

there is a series of
suspicious activities

that happened
immediately afterwards.

I was wondering
what your thoughts are,

what you gather
about the documents

that were stolen
out of Tesla's safe.

There is not much to tell.

If these documents were found,

then we can... Then
we are in business.

Then we can talk about that.
Like, this, it is just hearsay.

We don't have to make the
story more complicated than it is.

We don't have to try to
make it any more wondrous.

Pistalo is being so guarded

that it makes me believe
that there's a lot more here.

It makes me want to get
into those archives even more.

What do you know
about the death ray?

The death ray is something

that much has been spoken
about but little is known.

Probably he was
thinking about that.

He was making his notes
according to what he knew

in a code that was
known only to him.

He encrypted his own notes.

He encrypted it with a
crypt that we don't know.

We've been trying to gain access

to the archives at
the Tesla museum,

and we've had kind
of a hard time at it.

Why is it so hard to get
access to the museum?

Because it potentially
could be dangerous.

Pistalo isn't the first person

to tell us the information in
the archive could be dangerous

if it's released to the public.

To me, this means that
there are plans there

for weapons and other inventions

that could be deadly if
they're in the wrong hands.

How did you get in the archives?

Actually it was a friend
of mine who was...

Who was connected
with the Tesla museum.

But it was back then.
I was maybe lucky.

Maybe it was a different time
because it is usually the people

who lead the institution who
decide about these policies.

So what is it gonna take
to get in the museum?

How can we get in there?

How can we get
access to the archives?

Goodwill.

I think Tesla would have wanted

his papers to be made available.

- That would be hugely helpful.
- Yeah, that'd be very helpful.

I appreciate that.

Thank you so much
for meeting us today.

Bye-bye.

It's been very
enlightening. Thank you.

Hi. Mr..

This is Jack Murphy. I'm
here with Cameron prince.

We were given your
number by Mr. Pistalo.

Jack Murphy and Cameron prince.

We're two researchers.

We're doing an
investigation on Nikola Tesla.

We were wondering if
we could gain access

to the archives at
the Tesla museum.

We've been trying and
not having much luck,

but Mr. Pistalo said you were
the person we should talk to.

We're looking for
any kind of documents

that the museum might have,
especially about the death ray.

Aron's team is
building a large prototype

of Tesla's death ray.

If they can prove this
weapon was more than a myth,

it will provide a motive
for the murder of Tesla.

The first step is
fabricating the sphere,

the weaponized
portion of the death ray.

- You want the whole stack?
- It's a 10-foot sphere.

- Yes, we need the whole stack.
- Okay. The whole stack then.

Although Tesla's original plans

called for a sphere at
the top of the weapon,

the plans may have been
different towards the end of his life.

His obsessive-compulsive
disorder had become so extreme,

he avoided all round objects.

He also became a
severe germaphobe,

recoiling at the
touch of human hair.

But even as his behavior
grew increasingly bizarre,

his experiments never
lost their precision,

and Aron's team
must follow suit.

One of the cool
things about the death ray

is that it wasn't just
about a death ray.

It could've been used

for wireless power
transmission, as well.

And this was something
Tesla theorized.

I mean, you have this
huge amount of power here.

And it's been satisfied
on a small scale

but never on the
industrial, massive,

you know, global scale
that Tesla envisioned it.

So, obviously, we need to
find a solution and get this right.

We're building a very
dangerous device here.

If we don't have a good sphere,

then we have an
unpredictable death ray.

The first step in
building the sphere

is going to be building the
frame, the skeleton for it.

We need to be able to know where

all of the energy that's stored
in this thing is going to leave,

and the sphere
determines how that works.

You and I are just gonna
be walking around this thing,

checking and holding
and making sure it's all right

before it gets
permanently welded.

Oh, yeah.

- Does that look like a circle?
- It looks like a circle.

We've seen these Tesla coils,

you know, arc off of
random, sharp points before,

and you have to, like, control

The raw power that this
death ray can deliver,

it's something not
to be taken lightly,

and we need to be very cautious.

Mistakes at this scale
can be a lot more costly.

- You're gonna be trapped inside.
- Okay.

- Hey.
- It fits!

Dude, that's awesome.

So, right now it's just gonna be

kind of a skeleton
frame, you know?

But after that tubing goes on,

it'll look a whole
lot more like a ball.

The most critical
part is actually the rings.

The rings create the
smooth, circular shape.

It might sound
really complicated,

but if you take a bowling
ball and you pour water over it,

it flows over it in a
perfectly smooth stream,

and that is what we need our high
voltage to do around our sphere.

All right. See if it fits.

Oh, dude, that's
gonna fit perfectly.

We need to make sure

that this sphere
appears to be perfect

to the electric field
that's around it.

That means no sharp
edges, no bad welds.

Everything has to be
polished and smooth.

- Oh. Dude, look at that.
- Don't get any better than that.

It's gonna be strong as

For Tesla,
even the smallest detail

of his inventions are critical.

Obsessed with his work,

Tesla sleeps only two
to three hours a night.

In one legendary stretch,
he works for 84 hours straight.

In the brief time he does sleep,

Tesla suffers from nightmares
about his unfinished inventions.

So, next up for the sphere

is going to be running
some structural tests on it.

I want to pull on this thing,
and I want to make sure

that nothing pops,
breaks, bends, deforms.

And if I can pull on it
and I know it all works,

then I'm gonna be 100% confident

in its electrical and
mechanical stability.

Jack and Cameron
follow the trail of information

to their most
promising contact yet...

An informant they hope

can get them
access to the archive,

an area the Serbian government
deems off-limits to the public.

So, is this guy gonna show up?

Hope so.

This is, like, our
last-ditch effort.

- He's got to show.
- Yeah, pretty much.

Is that him there?

Jack and Cameron
hope that gaining access

to the national Tesla archives

might provide them with
clues about the inventor's death

and unravel the mystery
around the documents

allegedly stolen from
Tesla's safe that night.

Is this guy gonna show up?

I sure hope so.

We were wondering
if we could gain access

to the archives at
the Tesla museum.

Mr. Pistalo said you were
the person we should talk to.

We're hoping this can
help open some doors for us

to get into the archives
and let us know

if there are any plans
to the death ray there.

As an investigator, I've
learned that when you go abroad

and you conduct an
international investigation like this,

it's a game of counting
on other people.

The reality is that
you're only as good

as your sources are reliable.

Is that him there?

Mr.

Uh, I'm Jack Murphy.

We were hoping that you
could talk to us a little bit today

and tell us about Tesla.

The reason we're here

is primarily to do with
Tesla's weapon, the death ray.

Do you know anything
about documents

that may be at the
museum about that?

There are rumors that
Tesla had an agreement

with a corporation
called amtorg.

Supposedly they were
a front for the Soviets.

If Tesla did sell
something to the Soviets

and the receipt is
there in the archives,

there's no telling
what else is there.

Were there any other countries

that tried to buy the death
ray other than Russia?

We know that there
were three world powers...

The Nazis, the Soviets,
and the United States.

All three of these parties
were pitted against one another,

and they were in arms races.

We've always believed that there
were major world superpowers

who wanted to get their
hands on the death-ray plans.

But now that we know that
the Germans approached Tesla,

that suspicion is
becoming a reality.

Do you think Tesla
finished the death ray?

We need access to the archives.

We've had a hard time

making some inroads
there with the museum.

Do you think you
could help us out?

To cut through
the facts and fiction

and establish which is which.

We're trying to find out if the
death ray ever really existed

and if Tesla was murdered.

Thank you so much
for meeting with us.

- Yeah, bro.
- We got it, man.

Aron and his team

are building a large-scale
death-ray prototype.

If they can prove
Tesla's invention

could've been a weapon
of mass destruction,

it will provide motive
for Tesla's murder.

So, the sphere is complete,
and it turned out great.

One of the things we may
learn from this death ray

is that Tesla's wireless
power transmission ideas

weren't all that crazy.

We may be able to
deliver a lot of energy,

without wires, to our target.

But we got a lot of work
left on this death ray

because the next
step for the sphere

is going to be load testing.

The thing is, if
something does break,

we pretty much got
to start from scratch,

because there won't be
any salvaging it after the test.

- You think this is gonna hold?
- I hope so.

- All right. It's 83 pounds.
- Here you go, man.

- Oh, thanks.
- Uh-huh.

- Getting a little cold out here.
- Yeah.

All right, what do you
want to do with this thing?

We really need a good
structural test of this.

Everything here has been welded
together. You did a good job on it.

It looks good, but if we pull
on this and nothing breaks,

we know all the welds are
good, then we also know

that everything is
intact electrically.

If something pops off and
ends up floating electrically,

then we have a problem.

There are some risks involved
in discharging this death ray.

The amount of energy
that we're dealing with here,

the raw power that this
death ray can deliver,

it's something not
to be taken lightly.

It scares the out of me.

While Tesla
was a master inventor,

he doesn't always test his
work, because he doesn't have to.

He constructs and proves

and even operates his
inventions in his mind.

Tesla is known to fall
into a trance-like state,

where he can see the
invention from every angle.

Once out of the trance,

Tesla has exact
measurements for every detail.

Let's put maybe 500 pounds
or so of force across this thing.

If everything stays in
place, then we're good.

Sounds good. Okay.

All right. Start pulling on it.

- We're at 135.
- Okay.

Zero it out.

Know what the weight
of the sphere is now.

10.

30.

100.

Looking good.

200.

250! 300!

400.

500!

530.

Perfect.

I think we've got it.

If it can hold that weight,
then it's going to be able

to deal with anything
we throw at it,

and it's gonna stay together,
and if it stays together,

that means it's
good electrically.

I'm really happy with how
this sphere build turned out.

Now that we know the
sphere is structurally sound,

we can connect
it to the death ray

and we can figure out
how we're going to get

all the power we need
to make this beam.

We got a lot of work left, and
with or without death-ray plans,

I've got to move
forward with this project,

but I'm still really hoping
Jack and Cameron

come back with some
useful information.

All right, y'all.
Let's get to it.

Okay.

The meeting went even
better than I could've imagined.

Not only did he give
us a final number,

but he also gave us his blessing

to contact someone
on the inside.

I didn't want to go
home without this.

This is a big deal. We're
not playing around here.

This might be a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

to go into the archives,
but in my experience,

these opportunities don't
come without restrictions.

This would be like looking
for a needle in a haystack.

And our time is limited
when we actually arrive.

I don't fully know
what to expect in there.

There you go. Keep the change.

- Thank you, sir.
- Thanks, man. Bye.

Let's go find some treasure.

In 1941,
Hitler formally announces

his vision for a new world
order and will stop at nothing

to seize any new technology

which will strengthen
his planned conquest.

According to
multiple historians,

Adolf Hitler has learned

of Nikola Tesla's
plan for the death ray

and is desperate to
acquire the blueprints

for the world's first
weapon of mass destruction.

If Hitler had been able to
acquire Tesla's superweapon,

some believe his plan for global
domination may have succeeded,

forever rewriting history.

Jack and Cameron
are granted unprecedented access

for one hour to the Tesla
archives here in Serbia.

- Hi. Milica.
- Hi.

You were expecting us.

We have the file
number right here, if that helps.

Any information
about Tesla's death ray

in the archives could
prove conclusively

that there was motive
to murder the inventor.

In here.

- This is it?
- This is the Tesla archive.

Wow.

That's incredible.

Come on.

Getting access to the archive
is nothing short of a miracle.

- This is a sketch.
- Mm-hmm.

Wow.

- Tesla's own hand.
- Yes.

Have these documents
ever been published?

- No.
- No? Really?

- August 28, 1935.
- Yes.

This is the real deal.

Is that the death ray?

That's definitely the death ray.

I mean, look at
this. This is 35...

No, no, no.

- No touch.
- No touch.

Oh, I'm not touching.

All right, what are
these notations?

Is this the dimensions
of the tower?

I don't know what
is... That is a note.

Can we begin scanning
the documents?

Just a moment.

There's a lot of information
here, and we need to capture it.

We brought in a proscope
device that's gonna take

high-resolution scans without
having to touch the documents.

That allows us to take
as many scans as we can

in the limited amount
of time we have,

then take these documents
outside the museum

so that we can analyze every
detail with a fine-toothed comb.

- Here we got dimensions.
- Yeah.

- 60 feet.
- By 8.2.

Meters wide.

He's switching between
metric and standard.

Yeah, there's metric, standard,

and they're mixed even
in the same measurement.

You can see that it was kind of

almost a progression
from one to the other.

I mean, this is a lot more

than just the physical
design of the tower.

This is him actually

working through the
electronics, the engineering.

I mean, it clearly shows
that this is something

he was actually
trying to design.

And lookit here.
We got dimensions.

Yeah. I also need to
brush up on my math skills.

For sure. Me too.

Those formulas were huge.

On paper and in his
mind, this was a real thing.

- He was working through it.
- Yeah.

Yeah. Wow.

Tesla's research
is extremely complicated,

and these documents are
exactly what we were looking for.

There are notes
about the death ray.

There's a wealth
of information here.

- Wow, man.
- My mind's blown.

I wasn't expecting to
find all that, honestly.

We've been studying
Tesla for all these months.

I've been doing it all my life.
Never seen anything like that.

That makes the death ray real.

You're telling me that Hitler

actually ordered the
assassination of Tesla?

- Yes.
- Holy

This is missing, so he's got
something original in there

that he's got pictures of.

It's not here.

If something here fails,
it's gonna be a catastrophic failure.