# 1920s Death Rays DEBUNKED! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049 "2003-09-07T05:18:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/1 "2003-09-07T05:18:33Z")
That’s right, I have found a Death Ray pre-dating the much-vaunted “1920s style Death Ray.” Where, you ask? In the H.G. Wells classic, _War of the Worlds._ That’s right, the Martians used their Heat-Rays to beat the crap out of the humans, causing instant death to whomever or whatever it blasted. Date of publication? 1898. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. An **1890s style Death-Ray.** Behold, ye mortals, and despair. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/2 "2003-09-07T05:51:05Z")
Yeah, but you said it yourself: those rays are shooting HEAT, not DEATH. Therefore, they’re not “death rays.” ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/3 "2003-09-07T06:08:11Z")
So a death ray must fire actual death? Is this the “Grim Reaper” death, or the DC comics cute teenage girl death, or what? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/4 "2003-09-07T06:44:05Z")
I think it’s more of a 1990s-style _Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey_ “Death”. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/5 "2003-09-07T09:50:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Vlad Dracul \* > **the DC comics cute teenage girl death** I’ll gladly take that bullet for anyone here. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/6 "2003-09-07T13:05:45Z")
Well, if we’re broadening the scope slightly, we do have a “circa 1000-BC style death ray”: > [@](#): > > II Samuel 6.7: The Lord was incensed at Uzza. And God struck him down on the spot for his indescretion, and he died there beside the Ark of God. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/7 "2003-09-07T13:10:43Z")
An army having the Ark of the Covenant would be invinceable. We’ve to find it before the Nazis! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/8 "2003-09-07T13:12:20Z")
hmmm… a “got” should go in there between the “we’ve” and the “to” ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/9 "2003-09-07T13:14:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NoClueBoy \* > \*\*An army having the Ark of the Covenant would be invinceable. > > We’ve to find it before the Nazis! \*\* Dibs on Karen Allen! ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/10 "2003-09-07T13:14:15Z")
The 1890s “heat ray” one may have led to the 1920s style death rays, but it still remains inferior. We don’t want to heat people, we wanna kill 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/11 "2003-09-07T13:34:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \* > \*\*Well, if we’re broadening the scope slightly, we do have a “circa 1000-BC style death ray”: > > * * * > > ## II Samuel 6.7: The Lord was incensed at Uzza. And God struck him down on the spot for his indescretion, and he died there beside the Ark of God. > > \*\* God has a death ray? Does that make Him a mad scientist? It would explain a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/12 "2003-09-07T13:34:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fibber McGee \* > **God has a death ray?** God has the Mother of All Death Rays. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/13 "2003-09-07T13:38:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by green\_bladder \* > \*\*The 1890s “heat ray” one may have led to the 1920s style death rays, but it still remains inferior. We don’t want to heat people, we wanna kill 'em. \*\* Allow me to throw a few quotes at you, for the sake of settling this matter once and for all. Chapter 6: The Heat-Ray in the Chobham Road. “It is still a matter of wonder how the Martians are able to slay men so swiftly and so silently.” “.Whatever is combustible flashes into flame at its touch, lead runs like water, it softens iron, cracks and melts glass, and when it falls on water, incontinently that explodes into steam.” “That night nearly forty people lay under the starlight about the pit, charred and distorted beyond recognition.” If that’s not a Death Ray then, by Jove, I don’t know what a Death Ray is! ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/14 "2003-09-07T13:45:09Z")
Ah, thats sounds quite deathy to me 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/15 "2003-09-07T13:47:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fibber McGee \* > \*\*God has a death ray? > > Does that make Him a mad scientist? > > It would explain a lot. \*\* Yup, a mad scientist with a sense of humor. Have you ever seen a platypus? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/16 "2003-09-07T14:10:42Z")
I, Quinn, Tuckerfan and the rest never claimed the death ray was invented in the 20s. Think of the Thompson submachine gun(the Tommy gun of gangster films). Obviously guns had been around for a long time by 1920. However, they were improved and reshaped during the decade. ``` What Thompson and others did for guns, Eule and others did for death rays. ``` ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/17 "2003-09-07T16:00:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NoClueBoy \* > \*\*An army having the Ark of the Covenant would be invinceable. > > We’ve to find it before the Nazis! \*\* [Indie Jones] Nazis…I _hate_ those guys…[/IJ] ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/18 "2003-09-07T16:58:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DocCathode \* > \*\*I, Quinn, Tuckerfan and the rest never claimed the death ray was invented in the 20s. > \*\* I have to back him up here. In fact, my very first post in that thread was me commenting on having a death ray made in 1906. The 1920’s is associated with death rays largely because 1) improvements in the mass production of death rays made them cheaper, and 2) they received a lot more press than they had before. In fact, I find 1920’s style death rays (compared to those made between 1946 and 1965) highly overrated, for reasons mentioned in the main thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/19 "2003-09-07T17:24:18Z")
Ah, they’re 1920’s style “Death Rays.” ---
**Author:** ![hebesphenomegacorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@hebesphenomegacorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hebesphenomegacorona)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049/20 "2003-09-07T17:39:57Z")
Ah, they’re 1920’s style “Death Rays.” \*THROWS THE ARK OF THE COVENANT AT ILSALUND TO MAKE KARL QUIT SAYING THAT \*\*KARL IS THE GENDER TERM THAT’S EVEN MORE INDETERMINATE THAN IT. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-death-rays-debunked/200049.md?page=2)