# What caused the massive 1908 explosion in Tunguska, Siberia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 15, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-massive-1908-explosion-in-tunguska-siberia/308422 "2005-06-15T19:25:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-massive-1908-explosion-in-tunguska-siberia/308422/1 "2005-06-15T19:25:55Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030228.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030228.html) Another theory advanced that is only slightly less silly than UFO theories: It was a mistake of Tesla’s High Energy experiments at Wardenclyffe Tower on Long Island. I’ve seen this way to many places. Stories like this obscure his real achievements. Tesla was an enigmatic genius, but some conjecture has really gotten out of hand (From Wikipedia) The Wardenclyffe Tower It has also been suggested that the Tunguska explosion was the result of an experiment by Nikola Tesla at his Wardenclyffe Tower, performed during Robert Peary’s second North Pole expedition. Tesla had claimed that the tower could be used to transmit electromagnetic energy across large distances. Allegedly, he had sent a communication to Peary, advising him to be on the alert for unusual auroral phenomena encountered as he attempted to reach the North Pole. However, the workings behind Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower are not well understood, and it is not certain if Tesla ever used the facility for this purpose. It is unknown if the facility could produce energy and transmit it longitudinally to produce the Tunguska event, an equivalent to a thermonuclear explosion; the atomic nucleus was not even discovered until the following decade (though in 1891, on the struture of the aether and electromagnetics, Tesla stated that there was "an infinitesimal world, with molecules and thier atoms spinning and moving in orbits, in much the same manner as celestial bodies carrying with them static charges). Regardless if it was possible for the facility to produce such an effect, the main contention that Tesla was not responsible for the Tunguska event is the it occured at about 7:17 AM. Given accounts (if they can be trusted) of when Tesla performed his experiments in the evening of June 30th. Tesla’s facility was 1/4 a day ahead of Tunguska time. Tesla’s Wardenclyffe experiment would then be the day after the Tunguska event (which occured around 1:00 in the morning on June 30th [New York time]). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-massive-1908-explosion-in-tunguska-siberia/308422/2 "2005-06-15T19:38:43Z")
Some more threads on this topic to peruse: > **[Tunguska black hole reconsidered](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263795)** > > Cecil – In your generally well-informed February '03 column exploring the cause of the cataclysmic Tunguska Event of June 30th, 1908, you note the following possible explanation in passing: QUOTE: 5. It was a black hole. Proposed by two American... > **[The Tungus Effect - think of the children!](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=166229)** > > http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030228.html As my intro astronomy teacher told our class, there was no Christmas that year. 😃 > **[Tungus Effect - Alternative Explanation](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=169109)** > > Not included in Cecil’s column is a recent theory that the blast was caused by pressurized, underground gases. A pertinent link to a discussion of this theory is: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/deepimpact-02q.html A relevant quotation from the... > **[Regarding Tunguska Column](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=190439)** > > I have heard that Tesla was somehow responsible for the explosion, supposedly Tesla had been building a kind of reverse-Tesla coil capable of absorbing usable energy from the atmosphere (a la John Galt) and then blasting a big lightning bolt into the... > **[The Tungus Event](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=166566)** > > The second theory offered for what caused the Tungus devestation: “2. The object was a comet and thus produced minimal debris, since a comet’s head is mostly dust and ice. This theory remains popular…” What is meant by “ice”? Would that be frozen... > **[Cecil's Column Made It To the "Breaking News" page on "Fortean Times"](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=167397)** > > Fortean Times is the magazine of unexplainable events & phenomena. Cecil’s Column on the Tungusta Event made it to their webpage. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030228.html See “Breaking News” for March 5, 2003 ... > **[The Tungus Event](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=162138)** > > I have just been re-reading the 1977 book by Rupert Furneaux about the massive explosion that occured in the Tunguska region of Siberia in 1908. The book does not come to any firm conclusion of the cause although a meteorite is probably the main... > **[Tesla's Death Ray](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=157850)** > > Dear Cecil I know you’ve discussed Tesla before (What’s up with “broadcast power”?, 04-May-1990), but I think the really interesting question is, did he fire a test of a death ray at the North Pole that accidently hit Russia? > **[Tunguska and Tesla](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=33439)** > > Is it true that Nikolai Tesla was the cause of the explosion at Tunguska in the Soviet Union? Apparently he had developed a death ray that he tried to sell to the US Military but they declined to buy it. From what I have read, the military stole his... > **[The Tunguska Event](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=5106)** > > I always thought it was pretty much decided that the event was an asteroid slamming into earth. But then I found this web page The Tunguska Event http://www.tmeg.com/artifacts/tunguska/tunguska.htm Anitmatter just sounds so much cooler (Fixed... ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-massive-1908-explosion-in-tunguska-siberia/308422/3 "2005-06-16T15:26:00Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Some more threads on this topic to peruse: > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263795](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263795) > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=166229](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=166229) > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=169109](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=169109) > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=190439](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=190439) > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=166566](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=166566) > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=167397](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=167397) > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=162138](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=162138) > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=157850](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=157850) > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=33439](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=33439) > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=5106](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=5106) Thank you, new to boards, I’ll remember to search first next time ---
**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:** [June 16, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-massive-1908-explosion-in-tunguska-siberia/308422/4 "2005-06-16T20:04:20Z")
Not to worry, **jr** , searching is a fine art learned over the years by those who have mastered the secret occult arts of the wossname. Naw, seriously, not to sweat it. For those who have been around a long time, we’ve debated (and laughed at) lots of strange stuff, often many times, but we’re always delighted to have someone new … especially someone who says things like “some conjecture has really gotten out of hand.” So, you got the right attitude, and we’re glad to have you here.