Over 160 Theories And No Answer.

I wrote about the Statue of Liberty in my last blog, and how the symbolism of the gift itself has long been forgotten over the years. But after watching the History Channel this morning, I saw a very shocking and mysterious event that I feel has also been forgotten. And this event is the last thing that should be forgotten, since it has the potential to occur again, and when it does happen again it could be much more harmful than before.

Back in 1908, there was an explosion in Tunguska, Siberia. But it wasn’t any ordinary explosion. As a matter of fact, to this day, scientists don’t even know what kind of explosion it was.

The explosion was extremely powerful; although it didn’t kill anyone directly (on impact) the after-effects were quite harmful. Almost immediately after the explosion, seismographs recorded changes in forces on the ground. Bright flashes that lasted extended periods of time, known as “bright nights” were recorded in London. It was said that a person could read a newspaper at midnight because it was so bright outside.

It wasn’t until the meteor landed in the United States, creating the enormous crater that we know of today – the Barringer Crater (“Meteor Crater”) that scientists in Siberia considered the explosion. After deposits of iron and coal were found in the crater, Siberian scientists thought that the explosion in Tunguska was of a similar meteor, and had similar deposits. Therefore, one scientist set off on an expedition to uncover the truth being the explosion of Tunguska.

Leonid Kulik discovered a peculiar phenomenon among the trees near the (rediscovered) center of the explosion. At the center, there were trees that were standing upward, that resembled telephone poles. The trees that strayed from the center were lying downward, facing away from the explosion center. Later aerial images show that the entire explosion site resembles a butterfly outline, and that at the center of the explosion, the trees are standing upright. But one question still remained: What caused such an explosion?

After the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, scientists discovered a very haunting similarity between the two explosions. The atomic bomb left similar effects on the trees as did the Tunguska explosion (especially the trees that stood upright, towards the epicenter of the explosion). Could the Tunguska explosion been a nuclear attack?

It simply wasn’t possible because the science and technology hadn’t been developed yet (or at least by humans). It was believed for some time that the attack was from extraterrestrial life. But there was a problem to this theory – there were no remains of any spacecraft or any type of missile.

Later scientists conducted tests as newer theories came about claiming that either an asteroid or a comet was the culprit of the explosion. Carbon dating of the trees showed similar traces of the material that comets were comprised of, however scientists claimed that it was possible for a comet to become an asteroid (it is all relative to the number of times it orbits the sun).

Newer theories came about that stated that it could have been from volcanic activity that was underground. But problems arose with this theory as well because there was no conclusive evidence of volcanic rock or lava.

It was later narrowed down to an asteroid as being the most likely cause of the explosion. But the mystery isn’t solved yet. There is no concrete evidence or any remains of the explosion. But scientists will not put this unsolved event to rest because they believe that it is very likely to occur again. But they warn us that it isn’t just terrestrial elements that could cause an explosion of such detriment…we need to pay more attention to events that nature causes right here on Earth.