It was 1974. A brush fire had just finished tearing through a patch of land on Fort George Island, Florida. Antoine and Gerri Betz were out surveying the damage when they found it. A polished, silver-colored ball just sitting there in the grass.
It looked pristine. No scorch marks. No soot. Just a heavy, 21-pound sphere that seemed totally out of place in the charred remains of the woods.
At first, the family thought it was a cannonball. Maybe some relic from a Spanish ship? But then things got weird. Really weird. The ball started moving on its own. It would roll across the floor, stop, and then head right back to whoever pushed it. It vibrated when people played music. It apparently hated the dog.
Naturally, the media went into a full-blown frenzy. But the real story—the part that keeps people up at night—isn't just the rolling. It’s the Betz sphere x-ray results.
The Day the Navy Tried to See Inside
The Navy didn't just walk in and take the ball. Gerri Betz was actually a pretty sharp negotiator and made them sign a contract. They had two weeks to figure out what this thing was at Naval Air Station Cecil Field.
When they first tried to x-ray it, the machine literally couldn't get through. The shell was just too dense. Eventually, they had to bring in a 300 kV industrial x-ray machine. To give you some context, a standard dental x-ray is around 70 kV. They had to blast this thing with serious power just to see a silhouette.
What they found was bizarre.
The Betz sphere x-ray revealed that this wasn't just a solid chunk of metal. Inside that 7.96-inch frame, there were two smaller internal spheres.
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What the Plates Actually Showed
If you look at the scans (or the photocopies that survived), you see three distinct "spherules" in the middle. One of them looks like it’s "burst" or radiating. It’s not a clean internal layout. It looks like a mechanism that’s either broken or mid-function.
There’s also this weird "halo" of material surrounding the internal components. Dr. Mike, a radiologist who later reviewed the prints for the Astonishing Legends team, pointed out something fascinating. Because the internal spheres appeared darker (or more opaque) than the steel shell, they had to be incredibly dense. We're talking about an atomic number much higher than iron or nickel.
Basically, the stuff inside was "heavier" than the stuff on the outside.
The "Case Closed" Explanation (That Didn't Really Close It)
You've probably heard the debunking. "It’s just a ball check valve!"
A local equipment company president named Robert Edwards eventually came forward. He showed reporters a stainless steel ball from a company called Bell & Howell. It was used in massive industrial piping systems. The size was almost identical. The weight was close.
The Navy's official stance? It’s a man-made object. They identified the shell as 431 stainless steel. This is a common alloy used in aircraft and high-strength fasteners. They basically told the Betz family, "Cool ball, but it's not a UFO. Here you go."
But here is where the "it’s just a valve" theory gets a bit shaky.
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- The internal structure: Most ball check valves are hollow or solid. They don't usually contain two high-density spheres and a "halo" of mystery material.
- The movement: A ball check valve shouldn't behave like a Boomerang. Terry Betz claimed the sphere would roll toward a person, stop, and then roll away, even on a perfectly flat surface.
- The resonance: When tapped with a hammer, the sphere reportedly "rang" like a bell for a long time.
Dr. James Harder and the "Atomic Bomb" Scare
One of the wildest chapters in this saga involves Dr. James Harder, a professor from UC Berkeley. He wasn't some random guy; he was a legitimate engineer.
He examined the sphere and his take was... intense. He claimed that the internal spheres were made of elements far heavier than anything on the periodic table. He even suggested that if anyone tried to drill into the sphere, it might "explode like an atomic bomb."
Was he being hyperbolic? Probably. But it added a layer of genuine fear to the mystery. The Betz family eventually pulled back from the spotlight. You can't really blame them. When scientists start telling you your "souvenir" might be a nuclear device, you probably want to stop showing it off at parties.
Where is the Sphere Now?
Honestly? No one knows for sure.
After the initial 1974 craze, the ball basically vanished. The Betz family stopped doing interviews. The sphere wasn't donated to a museum. It didn't end up in a government warehouse (at least, not officially).
Some people think it’s still in a box in someone’s attic in Florida. Others think the Navy eventually "re-acquired" it for further study once the media died down.
The Betz sphere x-ray remains the only piece of "hard" evidence we have left. It’s the smoking gun that shows this wasn't just a solid ball of steel.
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The Reality Check
Look, I’m all for a good mystery, but we have to look at the facts. The shell was 431 stainless steel. That is a human-made alloy. If this was an alien probe, why use 1970s-era Earth metal?
The most likely scenario is that it was an industrial component—possibly one that was damaged or manufactured with internal defects that caused it to move weirdly on uneven floors.
But then you look at those x-ray plates again. You see those three little spheres inside. You see the "hair-like wire" or filament that some researchers spotted in the high-contrast versions.
It’s just weird enough to keep the door cracked open.
Next Steps for the Curious
If you want to dive deeper into the technical side, I’d suggest looking up the original Navy report archives from 1974. Most of the "alien" claims come from later retellings, while the initial Navy findings are much more grounded in metallurgy. You can also track down the high-resolution scans of the x-ray plates provided by the Astonishing Legends research group—they are arguably the best evidence available to the public today.