Inventor of the water-powered car screamed 'they poisoned me' as he died
Twenty years ago, one of the most controversial engineers of the 20th century died under suspicious circumstances. Stanley Meyer, who was once hailed as a revolutionary innovator after apparently discovering a method which allowed cars to be powered with water, collapsed suddenly while dining with two Belgian investors who were interested in his work.
The 57-year-old had just raised a toast with the men and taken a sip of cranberry juice when he became unexpectedly overwhelmed with pain.
He died just moments later after running out into the parking lot screaming, "they poisoned me".
Despite the coroner later denying that Meyer had died from unnatural causes, those who supported the engineer claimed there was foul play involved. Even now, almost two whole decades later, people are still convinced that Meyer had been deliberately silenced by official powers.
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Some years before this meeting, Meyer had claimed that he had devised a way for motor vehicles to run on water-based fuel. According to him, the method could be achieved by splitting H20 into its core elements, burning the hydrogen, and then converting the two back into water vapor using a conventional combustion engine.
However, as any scientists out there will know, this would theoretically break the first and second laws of thermodynamics, as it allows for operation as a perpetual motion machine.
What's more, during Meyer's patenting of his invention, he described the molecules in the engine as "Fuel Cells". This term is usually reserved for cells that produce electricity - not consume them, as Meyer's did.
Understandably, then, there was a lot of suspicion over whether the process was legitimate, and it was eventually found to be fraudulent during a 1996 Ohio court case. So, if he had been proven to be a phony, why would someone want to kill him?
During the trial, three expert witnesses found that there "was nothing revolutionary about the cell at all and it was simply using conventional electrolysis," which eventually led to Meyer being found guilty of committing "gross and egregious fraud". As a result, he was ordered to repay a total of $50,000 to investors.
Essentially, he was outed as a scammer.
However, some people believe that the whole case was a cover-up, and that Meyer's method does work. It's a huge conspiracy theory, of course, but there are folks out there who just don't buy the coroner's verdict that Meyer - who was known to have high blood pressure - died of a cerebral aneurysm.
Credit: YouTube/PESNetwork
As it's been so long since Meyer registered the patents, his inventions are now in the public domain, meaning they're available for all to use without restriction or royalty payment. And yet, nobody has ever pursued the invention.
This should be evidence enough to prove that, as suspected, the method never worked.
Or - for the more dubious theorists out there - perhaps it means that everyone who did try it ended up being surreptitiously silenced... but I suppose we'll never know for