Tunguska Event: Was It a Meteor, Black Hole, or Secret Tesla Experiment?

In 1908, a massive blast in Siberia flattened 80 million trees. Explore the Tunguska Event’s competing theories—from meteors to Nikola Tesla’s experiments.

Mar 11, 2025 - 10:47

Satellite map of the Tunguska region, where the red line outlines the boundary of the forest that was toppled by the Tunguska explosion. Inset on the right shows the satellite details. Locations of samples B02, T03, and T12 are shown with respect to the epicenter at the bottom. North is toward the top of the images. Image C 2016 Digital Globe, Google Earth.

On June 30, 1908, a fireball lit up Siberia’s sky, followed by an explosion 1,000x stronger than Hiroshima. The blast flattened 800 square miles of forest—yet left no crater. Over a century later, scientists still debate its origin.

The Aftermath

Impact Zone: 80 million trees fanned outward in a butterfly pattern.
Witnesses: Nomads reported “sky splitting in two” and heatwaves burning skin.
No Crater: Only small peat bogs and microscopic glass spheres found.

Source: National Geographic

Leading Theories

Meteoroid Airburst: A stony asteroid exploded 3–6 miles above Earth (most accepted theory).
Comet: Ice vaporized mid-air, leaving no debris—but no water traces found.
Nikola Tesla’s Experiments: Conspiracy claims he tested a “death ray”—no evidence.

Map showing the approximate location of the Tunguska event of 1908.

English: This is a hacked version of the public domain map Russia-CIA WFB Map.png.User:Bobby D. Bryant made the modifications and uploaded it under the GFDL on May 21, 2005., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Modern Discoveries

2013 Chelyabinsk Event: A similar (but smaller) airburst reignited Tunguska interest.
Nanodiamonds: Found in peat, suggesting high-pressure impact.

Key Takeaways

The Tunguska blast remains the largest impact event in recorded history.
Likely caused by a meteoroid exploding in the atmosphere.
Highlighted Earth’s vulnerability to space threats, inspiring NASA’s Planetary Defense.