19. The Inventor Who Turned to Crime to Bilk Investors Out of Millions
John Ernst Worrell Keely (1837 – 1898) never lacked hustle. As a young man, he worked as a painter, carpenter, member of a theatrical orchestra, carnival barker, and a mechanic. He left his mark in history, however, when he turned to crime and fraud. In 1872, Keely declared that he had invented a new engine that would revolutionize the world, by drawing its energy from a new physical force that held limitless potential power. Back then, there was a mistaken belief that all space was filled with something called a “luminiferous ether”.
It was a hypothetical substance thought necessary for the movement of light or electric waves. Keely claimed to have figured out how to tap into and extract energy from this (nonexistent) ether. Having unraveled its secrets, Keely claimed that he could now tap the power of atoms in water to furnish energy. As he explained it, atoms were in a state of constant vibration. By harnessing and channeling water’s vibrations in his revolutionary Keely engine, people could tap into limitless energy. By getting the water’s atoms to vibrate in unison in accordance with the principles of the luminiferous ether, one could use its “etheric force” to power motors.
