Stanley Meyer believed his invention would change the world: He claimed to have constructed a water-powered car.
Meyer was born in Grove City, Ohio in 1940 and according to his twin brother Stephen Meyer, at a young age, the two had a passion for building and creating things. Meyer was a dedicated Christian who often credited God for his achievements. After Meyer graduated from high school, he served in the military and briefly attended Ohio State University.
Meyer went into business, and as a freelance inventor, he was awarded several patents for his work in fields of banking, oceanography, and heart monitors for the medical profession. Meyer’s efforts would soon shift to a new goal entirely. He took note that Saudi Arabia cut its oil supply to the United States during the Arabian Oil Embargo in 1973, and put a strain on the country’s automotive industry.
According to his book, “The Birth of New Technology: Water Fuel Cell Technical Brief,” Meyer dreamed of a world where water was used “as fuel to power our cars, heat our homes, fly our planes or propel spaceships beyond our galaxy.” Meyer even claimed that biblical prophesies foretell such a world where humans figured out how to tap into the potential energy of H2O.
Meyer’s concept was that, if water could be split into hydrogen and oxygen molecules, then the result could produce significantly more energy than gasoline. He also claimed that his “hydrogen fracturing process” could split water molecules using much less energy than other electrolysis methods. The result was his invention of a water-powered dune buggy that used hydrogen gas for energy and only emitted water vapor and oxygen.
The fame of his invention grew when he received media attention for his creation in the 1990s. He was even given the “Who’s Who of American Inventors of the Year” award in 1993.
From the beginning, his claim of creating the world’s first vehicle powered only by water was met with skepticism. In 1994, a group of investors sued Meyer claiming that his invention was fraudulent, and that the water-powered engine never actually worked as Meyer said it did. A judge ruled in favor of the investors and ordered Meyer to give hundreds of thousands of dollars back.
Others who knew Meyer say that they did see demonstrations of his water-powered dune buggy, but he wouldn’t let anyone see exactly how it worked. While working on his water engine, Meyer claimed that he was spied on by government officials, threatened, and even offered hundreds of millions of dollars to cease his experiments.
Mysterious Demise
Meyer’s story became shrouded in mystery. On March 20, 1998, he and his brother met two potential Belgian investors for lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Grove City. The investors were considering a $50 million investment in Meyer’s technology. Meyer ordered cranberry juice after his meal, and then clinked glasses with the three men at the table.Immediately after taking a sip, Meyer jumped to his feet and sprinted outside while clutching his throat. Meyer’s brother followed him to the parking lot where the inventor dropped to his knees and started violently vomiting.
His brother asked him what was wrong. Meyer said, “They poisoned me!” and collapsed. Stephen Meyer couldn’t figure out whether “they” meant the people who had threatened him, or the two investors they just met.
After hearing about Meyer’s death, the Belgian investors raised even more questions for the Meyer family. “I told them that Stan had died, and they never said a word,” Meyer’s brother Stephen said, according to an article published by The Columbus Dispatch in 2007. “Absolutely nothing, no condolences, no questions. I never, ever [trusted] those two men ever again.”
Rumors of Meyer’s death circulated and prompted a three-month investigation. The coroner concluded that Meyer had died from a brain aneurysm caused by a history of hypertension; he marked his official cause of death as natural causes. The coroner claimed that there was no sign of any poison in Meyer’s body or in the cranberry juice he drank.
No one knows what happened to Meyer’s water-powered dune buggy. His dream of a 100 percent water-powered car has not yet come to fruition even though his concepts have been used in hydrogen fuel cell technology for some time now.
