Not every mystery begins with flashing lights in the sky or eerie radio transmissions from space. Some arrive in the most unassuming ways, like a silent, seamless metal sphere resting in the grass. When the Betz family discovered just such an object on their Florida property in 1974, they could not have predicted that their curiosity would ignite a media firestorm, government interest, and decades of wild speculation.

What at first seemed like a lost piece of machinery or an old cannonball soon defied expectations. It rolled in ways that defied gravity, vibrated when exposed to music, and even appeared to follow people around the house.

Scientists, the U.S. Navy, and even renowned UFO investigator J. Allen Hynek attempted to debunk the claims, yet questions remained. What was this thing? And where is it now?