Imagine the future a strange new weapon is detonated high over a large city. There is no explosion, no visible destruction, but everything electronic within the range of this weapon will go out permanently. Every electronic gadget in every home and office disabled. No computers, no T.V., no life support systems in hospitals, no water supply, no heat, no lights truly, a return to the dark ages. Imagine a full range of new weapons; one can take out the electricity in your city, another can destroy you. If you haven't heard about these weapons, it's no surprise. Their development has been secretive and they sound more like science fiction than reality. When did this reality really begin and how far advanced is it now?

This revealing documentary opens the window on this -until now- secretive science. On a calm Sunday morning in 1978, residents of Bell Island, Newfoundland hear an odd, high-pitched hum, immediately followed by a sudden and terrifying blast resounding for hundreds of miles. Witnesses observe a “straight shaft of light” descending from the sky, and a barrage of violent electrical phenomenon. Outbuildings are destroyed, livestock electrocuted, televisions explode and power lines vaporize. Observed from space, the light emissions from the “boom” are more powerful than those of the Hiroshima blast.

The Invisible Machine unravels the mystery of the Bell Island “boom” and in doing so takes a chilling look at the U.S. military’s experimentation with electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons,“e-bombs”, directed energy weapons that can destroy electrical and communications systems but leave people seemingly unharmed. We interview eye witnesses, an EMP weapons designer, scientists, journalists, policy makers and activists who warn that these weapons are real and may have been used by the US military during its “shock and awe” campaign against Iraq in 2003.

While the United States continues to develop and experiment with these weapons of mass destruction, the questions remain: were the bizarre events on Bell Island in 1978 related to early testing gone wrong and were directed EMP weapons at Baghdad’s electricity generation plant the most recent experiment? If so, what are the consequences of unleashing this powerful force? The Invisible Machine pulls back the veils of secrecy to find the answers.

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