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The Mysterious Genius Who Patented the UFO - YouTube
Channel: Bloomberg Quicktake: Originals
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This is the story about
a forgotten genius,
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a gifted sculptor, artist, and
modern-day Leonardo da Vinci,
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whose UFO-like invention was the realm
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of pure science fiction.
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But it's also a story about this man,
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his fixation with the past,
and living on borrowed time.
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A couple of years ago I got this email
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from a guy named Randy
Hunter, who was promising
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me the greatest nonfiction
story never told.
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It was about this
inventor, who lived here,
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in the outskirts of Silicon Valley.
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He had done all sorts of amazing things,
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but he'd been forgotten by history,
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and for one reason or another,
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I bit on this email, and
for the last two years,
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I've been coming to this
guy, Randy Hunter's, place,
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where he has built a temple to
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his obsession, which is this inventor.
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What are you doing in here, man?
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I got another big batch of photos.
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You got a few minutes to look at this?
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Yeah.
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Meet Randy, a successful art
dealer and fine art collector.
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And this is the guy he wants everyone
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to know about, Alexander Weygers.
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Weygers was born in 1901,
in the Dutch East Indies.
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As a teen, he moved to
Europe to study engineering,
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and then moved to the
US to study sculpting.
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Near the end of World
War II, Weygers settled
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in Carmel, California, and it's here
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he carved out a most unusual life.
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He built a house made entirely
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from recycled materials,
and objects crafted
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by hand in his blacksmith studio.
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Weygers' ability to live off objects
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that other people threw away
turned him into a cult figure.
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Youngsters traveled from around the world
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to take his tool making
and sculpting classes.
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They also came to marvel at his art.
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This is probably the most
photographed Weygers, so far.
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Randy discovered Weygers in 2008,
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when for the first time, his
sculptures were put on sale.
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Randy snapped up the lot.
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As an art dealer, he had dreamed
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of hitting it big by
finding an unknown artist
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and making him famous, and
figured that Weygers was his man.
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This sculpture's my favorite one.
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But what started as a business deal turned
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into a life-altering passion.
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Over the next 10 years,
Randy spent countless hours,
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and millions of dollars, tracking
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down Weygers' sketches,
personal belongings,
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and all the finished artwork
he could lay his hands on.
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He produced a movie about
Weygers, wrote a book
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about him, and became convinced
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he discovered a hidden genius.
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What draws you, what makes
you fascinated about this man?
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I immediately fell in love with him,
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because he was just like my style.
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I could see the depth
in his work immediately,
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and he needed to be
shared with the public.
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The version of Randy you're
seeing is more sedate
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than the affable, chatty
salesman I first met.
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In late 2017, he started
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to lose a multi-year battle with cancer,
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and painkillers made it tough
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to get around, and think straight.
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You want a hand?
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Sure.
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A few months ago, his cancer came back,
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and as you'll see, he's not at his best,
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he's not the same guy that he used to be,
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and it's a difficult part of the story.
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His whole mission has been to make
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this Weygers man as famous as he can be,
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and Randy might not get to
see the end of that story.
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This is his drawings, blueprints.
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Okay, how do you find all this?
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Look at this, man.
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This is, all these letters.
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Digging, man.
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During his hunt into Weygers'
life, Randy discovered
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something extraordinary,
hand-drawn designs
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for an exotic aircraft,
dating back to the 1920s.
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Alex appeared to have invented
the very first flying saucer.
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That was an amazing find, in itself.
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When I saw the blueprints,
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it was undeniable that he was the creator.
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Weygers called his
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futuristic flying machine the Discopter,
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designed to take off vertically,
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and float on a cushion of air.
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It was a unique concept, and one
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he thought cities of the
future would make full use of.
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Weygers patented the Discopter
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in 1944, and then tried to sell it.
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He started sending all of these letters
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to all kinds of companies,
telling them about his invention.
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As word of the Discopter began
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to spread, Alex felt the
US military stole the idea.
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It was an accusation they denied,
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but for Weygers, evidence of the theft was
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there for all to see, as images
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of his flying saucer seeped
into popular culture,
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influencing everything
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from architecture, to cars, and movies.
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A two-seater, ready soon, may be the car,
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or chopper, of the future.
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There's this whole flurry of stories.
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Weygers First With
"Saucer", a Dutchman says
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he designed flying saucer 23 years ago.
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The Man Who Invented the Flying Disk.
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He didn't really seem
to be after compensation
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as much as recognition that
he'd done something important,
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and wanted a bit of credit for it.
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Spoiler alert, the Discopter
never became a reality.
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But the flying saucers it inspired live on
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in Randy's collection of UFO memorabilia.
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This is the room that I think
of as the ultimate Randy room.
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This is the tribute to the Discopter.
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You've got books, you've got toys,
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everything you could
ever imagine about UFOs.
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To me, this room has always
represented the heart
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of who Randy is.
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He's this guy with a passion that
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I think we would all envy, and
hope to have, for something,
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but also that bit of his character,
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where he can go too
far, and gets obsessed,
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to the point where some people,
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I think, would think he's a little nuts.
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How has your family and friends reacted
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to this, over the years, as
you've gotten deeper into it.
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Do they think you're a crazed man, or?
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How crazy you are, I think, depends on
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how much money you spend on your project.
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A couple of years ago, Randy,
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and his partner, Cathy, forked
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out $1.6 million, for the land
where Weygers used to live.
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While the original house is
gone, Randy's been busy, turning
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his new home into a temple
to all things Weygers.
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This is Randy's workshop,
and this is the room
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that I think ties him and Alex together.
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There's a mix of Randy and Alex's tools,
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and the molds of Weygers' sculptures,
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all lying across the room.
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Outside, work has started
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on rebuilding Weygers' artist studio
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and blacksmith shop, and there are plans
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for a brand-new Weygers museum,
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and a UFO fire pit is also in the works.
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It'll be shaped like a Discopter,
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and when you're actually burning a fire,
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it would be obvious, from a hundred feet
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in the air, that there's a
flying saucer on this property.
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You might think Randy has
more money than sense,
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and let's face it, he hasn't managed
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to make Alexander Weygers and
the Discopter household names.
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At least not yet.
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But in Weygers, Randy discovered
a kindred spirit, a man
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who chose to live by his own rules,
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and who created a legacy,
using his own two hands.
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What would you say to
Alex if you saw him now?
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I wondered if you had dreamed
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about that moment, or anything.
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I did dream about meeting him.
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Yeah?
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Figured it was the spirit of Weygers,
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basically telling me I'm
doing the right thing,
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and I should continue with my mission.
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