Brass Bell

Description: In 1944 a brass bell, with an iron clapper, inside a lump coal was discovered. The discoverer had dropped the lump of coal and it broke open. According to the discoverer the coal was from a mine near his home in West Virginia. The Bell is still in the discoverer's possession.

Mainstream Theory: The authenticity of the bell and its apparent age has not been challenged.

Alternative Theory: Coal is hundreds of millions of years old. Anything found within a lump of coal would also have to be of the same age. The bell was analyzed by the University of Oklahoma and it was found that the bell was composed of a strange mixture of metals, unlike anything used today or known to be used in the past.