Estonishing legends would like to think quip, simply safe, square space,

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For tonight's Cold Open, we're sharing a paraphrased version of notes and corrections to the first part of our series on the Beth's Sphere,

as provided by a Beth's family member that has been in close contact with astonishing legends.

We're sharing these corrections in the interest of complete transparency.

We're doing that because we know that in their purest form,

these stories are much more compelling than the exaggerations that have risen up around them.

The notes begin with a reaction to our reporting that the family sought to ensure the Sphere with Lloyds of London,

which we sourced from the St. Petersburg Times and Associated Press from April of 1974.

Quoting that article, Mrs. Beth said she had a policeman stay at the house overnight this weekend to protect the ball and is trying to get it insured through Lloyds of London.

Turns out the policeman was a real person, a family member in fact, and as you'll find out in this series, a good man to have around.

The part about Lloyds of London, however, complete fabrication.

Listen to the response we received from our Beth's family source on not only the insurance policy, but the media's initial reaction to our story.

We never had the ball insured, not sure we even considered it, and the one huge thing is that our family has never contacted any media whatsoever regarding the Sphere.

We were first contacted, I think, by the Jacksonville Journal because someone who knew us, and I don't remember who, approach them and told them about the ball and its weird behavior.

Shortly afterward, a local reporter spoke to us, and I don't think it was in person, but maybe by phone.

Then she did a shoot in her own parking lot at work, tossing a ball valve back and forth to someone and making a comment that the ball was nothing special and maybe we could sell it for pot metal.

The ball valve she had was not what we had, ours was bigger, a reflective, shiny color, and you don't casually toss a 21-pound steel ball back and forth like a beach ball.

Tonight, we dive deeper into the story behind the Beth's Sphere, and when we're done, you'll know more about it than anyone has, in 45 years.

Welcome back to Estonishing Legends. I'm Scott Philbrook, and this is Forest Burgess.

So the ball gets delivered back to her with something like a big manila folder. She opens the folder and its x-rays, and they are x-rays that show the inside of the ball.

So it's the first time we see what we're looking at.

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