Posts claim to show Nikola Tesla's last words. Is there any proof?

In January 2026, a rumor resurfaced across social media claiming to quote Serbian American inventor Nikola Tesla's last words before his death in January 1943. The posts attributed to Tesla a final message to his mother, lamenting that his years of serving mankind brought him "nothing but insults and humiliation."

One X post (archived) claimed Tesla's last message to his mother was: "All these years that I had spent in the service of mankind brought me nothing but insults and humiliation."

(X user @NightSkyNow)

One Facebook post shared a longer variation of the same quote, reading: "I wish I could be beside you now mother, to bring you the glass of water. All these years I have spent in the service of mankind brought me nothing but insults and humiliation."

The claim also has spread across platforms such as X, Threads, Quora, iFunny, 9GAG and Tumblr. Tesla's alleged last words have also gained traction on YouTube, with videos showcasing his purported letters to his mother:

However, no demonstrable evidence substantiates the authenticity of Tesla's alleged last words. The claim lacks support from historical records, archival documentation or reputable sources. Furthermore, a leading expert on Tesla's life confirmed that he never made such a statement. 

The claim originated from a letter that Tesla allegedly wrote to his mother. However, Google search results in English and Serbian showed that the quote did not appear online before Jan. 1, 2015:

(Google search)

An article on a Croatian blog from January 2015 claimed to feature "the first English translation of Nikola Tesla's last letter." The alleged letter was also featured in an English-language article (archived) published in March 2015 by a Serbian news outlet Telegraf.rs. 

The letter was divided in five parts, allegedly written over five consecutive days, from Nov. 18 to Nov. 22. The viral quote is found in the Nov. 18 section of the letter (emphasis ours):

My dear mother, I feel sad and dreary when I think of you. I don't know how, but I feel that you are not well. I wish I could be beside you now mother, to bring you a glass of water. All these years that I had spent in the service of mankind brought me nothing but insults and humiliation. This morning I woke up early, just before the dawn, because I had heard something that I have been hearing through my dreams for quite some time now. I heard this voice that sang some beautiful chant, lament or even prayer in Moorish. When I came to my senses I realized that this voice came from everywhere and it was impossible to determine whether it was from within. I am afraid of loosing my mind. I cannot confide this to Doctor Lionel because I don't trust him anymore. I heard that he visited Mr. Edison two weeks ago...

However, the Telegraf.rs article included a disclaimer: "IMPORTANT: The authenticity of this letter has never been confirmed..."

Telegraf.rs attributed the letter's source to "TV Best," but no verifiable information about this source exists online. Another 2015 article further suggested the source might have been a now-defunct website, tvbest.rs.

In March 2015, Telegraf.rs published a correction in Serbian, stating, "The letter circulating on the Internet is not Tesla's last letter to his mother," referencing an article from the Serbian fact-checking website FakeNews.rs.

We have reached out to Telegraf.rs for a comment and will update this article if we receive a response.

In October 2024, a Serbian fact-checking organization FakeNews Tragač, a signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, published an article titled "Tesla's 'farewell letter to his mother' is actually a jumble of illogicalities." 

The organization pointed out "the content of the letter consists of numerous illogicalities that directly refute its meaning and credibility," concluding that the letter was not authentic. For instance, the letter was dated in November, yet referenced events from April, creating chronological inconsistencies. Moreover, the letter suggested Tesla was in America at the time, but historical records indicate he was in Paris during the period in question.

Additionally, the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade confirmed to FakeNews Tragač that the alleged letter had "nothing to do with Tesla." 

Milica Kesler, an archivist at Nikola Tesla Museum, told us via email that, "What is known about the hour of Tesla's death is from the testimony of his nephew Sava Kosanović, Charlotte Muzar and Kenneth Swezey. Nikola Tesla died alone in his hotel room at the New Yorker Hotel. So there were no witnesses who could testify to what Tesla's last words were."

Kesler also added that "notes with mathematical calculations were found on his bedside table, so it is assumed that this was the last thing he did," highlighting that "Tesla's mother Djuka passed away in 1892, i.e. 50 years earlier."

"Various arbitrariness and romantic stories are circulating on the Internet, but unfortunately, most of them are not very accurate," she concluded.

FakeNews Tragač reported that the alleged letter first appeared in 2006 on the website Kozarac.ba, dedicated to a town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 2006 article indicated Preporod, an "Islamic information newspaper," as a source. 

Kozarac.ba Facebook page managers told us that they "shared that text from the Preporod website a while ago, hoping to learn more about it through the comments," adding that they "don't have any further confirmation on this matter." They also noted that "we had read that text on other websites even before our post, and our post is definitely not the oldest one (it might now be the oldest because there are no other links)."

Finally, Marc Seifer, an expert on the life and times of Nikola Tesla and author of "Wizard: the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla," told us via email that "Tesla did not say this." He also added that "this passage has been discussed with a number of Tesla experts and all of us are sure that Tesla never said it."

In December 2024 we investigated the claim that Tesla once said, "You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension."