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Philadelphia Experiment
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The Philadelphia Experiment was an alleged naval military experiment at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sometime around October 28, 1943, in which the U.S. destroyer escort USS Eldridge was to be rendered invisible (i.e. cloaked) to human observers for a brief period. It is also referred to as Project Rainbow.
The story is widely regarded as a hoax, while the U.S.
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Encyclopedia
The Philadelphia Experiment was an alleged naval military experiment at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sometime around October 28, 1943, in which the U.S. destroyer escort USS Eldridge was to be rendered invisible (i.e. cloaked) to human observers for a brief period. It is also referred to as Project Rainbow.
The story is widely regarded as a hoax, while the U.S. Navy maintains that no such experiment occurred, and details of the story contradict well-established facts about the Eldridge. It has nonetheless caused ripples in conspiracy theory circles, and elements of the Philadelphia Experiment are featured in other government conspiracy theories.
Synopsis
Several different and sometimes contradictory versions of this experiment have circulated over the years. The following synopsis serves to illustrate key story points common to most accounts of the purported experiment.
The experiment has been claimed to have been conducted by Dr. Franklin Reno, or Franklin Rinehart, as a military application of a Unified Field Theory, a term coined by Einstein. The Unified Field Theory aims to describe the interrelated nature of the forces that comprise electromagnetic radiation and gravity; although to date no single theory has emerged with a viable mathematical expression.
According to the accounts it was thought possible to use some version of this theory to bend light around an object so that it became essentially invisible. The Navy would have regarded this of obvious military value and sponsored the experiment.
Another version of the story says that those researchers were preparing magnetic and gravitational measurements of the seafloor to detect anomalies, supposedly based on Einstein's attempts to understand gravity. In this version there were also related secret experiments in Nazi Germany to find antigravity, allegedly lead by SS-Obergruppenführer Hans Kammler.
Supposedly a destroyer escort, the , was fitted with the required equipment at the naval yards in Philadelphia. Testing began in summer 1943, and was successful to a limited degree. One test, on July 22, resulted in the Eldridge being rendered almost completely invisible, with some witnesses reporting a “greenish fog” in its place. However, crew members complained of severe nausea afterwards. At that point, the experiment was altered at the request of the Navy, with the new objective being invisible solely to radar. None of this has been substantiated.
The theory continues that the equipment was not properly re-calibrated, but in spite of this the experiment was performed again on October 28. This time, Eldridge not only became entirely invisible, but actually vanished from the area in a flash of blue light. According to some accounts, the U.S. naval base at Norfolk, Virginia, just over away, reported sighting the Eldridge offshore, whereupon the Eldridge vanished from their sight and reappeared in Philadelphia at the site it had originally occupied, in an apparent case of accidental teleportation. It was also said that the boat traveled back in time for the brief time of 10 seconds.
Many versions of the theory include descriptions of serious side effects for the crew. Crew members would have been physically fused to bulkheads, suffered from mental conditions or would have just vanished into thin air. It is also claimed that the crew may have been subjected to brainwashing, in order to keep the experiment secret.
Origins of the story
Morris Jessup and Carlos Miguel Allende
In 1955, Morris K. Jessup, an amateur astronomer and former graduate-level researcher, published The Case for the UFO, a book about unidentified flying objects which contained some theorizing about the means of propulsion that flying-saucer-style UFOs might use. Jessup speculated that anti-gravity and/or manipulation of electromagnetism may have been responsible for the observed flight behavior of UFOs. He lamented, both in the book and the publicity tour which followed, that space flight research was concentrated in the area of rocketry, and that little attention was paid to these other theoretical means of flight, which he felt would ultimately be more fruitful.
On January 13, 1955, Jessup received a letter from a man who identified himself as Carlos Allende. In the letter, Allende informed Jessup of the Philadelphia Experiment, alluding to two poorly sourced contemporary newspaper articles as proof. Allende also said that he had witnessed the Eldridge disappear and reappear while serving aboard the , a nearby merchant ship. Allende further named other crew members with whom he served aboard the Andrew Furuseth, and claimed to know of the fate of some of the crew members of the Eldridge after the experiment, including one whom he witnessed disappear during a chaotic fight in a bar. Jessup replied to Allende by postcard, asking for further evidence and corroboration for the story.
The reply came months later; however, this time the correspondent identified himself as Carl M. Allen. Allen said that he could not provide the details for which Jessup was asking, but implied that he might be able to recall by means of hypnosis. Suspecting that Allende/Allen was a fraud, Jessup decided to discontinue the correspondence.
The Office of Naval Research and the Varo annotation
In early 1957, Jessup was contacted by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Washington, D.C. and asked to study the contents of a parcel that they had received. Upon arrival, a curious Jessup was astonished to find that a paperback copy of his UFO book had been mailed to ONR in a manila envelope marked "Happy Easter." Further, the book had been extensively annotated by hand in its margins, and an ONR officer asked Jessup if he had any idea as to who had done so.
The lengthy annotations were written in three different colors of ink, and appeared to detail a correspondence among three individuals, only one of which is given a name: "Jemi." The ONR labeled the other two "Mr A" and "Mr B." The annotators refer to each other as "Gypsies," and discuss two different types of "people" living in outer space. Their text contained nonstandard use of capitalization and punctuation, and detailed a lengthy discussion of the merits of various suppositions that Jessup makes throughout his book, with oblique references to the Philadelphia Experiment, in a way that suggested prior or superior knowledge (for example, “Mr B” reassures his fellow annotators, who have highlighted a certain theory of Jessup’s).
Based on the handwriting style and subject matter, Jessup identified "Mr A" as Allende/Allen. Others have suggested that the three annotations are actually from the same person, using three pens.
The annotated book sparked such interest that the ONR funded a small printing of the volume by the Texas-based Varo Manufacturing Company. A 2003 transcription of the annotated "Varo edition" is available online, complete with three-color notes.
Later, the ONR contacted Jessup, claiming that the return address on Allende’s letter to Jessup was an abandoned farmhouse. They also informed Jessup that the Varo Corporation, a research firm, was preparing a print copy of the annotated version of The Case for the UFO, complete with both letters he had received. About a hundred copies of the Varo Edition were printed and distributed within the Navy. Jessup was also sent three for his own use.
Jessup attempted to make a living writing on the topic, but his follow-up book did not sell well and his publisher rejected several other manuscripts. In 1958 his wife left him, and friends described him as being depressed and somewhat unstable when he travelled to New York. After returning to Florida he was involved in a serious car accident and was slow to recover, apparently increasing his despondency. Morris Jessup committed suicide in 1959.
Public dissemination
Resurfacing via literature
In 1965, Vincent Gaddis published Invisible Horizons: True Mysteries of the Sea, in which the story of the experiment from the Varo annotation is recounted. Later, In 1978, a novel, Thin Air by George E. Simpson and Neal R. Burger was released. This was a dramatic fictional account, clearly inspired by the foregoing works, of a conspiracy to cover up a horrific experiment gone wrong on board the Eldridge in 1943. In 1979, Charles Berlitz and co-author, William L. Moore, published The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility, the best known and most cited source of information about the experiment to date.
Hollywood interpretation and the Bielek testimony
In 1984, the story was adapted into a motion picture, The Philadelphia Experiment, directed by Stewart Raffill. Though based only loosely on prior accounts of the experiment, it served to bring the core elements of the original story into mainstream scrutiny.
In 1990, Alfred Bielek, a self-proclaimed former crew-member of the Eldridge and alleged witness of the experiment, supported the version as it was portrayed in the movie, adding embellishments which were disseminated via the internet, eventually to surface in various mainstream outlets. In 2003, Bielek's version of his participation in the Philadelphia Experiment was debunked by a small team of investigators including American Marshall Barnes, Canadian Fred Houpt and German Gerold Schelm, and the general consensus now is that he was nowhere near the ship at the proposed time of the experiment.
There is also a reference to the Philadelphia Experiment in the horror/action film "Outpost" (2007/8) in which the story goes that the Nazis were conducting similar tests but on soldiers.
Evidence
Research into the supposed experiment has revealed many contradictions and inconsistencies. In addition, there is no scientific support for the theories of what supposedly happened.
Evidence and research
Many observers argue it's inappropriate to put much credence in an unusual story put forward by one individual, in the absence of more conclusive corroborating evidence. An article written by Robert Goerman for Fate in 1980, determined that “Carlos Allende”/“Carl Allen” was in fact Carl Meredith Allen of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, who had an established psychiatric history and may have fabricated the primary history of the experiment as a result of his illness.
Historian Mike Dash notes that many of those who publicized the story after Jessup seemed to have conducted little or no research: through the late '70s, for example, Allende/Allen was often described as mysterious and difficult to locate, but after only a few telephone calls, Goerman was able to determine Allende/Allen's identity. Others speculate that much of the key literature has more emphasis on dramatic embellishment rather than pertinent research. Though Berlitz and Moore's famous account of the story (The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility) contained much supposedly factual information, such as transcripts of an interview with a scientist involved in the experiment, it has also been criticised for plagiarising key story elements from the fictitious novel Thin Air published a year earlier, which, it is argued, undermines the credibility of the text as a whole.
Scientific aspects
No fully developed Unified Field Theory currently exists, even though it is still a subject of ongoing research. William Moore's book on the experiment claims it was purported that Albert Einstein completed, and subsequently destroyed, such a theory before his death.
Also, shortly before his death in 1943, Nikola Tesla claimed to have completed a Unified Field Theory; however, it was never published. Relatives of Nikola Tesla propose that much of Tesla's research papers were seized by the FBI promptly following his death, and highlight the apparent coincidence between the year of his death and the supposed date of the Philadelphia Experiment.
While very limited "invisibility cloaks" have recently been developed, using metamaterial, these are unrelated to theories linking electromagnetism with gravity.
Timeline inconsistencies
USS Eldridge was not commissioned until August 27, 1943, and remained in port in New York City until September 1943. The October experiment allegedly took place while the ship was on its first shakedown cruise in the Bahamas, although proponents of the story may claim that the logs may have been falsified or still be classified.
A reunion of veterans who served aboard the Eldridge told a Philadelphia newspaper in April 1999 that the ship had never made port in Philadelphia. Further evidence against the Philadelphia experiment timeline comes from Eldridge’s complete World War II action report, including the remarks section of the 1943 deck log, available on microfilm.
Alternative explanations
Researcher Jacques Vallée describes a procedure on board , which was docked alongside Eldridge in 1943. The operation involved the generation of a powerful electromagnetic field on board the ship in order to degauss it, with the goal of rendering the ship undetectable — "invisible" — to magnetically-triggered torpedoes and mines. This system was invented by a Canadian, and the British used it widely during the Second World War. British ships of the era often included such systems built-in on the upper decks (the conduits are still visible on the deck of the in London). Degaussing is still used today; however, it has no effect on visible light or radar. Vallee speculates that accounts of the Engstrom’s degaussing may have been garbled in subsequent retellings, and these accounts may have influenced the story of the Philadelphia Experiment.
According to Vallée, a veteran who served on board the Engstrom noted that the Eldridge could indeed have traveled from Philadelphia to Norfolk and back again in a single day at a time when merchant ships could not have — by use of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which at the time was open only to naval vessels. Use of this channel was kept quiet: German submarines had recently been ravaging East Coast shipping during Operation Drumbeat, and thus military ships unable to protect themselves were secretly moved via canals to avoid this threat. It should be noted that this same veteran claims to be the man whom Allende witnessed “disappear” at a bar. He claims that when the fight broke out, friendly barmaids whisked him out the back door of the bar before the police arrived, because he was under age. They then covered for him by claiming that he disappeared.
Cultural references
The Philadelphia Experiment, its results, and the potential of the technology involved have been the subject of many books, films, soundtracks, and video games.
Audio/visual media
In the film 100 Million BC (2008) a Navy Seal search and rescue team is sent back in time through use of a "Rainbow Device" to rescue sailors that disappeared from the USS Eldridge during the failed Philadelphia Experiment.
Two full-length films have been released on the subject: The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) and Philadelphia Experiment II (1993).
An early film to dramatize the experiment is The Bermuda Triangle (1979). One portion of the film shows a Navy ship rigged with power cables to create the disappearing field. The ship is made to appear to vanish into the sea, and the sailors experience the effects attributed to the experiment, i.e., vomiting, and disappearing and reappearing.
In the film Orka (2007) a German equivalent of Einstein's research related to the Philadelphia Experiment is sought out and uncovered.
In the film Outpost (2008), a group of mercenaries protecting a "mineral surveyor" discover an abandoned Nazi SS Bunker in which Unified Field Theory experiments were conducted. At one point, the Philadelphia Experiment story is discussed as a factual occurrence, and Nazi experiments with UFT were a direct response to American successes.
The experiment has been the subject of several television shows dealing with the paranormal and conspiracy theories, including The Unexplained, a series produced by Bill Kurtis on the Arts and Entertainment Network (A&E). One episode of The History Channel's History's Mysteries discusses the theory. A similar story also ran on the show Unsolved Mysteries which originally aired on NBC and is now occasionally seen on Lifetime Network. It is also a frequent topic on the late night radio show Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell and George Noory.
In the “Død Kalm” (2X19) episode of The X-Files, Mulder and Scully are tipped off to a U.S. Navy ship that had caused its crew to rapidly age; Mulder at first believed the ageing had to do with the failed Philadelphia Experiment.
The hip-hop sci-fi EP "Projecto: 2501" by Tajai and SupremeEx ends with a lengthy audio clip of a journalist speaking about the Philadelphia Experiment.
In the video game Assassin's Creed, an e-mail from one character to another states that the Philadelphia Experiment was successful and conducted by a modern segment of the Knights Templar. The results implied that the ship was transported through both space and time, causing crew members to go mad, combine with parts of the ship, or simply disappear; further research and experimentation were scrapped over concerns related to temporal paradox.
The video game series Command and Conquer alternate-world timeline dictates that the Philadelphia Experiment was a result of Einstein and Tesla's technologies, and that the Experiment was a limited success. A cutscene in Red Alert shows the Eldridge disappear, but Einstein mentions to the player about the 'horrible aftermath' experiences of the sailors aboard.
Literature
In "Green Fire" (1998), a collaborative novella by Eileen Gunn, Michael Swanwick, Pat Murphy, and Andy Duncan, the science fiction masters Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and L. Sprague De Camp, along with Grace Hopper, take part in the Philadelphia Experiment, with the assistance of Nikola Tesla and the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl.
The Philidelphia Experiment is also prominent in the book Sarah's Landing by Elena Dororthy Bowman.
Although the Philadelphia Experiment itself is not directly mentioned, the effects on the USS Eldridge's appearance in a possible alternate universe during its alleged absence is the basis of the comic book series Anna Mercury, written by Warren Ellis and published by Avatar Press.
See also
External links
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- using Metamaterials
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- , supposed "document" of the experiment. 50 Years after Albert Einstein: The Failure of the Unified Field
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