The
Philadelphia Experiment is the name of an alleged naval military experiment said to have been carried out at the
Philadelphia Naval ShipyardThe Philadelphia Naval Business Center, formerly known as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. The U.S. Navy reduced its activities there in the 1990s, and ended most of them on September 30, 1995...
in
Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, USA sometime around October 28, 1943. It is alleged that the
U.S. NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
destroyer escortA destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...
USS EldridgeUSS Eldridge , a , was a ship of the United States Navy named for Lieutenant Commander John Eldridge, Jr., a hero of the invasion of the Solomon Islands. Its keel was laid down by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newark, New Jersey. Eldridge was launched on 25 July 1943, sponsored...
was to be rendered
invisibleInvisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be invisible . The term is usually used as a fantasy/science fiction term, where objects are literally made unseeable by magical or technological means; however, its effects can also be seen in the real...
(or "
cloakedCloaking devices are advanced stealth technologies still in development that will cause objects, such as spaceships or individuals, to be partially or wholly invisible to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum...
") to enemy devices. The experiment is also referred to as
Project RainbowProject Rainbow was the name given by the CIA to a research project aimed at reducing the radar cross section of the Lockheed U-2 to reduce the chance that it would be detected and tracked by Soviet radars during its overflights of the USSR.-Early Flights:...
.
The story is widely regarded as a
hoaxA hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
. The U.S. Navy maintains that no such experiment occurred, and details of the story contradict well-established facts about the
Eldridge, as well as the known laws of physics. The story has captured imaginations of people in
conspiracy theoryA conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
circles, and they repeat elements of the Philadelphia Experiment in other government conspiracy theories.
Synopsis
Note: Several different and sometimes contradictory versions of the alleged experiment have circulated over the years. The following synopsis illustrates key story points common to most accounts.
The experiment was allegedly based on an aspect of the
unified field theoryIn physics, a unified field theory, occasionally referred to as a uniform field theory, is a type of field theory that allows all that is usually thought of as fundamental forces and elementary particles to be written in terms of a single field. There is no accepted unified field theory, and thus...
, a term coined by
Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
. The Unified Field Theory aims to describe mathematically and physically the interrelated nature of the forces that comprise
electromagnetic radiationElectromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that exhibits wave-like behavior as it travels through space...
and
gravityGravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
, although to date, no single theory has successfully expressed these relationships in viable mathematical or physical terms.
According to the accounts, researchers thought that some version of this Unified Field Theory would enable the Navy to use large electrical generators to bend light around an object so that it became completely invisible. The Navy would have regarded this as being of obvious military value, and according to the accounts, it sponsored the experiment.
Another version of the story proposes that 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 GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
to find antigravity, allegedly led by
SSThe Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
-
ObergruppenführerObergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
Hans KammlerGeneral Dr Ing. Hans Friedrich Karl Franz Kammler was a civil engineer and high-ranking officer of the SS. He oversaw SS construction projects, and towards the end of World War II was put in charge of the V-2 missile programme.He is most commonly referred to as Heinz Kammler or Hans...
.
In most accounts of the experiment, the destroyer escort was fitted with the required equipment at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. Testing began in the summer of 1943, and it was supposedly successful to a limited degree. One test, on July 22, 1943, resulted in the
Eldridge being rendered almost completely invisible, with some witnesses reporting a "greenish fog" appearing in its place. Crew members supposedly complained of severe
nauseaNausea , is a sensation of unease and discomfort in the upper stomach with an involuntary urge to vomit. It often, but not always, precedes vomiting...
afterwards. Also, it is said that when the ship reappeared, some sailors were embedded in the metal structures of the ship, including one sailor who ended up on a deck level below that where he began, and had his hand embedded in the steel hull of the ship. At that point, it is said that the experiment was altered at the request of the Navy, with the new objective being solely to render the
Eldridge invisible to radar. None of these allegations have been independently substantiated.
The conjecture then alleges that the equipment was not properly re-calibrated, but in spite of this, the experiment was repeated on October 28, 1943. This time, the
Eldridge not only became invisible, but she physically vanished from the area in a flash of blue light and
teleportedTeleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
to
Norfolk, VirginiaNorfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, over 200 miles (321.9 km) away. It is claimed that the
Eldridge sat for some time in full view of men aboard the ship , whereupon the
Eldridge vanished from their sight, and then reappeared in Philadelphia at the site it had originally occupied. It was also said that the warship traveled back in time for about 10 seconds.
Many versions of the tale include descriptions of serious side effects for the crew. Some crew members were said to have been physically fused to bulkheads, while others suffered from mental disorders, and still others supposedly simply vanished. It is also claimed that the ship's crew may have been subjected to brainwashing, in order to maintain the secrecy of the experiment.
Morris Jessup and Carlos Miguel Allende
In 1955,
Morris K. JessupMorris Ketchum Jessup , had a Master of Science Degree in astronomy and, though employed for most of his life as an automobile-parts salesman and a photographer, is probably best remembered for his pioneering ufological writings and his role in "uncovering" the so-called "Philadelphia...
, an astronomer and former graduate-level researcher, published
The Case for the UFO, a book about
unidentified flying objectA term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
s that contains some theories about the different means of propulsion that flying-saucer-style UFOs might use. Jessup speculated that antigravity or the manipulation of electromagnetism may be responsible for the observed flight behavior of UFOs. He lamented, both in the book and during the publicity tour that followed, that
space flightSpacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advantages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the...
research was concentrated in the area of
rocketA rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
ry, and that little attention had been paid to other theoretical means of flight, which he felt might ultimately be more fruitful. Jessup emphasized that a breakthrough revision of Albert Einstein's "Unified Field Theory" would be critical in powering a future generation of spacecraft.
On January 13, 1955, Jessup received a letter from a man who identified himself as one "Carlos Allende". In the letter, Allende informed Jessup of the "Philadelphia Experiment", alluding to two poorly sourced contemporary newspaper articles as proof. Allende directly responded to Jessup's call for research on the "Unified Field Theory", which he referred to as "UFT". According to Allende, Einstein had solved the theory, but had suppressed it, since mankind was not ready for it—a confession that the scientist allegedly shared with the mathematician and philosopher
Bertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
. Allende also said that he had witnessed the
Eldridge appear and disappear while serving aboard the , a nearby merchant ship. Allende named other crew members with whom he served aboard the
Andrew Furuseth, and claimed to know the fate of some of the crew members of the
Eldridge after the experiment, including one whom he witnessed disappearing during a chaotic fight in a bar. Although Allende claimed to have observed the experiment while on the
Andrew Furuseth, he provided no substantiation of his other claims linking the experiment with the Unified Field Theory, no evidence of Einstein's alleged resolution of the theory, and no proof of Einstein's alleged private confession to Russell.
Jessup replied to Allende by a postcard, asking for further evidence and corroboration. The reply arrived months later, with the correspondent identifying himself as "Carl M. Allen". Allen said that he could not provide the details for which Jessup was asking, but he implied that he might be able to recall some by means of
hypnosisHypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
. Suspecting that Allende/Allen was a fraud, Jessup discontinued the correspondence.
Conspiracy theorists say that Jessup's postcard used to respond to Allende publicized their correspondence. They think the Government intervened to disrupt the correspondence by replacing Allende with Allen, who was possibly a CIA agent monitoring Allende's inbound mail. Allende was accessible to the community of "Philadelphia Experiment" researchers for years, which disproves any alleged intervention by the Government.
The Office of Naval Research and the Varo annotation
According to a 2002 book by the popular writers James Moseley and Karl Pflock, in early 1957, Jessup was contacted by the
Office of Naval ResearchThe Office of Naval Research , headquartered in Arlington, Virginia , is the office within the United States Department of the Navy that coordinates, executes, and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S...
(ONR) in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and was asked to study the contents of a parcel that it had received. Upon his arrival, Jessup was surprised to learn that a paperback copy of his UFO book had been mailed to the ONR in a manila envelope marked "Happy Easter." The book had been extensively annotated in its margins, and an ONR officer asked Jessup if he had any idea as to who had done so.
Moseley and Pflock claim that the lengthy annotations were written with three different shades of pink ink, and they appeared to detail a correspondence among three individuals, only one of which is given a name: "Jemi". The ONR labelled 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 non-standard use of capitalization and punctuation, and detailed a lengthy discussion of the merits of various elements of Jessup's assumptions in the book. Their oblique references to the Philadelphia Experiment 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 from the same person, using three pens. The annotated book supposedly sparked sufficient interest for the ONR to fund 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. His publisher rejected several other manuscripts. In 1958, his wife left him, and his friends described him as being depressed and somewhat unstable when he traveled to New York. After returning to Florida, he was involved in a serious car accident and was slow to recover, which added to his depression. He was found dead on April 20, 1959, and the death was ruled a suicide.
Repetition of story
There have been non-fiction and fictional accounts of the legend:
In 1963,
Vincent GaddisVincent Hayes Gaddis was an American author who coined the phrase "Bermuda Triangle" in a February 1964 Argosy cover piece. He popularized many stories about anomalous phenomena in a style similar to that of Charles Fort.Gaddis was born in Ohio to Tilden H. and Alice M. Gaddis. He married...
published the non-fiction
Invisible Horizons: True Mysteries of the Sea, in which he recounted the story of the experiment from the Varo annotation.
In 1978, the writers George E. Simpson and Neal R. Burger published a novel called
Thin Air. While influenced by the published lore of the "Philadelphia Experiment",
Thin Air is a fictional thriller. In the tale set in the present day, a Naval Investigative Service officer investigates several threads linking wartime invisibility experiments to a conspiracy involving teleportation technology.
In 1979,
Charles BerlitzCharles Frambach Berlitz was an American linguist and language teacher known for his books on anomalous phenomena, as well as his language-learning courses. He is listed in The People's Almanac as one of the fifteen most eminent linguists in the world.-Life:Berlitz was born in New York City...
and his co-author, William L. Moore, a ufologist, published
The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility, which purported to be a factual account. More recently Simon R. Green included the myth in his book
The Spy Who Haunted Me. Paul Violette's book
Secrets of Anti-Gravity Propulsion recounts some mysterious involvement of the physicist
Thomas Townsend BrownThomas Townsend Brown was an American physicist.-Early and middle years:Brown was born in Zanesville, Ohio; his parents were Lewis K. and Mary Townsend Brown. In 1921, Brown discovered what was later called the Biefeld-Brown effect while experimenting with a Coolidge X-ray tube. This is a vacuum...
of the Philadelphia Navy yard.
Hollywood interpretation and the Bielek testimony
In 1984, the story was adapted as a film,
The Philadelphia ExperimentThe Philadelphia Experiment is a 1984 science fiction film. It is directed by Stewart Raffill and stars Michael Paré, Bobby Di Cicco, and Nancy Allen.-Overview:...
, directed by
Stewart RaffillStewart Raffill is an American director and writer of many films.Raffill's The Philadelphia Experiment, won the "Best Film" award of the 1985 Fantafestival. While You Were Waiting, won the Silver Award in the Short Dramatic category of the 2002 Atlantic City Film Festival. In 2009, he directed...
. Though based only loosely on the prior accounts of the "Experiment", it served to dramatize the core elements of the original story. In 1990, Alfred Bielek, a self-proclaimed former crew-member of the USS
Eldridge and an alleged witness of the "Experiment", supported the version as it was portrayed in the movie. He added details of his "witness" through the Internet, some of which were picked up by mainstream outlets.
In 2003, a small team of investigators, including the American Marshall Barnes, the Canadian Fred Houpt, and the German Gerold Schelm, rejected Bielek's story of his participation in the "Philadelphia Experiment." Their consensus was that Bielek was nowhere near the ship at the proposed time of the experiment.
The horror/action movie
Outpost-Plot:In a seedy bar in a town ravaged by war, scientist and businessman Hunt hires mercenary and former Royal Marine D.C. to assemble a crack team of ex-soldiers to protect him on a dangerous journey into no-man's land...
, in which the Nazi Germans were supposedly conducting similar tests on soldiers, has a reference to the Philadelphia Experiment.
The 2008 science fiction
100 Million BC100 Million BC is a 2008 direct-to-DVD action film by The Asylum.-Plot:The film centers on a group of Navy SEALs, led by American Dr. Frank Reno , who once worked on the Philadelphia Experiment. The film begins in 2008, when Reno has purportedly perfected time travel technology...
has a clear reference to Philadelphia Experiment or The Rainbow Project.
Evidence
Research into the supposed "Experiment" has revealed many contradictions and inconsistencies in the accounts. No scientific support for the described phenomena or the purported events has surfaced.
Evidence and research
Many observers argue that it is inappropriate to grant much credence to an unusual story promoted by one individual, in the absence of more conclusive corroborating evidence. Robert Goerman wrote in
Fate magazine in 1980, that "Carlos Allende" / "Carl Allen" was Carl Meredith Allen of
New Kensington, PennsylvaniaNew Kensington is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania situated along the Allegheny River northeast of Pittsburgh. The population was 14,701 at the 2000 Census. The mayor of New Kensington is Tom Guzzo , elected in 2009. He succeeded Mayor Frank E. Link , elected in 2001.-History:New...
, who had an established history of psychiatric illness, and who may have fabricated the primary history of the experiment as a result of his mental illness. Some sources indicate that Allen was a known prankster, and that the "Philadelphia Experiment" story may have been an elaborate hoax.
The historian
Mike DashMike Dash is a Welsh writer, historian and researcher. He is best known for his books and articles looking at unusual historical events, anomalous phenomena, and strange beliefs.-Biography:...
notes that many authors who publicized the "Philadelphia Experiment" story after that of Jessup appeared to have conducted little or no research of their own: through the late 1970s, for example, Allende/Allen was often described as mysterious and difficult to locate. But Goerman determined Allende/Allen's identity after only a few telephone calls. Others speculate that much of the key literature emphasizes dramatic embellishment rather than pertinent research. Berlitz and Moore's account of the story (
The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility) claimed to include supposedly factual information, such as transcripts of an interview with a scientist involved in the experiment, their work has also been criticized for
plagiarisingPlagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
key story elements from the novel
Thin Air which was published a year earlier.
Scientific aspects
The claims of the Philadelphia experiment contradict the known laws of physics. Magnetic fields cannot bend light waves according to
Maxwell's equationsMaxwell's equations are a set of partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electrodynamics, classical optics, and electric circuits. These fields in turn underlie modern electrical and communications technologies.Maxwell's equations...
. While Einstein's theory of
general relativityGeneral relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...
shows that light waves can be bent near the surface of an extremely massive object, such as the sun or a
black holeA black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
, current human technology cannot manipulate the astronomical amounts of matter needed to do this.
No
Unified Field TheoryIn physics, a unified field theory, occasionally referred to as a uniform field theory, is a type of field theory that allows all that is usually thought of as fundamental forces and elementary particles to be written in terms of a single field. There is no accepted unified field theory, and thus...
exists, although it is a subject of ongoing research. William Moore claimed in his book on the "Philadelphia Experiment" that Albert Einstein completed, and destroyed, a theory before his death. This is not supported by historians and scientists familiar with Einstein's work. Moore bases his theory on Carl Allen's letter to Jessup, in which Allen refers to a conversation between Einstein and
Bertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
acknowledging that the theory had been solved, but that man was not ready for it.
Shortly before his death in 1943, the physicist
Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
was said to have completed some kind of a "Unified Field Theory". It was never published.
These claims are completely at odds with modern
physics. While it is true that Einstein attempted to unify gravity with electromagnetism based on
classical physicsWhat "classical physics" refers to depends on the context. When discussing special relativity, it refers to the Newtonian physics which preceded relativity, i.e. the branches of physics based on principles developed before the rise of relativity and quantum mechanics...
, his geometric approaches, called
classical unified field theoriesSince the 19th century, some physicists have attempted to develop a single theoretical framework that can account for the fundamental forces of nature – a unified field theory. Classical unified field theories are attempts to create a unified field theory based on classical physics...
,
ignored the modern developments of
quantum theoryQuantum theory may mean:In science:*Quantum mechanics: a subset of quantum physics explaining the physical behaviours at atomic and sub-atomic levels*Old quantum theory under the Bohr model...
and the discovery of the strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force. Most physicists consider his overall approach to be unsuccessful. Attempts by recent scientists to develop a unified theory focus on the development of a quantum theory that includes gravitation. If a unified field theory were discovered, it would not offer a practical engineering method to bend light waves around a large object like a battleship.
While very limited "invisibility cloaks" have recently been developed using
metamaterialMetamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties that may not be found in nature. Metamaterials usually gain their properties from structure rather than composition, using small inhomogeneities to create effective macroscopic behavior....
, these are unrelated to theories linking electromagnetism with gravity.
Timeline inconsistencies
The USS
Eldridge was not commissioned until August 27, 1943, and it remained in port in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
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 claim that the ship's logs might have been falsified, or else still be classified.
The
Office of Naval ResearchThe Office of Naval Research , headquartered in Arlington, Virginia , is the office within the United States Department of the Navy that coordinates, executes, and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S...
(ONR) stated in September 1996, "ONR has never conducted investigations on radar invisibility, either in 1943 or at any other time". Pointing out that the ONR was not established until 1946, it denounces the accounts of the Philadelphia Experiment as complete "science fiction".
A reunion of navy veterans who had served aboard the USS
Eldridge told a Philadelphia newspaper in April 1999 that their ship had never made port in Philadelphia. Further evidence discounting the Philadelphia Experiment timeline comes from the USS
Eldridge’s complete World War II action report, including the remarks section of the 1943 deck log, available on microfilm.
Alternative explanations
Researcher
Jacques ValléeJacques Fabrice Vallée is a venture capitalist, computer scientist, author, ufologist and former astronomer currently residing in San Francisco, California....
describes a procedure on board the , which was docked alongside the
Eldridge in 1943. The operation involved the generation of a powerful electromagnetic field on board the ship in order to
deperm or degaussDeperming, or degaussing, is a procedure for erasing the permanent magnetism from ships and submarines to camouflage them against magnetic detection vessels and enemy marine mines....
it, with the goal of rendering the ship undetectable or "invisible" to magnetically-fused undersea
minesA naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
and
torpedoThe modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es. This system was invented by a Canadian, and the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and other navies used it widely during WWII. British ships of the era often included such degaussing systems built into the upper decks (the conduits are still visible on the deck of in London, for example). Degaussing is still used today. However, it has absolutely no effect on visible light or radar. Vallée speculates that accounts of the USS
Engstrom’s degaussing might have been garbled and confabulated in subsequent retellings, and that these accounts may have influenced the story of the so-called "Philadelphia Experiment".
According to Vallée, a Navy veteran who served on board the USS
Engstrom noted that the
Eldridge might indeed have travelled from Philadelphia to Norfolk and back again in a single day at a time when merchant ships could not: by use of the
Chesapeake and Delaware CanalThe Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is a 14-mile long, 450-foot wide and 40-foot deep ship canal that cuts across the states of Maryland and Delaware, in the United States. It connects the waters of the Delaware River with those of the Chesapeake Bay and the Port of Baltimore...
and the
Chesapeake BayThe Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
, which at the time was open only to naval vessels. Use of that channel was kept quiet: German submarines had ravaged shipping along the East Coast during Operation Drumbeat, and thus military ships unable to protect themselves were secretly moved via canals to avoid the threat. This same veteran claims to be the man that Allende witnessed “disappearing” 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 for drinking. They then covered for him by claiming that he had disappeared.
Cultural references
The Philadelphia experiment was the subject of a 1984 Sci-Fi
movie of the same nameThe Philadelphia Experiment is a 1984 science fiction film. It is directed by Stewart Raffill and stars Michael Paré, Bobby Di Cicco, and Nancy Allen.-Overview:...
. Numerous versions of the experiment have been featured in films, books and video games.
The Half Life video game series' story of the Borealis, seems to be based on the story of the Philadelphia Experiment.
The computer game
Command & Conquer: Red AlertCommand & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy computer game of the Command & Conquer franchise, produced by Westwood Studios and released by Virgin Interactive in...
references this in a video regarding the Allied Chronosphere, in which footage is shown of a ship disappearing then reappearing seconds later. One of the commanders remarks that some of the men on board died and the process is still experimental.
The experiment has been the subject of several television shows dealing with the
paranormalParanormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
and with conspiracy theories, including
The Unexplained,
History's MysteriesHistory's Mysteries is an American documentary television series on the History Channel.-Overview:The 154 episodes of the series were produced from 1994-2006. Each season consisted of 12 to 14 one-hour episodes that focused on historical events or subjects considered to be mysterious by the general...
,
Vanishings!,
Unsolved MysteriesUnsolved Mysteries is an American television program, hosted by Robert Stack, from 1987 until 2002, and later by Dennis Farina, starting in 2008...
, and
Dark Matters: Twisted But TrueDark Matters: Twisted But True is a television series featured on the Science Channel. It is hosted by John Noble.- External Links :*...
(aired Oct. 31, 2011, 12-1pm MDT, repeat).
It has been used in film and literature to explain time travel and non-linear plots, such as in
William S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
novel
Cities of the Red NightCities of the Red Night is a novel by American author William S. Burroughs. It is part of his final trilogy of novels, known as The Red Night Trilogy, followed by The Place of Dead Roads and The Western Lands, and was first published in 1981. It was his first full-length novel since The Wild Boys a...
or the movie
100 Million BC100 Million BC is a 2008 direct-to-DVD action film by The Asylum.-Plot:The film centers on a group of Navy SEALs, led by American Dr. Frank Reno , who once worked on the Philadelphia Experiment. The film begins in 2008, when Reno has purportedly perfected time travel technology...
.
References to the experiment can be found in many other works, including
The X-FilesThe X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
, season two episode nineteen
Død Kalm,
Sanctuary,
The Triangle, the
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
audio drama
The MacrosThe Macros is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. -Plot:...
, the collaborative science-fiction novella "Green Fire" and the novels
The Spy who Haunted Me,
Ship of the Damned, and
Retromancer.
The experiment is also referenced again in Doctor Who, in the fourth
Doctor Who:The Adventure GamesDoctor Who: The Adventure Games is a series of episodic third-person adventure games, based on the BBC TV series Doctor Who and developed by Sumo Digital. Charles Cecil served as executive producer and worked with Sean Millard and Will Tarratt on the design...
release, "Shadows of the Vashta Nerada".
The date and name 'Philadelphia experiment' are referred to in the first game of the video game series:
Assassin's CreedAssassin's Creed is an award-winning historical third person, stealth action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The bulk of the game takes place during the Third Crusade, with the plot revolving around a sect known as the Secret Order of...
. The password to access the conference room is 10281943 [the date in American format] and an email also refers to the 'project'. An email to one of the characters in the game mentions that the ship, instead of turning invisible, "briefly manifested in a future state for approximately 18 minutes." The same email also says that the fictional company that engineered the project, Abstergo Industries, chose to drop the project, "citing paradox concerns."
The ships barometer from the
Eldridge is an Artifact on the
SyfySyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
show
Warehouse 13Warehouse 13 is an American fantasy television series that premiered on July 7, 2009 on the Syfy network.Executive-produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins, the dramatic comedy from Universal Media Studios has been described as borrowing much from 1980s television series Friday the 13th: The...
. Activating it freezes time in a localized area for forty-seven seconds, with the person who activated it being unaffected.
See also
- Andrew Furuseth
Andrew Furuseth of Romedal, Norway was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader. Furuseth was active in the formation of two influential maritime unions: the Sailors' Union of the Pacific and the International Seamen's Union, and served as the executive of both for decades.Furuseth was...
, namesake of the S.S. Andrew Furuseth
- Morris K. Jessup
Morris Ketchum Jessup , had a Master of Science Degree in astronomy and, though employed for most of his life as an automobile-parts salesman and a photographer, is probably best remembered for his pioneering ufological writings and his role in "uncovering" the so-called "Philadelphia...
- Camp Hero
- List of conspiracy theories
External links