The Real Philadelphia Experiment
Did a US Navy warship completely disappear in 1943?
Filed under Conspiracies, Paranormal, Urban Legends
| Skeptoid #16 December 24, 2006 Podcast transcript | Listen | Subscribe |
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Today we're going to pull a giant switch on the wall and activate powerful generators, which will create a mysterious force field around us and cause us all to disappear. For we're going to discuss the perennially silly "Philadelphia Experiment."
The story goes that in October of 1943, at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, an experiment was conducted aboard a US Navy Cannon-class destroyer escort called the USS Eldridge, number DE-173. The experiment involved the creation of a force field which rendered the ship invisible both to the eye and to radar. The experiment was witnessed by hundreds, possibly thousands, of sailors both ashore and on other ships nearby. Unfortunately, there were severe side effects to the crew on board ship. Some were found materialized inside the metal of the ship, others were never seen again, and still others were driven insane or plagued for years by mysterious cases of phasing in and out of existence. In typical Navy fashion, everything has been denied.
None of the above ever actually happened. What follows, did actually happen.
The secret of the mysterious experiment and its terrible aftermath was kept for 12 years, until one day when Morris Jessup, the author of a book about UFO's, was unexpectedly summoned to the US Navy's Office of Naval Research. The ONR had received, in the mail, a copy of Jessup's UFO book, filled with handwritten annotations. The notes were all in the same handwriting, but in three characters, in three colors of ink. The notes revealed all the details of the Philadelphia Experiment, and the ONR wanted to know if Jessup knew anything about who might have written these notes and sent the book to them.
Jessup recognized the crazy handwriting immediately. He had received a series of letters from a man calling himself Carlos Allende, who claimed to have witnessed the experiment from aboard a merchant marine ship nearby, the SS Andrew Furuseth. Jessup had dismissed Allende as a crackpot — among Allende's claims was that Albert Einstein had personally spent several weeks mentoring him on subjects such as invisibility and faster-than-light travel. Several copies of the annotated book were produced, and the rest is history: The Philadelphia Experiment story became part of the fabric of pop culture.
Robert Goerman, a researcher of the paranormal and a friend of mine, noticed that the return address of Allende's original mailing to the ONR came from his own home town, New Kensington, Pennsylvania. He had spent some time putting together the history of the Philadelphia Experiment story and in 1979, found to his great surprise that Carlos Allende, whose real name was Carl Allen, was the son of a close family friend. Over time, Goerman filled in the blanks and presented the complete case in magazine articles and on television shows such as History's Mysteries, Unsolved Mysteries, and The Unexplained — three show titles which by themselves lend far too much credence to Carl Allen's stories. Carl Allen was something of the dark horse of the family, a creative and imaginative loner, notorious for annotating anything and everything in the house, and sending bizarre writings and claims to everyone in the family for any occasion. Goerman also assembled all of the facts of the USS Eldridge: little things, like the ship was nowhere near Philadelphia when the experiment happened, the ship had detailed corroborated records for the normal duties that it was in fact performing at the time, and that nobody who had ever been a crewman on board the ship knew anything about any experiment. The Eldridge had been launched only two months before the experiment, and you'd think that if it was hosting Albert Einstein and the most amazing experiment in history, somebody would have known about it. Without exception, every single fact that Carl Allen presented as evidence of the Philadelphia Experiment has been easily proven to be a complete fabrication.
And therein lies the problem. The trouble with discussing government conspiracies is that the believers generally refuse to accept the factual evidence, because it becomes part of the conspiracy. It's a bit like having a debate about Creationism: believers simply say "God did it" and it's a matter of faith, not of evidence or fact. If the government is trying to cover something up, every falsified claim becomes evidence for the conspiracy. In summary, there is no amount of evidence that can be compiled that will be accepted by a conspiracy theorist. In the conspiracy theorist's mind, evidence against is actually evidence for.
Among this schizophrenic evidence is the US Navy's reply to the Philadelphia Experiment story, which is available online at http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq21-1.htm. As you might surmise, it simply says that they have no idea what this guy could be talking about, here's where both ships were and what they were doing at the time, and here are the statements from their officers. It's an entertaining report, but predictable.
Interestingly, there are some question marks left standing about the Philadelphia Experiment. As you might expect, two or three veterans of the Eldridge and the USS Engstrom, which was once moored alongside the Eldrige in 1943, have claimed to be a guy whom Allende saw disappear in a bar or who have found themselves transported across dimensions. It should be noted that such claims were made well after the Philadelphia Experiment became a pop-culture phenomenon, and in more than one case it turned out that these guys were not actually veterans at all. A more interesting question comes from the very genesis of the story, when the Navy ONR first summoned Morris Jessup to their office to talk about the strangely annotated book. If there was nothing in those annotations of genuine interest to them, why did they call?
Who knows. Goerman suggested that these ONR officers did this on their own time out of personal intrigue, or that some of the allusions in the annotations were similar to actual Navy research and the ONR was simply being responsible at following every lead. Conspiracy theorists maintain that this proves Allen's annotations must have been true. Whatever the truth, I happen to love that this story has this annoying little footnote that can't be easily explained away. I love a good mystery and I remember a streak of disappointment when Goerman's debunking of the case was laid out before me — like most people I'd done no thorough research of my own and only knew what the average moviegoer knows about the Philadelphia Experiment. Intellectually I know the story is silly, but I still love that little loose end. Carl Allen may have been a prankster, but I thank him for making the century just that little bit more interesting.
You should follow me on twitter here.
© 2006 Skeptoid Media, Inc. Copyright information
References & Further Reading
Barnes, M., Houpt, F., Schelm, G. "Al Bielek finally debunked." Al Bielek Debunked. Golf Sierra, 18 Jun. 2003. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. <http://www.bielek-debunked.com/>
Broderick, James F., Miller, Darren W. Web of Conspiracy: A Guide to Conspiracy Theory Sites on the Internet. Medford, N.J.: CyberAge Books, 2008. 175-188.
Goerman, Robert A. "Alias Carlos Allende: The Mystery Man Behind the Philadelphia Experiment." FATE Magazine. 2 Oct. 1980, Volume 33, Number 10.
Knight, Peter. Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2003. 583-585.
Vallee, Jacques F. "Anatomy of a Hoax: The Philadelphia Experiment Fifty Years Later." Journal of Scientific Exploration. 1 Oct. 1994, 8: 47-71.
Reference this article:
Dunning, Brian.
"The Real Philadelphia Experiment." Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, Inc.,
24 Dec 2006. Web.
2 Sep 2010. <http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4016>
Discuss!
5 most recent comments | Show all 62 comments
Remember, you should always read with skepticism the comments of anyone too lame to put their real name & city.
NIKOLA TESLA, THE SERBIAN AMERICAN GREATEST MASTERMIND MAN
WHO MADE A FOUNDATION FOR ALL GLOBAL
CIVILIZATION IN EVERY DIRECTION
Nikola Tesla 1879 at age 23
1856-1943
Nikola Tesla; born in 10 July 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia - died 7 January 1943 in New York) was an inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer
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Look
kassahun Mammo, Africa, Ethiopia
May 30, 2010 5:04am
With reference to the comment by Adam of Gulf Breeze, I did not know about the spontaneous comas of 3 of the people who claim to have been involved in the Montauk Project. Very interesting. Thank-you for the information.
With reference to the comment by Casper of Bowling Green, I have commented elsewhere (on another site) my opinion that Al Bielek's story may have been added to by him over the years as a result of titbits of information fed to him indirectly by the powers-that-be. Such information could easily be designed to be false, but none of Mr. Bielek's fans would bother to check such details (especially if they would be likely to depreciate the value of their "hero").
Some other people come up with a valid debunking and nobody with a brain believes anything the said person writes or says any more.
This is a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Such planted dis-information would be designed to discredit somebody like Al Bielek, but that does not mean that there is absolutely no truth in what he claims.
In fact, if he had some basis of truth in his claims, that, in itself, would be a perfectly good reason for planting said dis-information.
As a final comment, there WAS an experiment of SOME kind done on a ship at around that time in that area. I read on another site (I forget which) that there were 2 "Eldridges". 1 was a prototype, and was used in the experiments, and the other was the "production model" which is the 1 shown in records.
Paul Arthur Reeves, Ryde, U. K.
June 05, 2010 2:33pm
I actually saw footage of Al Bielek's famous 1990 speech not long after the fact. I was absolutely stunned and, not knowing his name or anything else (like where exactly the speech was, though it was obviously at a conference about UFOs), I have tried to get more info since. I recently found out his name, and how his story has changed CONSIDERABLY since the well-known version I saw. I was dismayed to find him outright contradicting himself, and started to realise he is one of those sad attention-getters who prey on those with open minds, not just in a pathetic cry of "Look at MEEE!!!", but also for the dollars. I know he has "fans" who would defend him to the bitter end, even if he admitted it was all fake (they would claim the Govt. silenced him with fear of deportation to 65 million years ago or some such!)... but you have to be objective and see he is not even concerned about the flagrant contradictions he himself has perpetuated. I have not been influenced by any debunkers - simply compared the story I heard come from his own mouth with what he has on his website now, and thought "Whoa! Hold on - what happened here??". Seems MANY others have noticed too. If you are TRULY objective, and not just some sad kook who believes any conspiracy theory, you should look into it too. A good place to start is http://www.bielek-debunked.com/. Sorry to burst any bubbles, but there's nothing dignified about allowing yourself to be led on by an outright liar who keeps changing the story!
Paul Atreides, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
August 05, 2010 6:41pm
So were they just working on a new militarised Philidelphia Cheese Steak?
Tom H, Kent, UK
August 19, 2010 9:50am
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IF you are not aware- this Project was continued at Fort Hero in Montauk, New York. The story goes that every twenty years the same rip in time and space is easily accessed. These are called "nodes". They were observed by the native americans and are counted in the Mayan calendar. Every twenty years since the Philadelphia Experiment- the covert military have conducted experiments. This was discussed by Al Bielek in early 2003- shortly before the 60 year node. He claimed that the military would be able to access the "portal" and only be able to hold it open for a few days. He also claimed that there would be a large "electro magnetic disturbance" in the area of the clandestine top secret bases, involved with the experiment.
On August 14, 2003 the east coast experienced the greatest black-out known to the western world... with no explanation.
Interestingly, three of the major players in the "Montauk Project" were in unexplainable spontaneous comas at this time.
What now?
Adam, Gulf Breeze, Fl
May 10, 2010 6:06pm