The ‘Philadelphia Experiment’ is a compelling piece of fringe-science conspiracy theory, that proposes that experiments into invisibility during the second world war led to warships disappearing and re-appearing up and down the coast of America, with a good deal of inter-dimensional teleportation thrown in for good measure. Henry Ritson rolls up his sleeves, heads off in search of hard evidence, and finds it has vanished without a trace... My search begins...
My fascination for the so-called ‘Philadelphia Experiment’ started with the need for an entertaining academic diversion within Cambridge University library. I was stuck there one glum English Sunday, in search of enlightenment about the effects of the introduction of the Sweet Potato on the culture of highland New Guinea. After several hours of less than fascinating study, it struck me that, whilst surrounded by every single document ever to have been published within the shores of the British Isles (as indeed I was) there was probably some subject considerably more exciting and challenging here that I could be searching for. As I trudged from shelf to shelf, I began to covet a more glamorous and tantalising holy grail to justify my presence there. But I wasn’t quite sure what.
I was, as ever, in the company of Sparky, who was a theoretical Physicist. Or at least he was in as much as, in theory he was a physicist, though he rarely went to the trouble of putting it into practice. Never hard to distract, Sparky quickly thought of an appropriate goal for our wayward academic instincts. Inspired, I suspect, by a combination of the looming supernatural atmosphere of the Library Building (it looks not dissimilar from the temple of Gozer in Ghostbusters) and a latent guilt about not researching enough Physics, Sparky sent me looking for information about the Philadelphia Experiment.
He informed that during the second world war, the American military gathered together some of the world’s greatest physicists, and tasked them with pushing the very limits of human knowledge in an attempt to come up with some unprecedented technological advantage over the enemy which would enable them to break the current military deadlock. A scientific revolution was called for which could change the face of military history. As it happens they succeeded. Albert Einstein’s work led to the development of the atom bomb, which pretty much hit the nail on the head when it comes to physics changing the face of history. But that wasn’t the good bit. (Actually I classify atoms bombs under BAD).
The mystery surrounds the other projects being worked on by Einstein, along with Dr. John von Neumann, Dr. Nikola Tesla, and others. The most intriguing of these is reported to be that work using huge magnetic fields to make warships ‘invisible’ went rather wrong resulting in ships disappearing and reappearing instantly elsewhere having apparently experienced some kind of teleportation.
I was enthralled. This was much more like it. Abandoned or covered up evidence of top secret military research that could change the world as we new it. Kewl! And here was I, surrounded by everything that existed in the public domain. I abandoned the ‘Sweet Potato Revolution’ in great haste and went a-hunting.
The definitive version of the ‘Philadelphia Experiment’ story was contained in the well-thumbed paperback, "The Philadelphia Experiment" by Charles Berlitz (the man who has made the most money out of the Bermuda Triangle outside of the Bermuda Wreck Retrieval Company). And the story goes like this. So what did we find?
Working from Einstein’s, officially uncompleted ‘Unified Field Theory’, the U.S. Navy set about making their warships invisible to the enemy by bending light around them using massive magnetic fields. Actually, since light goes in straight lines, what we are really talking about here is bending space (and time if you’re looking at it that way), which is a fairly common occurrence, but one more usually associated with major planets than naval Destroyers.
Eyewitness accounts recall that it was all too successful, with the USS Eldridge disappearing in a haze of green mist whilst being experimented on off the coast of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the fall of 1943. More curiously, the same ship was at the same time, reported by passengers on the SS Andrew Furuseth to appear out of nowhere in dock in Norfolk, Virginia, before springing back to its original place in Philadelphia.
It goes on.
Not only did the ship move unexpectedly through space or time, but the poor souls aboard got far more than their money’s worth when the dimensional distortions carried on, for them, even after the magnetic field had been ceased. Sailors apparently regularly ‘froze’ fixed still in time until they snapped out of it or burst into flames, and a local newspaper apparently reported a bar brawl, with the unusual distinction of having the participants become invisible during its course. Indeed there are rumours of sailors aboard suffering the gruesome fate of ending up deposited within and through the metal of the vessel, as if teleported into space already occupied by an object.
The most extreme version of the story in circulation (as featured in the related 1980s’ movie - The Philadelphia Experiment) goes as far to suggest that aliens then turned up to check on what the hell we were doing to the magnetic fields and dimensions that they rather assumed we left alone, and took the sailors away to a parallel dimension etc. etc. I suspect that somewhere on fringes of Usenet, someone is also suggesting that the Mafia ordered the aliens to abduct the sailors and take them to the grassy knoll to help Elvis take out JFK.
So here we have a continuum. At one end is pure fact. At the other end is pure lunacy. In the middle are shades of an incredible and highly entertaining story that if it is true, is of historic importance. The question is - at what point on the continuum does the truth lie.
That question prompts another question. How good are the sources?
In search of sources
Within Berlitz’s book, and other documents I have studied since then, there seem to be three main types of primary source. These three are actually rather typical of any conspiracy theory, so maybe I have come across some kind of unified theory after all.
Anyway, this I find sounds suspiciously like the genuine seed for the story. Some sailor or other could quite accurately state, "They’ve got massive electro-magnets installed in the hull of the ship that make the ship invisible when we turn them on" or whatever, and hence set a rather elaborate rumour rolling, which really picked up steam whenever anyone could make money out of the story. The technical set up is remarkably similar to that described by Allende, though the effects are rather less outlandish! If I had to put my money on any version of the story, this would be the one I would go for, much as I would like to believe that time-space was bent that day. Actually if you asked me at the Six Bells on Saturday night, my gut feel would probably be that teleportation did occur, but I’m writing this on Sunday morning...
Very intense and mysterious letters written by secretive people with a slender grasp of grammar (and arguably reality), and an UNNERVING liking for CAPITAL LETTERS
I am familiar with this type because, running a web site on the Roswell incident, I receive e-mail from them all the time. ("I KNOW this to be TRUE with great much for when THEY TOOK ME AWAY, they GAVE to me also!"). In the case of the Philadelphia Experiment, the whole damn thing seems to be based on the vivid and somewhat unstable writings of one a Carlos Miquel Allende, allegedly an eyewitness, who wrote of his experiences to the late Morris K. Jessup, author of ‘The Case for UFO’s'. Allende provides the bulk of the Philadelphia Experiment mythology, but stayed ominously secretive.
The ‘retired military man who comes out of the woodwork to give tantalising details’
There are quite a lot of these around these days. Maybe the US military just got up to a lot of secretive things, but it seems that these days the best way to boost a military pension is to suddenly recall what really happened that mysterious night in New Mexico etc. etc. It is worth noting that a true conspiracy theorist or x-phile, should scorn any evidence coming from a serving military man, but give substantial weight to one with Ret after their title. But I digress for pointless cynical cheap shots.The point is that there are a few ex-military men who will back-up the writings of Mr Allende, and thus corroborate the story, usually with the advantage of rather more detailed technical information. One, an Alfred D. Bielek, is these days a popular and entertaining speaker on the conference circuit, able to provide a wealth of information on his personal work on the Philadelphia Experiment (also known as Project Rainbow), including intriguing, if often baffling technical information, based on his considerable knowledge as an electronics engineer. Some cynics have pointed out that his recollection of the teleportation aspects only ‘came back to him’ after seeing the movie of the story, and that his photograph of a "Zero Time Reference Generator" looks strangely similar to an old Army field kitchen refrigeration unit. That said, he is certainly a man with a story to tell, and one which is too lengthy to cover here.
Official Navy documents
In the face of relentless requests for information from the curious public, in 1996 the Navy seemed to decide to play ball and actually publish some official statements about the Philadelphia Experiment, or rather, the lack of it. The Navy’s line is that there was no such project. There were no experiments into invisibility. There was no Philadelphia Experiment. There were projects code-named ‘Rainbow’ but they were war plans to defeat Italy, Germany and Japan. The Office of Naval Research didn’t exist until 1946. The US Eldridge was never even in Philadelphia during the fall of 1943, and if you want proof you can buy a copy of the deck log on microfilm via the web. Something of a denial then. I do find the navy documents fairly convincing, but after the four different official explanations of the Roswell crash, I’m waiting to see if we get another official statement on the Philadelphia Experiment yet. What the navy documents do add, is some rather valid points on the subject of degaussing:
"Degaussing is a process in which a system of electrical cables are installed around the circumference of ship's hull, running from bow to stern on both sides. A measured electrical current is passed through these cables to cancel out the ship's magnetic field. Degaussing equipment was installed in the hull of Navy ships and could be turned on whenever the ship was in waters that might contain magnetic mines, usually shallow waters in combat areas. It could be said that degaussing, correctly done, makes a ship "invisible" to the sensors of magnetic mines, but the ship remains visible to the human eye, radar, and underwater listening devices."(They also note, in a rather calm tone, that whilst experimenting with 1,000 hz generators in the 1950’s "the higher frequency generator produced corona discharges, and other well known phenomena associated with high frequency generators". Which though it is kind of ‘slipped-in’ quietly, is quite exciting in the ‘rarely observed phenomena’ line of things.)
However, whilst faced with the eternal choice between believing an official military denial, and some cranky letters, many of us would choose the cranky letters 9 times out of 10. And let’s face - with good reason. The Military are professional deny-ers , and deny things as and when it suits them, even in the face of astonishing amounts of evidence. A more exciting explanation?
Fraser contests that everything that Allende witnessed, as opposed to speculated about (a "scorch" field, fire, optical wavering, a pushing ‘flow’, a misty haze) is consistent with the effects one would experience if they were using a high-power ultrasonic siren to vibrate and heat the area surrounding the boat in order to induce an artificial optical mirage. Though this would by no means have the effect of teleporting the Eldridge to Norfolk, Fraser suggests that it could well play havoc with the crew’s health and consciousness, and give them a rather warped view of the events that followed...
All in all, the Philadelphia Experiment remains an enigma. It has all the traits of a classic piece of contemporary folklore - a root in historical fact, a suggestion of immensely exiting and dangerous scientific advances, possible military cover-ups, a hint of aliens (for good measure) and an almost total absence of reliable primary sources with which to ever prove what actually did happen. I think that it is a wonderful story, and shall always remain curious, but the further you dive into the evidence the more you find that the proponents are either cranky, non-existent (!), or making a fair old profit out of their story. If you want to find out more detail, some good links are included in the table below.
As for the Sweet Potato revolution - I seem to recall that the impact of its introduction on the culture of the Northern Highlands of Papua New Guinea had actually been rather overstated. Agricultural systems, and the cultural structures that go hand in hand with them, had begun to change before the introduction of the sweet potato, and it only really effected a limited area. Or something. It may not have been very earth-shattering, but at least there was plenty of hard evidence if you searched long enough, and it was all in Cambridge University Library. But you probably didn’t want to know that.
I know you’re hooked now - you’ll want to see these:
Web links
I used to have more of these but a lot of them went dead. Sorry.
- The Navy’s Philadelphia Experiment Information Sheet
- The Navy’s more detailed statement about the story (includes order form for buying the Eldridge's deck logs)
- Or if you REALLY want to find out about people doing something cool with high power magnets, read all about the amazing levitating frog experiment!
Related books
Most of these books seem to bring out very mixed opinions in their readers, with responses ranging from "opening your mind to amazing possibilities" to "poorly researched rubbish". Maybe the truth is a mixture of both. I guess you have to make your own mind up... All the below can be purchased online by clicking on the links.
The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility by William L. Moore, Charles Berlitz.
This is the book that started it all off for me. At the time I found it rather hard to track down. Now you can buy it instantly over the internet. How times have changed... The blurb says "the first full-length documented report on a chilling unsolved mystery that's been discussed for years. Now, official documents and first-hand stories have been revealed. Here is the truth in a report so shattering it is difficult to believe it's NOT fiction." [buy this]
Philadelphia Experiment and Other Ufo Conspiracies by Brad Steiger, Alfred Bielek, Sherry Hanson Steiger.
A popular book, featuring writing by "Mr Philadelphia Experiment" Al Bielek. [buy this]
Philadelphia Experiment Chronicles by Commander X
The blurb says "Explores the strange case of Al Bielek - only known survivor of Phila Experiment -- and the mysterious death of famed astronomer Dr. M. K. Jessup who first broke the news about the disappearance of the warship and its subsequent teleportation into another dimension. Also investigates time travel...alternative energy and anti-gravity theories. Highly classified govt/military projects exposed AT LAST!" [buy this]
The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time by Peter Moon, Preston B. Nichols, Nina Helms (Illustrator)
CONSPIRACY JOURNAL.COM says "...blows the whistle on the New World Order's attempt to keep the secrets of instant Teleportation from the public." Well there you go. [buy this]
Teleportation How to Guide : From Star Trek to Tesla by Commander X, Tim Swartz
An amazon reader review says "The authors have managed to cover the subject of teleportation in more depth than you might have thought possible. Everything from the latest findings in the New Physics to tales of 19th Century spiritualists and their apparently supernatural ability to move objects from one place to another using only the power of their minds are chronicled in this lively and intelligent examination of a subject that both appeals to the imagination and challenges the intellect." [buy this]Related DVDs/Videos
The Philadelphia Experiment
Yup. This is the science fiction movie they made inspired by the myth/events. Don't go here looking for the "truth". Quite the opposite. This is the most extreme version of the story. But it is apparently "a pretty good, solid piece of B-Movie sci fi". "Loosely based on actual events during World War II, the U.S. government tests a naval battleship to see if it can disappear from radar by using high powered electromagentic energy. The writers, producer (John Carpenter, HALLOWEEN), and director, have used these events to create an entertaining time travel story in which during the experiment, two of the crewmen are transported through time to 1984 and must find their way back". [buy this]
The Philadelphia Experiment 2
You guessed it - they made a sequel. [buy this]Al Bielek Speaking On the Philadelphia Part 1
Hear Al Bielek doing what he does: Talking about what he claims are the real facts, details and events that he experienced first hand. This is the closest you will get to hearing the events recounted first hand - providing Al is telling the truth.Al Bielek Speaking On the Philadelphia Part 2
More of the above.
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