The Navy, in a search for a plausible answer, has suggested that perhaps the Philadelphia Experiment was confused with experiments done attempting invisibility to magnetic mines. This was a process known as degaussing. The Navy defines degaussing as:
"...a process in which a system of electrical cables are installed around the circumference of the 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..."
Allende's story was bizarre; he stated that he had witnessed the Eldridge being transported instantaneously to Norfolk from Philadelphia and back again in a matter of minutes. Upon researching the matter further, he learned of extremely odd occurrences associated with the project and wrote a basic summation of his newly learned knowledge in a letter to Dr. Morris K. Jessup. Dr. Jessup was an astronomerand Allende had been in the audience of one of Dr. Jessup's lectures. Apparently having some respect for the man, he decided to entrust Dr. Jessup with his knowledge. The letters were written oddly: with capitalization, punctuation, and underlines located in various places. The letters were also written in several colors. In his letters, Allende revealed horrifying details of the Philadelphia Experiment to Dr. Jessup. Because Dr. Jessup was something of a believer in odd phenomenon he did not entirely dismiss the ideas presented to him. He wrote back to Allende and requested new information. The return address upon the letter never existed according to the mail service, yet Allende still received Dr. Jessup's reply. Allende responded with more detailed letters but the correspondence eventually discontinued because Dr. Jessup dismissed it as a hoax. During the time of Dr. Jessup's and Allende's correspondence, Dr. Jessup had just recently published his book titled The Case for UFO's. After Allende had written to Dr. Jessup, this book was sent to the Navy and had hand-written notes inside the book. The notes were in the same writing as in the letters sent to Dr. Jessup and eventually Dr. Jessup was asked by the Navy to view the notes.
Dr. Jessup recognized the writing immediately, but he was somewhat astonished, as he had concluded earlier that it was merely a hoax to trick him. The notes in the book were more detailed than in the letters and were highly insightful, so Dr. Jessup eventually believedthem and researched the matter. Unfortunately, Dr. Jessup could not find any new leads. Only one antalizingclue had shown up. Two crewmen had been walking in a park when a haggard looking man approached them.The man told them a fantastic story about an experiment done in which most of the crew died or suffered terrible side effects. He said that the government then claimed the entire crew was insane so that when they came forward, they would merely be dismissed as a group of crazy people who had merely concocted some fantastic story. After the conversation, one crew member was convinced while the other was not. Eventually, the member that had been convinced contacted Dr. Jessup and told him the story. Although this was a substantial lead, Dr. Jessup was not getting very far and he found that his reputation in the scientific community was worsening. Faced with overwhelming odds, Dr. Jessup eventually committed suicide on April 20, 1959, believing "another existence of universe being better than this miserable world." (The Philadelphia Experiment, 79). Some believe that his suicide was actually an assassination by government agencies to keep the experiment quiet.
Unfortunately for Dr. Jessup, a major clue in the puzzle turned up shortly after his death. This clue was a man by the name of Alfred D. Bielek.
Bielek's story is even more bizarre than Allende's. He claims that he was transported in time to the future and that here in the future he was brainwashed by the Navy. This brainwashing led him to believe that his name was Alfred Bielek, rather than his true name, Edward Cameron. Upon discovering his true identity, he tracked down his brother who had also participated in the experiment. Bielek claims that his brother time traveled to 1983 and lost his 'time-lock'. As a result, his brother aged one year every hour and eventually died. Bielek then claims that his brother was reborn. Needless to say, only a small group of people believe Bielek and nearly everyone thinks that his stories are based on some truth, but he's exaggerating the truth for personal reasons. This popular opinion seems to be reinforced when Bielek starts remembering things only after having seen the movie "The Philadelphia Experiment". Bielek has a Ph.D. in Physics, so he does have some technical experience. He is also a retired electrical engineer with thirty years of experience. Because of his obvious intelligence and skill, he cannot be discounted entirely. Bielek stated that the technology used in the Philadelphia Experiment was given to us by aliens. However, the germanium transistor, which was what Bielek said had been used, was invented by Thomas Henry Moray.
Bielek also stated that Dr. Albert Einstein, Dr. John von Neumann, and Dr. Nikola Tesla were involved in the project. Some controversy has arisen as to the participation of Tesla because he died in New York city on January 7, 1943, which was only a two month period of time after the project took place. Einstein, on the other hand, suggested such a project as this to the Navy on several occasions. Because of this, he was probably involved in the project. As for von Neumann, there is no evidence to refute or promote his active participation in the matter. There is evidence that supports the fact that he later continued on the experiment at a different time.
The principle that lay behind
the Philadelphia Experiment was the Unified Field Theory. This theory
states that gravity and
magnetism are connected, just as mass and energy are connected through
the formula E=mc2. Einstein
never solved the Unified Field Theory, but the very nature of the
Philadelphia Experiment suggests otherwise.
It is probably that this theory has become a government secret because
it is capable of doing many things,
possibly even space travel without the assistance of rockets.
Rick Anderson however, may be able to shed some light upon the subject. He states that four RF transmitterswere phased to produce a rotating field. This field was pulsed at a 10% duty cycle. Instead of two coils, he says that four coils would have been set upon the deck of the ship and would be run by two generators that were pulsed in a counter-clockwise motion. Anderson states that the Tesla coils use a total of 7,500 feet, or 1.42 miles of #16 magnet wire. Because of this enormous quantity, no one has privately undertaken the experiment; the wire would be too expensive and also must to be wound in a special way (Anderson). Other scientists believe that Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and the science of the Philadelphia Experiment are connected.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance is
also known as Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI. Yet another
scientistnamed Alexander S. Fraser believes that everyone is wrong about
the electromagnetic qualities of theexperiment. He believes that it was
never done with electromagnetism, but with thermal fields. This thermal
field could have caused
the optical mirage effect which several witnesses reported. Fraser says
that Allende had spoken of
a 'scorch' field, fire, and optical wavering, all of which are products
of a thermal field. As for the part about
the Eldridge disappearing in front of their very eyes, certain weather
conditions have been known in the ocean
to cause islands to disappear as well. These weather conditions were
taking place the day of the experiment.
Yet another scientist believes that sonic and ultrasonic waves were
used. The sonic waves could have
been used to create an 'air blanket' around the ship, which is
consistent with reports. There were many experiments
done in the 1940's with high power ultrasonic waves, which indicates a
high probability of the Philadelphia
Experiment being one of them. Strong sonic fields are known for having
bad side effects upon humans,
which is also consistent with reports. The green haze which was
presumably around the ship was caused
by "exciting the surrounding sea water with powerful ultrasonics
-- 'sonoluminescense' and related phenomena."
(Anderson) The ultrasonic field would have caused the crew to pass out
and make the journey from
Philadelphia to Norfolk seem to last only a couple minutes. Needless to
say, the technicalities of the Philadelphia
Experiment are a matter of hot debate among scientists and no one seems
to be able to provide any
solid evidence. As Rick Anderson aptly puts it: "An electronics
person knows that, without a DETAILED, comprehensive
THEORY behind bench set-up, he is not going to know how to set up
voltages and currents, power
levels, frequencies, wave forms, pulse widths or duty cycles. If there's
a chance a circuit won't work, Murphy's
Law dictates that it WON'T more often than not."
of others and their actions but was unable to communicate to them or interact with them. Men in the Deep Freeze can only be seen by other crew members. It only takes two days for a man to go completely crazy in the Deep Freeze. The first deep freeze took six months and five million dollars worth of research and equipment to correct (The Philadelphia Experiment, 43). The man who was stuck for six went completely insane by the time he got out. Carlos Allende wrote: "Usually a A Deep Freeze Man goes Mad, Stark raving, Gibbering, Running MAD, if His freeze is far More than a Day in our time." (The Philadelphia Experiment, 42) Rick Anderson uncovered research that states this disappearance or freezing of people is the Zeeman Effect. "Zeemanising - the Zeeman Effect is defined as spreading out of the spectral lines of atoms under the influence of a strong magnetic field." (Anderson) The few remaining sailors have a high PSI factor which is intensified by fear or hypnosis. Unfortunately, they have all been discharged from the Navy as mentally unfit.
The Philadelphia Experiment
was a key part of American history because it demonstrates what a
government is willing to
do to have an advantage in war.