Full Transcript for The Philadelphia Experiment

was designed 63 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:09.439 to manipulate the electromagnetic field surrounding a ship. And this 64 00:06:09.540 --> 00:06:12.560 is where the story begins to intersect with the work 65 00:06:12.699 --> 00:06:15.779 of one of the most famous scientific minds of the 66 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:22.740 20th century, Albert Einstein. Einstein had spent decades exploring the 67 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:28.639 relationship between gravity and electromagnetism. His search for a unified 68 00:06:28.740 --> 00:06:32.579 field theory was an attempt to describe the fundamental forces 69 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:37.810 of nature within a single theoretical framework. He never completed 70 00:06:37.870 --> 00:06:41.569 that theory, but in the world of the Philadelphia Experiment, 71 00:06:41.910 --> 00:06:47.899 his unfinished work supposedly became the foundation for something extraordinary. 72 00:06:48.899 --> 00:06:54.120 The theory claimed that powerful electromagnetic generators were installed aboard 73 00:06:54.160 --> 00:07:00.029 the Eldridge. These generators would produce an intense electromagnetic field 74 00:07:00.110 --> 00:07:05.129 around the vessel, bending light and manipulating the space surrounding it. 75 00:07:05.850 --> 00:07:12.310 The intended result was invisibility. But the alleged technology supposedly 76 00:07:12.370 --> 00:07:16.829 went far beyond that. The ship wouldn't simply become invisible. 77 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:22.220 It would disappear from one location and materialize somewhere else. 78 00:07:23.189 --> 00:07:26.730 Some versions of the story even suggest that the experiment 79 00:07:26.810 --> 00:07:33.189 involved manipulating time itself. Now, there is an important distinction here. 80 00:07:33.889 --> 00:07:38.980 The Navy did conduct electromagnetic research during the Second World War. 81 00:07:39.779 --> 00:07:44.420 Ships were fitted with equipment designed to reduce their magnetic signatures, 82 00:07:44.860 --> 00:07:51.319 protecting them against magnetic mines. This process is known as degaussing. 83 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.410 It was real, it was practical, and it was an 84 00:07:55.490 --> 00:08:00.389 important part of naval warfare. But degaussing doesn't make a 85 00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:04.939 ship invisible to the human eye. It reduces the magnetic 86 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:09.490 field that can trigger certain types of mines. The distinction 87 00:08:09.689 --> 00:08:13.649 is enormous, but it may eventually help explain how a 88 00:08:13.790 --> 00:08:19.329 relatively ordinary military procedure became the foundation for one of 89 00:08:19.449 --> 00:08:25.360 history's most extraordinary conspiracy theories. According to the most popular 90 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:29.839 version of the story, the Philadelphia Experiment took place sometime 91 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:34.789 in the summer or autumn of 1943. The precise date 92 00:08:34.909 --> 00:08:39.320 changes depending on which account you read. Some versions place 93 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:44.759 the first experiment in July. Others identify August or October. 94 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:48.019 The lack of a consistent date is one of the 95 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:53.399 many problems investigators encounter when trying to reconstruct the story. 96 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:59.740 But the basic sequence is remarkably consistent. the navy supposedly 97 00:08:59.820 --> 00:09:06.149 positioned the uss eldridge inside the philadelphia naval shipyard a 98 00:09:06.230 --> 00:09:11.120 network of powerful generators and electrical equipment was activated The 99 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:16.399 ship became surrounded by an unusual greenish fog or glowing haze. 100 00:09:17.179 --> 00:09:21.220 Witnesses allegedly watched as the outline of the vessel began 101 00:09:21.259 --> 00:09:27.250 to distort. Then the ship disappeared. Some accounts describe a 102 00:09:27.450 --> 00:09:32.090 brief flash of light. Others describe a cloud of green 103 00:09:32.210 --> 00:09:37.110 mist that swallowed the entire vessel. But the strangest part 104 00:09:37.149 --> 00:09:42.340 of the story was what allegedly happened next. The Eldridge 105 00:09:42.460 --> 00:09:48.259 supposedly reappeared in Norfolk, Virginia. Think about that for a moment. 106 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:54.389 Philadelphia and Norfolk are separated by hundreds of miles. A 107 00:09:54.470 --> 00:09:59.769 naval destroyer carrying nearly 200 sailors had supposedly traveled that 108 00:09:59.789 --> 00:10:05.899 distance almost instantaneously, and then, according to some versions, it 109 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:10.639 returned to Philadelphia. Other accounts claim the ship was visible 110 00:10:10.700 --> 00:10:14.970 in Norfolk for only a few moments before vanishing again. 111 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:20.250 Some even suggest that the vessel had briefly traveled through time, 112 00:10:20.769 --> 00:10:25.990 arriving several seconds before it had departed. The story eventually 113 00:10:26.049 --> 00:10:31.240 became known as the Philadelphia Experiment, but another name became 114 00:10:31.289 --> 00:10:36.679 attached to it, Project Rainbow. The implication was that this 115 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:40.690 wasn't simply a test of invisibility. It was a massive, 116 00:10:40.950 --> 00:10:48.509 coordinated military operation involving advanced theoretical physics, classified technology, and 117 00:10:48.549 --> 00:10:53.120 an attempt to manipulate the very fabric of space. But 118 00:10:53.179 --> 00:10:56.980 if the technology had worked, why wasn't it used again? 119 00:10:57.740 --> 00:11:02.850 Why didn't the Navy begin producing invisible ships? The answer, 120 00:11:03.190 --> 00:11:08.480 according to the legend, was horrifying. The experiment had worked, 121 00:11:09.080 --> 00:11:15.100 but the human consequences were catastrophic. The most disturbing element 122 00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:20.230 of the Philadelphia

experiment isn't necessarily the disappearance of the ship. 123 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:24.870 It's what supposedly happened to the men aboard it. According 124 00:11:24.899 --> 00:11:28.169 to the accounts that circulated over the years, the crew 125 00:11:28.250 --> 00:11:33.210 experienced physical and psychological effects that were difficult to explain. 126 00:11:34.110 --> 00:11:41.210 Some sailors reportedly suffered extreme nausea, dizziness, and disorientation. Others 127 00:11:41.289 --> 00:11:45.129 were said to have experienced strange changes in their perception 128 00:11:45.169 --> 00:11:50.840 of time and space. But then, the claims became much darker. 129 00:11:51.850 --> 00:11:55.750 One of the most repeated allegations was that several crew 130 00:11:55.809 --> 00:12:00.690 members had become physically embedded in the ship. Imagine walking 131 00:12:00.730 --> 00:12:04.379 through a passageway aboard a naval vessel and discovering that 132 00:12:04.419 --> 00:12:08.379 a sailor had somehow become fused into a steel bulkhead, 133 00:12:09.100 --> 00:12:13.830 his body supposedly trapped within the metal. Other versions describe 134 00:12:13.909 --> 00:12:18.330 sailors becoming partially embedded in the deck or walls, as 135 00:12:18.409 --> 00:12:21.940 though their bodies and the ship had somehow occupied the 136 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:28.220 same physical space. Some were allegedly burned or killed. Others 137 00:12:28.460 --> 00:12:33.179 supposedly disappeared completely. And then there were the men who 138 00:12:33.230 --> 00:12:38.120 became known in the mythology as the Frozen Men. These 139 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:43.220 sailors were supposedly caught in an altered state, becoming temporarily 140 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:48.519 immobilized or trapped in a strange condition after the experiment. 141 00:12:49.230 --> 00:12:53.710 Some accounts claimed that men would suddenly vanish and reappear 142 00:12:53.850 --> 00:13:00.289 without warning. Others supposedly experienced episodes where they became invisible 143 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:05.200 in front of their families and fellow sailors. One particularly 144 00:13:05.250 --> 00:13:09.600 disturbing version describes a sailor who disappeared while sitting in 145 00:13:09.659 --> 00:13:15.039 a bar, only to reappear moments later. The stories became 146 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:20.370 increasingly bizarre as they circulated. Some crew members were supposedly 147 00:13:20.450 --> 00:13:26.210 committed to psychiatric institutions. Others were allegedly subjected to secret 148 00:13:26.350 --> 00:13:32.289 medical examinations. And those who survived were supposedly warned never 149 00:13:32.350 --> 00:13:36.429 to discuss what they had witnessed. There are even claims 150 00:13:36.490 --> 00:13:40.590 that the Navy erased records and altered the identities of 151 00:13:40.710 --> 00:13:45.750 sailors to prevent investigators from tracing the men involved. But 152 00:13:45.809 --> 00:13:51.220 here's the problem. There is no reliable documentary evidence establishing 153 00:13:51.259 --> 00:13:56.419 that these events happened. No authenticated medical records have surfaced 154 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:00.970 proving that sailors were fused into the ship. No verified 155 00:14:01.049 --> 00:14:06.269 casualty list identifies men who vanished during an invisibility experiment. 156 00:14:06.929 --> 00:14:11.720 And no credible collection of first-hand testimony establishes that the 157 00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:16.860 Eldridge's crew experienced the extraordinary events described in the legend. 158 00:14:17.809 --> 00:14:24.169 These are allegations that grew through books, interviews, and retellings. Still, 159 00:14:24.610 --> 00:14:28.990 the imagery is powerful. A ship vanishing in a flash 160 00:14:29.029 --> 00:14:33.320 of green light is strange enough. A ship returning with 161 00:14:33.379 --> 00:14:38.279 its crew supposedly trapped inside its own structure is something 162 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:42.750 else entirely. and the man who brought these claims to 163 00:14:42.769 --> 00:14:46.669 the public would turn out to be almost as mysterious 164 00:14:46.870 --> 00:14:52.690 as the experiment itself. The Philadelphia Experiment supposedly took place 165 00:14:53.129 --> 00:14:58.259 in 1943, but the story didn't become widely known until 166 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:02.360 more than a decade later, and it all began with 167 00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:07.450 a man named Morris K. Jessup. Jessup was an American 168 00:15:07.549 --> 00:15:12.289 writer and researcher who had become interested in UFOs and 169 00:15:12.509 --> 00:15:18.649 unidentified flying objects. In 1955, he published a book titled 170 00:15:18.669 --> 00:15:23.429 The Case for the UFO, exploring reports of strange objects 171 00:15:23.470 --> 00:15:27.470 in the sky and theories about the possible technology behind them. 172 00:15:28.210 --> 00:15:31.289 It was this book that attracted the attention of someone 173 00:15:31.370 --> 00:15:37.980 calling himself Carlos Miguel Allende. Allende began corresponding with Jessup, 174 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:42.539 sending him letters describing an extraordinary event he claimed to 175 00:15:42.580 --> 00:15:46.240 have witnessed during the war. He claimed that the Navy 176 00:15:46.299 --> 00:15:51.179 had successfully rendered a destroyer invisible and transported it from 177 00:15:51.299 --> 00:15:56.019 Philadelphia to Norfolk. Allende said he had personally witnessed the 178 00:15:56.090 --> 00:16:01.370 experiment while serving aboard another vessel, the SS Andrew Furiseth. 179 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:08.029 He described the ship disappearing, reappearing, and experiencing bizarre effects 180 00:16:08.169 --> 00:16:12.929 involving its crew. And he connected the entire operation to 181 00:16:12.950 --> 00:16:18.919 Einstein's unified field theory. But Allende wasn't simply telling Jessup 182 00:16:19.019 -->

00:16:24.759 about an unusual military experiment. He was warning him. According 183 00:16:24.820 --> 00:16:28.740 to the letters, the technology was far more dangerous than 184 00:16:28.779 --> 00:16:32.720 the public could imagine. The men aboard the ship had 185 00:16:32.779 --> 00:16:38.820 supposedly suffered terrible consequences. Allende suggested that the experiment had 186 00:16:39.019 --> 00:16:43.500 opened the door to forces that humanity didn't understand, and 187 00:16:43.539 --> 00:16:47.830 he appeared convinced that the Navy was hiding something enormous. 188 00:16:48.730 --> 00:16:52.820 Think about the timing. The United States had just emerged 189 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:57.220 from a war in which secret scientific programs had transformed 190 00:16:57.320 --> 00:17:02.049 the world. The Manhattan Project had produced the atomic bomb. 191 00:17:02.750 --> 00:17:08.849 Radar had changed naval and aerial warfare. Military intelligence organizations 192 00:17:08.910 --> 00:17:14.000 were expanding, and classified research was becoming an increasingly familiar 193 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:18.259 part of American life. The idea that the government might 194 00:17:18.339 --> 00:17:23.829 be experimenting with technology far beyond public knowledge wasn't difficult 195 00:17:23.869 --> 00:17:28.809 for people to imagine. But there was something unusual about Allende. 196 00:17:29.509 --> 00:17:34.009 His identity was uncertain. He used variations of his name, 197 00:17:34.450 --> 00:17:39.930 including Carl M. Allen. His claims were difficult to verify, 198 00:17:40.390 --> 00:17:45.009 and the details he provided were inconsistent. He also claimed 199 00:17:45.069 --> 00:17:48.549 that a newspaper had reported the Philadelphia incident at the time, 200 00:17:49.089 --> 00:17:54.630 but the newspaper was never convincingly identified. Jessup was intrigued, 201 00:17:55.349 --> 00:18:00.089 and then Allende sent him something even stranger. a copy 202 00:18:00.190 --> 00:18:04.990 of Jessop's own book. But this wasn't an ordinary copy. 203 00:18:05.619 --> 00:18:09.240 Its pages were covered with handwritten notes in the margins. 204 00:18:09.950 --> 00:18:16.200 The annotations appeared to contain conversations between mysterious individuals discussing 205 00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:23.970 UFO technology, extraterrestrial civilizations, and advanced propulsion systems. Some of 206 00:18:24.009 --> 00:18:26.490 the writing seemed to suggest that the people making the 207 00:18:26.549 --> 00:18:32.140 comments possessed knowledge of technology far beyond anything publicly available. 208 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:37.569 The notes also referenced strange terminology and ideas about the 209 00:18:37.670 --> 00:18:43.500 movement of unidentified flying objects. Jessup believed the annotations were 210 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:47.619 connected to the same mysterious correspondent who had written him 211 00:18:47.779 --> 00:18:52.059 about the Philadelphia Experiment. And the story was about to 212 00:18:52.140 --> 00:18:58.299 take another unexpected turn. The annotated book would eventually find 213 00:18:58.339 --> 00:19:01.980 its way into the hands of the United States Navy. 214 00:19:02.900 --> 00:19:07.279 In 1956, a copy of Morris Jessup's book arrived anonymously 215 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.559 at the Office of Naval Research in Washington, D.C. It 216 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:16.130 was covered in handwritten annotations. The comments appeared to have 217 00:19:16.150 --> 00:19:20.519 been written by several different people, and they discussed UFOs, 218 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:29.069 extraterrestrial beings, unusual propulsion systems, and advanced scientific concepts. Two 219 00:19:29.190 --> 00:19:33.509 Navy officers reportedly took a personal interest in the book. 220 00:19:34.150 --> 00:19:37.960 They showed it to Jessup, who believed the annotations had 221 00:19:37.980 --> 00:19:42.680 been written by the same mysterious individual who had contacted 222 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:49.089 him about the Philadelphia experiment. The officers eventually arranged for 223 00:19:49.109 --> 00:19:53.200 the book to be retyped and reproduced in a limited 224 00:19:53.339 --> 00:19:58.859 run of approximately 25 copies. This became known as the 225 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:02.970 Vero edition, named after the company that helped produce it. 226 00:20:03.769 --> 00:20:06.769 And this is where the story takes a fascinating turn. 227 00:20:07.730 --> 00:20:12.190 the Navy had now become directly connected to the strange book. 228 00:20:13.049 --> 00:20:17.599 Not because it had confirmed the Philadelphia experiment, not because 229 00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:21.279 it had admitted that the ship had vanished, but because 230 00:20:21.420 --> 00:20:25.660 personnel working at the Office of Naval Research had taken 231 00:20:25.700 --> 00:20:32.079 an interest in the bizarre annotations. For conspiracy researchers, this 232 00:20:32.299 --> 00:20:36.849 was irresistible. If the Navy was interested in the book, 233 00:20:37.369 --> 00:20:42.940 perhaps it knew something. Perhaps the annotations contained information that 234 00:20:42.980 --> 00:20:48.400 the government wanted to investigate. Perhaps the Philadelphia experiment was 235 00:20:48.549 --> 00:20:54.430 real after all. But there was another possibility. The officers 236 00:20:54.609 --> 00:20:58.549 may simply have been fascinated by an unusual piece of 237 00:20:58.789 --> 00:21:04.710 UFO literature. the annotations were strange but their existence didn't 238 00:21:04.789 --> 00:21:09.380 establish that the claims within them were true in fact 239 00:21:09.740 --> 00:21:15.019 the historical record surrounding the annotated book is considerably less 240 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:19.829 mysterious than the stories built around it The University of 241 00:21:19.910 --> 00:21:25.819 Wyoming's American Heritage Center holds papers

associated with Carlos Allende, 242 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:32.789 including correspondence and material relating to the Philadelphia Experiment. Wyoming 243 00:21:32.869 --> 00:21:37.390 public media has reported that the annotations were later understood 244 00:21:37.750 --> 00:21:42.190 to have been written by Allende himself. The book became 245 00:21:42.230 --> 00:21:46.319 a strange artifact of the UFO era, but it never 246 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:52.799 provided proof of teleportation or an extraterrestrial connection. And while 247 00:21:52.859 --> 00:21:58.150 the Vero edition helped spread the legend, another mystery was developing. 248 00:21:59.099 --> 00:22:03.299 What happened to the man who started it all? Morris 249 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:07.140 Jessup had become associated with one of the strangest stories 250 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:13.029 in American conspiracy history. He had written about UFOs, investigated 251 00:22:13.109 --> 00:22:18.950 mysterious claims, received bizarre correspondence, and become involved in a 252 00:22:19.049 --> 00:22:24.069 story that appeared to connect the military with experimental physics 253 00:22:24.529 --> 00:22:32.640 and possibly even extraterrestrial technology. But in 1959, Jessup died. 254 00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:37.819 His death was ruled a suicide. He was found inside 255 00:22:37.859 --> 00:22:42.539 his vehicle in Dade County, Florida with carbon monoxide poisoning. 256 00:22:43.319 --> 00:22:47.859 His death became another point of fascination for people interested 257 00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:53.380 in the Philadelphia experiment. Some began asking whether Jessup had 258 00:22:53.410 --> 00:22:58.200 discovered something that made him dangerous. Had he gotten too 259 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:03.190 close to classified information? Had the government warned him to 260 00:23:03.309 --> 00:23:08.950 stop investigating? Was his death connected to the mysterious letters 261 00:23:09.329 --> 00:23:14.259 and the annotated book? These questions became part of the 262 00:23:14.359 --> 00:23:19.609 larger mythology. But it is important to be careful here. 263 00:23:20.250 --> 00:23:24.170 There is no established evidence that Jessup was murdered or 264 00:23:24.210 --> 00:23:28.700 that his death was connected to the Philadelphia Experiment. His 265 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:33.220 death is a historical event, but the conspiracy theories surrounding 266 00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:39.779 it remain speculation. Nevertheless, his involvement helped cement the story 267 00:23:40.019 --> 00:23:44.509 in UFO literature. And in the years that followed, the 268 00:23:44.569 --> 00:23:51.289 Philadelphia Experiment would become increasingly elaborate. Books expanded the claims, 269 00:23:52.029 --> 00:23:56.849 researchers investigated the identities of the people involved, and the 270 00:23:56.990 --> 00:24:03.369 legend began attracting a much larger audience. By the late 1970s, 271 00:24:03.690 --> 00:24:08.210 it was ready for a mainstream breakthrough. For years, the 272 00:24:08.269 --> 00:24:14.880 Philadelphia experiments circulated primarily among UFO researchers and conspiracy enthusiasts. 273 00:24:15.630 --> 00:24:21.640 But in 1979, authors William Moore and Charles Berlitz published 274 00:24:21.799 --> 00:24:28.319 The Philadelphia Experiment, Project Invisibility. The book helped introduce the 275 00:24:28.359 --> 00:24:33.009 story to a much wider audience. It explored the alleged 276 00:24:33.150 --> 00:24:39.670 military experiment, the strange correspondence, the USS Eldridge, and the 277 00:24:39.769 --> 00:24:44.920 claims surrounding the crew. The story had everything required to 278 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:52.180 become a cultural phenomenon, a secret government program, a legendary physicist, 279 00:24:52.859 --> 00:25:00.230 a World War II warship, an experimental technology, a mysterious disappearance. 280 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:06.359 and alleged human casualties that sounded like something taken directly 281 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:11.089 from a science fiction horror film. The book also helped 282 00:25:11.190 --> 00:25:16.160 popularize the idea that the Philadelphia Experiment was connected to 283 00:25:16.220 --> 00:25:23.589 a larger program involving advanced electromagnetic technology. Soon, the story 284 00:25:23.670 --> 00:25:30.289 moved beyond books and into popular entertainment. In 1984, the 285 00:25:30.349 --> 00:25:34.529 movie The Philadelphia Experiment brought the legend to the big screen. 286 00:25:35.309 --> 00:25:40.220 The film imagined two sailors transported from 1943 into the 287 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:48.410 future after the Navy's experiment was military secrets and the 288 00:25:48.490 --> 00:25:53.069 idea that the consequences of the experiment continued decades after 289 00:25:53.109 --> 00:25:57.539 the original event. The movie was fiction, but it helped 290 00:25:57.640 --> 00:26:02.440 introduce the story to an entirely new generation. And that 291 00:26:02.539 --> 00:26:05.900 may be one of the reasons the Philadelphia Experiment has 292 00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:12.250 remained so recognizable. The legend isn't simply about a ship disappearing. 293 00:26:12.930 --> 00:26:17.250 It's about the possibility that humanity might have stumbled onto 294 00:26:17.289 --> 00:26:23.150 a technology it wasn't prepared to control. And that idea 295 00:26:23.450 --> 00:26:28.390 is considerably more frightening than the disappearance of a single vessel. 296 00:26:29.549 --> 00:26:35.029 By now, the Philadelphia Experiment had become a well-established legend. 297 00:26:35.789 --> 00:26:41.160 But there was one problem. The Navy had records. And 298 00:26:41.259 --> 00:26:47.220 those records told a very different story. The Naval Historical Center, 299 00:26:47.579 --> 00:26:51.539 now part of the Naval History and Heritage Command, investigated 300 00:26:51.579 --> 00:26:56.950 the allegations surrounding

the experiment. Researchers examined the ship's records, 301 00:26:57.349 --> 00:27:01.240 including its deck logs and war diary. They looked at 302 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:06.940 the USS Eldridge's movements from its commissioning in August 1943 303 00:27:06.940 --> 00:27:10.410 through the end of that year, and what they found 304 00:27:10.730 --> 00:27:19.380 was remarkably ordinary. The Eldridge had been commissioned on August 27, 1943. 305 00:27:19.380 --> 00:27:22.269 It remained in New York and the Long Island Sound 306 00:27:22.529 --> 00:27:27.710 until September 16, when it sailed to Bermuda. From September 307 00:27:27.710 --> 00:27:32.319 18 through October 15, it was in the vicinity of Bermuda, 308 00:27:32.619 --> 00:27:38.200 undergoing training and sea trials. On October 15, it departed 309 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:42.619 Bermuda in a convoy bound for New York, arriving on 310 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:47.990 October 18. That timeline creates a serious problem for the 311 00:27:48.059 --> 00:27:52.660 Philadelphia Experiment story. The ship was not sitting in a 312 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:59.759 Philadelphia shipyard, disappearing into another dimension. Its movements were documented. 313 00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:06.849 And there was another important detail. Remember the SS Andrew Furuseth? 314 00:28:07.509 --> 00:28:10.849 that's the vessel carlos allende claimed to have been aboard 315 00:28:11.009 --> 00:28:15.599 when he witnessed the eldridge disappear the navy examined that 316 00:28:15.660 --> 00:28:20.329 ship's movements too its records showed that the andrew furiseth 317 00:28:20.470 --> 00:28:23.369 was not in norfolk at the same time as the 318 00:28:23.509 --> 00:28:28.250 eldridge the navy also obtained a letter from william s 319 00:28:28.970 --> 00:28:33.019 dodge a retired naval officer who had commanded the andrew 320 00:28:33.099 --> 00:28:39.000 furiseth during the relevant period dodge categorically denied that he 321 00:28:39.299 --> 00:28:43.849 or his crew had witnessed anything unusual involving the eldridge 322 00:28:44.609 --> 00:28:49.150 The two ships' documented movements directly undermined one of the 323 00:28:49.289 --> 00:28:54.059 central claims made by Allende. But the Navy didn't stop there. 324 00:28:54.839 --> 00:29:01.400 It also addressed the supposed project name, Project Rainbow. According 325 00:29:01.420 --> 00:29:05.849 to the Naval Historical Center, researchers could find no evidence 326 00:29:05.910 --> 00:29:13.240 of a Navy project involving teleportation or invisibility under that name. Interestingly, 327 00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:18.359 the word rainbow did appear in American military planning during 328 00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:23.339 World War II. It referred to strategic war plans concerning 329 00:29:23.400 --> 00:29:28.500 the Axis powers. Rainbow V was the plan in effect 330 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:34.829 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. In other words, 331 00:29:35.190 --> 00:29:38.750 there really was a military use for the term, but 332 00:29:38.789 --> 00:29:42.890 it had nothing to do with making ships disappear. The 333 00:29:42.950 --> 00:29:47.640 official records were beginning to dismantle the story piece by piece. 334 00:29:48.519 --> 00:29:54.339 And then came another important question. If the experiment never happened, 335 00:29:55.059 --> 00:29:58.420 where did the story come from? One of the most 336 00:29:58.599 --> 00:30:02.910 interesting aspects of the Philadelphia Experiment is that it appears 337 00:30:02.950 --> 00:30:07.670 to have been built around real scientific and military technology. 338 00:30:08.490 --> 00:30:13.769 And that is important, because the best conspiracy stories often 339 00:30:13.829 --> 00:30:17.900 contain a small piece of reality surrounded by a much 340 00:30:18.099 --> 00:30:24.210 larger structure of speculation. In this case, that real technology 341 00:30:24.710 --> 00:30:30.599 may have been degaussing. During World War II, naval vessels 342 00:30:30.740 --> 00:30:36.920 faced a particularly dangerous threat from magnetic mines. These mines 343 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:41.960 could detect the magnetic signature of a passing ship and detonate. 344 00:30:42.930 --> 00:30:48.380 A ship's steel hull naturally interacts with Earth's magnetic field, 345 00:30:49.019 --> 00:30:54.559 creating a magnetic signature that can be detected by specialized equipment. 346 00:30:55.559 --> 00:31:02.049 De-gaussing was developed to reduce that signature. Electrical cables were 347 00:31:02.109 --> 00:31:05.730 installed around the ship's hull, and an electrical current was 348 00:31:05.829 --> 00:31:10.599 passed through them to counteract the vessel's magnetic field. the 349 00:31:10.619 --> 00:31:13.980 result was a ship that was less likely to trigger 350 00:31:14.099 --> 00:31:21.400 magnetic mines now imagine hearing that explanation without understanding the 351 00:31:21.460 --> 00:31:27.680 technology a ship is fitted with electrical cables Powerful currents 352 00:31:27.829 --> 00:31:33.410 are sent through those cables. The ship's magnetic signature is reduced. 353 00:31:34.130 --> 00:31:39.029 It becomes undetectable to a particular kind of detection system. 354 00:31:39.910 --> 00:31:45.170 Someone might describe that as making the ship invisible. And 355 00:31:45.269 --> 00:31:50.470 over time, the distinction could become distorted. Invisible to magnetic 356 00:31:50.569 --> 00:31:56.670 minds becomes invisible to detection systems. Invisible to detection systems 357 00:31:56.910 --> 00:32:03.319 becomes invisible to radar. And eventually, invisible to radar becomes 358 00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:08.049 invisible to the human eye. But there is another possible 359 00:32:08.109 --> 00:32:12.789 contributor to the story. The Navy's Office of Naval Research 360 00:32:13.069 --> 00:32:18.839 pointed toward experiments involving the USS Timmerman during the

1950s. 361 00:32:19.559 --> 00:32:23.799 That ship was involved in testing a high-frequency electrical generator 362 00:32:24.380 --> 00:32:30.849 operating at 1,000 cycles per second instead of the standard 400. 363 00:32:30.849 --> 00:32:36.910 the generator produced corona discharges and other electrical phenomena associated 364 00:32:36.970 --> 00:32:41.789 with high frequency equipment. These effects may have helped inspire 365 00:32:41.869 --> 00:32:46.210 some of the later descriptions of strange electrical activity and 366 00:32:46.339 --> 00:32:51.380 glowing effects. However, the Navy stated that the crew did 367 00:32:51.539 --> 00:32:57.279 not suffer the extraordinary effects described in the Philadelphia experiment legend. 368 00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:04.339 so we have two potentially important ingredients. Real naval experiments 369 00:33:04.519 --> 00:33:10.569 involving magnetic fields, and real electrical equipment capable of producing 370 00:33:10.789 --> 00:33:16.609 unusual visual effects. Neither one remotely demonstrates that a ship 371 00:33:16.730 --> 00:33:22.009 could teleport, but both offer plausible ingredients for a story 372 00:33:22.230 --> 00:33:27.660 that eventually grew into something much larger. And then there 373 00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:33.930 is Einstein. No Philadelphia experiment story would be complete without 374 00:33:34.190 --> 00:33:39.470 Albert Einstein. His name is central to the legend because 375 00:33:39.529 --> 00:33:44.500 the alleged technology was supposedly based on his work involving 376 00:33:44.519 --> 00:33:49.200 a unified field theory. Einstein spent much of his later 377 00:33:49.259 --> 00:33:53.759 life attempting to develop a mathematical framework that could unify 378 00:33:53.819 --> 00:33:58.569 the fundamental forces of nature. His work on general relativity 379 00:33:58.769 --> 00:34:03.809 had already transformed our understanding of gravity, space, and time. 380 00:34:04.349 --> 00:34:09.610 The possibility of combining gravity and electromagnetism into a unified 381 00:34:09.750 --> 00:34:16.019 theoretical structure was an enormous scientific ambition. But Einstein never 382 00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:20.659 completed a successful unified field theory, and the Navy has 383 00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:25.079 acknowledged that Einstein did have a relationship with military research 384 00:34:25.340 --> 00:34:29.019 during the Second World War. According to the Office of 385 00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:33.599 Naval Research, Einstein served as a part-time consultant to the 386 00:34:33.659 --> 00:34:40.489 Navy's Bureau of Ordnance during 1943 and 1944. However, his 387 00:34:40.610 --> 00:34:47.230 research concerned theoretical questions involving explosives and explosions. There is 388 00:34:47.409 --> 00:34:52.929 no evidence that he worked on a project involving invisibility, teleportation, 389 00:34:53.530 --> 00:34:59.070 or the USS Eldridge. Still, his name gives the Philadelphia 390 00:34:59.170 --> 00:35:05.730 Experiment an interesting scientific dimension, because the underlying question isn't 391 00:35:05.889 --> 00:35:13.699 entirely ridiculous. Can electromagnetic fields manipulate the way light behaves? Absolutely. 392 00:35:14.500 --> 00:35:20.619 Can electromagnetic forces affect matter? Of course. Can gravity and 393 00:35:20.739 --> 00:35:27.619 space-time be influenced by physical processes? According to modern physics, yes. 394 00:35:28.289 --> 00:35:31.309 But that doesn't mean we can create a field around 395 00:35:31.369 --> 00:35:36.070 a battleship that makes it disappear or transports it hundreds 396 00:35:36.130 --> 00:35:42.780 of miles. the philadelphia experiment takes legitimate scientific concepts and 397 00:35:42.900 --> 00:35:49.550 stretches them into territory unsupported by experimental evidence and that 398 00:35:49.639 --> 00:35:55.849 distinction matters a theory isn't proof An equation isn't a 399 00:35:55.949 --> 00:36:02.389 working machine, and a real scientific principle doesn't automatically validate 400 00:36:02.690 --> 00:36:07.539 every extraordinary claim attached to it. But the story has 401 00:36:07.619 --> 00:36:12.340 inspired a number of alternative explanations. and some of them 402 00:36:12.619 --> 00:36:18.420 go considerably further than simple invisibility. Over the decades, the 403 00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:24.000 Philadelphia Experiment has developed an entire collection of alternative theories. 404 00:36:24.900 --> 00:36:30.829 Some are rooted in science fiction, others involve UFOs, secret 405 00:36:30.929 --> 00:36:37.519 government technology, and experiments with dimensions beyond our own. Let's 406 00:36:37.579 --> 00:36:41.340 take a look at some of the most interesting. The 407 00:36:41.380 --> 00:36:46.639 dimensional portal theory. One interpretation suggests that the Navy didn't 408 00:36:46.719 --> 00:36:52.269 simply make the Eldridge invisible. It accidentally opened a doorway 409 00:36:52.570 --> 00:36:58.590 into another dimension. According to this theory, the electromagnetic field 410 00:36:58.670 --> 00:37:04.340 surrounding the ship created a disturbance in space-time. The vessel 411 00:37:04.429 --> 00:37:09.320 supposedly slipped out of our reality and entered another dimension 412 00:37:09.559 --> 00:37:15.619 before returning. This version is particularly interesting because it attempts 413 00:37:15.659 --> 00:37:20.760 to explain the bizarre stories about crew members becoming trapped 414 00:37:20.980 --> 00:37:24.940 inside the ship. If the vessel had somehow passed through 415 00:37:24.980 --> 00:37:30.280 a different dimensional environment, perhaps the sailors experienced physical changes 416 00:37:30.360 --> 00:37:34.329 as a result. Some believers suggest that the crew became 417 00:37:34.429 --> 00:37:39.469 partially displaced from normal space. Others propose that the ship 418 00:37:39.550 --> 00:37:45.190 was caught between two

realities. There is no scientific evidence 419 00:37:45.230 --> 00:37:48.849 supporting this explanation, but it remains one of the more 420 00:37:48.969 --> 00:37:56.030 popular interpretations of the legend. The Time Travel Theory Another 421 00:37:56.130 --> 00:38:01.000 theory suggests that the Eldridge was briefly transported through time. 422 00:38:01.880 --> 00:38:05.239 Some versions claim that the ship appeared in Norfolk before 423 00:38:05.300 --> 00:38:10.599 it had supposedly left Philadelphia. Others describe the crew experiencing 424 00:38:10.699 --> 00:38:14.019 missing time, as though the vessel had moved through a 425 00:38:14.079 --> 00:38:18.260 period that did not correspond with the normal passage of time. 426 00:38:19.050 --> 00:38:23.199 This theory is sometimes connected to Einstein's work on relativity. 427 00:38:23.900 --> 00:38:27.829 But there is a major difference between time behaving differently 428 00:38:28.010 --> 00:38:33.230 under certain physical conditions and a ship being transported backward 429 00:38:33.389 --> 00:38:39.960 or forward through time. Relativity does allow time dilation. That 430 00:38:40.019 --> 00:38:45.519 effect has been measured and confirmed. However, no known technology 431 00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:49.039 allows us to use an electromagnetic field to send a 432 00:38:49.179 --> 00:38:54.960 naval destroyer into the past. The Secret Weapon Theory Perhaps 433 00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:58.809 the simplest conspiracy explanation is that the Navy really was 434 00:38:58.889 --> 00:39:04.199 testing advanced technology, but the details were deliberately concealed. The 435 00:39:04.260 --> 00:39:08.019 United States was conducting highly classified research during the war. 436 00:39:09.019 --> 00:39:13.199 Military secrecy was a normal part of national defense. The 437 00:39:13.239 --> 00:39:18.219 Manhattan Project alone demonstrates how enormous scientific programs could remain 438 00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:22.550 hidden from the general public. Supporters of this theory argue 439 00:39:22.570 --> 00:39:25.389 that the Philadelphia Experiment could have been part of a 440 00:39:25.469 --> 00:39:31.789 classified program whose true purpose remains undisclosed. Perhaps the Navy 441 00:39:31.849 --> 00:39:38.849 was testing experimental radar countermeasures. Perhaps it was investigating electromagnetic propulsion. 442 00:39:39.650 --> 00:39:43.730 Perhaps the technology was real, but the more extraordinary elements 443 00:39:43.769 --> 00:39:48.769 were exaggerated. This theory doesn't require a portal or time machine. 444 00:39:49.429 --> 00:39:54.070 It only requires the possibility that something classified was happening. 445 00:39:54.969 --> 00:39:58.219 But there is still no credible evidence that a secret 446 00:39:58.300 --> 00:40:05.659 invisibility or teleportation project involving the Eldridge existed. The UFO connection. 447 00:40:06.639 --> 00:40:11.860 Then there is the extraterrestrial

angle. Remember those strange handwritten 448 00:40:11.940 --> 00:40:18.039 notes in Jessup's book? They contain discussions of UFOs, alien civilizations, 449 00:40:18.400 --> 00:40:23.929 and unusual propulsion technology. Some conspiracy researchers have connected the 450 00:40:23.969 --> 00:40:29.590 Philadelphia experiment to the broader UFO mystery. The suggestion is 451 00:40:29.610 --> 00:40:33.730 that the Navy may have been experimenting with technology recovered 452 00:40:33.789 --> 00:40:38.280 from an unidentified craft. Others believe the experiment was an 453 00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:43.059 attempt to reproduce an advanced propulsion system that wasn't developed 454 00:40:43.119 --> 00:40:47.460 by humans. In this version, the Eldridge was essentially a 455 00:40:47.539 --> 00:40:53.019 test platform for technology that humanity didn't fully understand. The 456 00:40:53.159 --> 00:40:56.900 annotated book helped fuel this theory, but there is no 457 00:40:57.039 --> 00:41:04.449 verified evidence connecting the Navy's alleged experiment to extraterrestrial technology. Still, 458 00:41:04.949 --> 00:41:09.030 the idea of a military attempting to reverse engineer something 459 00:41:09.110 --> 00:41:13.989 recovered from an unidentified object fits neatly into the wider 460 00:41:14.050 --> 00:41:19.599 mythology of secret government research. And once again, the story 461 00:41:19.699 --> 00:41:25.340 finds itself at the intersection of UFOs, military secrecy, and 462 00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:29.690 the unknown. There is one final piece of the puzzle 463 00:41:29.730 --> 00:41:35.019 that deserves attention. What happened to the USS Eldridge after 1943? 464 00:41:35.019 --> 00:41:40.599 If the Philadelphia Experiment had been real, and if the 465 00:41:40.679 --> 00:41:47.889 vessel had suffered such catastrophic consequences, what became of the ship? Well, 466 00:41:48.449 --> 00:41:55.199 the Eldridge continued serving. Beginning in January 1944, it escorted 467 00:41:55.380 --> 00:42:00.409 Allied convoys across the Atlantic and Mediterranean. It made nine 468 00:42:00.489 --> 00:42:05.130 voyages supporting Allied operations in North Africa and Southern Europe. 469 00:42:05.949 --> 00:42:10.409 In May 1945, it departed New York for service in 470 00:42:10.449 --> 00:42:14.739 the Pacific. It continued operating after the war ended and 471 00:42:14.780 --> 00:42:20.190 was eventually placed out of commission in June 1946. Then, 472 00:42:20.610 --> 00:42:24.949 in January 1951, the ship was transferred to the Greek 473 00:42:25.050 --> 00:42:29.869 Navy under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. It became the 474 00:42:29.949 --> 00:42:34.440 Greek vessel Leon. It served with the Greek Navy for 475 00:42:34.599 --> 00:42:39.639 decades before eventually being retired. The ship had an actual 476 00:42:39.800 --> 00:42:43.840 military career, and its history is documented by the United 477 00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:49.289 States Navy. Now, this is where some conspiracy researchers have 478 00:42:49.389 --> 00:42:53.789 raised another question. Why would the Navy transfer the ship 479 00:42:53.849 --> 00:42:56.719 to another country if it had been involved in such 480 00:42:56.760 --> 00:43:01.920 a catastrophic experiment? Some have suggested that transferring the vessel 481 00:43:02.280 --> 00:43:05.519 was an effective way to remove it from American scrutiny. 482 00:43:06.539 --> 00:43:10.480 Others have speculated that the ship was simply no longer needed. 483 00:43:11.440 --> 00:43:15.500 But there is a much more straightforward explanation. It was 484 00:43:15.539 --> 00:43:19.929 an aging destroyer escort that had completed its wartime service 485 00:43:20.329 --> 00:43:25.030 and was transferred as military assistance. There is no evidence 486 00:43:25.070 --> 00:43:29.090 that the Greek Navy inherited a ship with mysterious electromagnetic 487 00:43:29.130 --> 00:43:32.489 properties or a crew of men trapped in its structure. 488 00:43:33.389 --> 00:43:37.840 The documented history of the Eldridge is ordinary. And yet, 489 00:43:38.300 --> 00:43:41.980 that ordinary history is part of what makes the legend 490 00:43:42.179 --> 00:43:48.010 so interesting. Because the ship was real. The sailors were real. 491 00:43:48.030 --> 00:43:53.880 The war was real. The science was real. Only the 492 00:43:53.960 --> 00:44:01.289 extraordinary experiment remains unsupported. So, what are we supposed to 493 00:44:01.389 --> 00:44:06.449 make of the Philadelphia Experiment? The official explanation is that 494 00:44:06.510 --> 00:44:10.780 it never happened. The Navy has searched its historical records 495 00:44:11.110 --> 00:44:16.239 and found no evidence of an experiment involving invisibility, teleportation, 496 00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:22.239 or the manipulation of space-time. The USS Eldridge's documented movements 497 00:44:22.619 --> 00:44:28.840 contradict the central claims. The alleged witness, Carlos Allende, left 498 00:44:28.920 --> 00:44:32.969 behind a complicated collection of letters and stories that have 499 00:44:33.139 --> 00:44:37.780 never established the existence of the experiment. and the scientific 500 00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:42.630 principles supposedly responsible for the disappearance have never been demonstrated 501 00:44:42.690 --> 00:44:46.210 to work in the way the legend describes. On the 502 00:44:46.309 --> 00:44:50.780 evidence available, the Philadelphia Experiment belongs in the category of 503 00:44:50.940 --> 00:44:56.099 modern military folklore rather than documented history. But there are 504 00:44:56.159 --> 00:45:00.519 still some fascinating questions surrounding the story. Why did the 505 00:45:00.579 --> 00:45:06.230 legend become so elaborate? How did real naval electromagnetic research 506 00:45:06.550 --> 00:45:11.969 become connected to teleportation? Why did a mysterious correspondent become 507 00:45:12.110 --> 00:45:16.239 so

invested in convincing a UFO researcher that the Navy 508 00:45:16.280 --> 00:45:22.280 had discovered something extraordinary? And perhaps most importantly, why does 509 00:45:22.380 --> 00:45:28.179 this particular story continue to capture people's imaginations? Maybe it's 510 00:45:28.219 --> 00:45:32.960 because the Philadelphia Experiment arrived at exactly the right moment 511 00:45:33.019 --> 00:45:37.090 in history. The world had just witnessed the development of 512 00:45:37.110 --> 00:45:42.110 the atomic bomb. Science was advancing at an extraordinary pace. 513 00:45:43.130 --> 00:45:47.099 Governments were conducting secret research, and the boundaries between what 514 00:45:47.139 --> 00:45:52.239 was possible and what seemed impossible were changing almost every year. 515 00:45:53.260 --> 00:45:56.869 The idea that the military might be experimenting with technology 516 00:45:56.949 --> 00:46:02.489 beyond public understanding wasn't difficult to believe. And perhaps the 517 00:46:02.530 --> 00:46:05.989 most compelling aspect of the story is that it begins 518 00:46:06.050 --> 00:46:12.170 with something real. A real warship. A real military shipyard. 519 00:46:12.889 --> 00:46:19.329 Real electromagnetic research. A real scientist who spent years pursuing 520 00:46:19.389 --> 00:46:23.409 a unified theory of physics. And a real collection of 521 00:46:23.510 --> 00:46:27.320 strange letters that eventually found their way into the hands 522 00:46:27.380 --> 00:46:32.019 of the United States Navy. But somewhere between those facts 523 00:46:32.119 --> 00:46:36.519 and the stories that followed, the USS Eldridge became something 524 00:46:36.699 --> 00:46:42.010 much more than a destroyer escort. It became a ghost ship. 525 00:46:42.909 --> 00:46:47.610 A vessel supposedly capable of disappearing from the world, carrying 526 00:46:47.670 --> 00:46:51.340 its unfortunate crew into a place where the normal rules 527 00:46:51.380 --> 00:46:56.320 of reality no longer applied. Was it an elaborate hoax? 528 00:46:57.019 --> 00:47:01.800 A misunderstanding of classified naval research? Or did the story 529 00:47:01.900 --> 00:47:05.610 somehow preserve a distorted memory of an experiment that we 530 00:47:05.719 --> 00:47:10.469 still don't fully understand? There is no credible evidence that 531 00:47:10.510 --> 00:47:15.469 the ship ever vanished, but the legend itself has certainly survived. 532 00:47:16.210 --> 00:47:20.519 And maybe that's the strangest part of all. Because the 533 00:47:20.579 --> 00:47:26.230 Philadelphia Experiment was supposed to make a ship disappear. Instead, 534 00:47:26.710 --> 00:47:30.389 it made a mystery that has refused to disappear for 535 00:47:30.489 --> 00:47:37.019 more than 70 years. You've been listening to Stranger Things. 536 00:47:37.820 --> 00:47:41.280 Until next time, keep questioning what you think you know. 537 00:47:41.980 --> 00:47:47.630 Keep looking beyond the ordinary. And remember... Sometimes the strangest 538 00:47:47.710 --> 00:47:53.030 things aren't hiding somewhere in the universe. Sometimes they're hiding 539 00:47:53.070 --> 00:47:55.559 in the stories we tell ourselves about it.