War breeds a very mysterious kind of array of experiences from disappearances to even more bizarre encounters that leave us wondering just what reality is it that we are to believe. From the disappearance of Jack Kennedy, John Fitzgerald’s brother, lost during a secret bombing mission to the vanishing of Benny Goodman, the world’s premier jazz band leader, who took off from the British Isles to appear at a festival in Paris, France the next day, strange circumstances have become legendary especially in World War II.

Secret mission

In 1943 the US Navy was experimenting with a form of stealth that would make American warships virtually invisible to enemy sonar or radar. In theory, the method would be to install powerful degaussing generators aboard the ship which were thought to create an electronic umbrella that would deflect microwaves from prying enemy radar or sound waves emitted by sonar devices. This powerful electromagnetic field was thought to be able to provide the perfect type of camouflage when on the surface of oceanic waters. With the German “Wolf Pack” of U-Boats operating with savage efficiency in the Atlantic and the Imperial Japanese Navy run amuck in the Pacific, an electronic cloaking device was thought to have had great potential.

It begins

The US Naval destroyer the USS Eldridge was chosen for the classified project. After carefully screening for a special crew, the operation was to be commenced in the Philadelphia shipyards. Upon activating degaussing generators that used vacuum tubes that created a great deal of heat that had to be dissipated the USS Eldridge disappeared after being enveloped in a blue veil of light. Once vanished a greenish mist remained as astonished onlookers gazed in awe. It seems to be a success, but had the experiment been controllable?

Into thin air

A US Naval vessel patrolling the waters off Norfolk, Virginia reportedly made contact with the USS Eldridge that materialized right in front of the astonished crew! After trying to make contact with its crew, all witnesses watched the USS Eldridge vanish again! Within minutes the US Naval destroyer re-appeared in the shipyards of Philadelphia with a glowing presence at its original mooring. It seemed a relief that the USS Eldridge had returned, but this time something horrific took place. Sailors had gone insane, some claiming to have seen strange entities while others had become part of the ship with arms, legs, and bodies fused with the hull or deck of the destroyer. Some of the sailors had been burned. It was a scene of grotesque chaos as the US Navy brass decided what to do next!

Deadly Implications of the experiment

The project was quickly suspended and it went into damage control, but what of the naval personnel who had merged molecularly with the ship, becoming part of it? The US Navy covered up the project the best it could but too many witnesses made that impossible and word did finally get out years afterward and World War II had ended. In the 1950’s a bizarre string of letters emerged in magazines featuring the paranormal and UFO’s. Carlos Allende was among the crew of the USS Eldridge and claimed to be suffering from what he had experienced.

Some credibility

It seemed Allende did have some insider’s knowledge of the project. His tormented letters indicated his injured condition mentally from being exposed to the strange electronic cloaking field he had been enveloped by with the rest of the crew. He appeared to be paranoid about the “Men in Black” following him and somehow got associated with UFO’s and strange entities that the “Philadelphia Experiment” had unlocked. A series of his letters made their way into the late 1960’s magazine stands before some researchers began to brand them as hoaxes.

A science fiction tribute

In 1984, a very well done science fiction movie about the Philadelphia Experiment was released featuring actor Michael Pare as the main character, a US Navy sailor. Best known for his role in the movie “Eddie and the Cruisers” a take on the idea that many thought Jim Morrison of the Doors instead of dying in Paris, had engineered his untimely disappearance from fame and fortune just as in Eddie and the Cruisers. Though the movie adds a time travel variation to the story and to the known facts about the USS Eldridge, it’s still an entertaining movie.

Conclusion

We know today that since 1947 and the rise of the security state there have been ominous developments in both surveillance, invasion of personal privacy, and the rapid technological development that has not been fully revealed to the civilian population. It would seem with the modern digital age such a project would be a lot more feasible, and to many who have seen UFO’s, Sasquatch seemingly come though portals, and even military vehicles that can hide within light bending fields such secret inventions are very possible.