The following account is the story - or legend - of what has become popularly known as the “Philadelphia Experiment,” also referred to as “Project Rainbow.”  Much has been written about this topic and the purpose of this page is an attempt to separate fact from rumor.  The Philadelphia Experiment was an attempt by the U.S. Navy to create a ship that could not be detected by magnetic mines and or radar.  However, its results were far different and much more dangerous than the U.S. Navy ever expected.  The technical data that has also been presented upon the subject hold far too much credence to be ignored.  Many of the stories associated with this infamous experiment are wild:  Whispers of men “freezing” in time for months, rumors of men traveling through time, and horror stories of men becoming stuck in either bulkheads or the main deck of the ship itself.  Could any of this have actually occurred?  Read the following account and decide for yourself.

“Project Rainbow” was an experiment conducted upon a small destroyer escort ship during World War II while the ship was in Philadelphia Harbor at the Navy Yard and while it was at sea.  The purpose of the experiment was to make the ship invisible to enemy detection.  The accounts vary as to whether the original idea was to achieve invisibility to enemy radar or whether the prize sought after was more profound:  optical invisibility.  Either way, it is commonly believed that the mechanism involved was the generation of an incredibly intense magnetic field around the ship, which would cause refraction or bending of light or radar waves around the ship, much like a mirage created by heated air over a road on a summer day.  The legend goes on to say that the experiment was a complete success ... except that the ship actually disappeared physically for a time, and then returned.  They wanted to “cloak” the ship from view, but they actually achieved was apparent de-materialization and teleportation instead.

HISTORY

In the early 1930’s, the University of Chicago investigated the possibility of invisibility through the use of electric fields and magnetic fields.  This project was later moved to Princeton’s Institute of Advanced Studies.  The research went unnoticed and continued on until the 1940’s.  The ship that was eventually used for the experiment, U.S.S. Eldridge (DE-173), was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on August 27, 1943 (Department of the Navy).  According to Al Bielek, a man who claims to have been a crew member, the first tests performed were in July of 1943 and the final test was performed on August 12, 1943.  However, others claim that the experiment took place on October 28, 1943.  Substantial evidence points to the October date as being more accurate.  The U.S. Navy has released the U.S.S. Eldridge’s deck log and war diary and at no time was the U.S.S. Eldridge in Philadelphia.  However, the records could have easily been changed.  The U.S.S. Eldridge’s war diary reads as such:

The U.S.S. Eldridge remained in New York and the Long Island Sound until September 16, when it left for Bermuda.  From September 18 to October 15, it underwent training and sea trials.  On October 18, it left in a convoy for New York and remained there until November 1.  From November 1 to the 2, it went on a convoy to Norfolk and on November 3 left in a convoy for Casablanca.  The U.S.S. Eldridge arrived in Casablanca on November 22 and stayed there until November 29, when it left for New York again in another convoy.  The U.S.S. Eldridge arrived in New York on December 17.  From December 17 to December 31, it traveled to Norfolk with four other U.S. Navy warships.  Although this is not the entire war log, it is the log of the ship during the suspected time the experiment took place (October 28, as mentioned above).

It would seem that the U.S. Navy never did experiments on the U.S.S. Eldridge at any time, but the U.S. Government has been known to cover up because of national security before.  An example of such a situation would be the Manhattan project.  This secret project was the building of the atomic bomb and no word was ever said about it until it was obvious that we had an atomic bomb.  The U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. Navy ships and could be turned on whenever the ship was in waters that might contain magnetic mines...”

The U.S. Navy performed another experiment on the U.S.S, Timmerman’s generating plant in the 1950’s.  The experiment tried to obtain 1,000 Hz instead of the standard 400 Hz from the generator.  It resulted in light discharges.  These light discharges may have been witnessed by Carlos Miguele Allende and caused him to start writing letters to prominent men in the scientific community.  The U.S. Navy believes that Allende mistook the experiment on the Timmerman for the Philadelphia Experiment.

It has been claimed that the Philadelphia Experiment was partly an investigation into how Albert Einstein’s “Unified Field Theory for Gravitation and Electricity” might be used to advantage in the development of electronic camouflage for ships at sea.  Einstein allegedly published his Unified Theory around 1925 - 1927 in German, in a Prussian scientific journal, but it was later withdrawn as incomplete.  This research was aimed at using intense electromagnetic fields to mask a ship from incoming projectiles, mainly torpedoes.  This was later extended to include a study of creating radar invisibility by a similar field in the air rather than in the water.

THE STORY

The story begins in June of 1943, with the Destroyer Escort, U.S.S. Eldridge, DE-173, being fitted with tons of experimental electronic equipment.  This included, according to one source, two massive generators of 75 KVA each, mounted where the forward gun turret would have been, distributing their power through four magnetic coils mounted on the deck.  Three RF transmitters (2 megawatt CW each, mounted on the deck), three thousand “6L6” power amplifier tubes (used to drive the field coils of the two generators), special synchronizing and modulation circuits, and a host of other specialized hardware were employed to generate massive electromagnetic fields which, when properly configured, would be able to bend light and radio waves around the ship, thus making it invisible to enemy observers.

The “experiment,” said to have taken place at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and also at sea, took place on at least one occasion while in full view of the Merchant Marine ship S.S. Andrew Furuseth, and other observation ships.  The S.S. Andrew Furuseth becomes significant because one of its crewmen is the source of most of the original material making up the PX legend. Carlos Miguele Allende, also known as (A.K.A.) Carl Michael Allen, wrote a series of strange letters to one Dr. Morris K. Jessup in the 1950’s in which he described what he claims to have witnessed:  at least one of the several phases of the Philadelphia Experiment.

At 0900 hours, on July 22nd, 1943, the power to the generators was turned on, and the massive electromagnetic fields started to build up.  A greenish fog was seen to slowly envelop the ship, concealing it from view.  Then the fog itself is said to have disappeared, taking the U.S.S. Eldridge with it, leaving only undisturbed water where the ship had been anchored only moments before.

The elite officers of the U.S. Navy and scientists involved gazed in awe at their greatest achievement:  the ship and crew were not only radar invisible but invisible to the eye as well!  Everything worked as planned, and about fifteen minutes later they ordered the men to shut down the generators.  The greenish fog slowly reappeared, and the U.S.S. Eldridge began to re-materialize as the fog subsided, but it was evident to all that something had gone wrong.

When boarded by personnel from shore, the crewmembers above decks were disoriented and nauseous.  The U.S. Navy removed the crew from that original experiment, and shortly afterward, obtained another crew for a second experiment.  In the end, the U.S. Navy decided that they only wanted to achieve radar invisibility, and the equipment was altered.

On the 28th of October in 1943, at 17:15, the final test on the U.S.S. Eldridge was performed.  The electromagnetic field generators were turned on again, and the U.S.S. Eldridge became nearly invisible.  Only a faint outline of the hull remained visible in the water.  Everything was fine for the first few seconds, and then, in a blinding blue flash, the ship completely vanished.  Within seconds it reappeared hundreds of miles away, in Norfolk, Virginia, and was seen for several minutes.  The U.S.S. Eldridge then disappeared from Norfolk as mysteriously as it had arrived, and reappeared back in Philadelphia Naval Yard.  This time most of the sailors were violently sick.  Some of the crew were simply “missing” never to return.  Some of the crew went crazy.  The strangest result of all of this experiment was that five men were found fused to the metal within the ship’s structure.

The men that survived were never the same again.  Those that lived were discharged as “mentally unfit” for duty, regardless of their true condition.

So, what had begun as an experiment in electronic camouflage, ended up as an accidental teleportation of an entire ship and crew, to a distant location and back again, all in a matter of minutes!

Although the above may seem fantastic, one must remember, that in the 1940’s the atomic bomb was also being invented.

THE WITNESSES

Carlos Miguele Allende was born on May 31, 1925.  On July 14, 1942, Allende joined the Marine Corps and was discharged on May 21, 1943 (Taken from the book titled The Philadelphia Experiment, pg 99).  He, then, joined the Merchant Marine and was assigned to the S.S. Andrew Furuseth.  It was upon this ship that he claimed to see the U.S.S. Eldridge in action.  Allende’s story was bizarre; he stated that he had witnessed the U.S.S. 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 astronomer and 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 believed them and researched the matter.  Unfortunately, Dr. Jessup could not find any new leads.  Only one tantalizing clue 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, p. 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.

Al 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 U.S. Navy.  This brainwashing led him to believe that his name was Alfred Bielek, rather than his true name, Edward A. 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's story.  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 aliens provided the technology used in the Philadelphia Experiment.  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 U.S. 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.  The official record states that Einstein never solved the Unified Field Theory.  However, the very nature of the Philadelphia Experiment suggests otherwise.  It is suspected that Einstein’s Unified Theory has become a government secret because it demonstrates that both time travel and interstellar space travel can be performed by manipulating space-time.  Space travel can be accomplished without the assistance of a rocket engine.

EVIDENCE

There is not much information or evidence that can be found that isn’t tainted with doubt and speculation.  The basic design has two large Tesla coils (electromagnets) placed on each hull of the ship.  The coils are turned on in a special sequence and their magnetic force is so powerful that they can amplify Earth’s gravitational field and actually warp or compress space-time.  Bielek also says that on August 12 every 20 years, the magnetic field of the Earth reaches a peak and allows the synchronization between the Tesla coils.  The oscillator, which Bielek claims to have run the coils in a special pattern, looks more like an Army field kitchen refrigeration unit than anything else.  Many believe that’s exactly what it is and Bielek’s story is just a hoax.  However, Bielek gave it a technical name:  the “Zero Time Reference Generator.”  The oscillators would synchronize with the adjustable phase angle and created a scalar type wave (Anderson).  Several scientists today have attacked Bielek’s testimony on this, as they believe a vector wave would have been more efficient and probable.  Bielek also does not make clear if the power used is AC or DC, pulsed or rotating, and what the microwave and radar frequencies are.  In other words, Bielek provides almost no accurate technical information that can be used.

Rick Anderson however, may be able to shed some light upon the subject.  He states that 4 RF transmitters were phased to produce a rotating field.  This field was pulsed at a 10% duty cycle.  Instead of 2 coils, he says that 4 coils would have been set upon the deck of the ship and would be run by 2 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.

NOTE:

The account of the events that occurred during this experiment with a U.S. Navy Warship in the Philadelphia Harbor in 1943 seems quite similar to several accounts of strange events experienced by individuals who have traveled through the Bermuda Triangle and survived to tell about them.  Ship’s crews and aircraft pilots traveling through the Bermuda Triangle have reported strange clouds or fog and have reported their compasses going into a spin.  The spinning compasses would indicate movement through an intense rotating magnetic field.  Three theories about the Bermuda Triangle indicating the presence of a Space-Time Warp in the Bermuda Triangle are provided on the Bermuda Triangle:  Space-Time Warps Web Page at the “Gravity Warp Drive” Website.

Another scientist named Alexander S. Fraser believes that everyone is wrong about the electromagnetic qualities of the experiment.  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 U.S.S. 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.

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, indicating 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 resulting in ‘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 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.”

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

One fact, which everyone seemed to agree upon, is that a field was extended many yards, up to perhaps one hundred, outside of the ship and into the water (anonymous).  Everything inside of this sphere was vague in form and the only visible shape was the hull of the U.S.S. Eldridge in the water.  This field seemed to have a greenish color and was misty.  Another fact everyone agrees was that the U.S.S. Eldridge did not function properly after the experiment and became a source of trouble.  The last item everyone believes is that terrible side effects were manifested upon the crew members.  However, when one delves deeper into that particular subject, no one agrees on what the specific details are.

Some witnesses, Allende and Bielek in particular, state that matter itself was changed and that men were able to walk through physical objects.  When the field was shut off, some crew members were found stuck in bulkheads, others within the ship’s deck.  Some were found with the railings of the ship stuck through their bodies.  It was a horrendous sight.  The sailors supposedly went crazy after this and raided a bar.  They told the bar-maid their story and completely terrified her.  According to Allende, a newspaper article was written upon the raid, but no specific date was named, so the article cannot be found.  Most crew members went insane, but a few retained their sanity, only to be thrust into worse situations.  One man sat down to dinner with his wife and child, but then got up from the table, walked through the wall, and was never seen again.  Two others simply disappeared into thin air and were also never seen again.  Another crew member vanished in the middle of a fight, much to his opponent’s astonishment.  All three incidents had several witnesses.

The worse side effects of the experiment occurred when men became “stuck” or “locked into” what seems to be another dimensional space.  Getting stuck consisted of becoming invisible and being unable to move, speak, or interact with other people for a period of time.  Allende told about these events in his letters to Dr. Jessup.  The ships crew members identified the occurrence of “getting stuck” as “Hell Incorporated” (The Philadelphia Experiment, p. 42).  It was also known as the “freeze.”  A common freeze would last minutes to hours and was damaging psychologically, but did not cause madness.  A man would only come out of the “freeze” if other crew members laid their hands upon him to give him strength.  Unfortunately, in one instance of the “laying of hands,” two men who attempted to lay hands upon the man burst into flames and burned for 18 days (The Philadelphia Experiment, p. 44).  The fires could not be stopped, despite multiple attempts to quench the flames.  Needless to say, the laying of hands was discontinued from that point on.  Then, men started going into the “deep freeze,” when a man would be frozen for several days to several months.  During this time, the man is completely aware 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 2 days for a man to go completely crazy in the “deep freeze.”  The first “deep freeze” took 6 months and five million dollars worth of research and equipment to correct (The Philadelphia Experiment, p. 43).  The man who was stuck for 6 months went completely insane by the time he got out.  Carlos Allende wrote:  “Usually 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, p. 42).  Rick Anderson uncovered research that states this disappearance or freezing of people is the Zeeman Affect.

“Zeemanising - the Zeeman Effect is defined as spreading out of the spectral lines of atoms under the influence of a strong magnetic field.”

The few remaining sailors have a high PSI factor which is intensified by fear or hypnosis.  Unfortunately, they have all been discharged from the U.S. Navy as mentally unfit.

CONCLUSION

The Philadelphia Experiment has become a saga of strange occurrences and peculiar coincidences.  It should be noted that Allende firmly believes the U.S. Navy was completely unaware of the side effects to the crew members of the U.S.S. Eldridge that would result from the Philadelphia Experiment.  Allende is also quoted as saying:  “I believe that further experiments would naturally have produced controlled transport of great tonnages at ultra-fast speeds to a desired point the instant it is desired.”  A full report of the experiment was given to Congress and the members were so horrified that they disbanded the project immediately.  However, research continued at the Montauk Project, a.k.a. the Phoenix Project, which was headed by Dr. John Von Neumann, who also directed the Philadelphia Experiment.  The Montauk Project centered mostly on how the mind reacts to inter-dimensional travel.  It took place at the Brookhaven National Laboratories.  John Von Neumann attempted to link computers with minds and was apparently successful beyond his wildest dreams.  Using this computer-human link, John Von Neumann could affect others minds and was eventually able to open a time vortex back to 1943 to the Philadelphia Experiment.  He even made claims that the mind could create matter at any point in time.  He also claimed to have sent a man named Preston B. Nichols through two time-lines, a fact which was actually confirmed by Duncan Cameron in 1985 (Montauk).  Cameron was trained by the National Security Agency, so his testimony is valid.  Many people believe that the Montauk Project is continuing to this day, although much of the information available about it is only rumor.

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.

HYPERLINKS:

Index and Direct Hyperlinks to the Other Web Pages on this Website:

AL BIELEK:

1. The Philadelphia Experiment and the Secrets of Montauk Home Page



2. Introduction



3. Life of Al Bielek



4. Timeline



5. Aliens, Time Travel, and Wormholes

THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT:

1. US Navy Official Record



2. The Philadelphia Experiment Story



3. The Philadelphia Experiment



4. Life of Ed Cameron



5. Dr. James Corum



6. Nikola Tesla



7. Dr. John Von Neumann - Official Record

THE MONTAUK PROJECT:

1. Camp Hero - Fort Montauk



2. Montauk Project



3. Larry James



4. Preston Nichols



5. Stewart Swerdlow



6. Duncan Cameron

© Copyright Al Bielek, June 24, 2004.
All rights reserved.  No portion of this document may be
reproduced in any form without written permission of the author.