Several readers have asked questions about the Philadelphia Experiment. The legend is actually very interesting and the many Internet sites, listed at left, make for great reading.

Basically the legend is this: In Philadelphia during 1943, experiments were conducted on the destroyer escort Eldridge which made the ship invisible. In later experiments, the Eldridge was actually teleported to another location. The crew didn't fare as well as the ship however and crewmen either became violently ill or disappeared. Many later died. After the disaster on the Eldridge, the invisibility experiments continued in what is called the Montauk Project.

This story came to the public in the 1950's when a former crewman contacted a scientist. Of course, others have come forward with perfectly logical explanations for what happened with the result being that, as usual, you don't know who to believe. The Navy even put out a statement stating that it has never conducted experiments into invisibility.

One thing, no matter what actually happened, you would think that there would be countless people who worked the Eldridge when it was in port. These dock workers and sailors should be relatively easy to contact and find out what really happened.

Now, for the tale of the tape -

The Explanation: Experiments were conducted on the Eldridge but , over time and through accounts of people looking for publicity, they have been misconstrued into something that did not happen. New radar and weapons were tested on the Eldridge. Electrical equipment was placed on the destroyer to make it "invisible" to magnetic torpedoes and not to test true optical invisibility. The Eldridge never disappeared but instead was out of view when it took a canal from Philadelphia to Norfolk. In the 50's. more experiments were conducted on the Eldridge, which created a corona effect and this is how the legend began. The Eldridge is still in service, now with the Greek navy.

The X-planation: In 1943, the navy conducted tests on the Eldridge to create radar invisibility through forming a extremely powerful magnetic field throughout the ship. Based upon Einstein's Unified Field Theory, the experiment actually made the Eldridge disappear - true optical invisibility was obtained. The ship was teleported to Norfolk. Upon returning, the entire crew was either violently ill, missing or fused into the ship. The survivors later died. Similar experiments continue today as part of the Montauk Project.

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