Editing Philadelphia Experiment (section)

==Evidence and research==

The historian [[Mike Dash]] notes that many authors who publicized the "Philadelphia Experiment" story after that of Jessup appeared to have conducted little or no research of their own. Through the late 1970s, for example, Allende/Allen was often described as mysterious and difficult to locate, but Goerman determined Allende/Allen's identity after only a few telephone calls.<ref name="Dash 2000"/>{{rp|300–301}}

Others speculate that much of the key literature emphasizes dramatic embellishment rather than pertinent research. Berlitz's and Moore's account of the story (''The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility'') claimed to include factual information, such as transcripts of an interview with a scientist involved in the experiment, but their work has also been criticized for [[plagiarism|plagiarizing]] key story elements from the novel ''Thin Air'' which was published a year earlier.

===Misunderstanding of documented naval experiments===
Personnel at the Fourth Naval District have suggested that the alleged event was a misunderstanding of routine research during [[World War II]] at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. One theory is that "the foundation for the apocryphal stories arose from [[degaussing]] experiments which have the effect of making a ship undetectable or 'invisible' to magnetic mines." Another possible origin of the stories about [[Levitation (physics)|levitation]], [[teleportation]], and effects on human crew might be attributed to experiments with the generating plant of the destroyer {{USS|Timmerman|DD-828}}, wherein a higher-frequency generator produced [[corona discharge]]s, although none of the crew reported suffering effects from the experiment.<ref name="NHHC 1996">{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/philadelphia-experiment/philadelphia-experiment-onr-info-sheet.html |title=Philadelphia Experiment: Office of Naval Research Information Sheet |website=[[Naval History and Heritage Command]] |date=1996-09-08 |access-date=2021-07-11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514055617/https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/philadelphia-experiment/philadelphia-experiment-onr-info-sheet.html |archive-date=2021-05-14}}</ref>

Observers have argued that it is inappropriate to grant credence to an unusual story promoted by one individual in the absence of corroborating evidence. Robert Goerman wrote in ''[[Fate (magazine)|Fate]]'' magazine in 1980, that "Carlos Allende"/"Carl Allen", who is said to have corresponded with Jessup, was Carl Meredith Allen of [[New Kensington, Pennsylvania]], who had an established history of [[psychiatric illness]] and who may have fabricated the primary history of the experiment as a result of his mental illness. Goerman later realized that Allen was a family friend and "a creative and imaginative loner&nbsp;... sending bizarre writings and claims".<ref>{{Skeptoid | id=4016 | number=16 | title= The Real Philadelphia Experiment: The US Navy did not make a warship completely disappear in 1943|date=2006-12-24}}</ref>

===Timeline inconsistencies===
USS ''Eldridge'' was not commissioned until August 27, 1943, and it remained in port in [[New York City]] until September 1943. The October experiment allegedly took place while the ship was on its first [[shakedown cruise]] in [[the Bahamas]], although proponents of the story claim that the [[ship's logs]] might have been falsified or else still be [[Classified information in the United States|classified]]. An alternative explanation is that {{USS|Hammann|DE-131}} was actually used rather than USS ''Eldridge'' as USS ''Hammann'' arrived in the shipyard on October 20, 1943.<ref name="de173.com">{{cite news | title = The Philadelphia Experiment From A-Z | url = https://de173.com/uss-hammann-de-131/ | work = Reprint by Sam Kuncevich, Originally published in The Blurb, March, 1989}}</ref>

The [[Office of Naval Research]] (ONR) stated in September 1996, "ONR has never conducted investigations on radar invisibility, either in 1943 or at any other time." Pointing out that the ONR was not established until 1946, it denounces the accounts of "The Philadelphia Experiment" as complete "[[science fiction]]".

A reunion of Navy veterans who had served aboard USS ''Eldridge'' told a Philadelphia newspaper in April 1999 that their ship had never made port in Philadelphia.<ref name="Lewis 1999">{{cite news | title = The Where Ship? Project: Though long dismissed by the Navy, the legend of The Philadelphia Experiment shows no signs of disappearing | first = Frank | last = Lewis | url = http://citypaper.net/articles/081999/news.cb.ship.shtml | work = [[Philadelphia City Paper]] | date = August 19–26, 1999 | access-date = 2008-02-05 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120624005111/http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/081999/news.cb.ship.shtml | archive-date = 2012-06-24 }}</ref> Further evidence discounting the Philadelphia Experiment timeline comes from USS ''Eldridge’s'' complete World War II action report, including the remarks section of the 1943 deck log, available on [[microfilm]].<ref name="NHHC"/>

===Alternative explanations===
Researcher [[Jacques Vallée]]<ref name="Vallée 1994">Vallée, Jacques F. (1994) [http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_08_1_vallee.pdf "Anatomy of a Hoax: The Philadelphia Experiment Fifty Years Later"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222023540/http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_08_1_vallee.pdf |date=2009-12-22 }} ''[[Journal of Scientific Exploration]]'' Volume 8, Number 1, pp. 47–71</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2020}} describes a procedure on board {{USS|Engstrom}}, which was docked alongside the ''Eldridge'' in 1943. The operation involved the generation of a powerful electromagnetic field on board the ship in order to [[Deperming|deperm]] or [[Degaussing|degauss]] it, with the goal of rendering the ship undetectable or "invisible" to magnetically fused undersea [[naval mine|mines]] and [[torpedo]]es. This system was invented by a Canadian, [[Charles F. Goodeve]], when he held the rank of [[commander]] in the [[Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve]], and the [[Royal Navy]] and other navies used it widely during World War II.

British ships of the era often included such degaussing systems built into the upper decks (the [[Electrical conduit|conduits]] are still visible on the deck of {{HMS|Belfast}} in London, for example). Degaussing is still used today. However, it has no effect on visible light or radar. Vallée speculates that accounts of USS ''Engstrom's'' degaussing might have been garbled and [[confabulated]] in subsequent retellings, and that these accounts may have influenced the story of "The Philadelphia Experiment".

Vallée cites a veteran who served on board USS ''Engstrom'' and who suggests it might have traveled from Philadelphia to Norfolk and back again in a single day at a time when merchant ships could not, by use of the [[Chesapeake & Delaware Canal]] and [[Chesapeake Bay]], which at the time was open only to naval vessels.<ref name="Vallée 1994"/> Use of that channel was kept quiet: German submarines had ravaged shipping along the East Coast during [[Second Happy Time|Operation Drumbeat]], and thus military ships unable to protect themselves were secretly moved via canals to avoid the threat.<ref name="Vallée 1994"/>

The same veteran claims to be the man that Allende witnessed "disappearing" at a bar. He claims that when a fight broke out, friendly barmaids whisked him out of the bar before the police arrived, because he was under age for drinking. They then covered for him by claiming that he had disappeared.<ref name="Vallée 1994"/>