The Experiment: Pennsylvania, 1947

Summary

Sightings Episode Summary: "The Experiment: Pennsylvania, 1947"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Sightings
• Host/Author: REVERB | QCODE
• Episode: The Experiment: Pennsylvania, 1947
• Release Date: March 17, 2025
• Description: From Roswell to Loch Ness, Sightings delves into the world's most mysterious supernatural events. Each episode presents a thrilling narrative followed by an insightful discussion that challenges listeners to differentiate between reality and the impossible.

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Introduction

In the episode titled "The Experiment: Pennsylvania, 1947," hosts McLeod Andrews and Brian Sigley unravel the enigmatic story of the USS Eldridge and the infamous Philadelphia Experiment. This episode blends a gripping first-person account with a critical analysis of the legend, exploring themes of government secrecy, experimental technology, and the thin veil between reality and the unknown.

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The Christopher Narrative

The episode opens with a vivid recounting by a character named Christopher, purportedly a Naval Intelligence photographer involved in the Philadelphia Experiment. His detailed monologue paints a harrowing picture of the day the USS Eldridge was subjected to a mysterious electromagnetic field experiment.

Key Highlights:

• Setting the Scene ([01:37]): Christopher describes the oppressive heat at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in 1943, where the Eldridge, a brand-new Cannon class destroyer, was stationed for sea trials.

• Meeting Ry ([02:14]): Amid his duties, Christopher befriends Ry, a crew member aboard the Eldridge, establishing a personal connection that underscores the tragedy to come.

• The Experiment Unfolds ([05:00]): As machines designed to generate electromagnetic fields activate, a series of inexplicable phenomena occur:

  • Visual Disturbances ([07:00]): Christopher witnesses a green mist enveloping the ship, accompanied by unusual sounds ranging from a low hum to violent buzzing.
  • The Disappearance ([09:30]): In a dramatic moment, the USS Eldridge vanishes, leaving only its hull visible in the water, before reappearing moments later with the crew in altered states.

• Aftermath and Abduction ([11:15]): The narrative details the horrifying aftermath:

  • Fused Crew Members ([12:45]): Sailors are found merged with the ship’s metal, displaying signs of severe psychological and physical distress.
  • Isolation and Secrecy ([13:30]): Survivors, including Ry, are confined to Bethesda Naval Hospital under strict isolation, preventing any external communication about the incident.

• Desperate Quest for Truth ([17:00]): Driven by fear and determination, Christopher begins an unauthorized investigation, uncovering references to "Project Rainbow" and the elusive Dr. Franklin Reno. His journey leads him to clandestine meetings and dangerous revelations, culminating in his resolve to confront the source of the conspiracy.

Notable Quote:

"I know what I saw, I know what I filmed, and I know what they did to cover it up." – Christopher ([02:14])

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Investigating Project Rainbow

Following Christopher’s harrowing story, McLeod and Brian dive into the historical and speculative aspects of the Philadelphia Experiment. They explore the plausibility of Project Rainbow, the alleged military endeavor aimed at rendering the USS Eldridge invisible through advanced electromagnetic technology inspired by Einstein’s unified field theory.

Key Discussions:

• Origins of the Legend ([26:10]): The hosts trace the story back to Charles Berlitz’s 1979 book, which cites correspondence between scientist Morris Jessup and Carlos Allende, claiming firsthand accounts of the experiment.

• Technological Feasibility ([26:17]): They analyze the scientific claims, questioning the practicality of creating an electromagnetic force field capable of invisibility and teleportation, especially given the technological constraints of the 1940s.

• Discrepancies and Skepticism ([32:44]): McLeod and Brian highlight inconsistencies in the story, such as the USS Eldridge reportedly never being in Philadelphia during the alleged experiment and the lack of credible evidence or whistleblowers from the ship’s crew.

Notable Quote:

"If this is true and this actually happened, there were at least 216 people on that boat who could have squealed about this and didn't." – Brian Sigley ([35:08])

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Skepticism and Analysis

The discussion transitions into a critical examination of the Philadelphia Experiment narrative, balancing fascination with healthy skepticism. McLeod and Brian dissect the story’s elements, distinguishing between documented facts and speculative fiction.

Key Points:

• Government Cover-ups ([34:08]): They consider the possibility of military secrecy driving the legend, acknowledging historical instances of classified projects that later became public knowledge.

• Psychological Impact ([28:33]): The hosts discuss the profound psychological effects on the sailors, such as hallucinations and physical deformities, exploring theories that these could result from experimental trauma rather than supernatural causes.

• Lack of Corroborating Evidence ([32:41]): Emphasizing the absence of verifiable records and firsthand testimonies, they question the story's authenticity, suggesting it may be an amalgamation of misinterpreted events and creative storytelling.

Notable Quote:

"The experiment itself was a complete success, but the men were complete failures." – Brian Sigley ([29:39])

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Potential Corroborations and Sources

In an effort to validate the story, McLeod and Brian investigate available sources, uncovering limited and often contradictory evidence that fuels both the legend and the skepticism surrounding the Philadelphia Experiment.

Key Findings:

• Albert Einstein’s Involvement ([31:45]): They explore claims that Einstein was a consultant for the Navy during the time, potentially linking his unified field theory to the experimental technology, though no concrete evidence supports this connection.

• Navy's Official Stance ([33:19]): The hosts reference the Navy’s official denial of the experiment, attributing the legend to misinterpreted degaussing technology used to protect ships from magnetic mines rather than any form of invisibility or teleportation.

• Franklin Reno and Project Rainbow ([32:54]): Attempts to verify the existence of Dr. Franklin Reno and Project Rainbow yield no results, reinforcing the notion that these may be fictional or misrepresented entities within the story.

Notable Quote:

"The Navy has never conducted investigations on invisibility. They suspect the foundations of the story may have come from experiments that they did do involving machinery on boats and kind of electromagnetism and stuff like that." – Brian Sigley ([33:20])

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Conclusion

"The Experiment: Pennsylvania, 1947" serves as a compelling exploration of one of the most enduring legends in paranormal and military conspiracy lore. Through Christopher’s haunting account and the hosts’ analytical dialogue, the episode invites listeners to ponder the thin line between myth and reality. While the narrative captivates with its blend of science fiction and historical intrigue, McLeod Andrews and Brian Sigley maintain a critical lens, encouraging skepticism and demanding evidence in the face of extraordinary claims.

Final Thoughts:

"It's a cool story, but I can't say I want to believe in it because it's awful." – McLeod Andrews ([35:31])

As the episode wraps up, the hosts tease their next investigation into a haunted island on the west coast, promising more tales that straddle the boundary between the known and the mysterious.

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Notable Quotes Summary:

• Christopher on the Cover-up ([02:14]): "I know what I saw, I know what I filmed, and I know what they did to cover it up."
• Brian Sigley on Potential Whistleblowers ([35:08]): "If this is true and this actually happened, there were at least 216 people on that boat who could have squealed about this and didn't."
• Brian Sigley on Experiment Outcome ([29:39]): "The experiment itself was a complete success, but the men were complete failures."
• Brian Sigley on Navy’s Stance ([33:20]): "The Navy has never conducted investigations on invisibility. They suspect the foundations of the story may have come from experiments that they did do involving machinery on boats and kind of electromagnetism and stuff like that."
• McLeod Andrews on Belief ([35:31]): "It's a cool story, but I can't say I want to believe in it because it's awful."

---

Credits:

• Hosts: McLeod Andrews and Brian Sigley
• Produced by: Brian Sigley, Chase Kinzer, and McLeod Andrews
• Written by: Brian Sigley
• Music by: Mitch Bain
• Mixing and Mastering: Pat Kickleiter of Sundial Media
• Artwork by: Nuno Cernatos

Sources and Further Information: For a comprehensive list of sources referenced in this episode, visit sightingspodcast.com.

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Note: This summary excludes advertisements, introductory segments, and outros to focus solely on the episode's main content and discussions.

Transcript

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[McLeod Andrews]

They say war accelerates innovation, pushing boundaries in pursuit of victory. But what happens when those boundaries cross into the unknown? Some experiments, it seems, are classified not only to protect secrets, but to shield us from truths we aren't ready to face. Welcome to Sightings, the series that takes you inside the world's most mysterious, mysterious, supernatural events. Each week we bring you a thrilling story that puts you at the center of the action, followed by a discussion that dives into the accounts that inspired the story and our takes on them. I'm McLeod.

[Brian Sigley]

And I'm Brian. And today we're heading to Philadelphia, where one mysterious experiment is about to upend a man's life forever.

[McLeod Andrews]

What happened to the USS Eldridge and its hapless crew on that fateful day in 1943? Find out on this episode of Sightings. Um, you can call me Christopher. And I need to get this on record just in case something happens to me, or in case things don't go as planned, or I don't know what, because something is happening, is about to happen, and I honestly have no idea what's coming next. And I know that's vague. And I know how strange what I'm about to say is going to sound. I mean, if someone had told me this story, I'd have said they were crazy. Hell, sometimes I think I am crazy. But I know what I saw, I know what I filmed, and I know what they did to cover it up. Because the Navy took everything from me that day and dammit, I'm going to get it back. I work for Naval Intelligence in their photography and technical intelligence department. I'm not sure I'll be working for them anymore after what's about to go down. But the chips will fall where they may. Point is, I was working there last summer as well when this all started. And you know, really, it means I was just a guy with a camera. Point and shoot, Document the tests, file the footage, keep my mouth shut. Simple. And I was good at my job, you know, I guess you could say I had a knack for composition, for capturing the right moment. And that's how I met Ry, actually. He was serving on the USS Edison when I was assigned to document their sea trials. And in the downtime, we got to talking and we just clicked. You know, the kind of friendship that feels like you've known each other forever, right from the start. Sorry, I'm getting off track. But you need to understand what was at stake. What they took from us. From me. So, last summer, 1943. Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Hot as hell. I remember that. The kind of day where your shirt sticks to your back before noon. They'd called me in early. Said there was going to be a special test. Top secret, need to know basis. All I knew was I had to film it. When I got to the yard, I saw the USS Eldridge. A brand new Cannon class destroyer, barely two months out of her launch. 1600 tons of American steel with a crew of 216. And wouldn't you know it, the first one I saw on deck was Rye. He was loading equipment of some kind. And it turns out he'd been transferred there but hadn't told me. He wasn't allowed to. I shouted up to him from my vantage point, but he didn't hear me. God. God, if I'd known what was going to happen that day, I'd have shouted harder. You know, they had these machines mounted all over and around the Eldridge. Strange things I'd never seen before. Heavy cables running everywhere connecting to these massive generators. All I heard was it was something about electromagnetic fields. And boy, the eggheads were excited about it, whatever it was. So I was set up on the pier, about 50 yards away. A perfect vantage point to film whatever was supposed to happen. Ry managed to catch my eye from the deck and flash. To smile and wave. And that. Well, yeah, that was the last time I saw him. Normal. There was a countdown. And then the machines turned on. And it started. Subtle, so I wasn't even sure what was supposed to be happening. And then I saw this darkening of the air around the ship, like heat waves rising off hot pavement. But it's. Ah, no, no, no. It's hard to describe. It's. It's. It's almost like it had substance to it. Then this. This green mist started forming. Thin at first, like cigarette smoke, but it got thicker. And I swear the. The color wasn't like anything I'd seen before. It just wasn't natural. It made your eyes hurt to look at it too long. And then the sound started. God, the sound. It began as this low hum. You could feel it in your teeth. Then it got higher, like a whisper, right in your ear, but from everywhere at once. And then it turned into this violent buzzing, like a million angry hornets. I saw Rhy grab onto a railing to steady himself. He looked scared. And I mean it. Ry never looked scared. The field became visible then. Like a sheet of pure electricity surrounding the ship. And then it pulsed like a. Like a heartbeat. And the force of it knocked me flat on my ass. And my camera went flying. And I heard someone shout, cut the power. But the power didn't cut. The field just kept pulsing. And I scrambled to get my camera to keep falling, filming whatever was happening on that ship. But when I looked back through my viewfinder, the eldritch. The entire damn ship was gone. Just vanished. And all that was left was this perfect outline of a ship's hull in the water, as if the entire battleship had been rendered invisible somehow. Then water rushed in to fill the void, and the displacement wave nearly knocked me off the piercing. There were maybe half a dozen of us there, and nobody said a damn word. I mean, what could you say after something like that? Then this voice came booming over a megaphone from somewhere behind us. Keep filming. So I did. God help me, I did. For four hours, I pointed my camera at empty water burning through roll after roll of film. The whole time, my mind was racing. Where was the ship? Where was Rai? Were they dead? Were they gone? Some other observers started talking about other dimensions, and the whispering got wilder by the hour because nobody really knew. Nobody knew a damn thing. Then in the third hour, we started seeing things like ripples in the air, where the ship should have been. Sometimes I thought I could hear voices. Like radio static, snippets of conversations, but distorted, wrong, stretched. Like they were coming from very far away or were somewhere else entirely. Then, just as suddenly as it vanished, the eldritch reappeared. And then the screaming started. Dear God, the screaming. Sorry. Sorry, I just. Give me a minute. We weren't supposed to board the ship. That voice on the megaphone was yelling at us to stay back. But when we heard those screams, a few of us ran up the gangway. And honestly, nothing could have prepared us for what we found. The sailors on deck. Some of them were flickering like a bad film reel, fading in and out of existence. I saw one man reach out to me. His eyes were wild with terror. And then he just vanished. Just gone. Like he never existed. Then another was walking in circles, babbling about the green place. And the others. His uniform was smoking, though there was no fire. Others were. Oh, God. They were fused with the ship itself. Merged with the metal. Arms, legs, torsos, just embedded in the bulkheads. Still alive, still screaming. One man's face was sticking out of the deck. And he was conscious, begging for help. The metal hadn't just trapped him. It had become part of him. That's when I heard Ry's voice from below deck, calling my name. I ran down the stairs, following his voice. The corridors were worse than the deck. Men frozen mid stride, half phased through walls. Some just. Some were just parts of men. A hand reaching out of the ceiling, a face in the floor, all screaming. And I found Rai in the forward section. His hand, his whole right arm up to the elbow, was buried in the steel hull. Like the metal had melted and solidified around him. When he saw me, he tried to smile. Can you believe that? Trying to be brave. And I still remember what he said. Looks like I'm in a bit of a spot here. I told him I'd get him out. So I found a welder who hadn't lost his mind. And we started trying to figure out how to. Well, how to cut him free without. Without taking his arm off. And. And as they were cutting, Ry grabbed my hand with his free one. He squeezed it, and that look in his eyes. I knew then I'd never see him whole again, even if we got him out. But before we could free him, they grabbed me. Shore Patrol MPs. I don't know who they were. They dragged me back up top, off the ship. God, I fought them. I fought them so hard. But there were too many. And the last thing I heard was Ry calling my name. But that day, well, that was only the beginning. Yep. Only the beginning. Oh, God.

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They kept me away from Rye after that. Months of not knowing if he was alive or if he was still even himself. But I couldn't just sit there and do nothing. I had to know what happened that day. What they did to those men. What they did to Ry. So I started digging through files at Naval Intelligence. I wasn't supposed to, of course, but I still had clearance. And people still thought of me as, you know, just the camera guy. It's amazing what you can find when people think you're harmless. The first week, I found nothing. Second week, same thing. But in the third week, I discovered this file tucked away in the wrong cabinet. Like someone had misfiled it on purpose. Inside was a single sheet with a reference to something called Project Rainbow and a memo about electromagnetic field generation tests written by a Dr. Franklin Reno. Of course, I couldn't find anything about this Dr. Reno anywhere. Nor could I find anything official about what happened on the Eldritch that day. Instead, I had to rely on rumors. And, boy, were there rumors. At first they were just whispers. Sailors talking in bars, civilians who lived near the shipyard. But they all said the same thing. The Eldritch hadn't just vanished. It had showed up in Norfolk. Just appeared out of nowhere in the Navy yard there. Stayed visible for just a few minutes, then disappeared again before materializing back in Philadelphia. I even heard a story about two sailors from the Eldritch who appeared out of nowhere in this bar on the waterfront the same time the ship had disappeared. And one of them apparently kept trying to pick up a beer, but his hand kept passing right through the glass. Then a fight broke out, and in the middle of it, they both just up and vanished. And hearing all this, I mean, you try to make sense of it all, but you can't. Your whole understanding of reality just breaks. But I kept pushing, kept asking questions. And I finally learned that they were keeping the survivors at Bethesda Naval Hospital, all of them, including Ry, complete isolation. No visitors allowed. I had this friend in ONI who. Well, let's just say he owed me a favor. So he got me a pass that would get me inside. It took some convincing. He'd heard rumors about what happened to people who asked too many questions about the Eldritch. But, you know, in the end, he came through. And there in Bethesda was where I found him. God, his arm. The whole thing was this strange gray color, just hanging there, useless. And the things he told me about the other men there, what they were going through. It was worse than I imagined. Some of them seeing double. But not just double images. They'd see two different realities at once. One even said he saw another world that wasn't our own. One with geometry that didn't make sense, with creatures while we were talking. This other patient walked by in the hall. Young guy, couldn't have been more than 20. And suddenly, he just stopped. Frozen mid step, eyes wide open, terrified. So I started to get up to maybe help him, but Ry grabbed my arm. He said to leave him, because that happens sometimes. It was called freezing or getting stuck, and it usually passed quick. But if someone stayed in deep freeze for more than a day, well. He didn't finish the sentence. Eventually, I asked Rye about project Rainbow and Dr. Reno, and he just shook his head. He said he was just following orders like everyone else and had been told it was all just some kind of radar test. He'd heard the words project Rainbow, and Dr. Reno whispered here and there, but he stayed out of it. He just wanted to go home. And I wanted to help him, of course, to get him out of there. I told him we could run, find somewhere safe, but he said he couldn't because he still needed help. So I swore I'd find answers, find a way to fix what they'd done to him. Come hell or high water, I'd do it. More months passed, and I felt like I was spinning my wheels. Then one day, out of nowhere, this call came in. Just a voice telling me to be at this bar in two hours. No explanation, no name, and. I know, I know. Sounds like a trap, right? But I was desperate. I found the guy in the back booth. And he looked homeless, almost ragged. Clothes unshaven, but his eyes. His eyes were sharp, alert. He said he'd been an officer on the Eldritch. Said when the ship phased out, he ended up in Florida somehow. Just materialized on a beach near Pensacola. And he'd been off the grid ever since. And while he was talking, I noticed his hand. It kept fading, becoming transparent, then solid again. Like what happened to the sailors that day was still happening to him. He didn't know much, but what he did know was this. Project Rainbow was military tech, possibly related to cloaking technology. They were using Einstein's research somehow. And this Dr. Reno, he'd taken it further than anyone thought possible. I must have looked shocked when he mentioned Reno, because he smiled. Then he pushed this brown paper bag across the table and left. Just got up and walked away. Inside was a handgun and an address for one Dr. Franklin Reno. And I figured you'd have thought I'd just jump in my car and go right there, right then, but I didn't. And that gun has sat on my nightstand for the last eight days, just waiting for me to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do with it. And then last night, my doorbell rang. I didn't want to answer it until I heard the voice on the other side. It was Ry. He said they'd released them all. Every survivor from the Eldritch, regardless of the condition they were in. All deemed unfit for duty, given pensions and sworn to secrecy. I tried to cook something for him. He looked so thin. But when I turned around from the stove, he was gone. Then he faded back in a few minutes. Minutes later, looking more exhausted than ever. He said it was happening more frequently now. And he told me he couldn't take it anymore. Sometimes he wasn't even sure if he was really there, really alive, or if he'd just died that day and this was some kind of hell. So here I am, recording this now. Just in case something happens to me or in case things don't go as planned. Because I'm going to that address tonight, and I'm taking that gun with me. I'm going to find Dr. Franklin Reno. I'm going to get answers, and I'm going to find a way to fix what they did to Ry, or I'm going to die trying. Maybe none of this matters anymore. Maybe I'm too late. But I have to try. Because every time I close my eyes, I see Rai fading away piece by piece. And I can't. I can't just let that happen. So wish me luck.

[Brian Sigley]

Sightings will be back just after this. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool.

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[McLeod Andrews]

Good evening, everybody. And my name is Adam. And my name's Matt.

[Brian Sigley]

And we are graveyard tapes. And we talk about haunted places, UAP sightings, cryptid encounters, strange mysteries, bizarre phenomena. You name it, we'll talk about it and put our own little spin on it.

[McLeod Andrews]

And you can find us anywhere you get your podcast. You can find us on YouTube, audible rumble. And you can follow us on Instagram X or Facebook. And you can join our Facebook group, too. See you soon. Welcome back to Sightings, everybody. I am so excited to discuss this story because it was just a really cool story. It was like an action movie kind of. Yeah, yeah, we had. I was like, on this mission with that fella.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah. And we got people embedded in a boat.

[McLeod Andrews]

People embed in a boat, which Is freaky. So is that what. What. What goods do we have on this to. Is any of this real?

[Brian Sigley]

Okay, you got to start with that question, don't you? So, yeah, so this is kind of a unique one in that there. There is a legend that this has happened. There's almost no proof to back it up. So in this discussion, we're probably going to be leaning a lot more skeptical gecko than usual listeners. If you happen to be someone who really diehard believes that this happened. We're sorry in advance, but. But there's not on here. So in terms of what happened and with the boat and it disappearing and it showing up in Norfolk, Virginia, and then it coming back and people getting stuck in the ship, all that stuff allegedly happened. The main character, though, and his journey to save his friend, that was kind of a framework that I put on the story.

[McLeod Andrews]

Okay.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah.

[McLeod Andrews]

Okay. So those characters were sort of. You made up those characters.

[Brian Sigley]

I made up those people because we don't actually know who the sailors were, if they were on the boat. We know the boat existed, but we don't know if it was in Philadelphia at the time. There's a lot we don't know, I guess, is the point of this.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah, it's a wild story that I just want to. I'm looking forward to, you know, whether it's. I don't care if it's true or not. It's just fun to talk about and to think about the possibilities behind it. I mean. But since the story came from the perspective of someone on, you know, the outside of the whole thing. Can you walk me through it a bit from the inside?

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah. Let me put you inside the perspective of these sailors who may or may not have existed.

[McLeod Andrews]

Right.

[Brian Sigley]

You know, but this is the story as it's been told. Allegedly, During World War II, the military took an interest in Albert Einstein's unified field theory, which. All right, let me try this. It is apparently the aim of the unified field theory is to describe the interrelated nature of the forces of electromagnetism and gravity and unite them into one single field. Are you with me?

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah, sure.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah. So physics, magic, and the military put those together, and you got this program called Project Rainbow.

[McLeod Andrews]

Great name.

[Brian Sigley]

Great name. Exactly. Headed by this guy called Dr. Franklin Reno, also a great name. The objective of Project Rainbow ostensibly was to create a force field that could render a naval destroyer and its crew completely invisible while at sea.

[McLeod Andrews]

Awesome. I mean, why wouldn't you want to figure that out?

[Brian Sigley]

I think it sounds awesome. That makes a lot More sense than the whole gravity and electromagnetism thing. Just force fields and invisibility. I get it. I'm there 100%. So the subject that they chose was this brand new cannon class destroyer called the USS Eldridge. And this was in 1943. Remember, this boat was 1600 tons, 216 crew, and it was sitting at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard with all this strange equipment and the people on the boat. And when they turned it on, this greenish force field type thing developed around the boat and then just disappeared entirely. And what's kind of cool, and I hinted at in the story was like when the boat disappeared, allegedly, you could still see like the outline of the boat in the water, like the displacement of the water. You know, it's like there's just like this big empty space there, basically where a boat should be, but no one can see, which seems neat to me.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah, I agree. I mean, it did, but then it disappears. So it's like they succeeded in making it invisible for a second, but then as a side effect, it teleported, which.

[Brian Sigley]

Is kind of wild. And not only was the boat going to random places, it sounds like some of the crew members on the boat also were just popping up in random places.

[McLeod Andrews]

Right. I mean, it seems. It's weird that they would show up at another naval base. That makes me think that that was kind of the point somehow. Like that they were testing some sort of tele device where they had a node at Norfolk, Virginia.

[Brian Sigley]

I hadn't thought of it like that before, but it does make sense that, you know, if you're going to do invisibility, you know, teleportation sounds pretty cool too. Now what's kind of interesting is that when the ship did reappear, the clocks were 10 minutes out of sync with the actual time. And of course, as we heard in the story, the crew was a mess. You know, they'd been driven mad. Many of the sailors were fused with the metal of the ship.

[McLeod Andrews]

Fused into the metal of the ship. So, I mean, it has to be that this ship dematerialized and reconstituted, but, you know, there was some jumbling up along the way.

[Brian Sigley]

If any of this is true at all, it's absolutely horrifying.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah, I mean, the chaos of it feels truthy to me that like, well, you know, we haven't got quite a handle on this. And so some guys end up in a bar, some guys end up as a metal railing.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah. And the fusing wasn't the only crazy part of this. You know, some of the men claimed that they, during those four hours, I guess, ventured into some other world and saw and talked to strange alien beings. And then afterwards, in the aftermath of this whole thing, the effects didn't end after those four hours. Like, allegedly, these men were still dealing with problems. Like, one guy walked through a wall one day and never came back.

[McLeod Andrews]

Whoa.

[Brian Sigley]

So I think the gist of it is, like, this messed a lot of people up. And one chilling line that I read is, the experiment itself was a complete success, but the men were complete failures.

[McLeod Andrews]

Wow. That's horrifying. So you mentioned all these sailors saying this happened to them, saying that. How do we know about any of this?

[Brian Sigley]

Well, there was a book written in 1979 by this guy named Charles Berlitz, who, before I go into this at all, I will say he is a pretty infamous peddler of paranormal theories.

[McLeod Andrews]

It's his thing.

[Brian Sigley]

Y. The book tells the story of how the author caught wind of this conversation that was happening between this scientist named Morris Jessup and this other dude named Carlos Allende. So Jessup was a astronomer, a scientist, a physicist, and one of the first proponents of the ancient astronauts theory, or ancient aliens theory, basically. Okay. Which is kind of cool.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah, I'm totally into ancient aliens.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah. In 1955, he published a book called the Case for the UFO. And apparently this book caught the attention of this guy named Carlos Allende, who reached out to Jessup in a letter and said that he had witnessed the Philadelphia Experiment in 1943. Cause until then, and this is at least after 1955, so for those 12 years, no mention of this happening anywhere ever.

[McLeod Andrews]

Gotcha.

[Brian Sigley]

So Jessup and this Carlos Allende guy start exchanging letters. And in these letters, things start getting a little bit stranger than normal. Like Allende's name starts changing between the letters. Like, he's Carlos Allende in the first letter. In the second letter, he's Carl Allen. There are always variations on Carl or Carlos and Allen or Allende, but it's not consistent necessarily. And the contents of the letters themselves are, I'll say, fantastical, to say the least. He's using different ink. He's underlining everything, like, three or four times in these letters. I know the original letter is lost to the world. I believe the second ones exist in some form somewhere. I think if you really go digging, you can find them.

[McLeod Andrews]

So all of this comes through the conduit of this Carl, Allen, or Carlos.

[Brian Sigley]

There isn't really much else to go on than that in terms of proof.

[McLeod Andrews]

So if not, you know, Proof. Is there any potentially corroborating evidence?

[Brian Sigley]

Some kind of. Okay, so in 1943, Albert Einstein actually was employed by the Navy as a scientific consultant. Theoretically, he was working on explosives and munitions and things like that. So that's one thing that could potentially corroborate this story. But records of the ship, most of the records seem to have kind of disappeared mostly. But what does seem to be known is that the USS Eldridge, which is the ship, was probably not in Philadelphia, at least when Carlos Allende said that the Philadelphia experiment happened, it was apparently elsewhere. In fact, the USS Eldridge has allegedly never been in Philadelphia. The closest it's been was Newark, where it was built. Another check mark in the skeptical gecko category might be that no crew members have come forward publicly at least, or gone on the record about what happened to them in Philadelphia then or ever or since.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah. When it's just to the one guy that's a little.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah, I feel about the same way also. Franklin Reno, you know, the guy that our main character was trying to find at the end of the story probably was not a real person.

[McLeod Andrews]

Oh.

[Brian Sigley]

Authors managed to track down Franklin Reno, but not in the way you would think. So there's a street sign outside of Franklin, Pennsylvania that says Franklin, 8 miles, Reno 3 miles. Ironically, that street sign is not far from where Carlos Allende theoretically lived. Yeah, I guess the other document that this document actually exists, there is something written by the Navy that says none of this actually happened.

[McLeod Andrews]

Oh, so they actually addressed it?

[Brian Sigley]

Yes, the Navy has said, we have gotten so many requests about this that we are just going to put this to bed right now. Basically. The Navy has never conducted investigations on invisibility. They suspect the foundations of the story may have come from experiments that they did do involving machinery on boats and kind of electromagnetism and stuff like that. From degaussing experiments that were basically used to make ships undetectable to magnetic mines.

[McLeod Andrews]

To make them the hulls non magnetic, kind of to repel magnetic mines, basically.

[Brian Sigley]

Is what they've said and. Oh, okay, so that's where they think it all kind of might have come from there. But beyond that, it's all just a lot of nebulous hearsay without any corroboration. But like you said at the start of this, it is a cool, cool story.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah, it is really cool.

[Brian Sigley]

So let me check in with you. You know, I've already made it fairly clear, I think that I'm in the skeptical gecko camp on this one. And I can't imagine you Won't be either.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah, I'm skeptical, Gecko.

[Brian Sigley]

So, interestingly, this is the first story where I think the believer Beaver has not made any appearances yet. Can we make a case for him at all?

[McLeod Andrews]

The case is just like, the nature of government coverups and, like, military experimentation. And whether or not I would believe in. I just also question. I mean. And yes, like, I believe the government would have a real vested interest in figuring out something like teleporting a ship or making a ship invisible.

[Brian Sigley]

If this is true and this actually happened, there were at least 216people on that boat who could have squealed about this and didn't. The other thing that kind of sticks with me about this story is it happened at the port. If you're going to make a boat invisible, why are you going to do it when there's witnesses?

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah, this would not be happening at, like. Oh, just like the. You know, the naval base that everybody knows about.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah. They would do it in the middle of the ocean where no one would ever know what's going on. I feel like. So that's another thing that kind of jumps for me on it. And let alone the wild stories about what happened to these sailors afterwards. I mean, if this actually happened. And God bless them, because this is terrible.

[McLeod Andrews]

What I'm kind of frustrated is it's a great story, but I can't say I want to believe in it because it's awful. So it's. I enjoy the great story. It fills my imagination. I hope it didn't happen, and I don't think it did.

[Brian Sigley]

There you go. That's the final.

[McLeod Andrews]

But again, we don't understand the physics at play here, so listeners dive in and help us out.

[Brian Sigley]

You can find us on Instagram, itingspod, or hit us up on the comments feature at Spotify. We take a look at all of them, and we love the conversations going on over there.

[McLeod Andrews]

That said, what narrative port are we sailing off to next week, Brian?

[Brian Sigley]

So we're actually kind of staying on the water a little bit. We're going to an island.

[McLeod Andrews]

Oh.

[Brian Sigley]

But this one's on the west coast. So we are heading to a haunted island.

[McLeod Andrews]

A haunted island on the west coast?

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah.

[McLeod Andrews]

Okay, let's see. I'm just thinking of islands on the west coast. We got the Channel Islands, we got Catalina, and that's about all the islands I know of off the west coast.

[Brian Sigley]

Well, one of them's super haunted, and we're gonna go there next week. So get ready, listeners. Same time, same place, right here. On sightings.

[McLeod Andrews]

See you then.

[Brian Sigley]

Sightings is hosted by McLeod Andrews and Brian Sigley produced by Brian Sigley, chase Kinzer and McLeod Andrews written by Brian Sigley music by Mitch Bain mixing and mastering by Pat Kickleiter of Sundial Media artwork by Nuno Cernatos. For a list of this episode's sources, check out our [e-mail] Sightings is presented by Reverb and Q Code. If you like the show, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you're first to hear new episodes every week. And if you know other Supernatural fans, tell them about us. We'd really appreciate it.