History & local legend
The Philadelphia Experiment legend claims that a 1943 Navy test made the destroyer escort USS Eldridge invisible at the Philadelphia shipyard. In the story, the ship then appeared in Norfolk, Virginia, before returning within minutes, with terrible effects on its crew. It is a tale of secrecy, teleportation and a wartime experiment that escaped its designers’ control.
The story’s traceable history begins later, with letters sent to UFO writer Morris K. Jessup by a man calling himself Carlos Allende. In 1956, an annotated copy of Jessup’s book reached the Office of Naval Research. Its handwritten comments appeared to represent a conversation among three people. Two interested officers privately arranged for the annotated text to be retyped and twenty-five copies printed.
The correspondence helped the story spread, but the Navy’s review of Eldridge’s 1943 logs found a different itinerary: the ship was not in Philadelphia during the period in question.
Sources
- Office of Naval Research, Philadelphia Experiment information sheet, Jessup, Allende, annotated book and private reprints
- Naval History and Heritage Command, Philadelphia Experiment, review of Eldridge’s 1943 deck log and war diary
- American Myths, Legends, and Tall Tales: An Encyclopedia of American Folklore, Philadelphia Experiment
- Navy Yard Philadelphia, official visitor information and Navy Yard entrance
- Philadelphia Naval Shipyard historic site, OpenStreetMap way 1149138393
