The first conspiracy of the Philadelphia Experiment will be regarding the invisibility of the USS Eldridge to enemy radar. It was said that the U.S Government wanted to use their research and studies of invisibility for warfare purposes during World War II (Conspiracy 1). This research led to the start of what is now the conspiracy theory of the Philadelphia Experiment, also nicknamed “Project Rainbow.” “Rumor aboard the ship was that the generators were designed to power a new kind of magnetic field, that would make the warship invisible to enemy radar” (How the 3). The purpose as to why this was wanted to be accomplished, was for the invisibility of the USS Eldridge to be invisible to enemy radars. An example being one of our deadly enemies at the time, the Germans.
The second conspiracy is the disappearance and reappearance of the USS Eldridge ship from Philadelphia to Norfolk Naval shipyard in Virginia, back to Philadelphia (Corbeil 2). Having the generators ready, the crew on board the ship was ready to initiate the experiment and the unanswered questions and conspiracies following from what occurred began. Research states that “Witnesses claim an eerie green-blue glow surrounded the hull of the ship as the generators spun up and then, suddenly, the Eldridge disappeared” (Corbeil 2). The unsettling part about the disappearance of the ship was not just that the ship had disappeared from enemy radar; the ship had fully disappeared out of thin air nowhere to be seen by the human eye at Philadelphia where it was positioned at first. The ship had disappeared from Philadelphia, only to be reported seen reappear at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia (How the 3). It does not just end there; the ship once again disappears from Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia to again reappear back at its first destination, Philadelphia.
The third conspiracy theory was after the disappearance and reappearance from one place to another, and the ship being seen at one place and then another, the big question was, “What happened to the crew?” Many hours later had passed since the experiment was conducted, and already numerous reports of the ships being seen at Virginia and at Philadelphia were flooding in. While the reports were flooding in, the awaiting question that had still not been answered, “What happened to the crew?” was finally about to be answered. It was then after known of the gruesome details of what the crew members who were inside the Eldridge ship had experienced and endured. There is proof that “Classified military documents reported that the Eldridge crew were affected by the events in disturbing ways. Some went insane, Others developed mysterious illness, while others still were said to have been fused together with the ship; still alive, with limbs sealed to the metal” (Corbeil 2). Many of the crew members who had survived the incident were left maniacally insane, and for life mentally unstable. The crew members who had been fused to the ship gruesomely many were still alive, later on to die.
Conspiracy Theory: The Philadelphia Experiment | Ipl.Org. https://www.ipl.org/essay/Conspiracy-Theory-The-Philadelphia-Experiment-PK2LJHQBGXPT. Accessed 14 Nov. 2021.
Corbeil, Shannon. “This Is the Truth Behind WWII’s Creepy Philadelphia Experiment.” Military.Com, 13 Sept. 2021, https://www.military.com/off-duty/2020/05/04/truth-behind-wwiis-creepy-philadelphia-experiment.html.
“How the Philadelphia Experiment Worked.” HowStuffWorks, 6 Feb. 2015, https://people.howstuffworks.com/philadelphia-experiment.html.
Philadelphia Experiment. http://public2.nhhcaws.local/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/philadelphia-experiment.html. Accessed 22 Nov. 2021.
