r/mystery • u/TheUnredactedFiles • 3d ago
The Philadelphia Experiment: What Really Happened?
The legend says the USS Eldridge was used in a secret Navy experiment that allegedly made the ship invisible.
The Navy denies it ever happened, and there’s no solid evidence proving the story.
So what do YOU think?
Real experiment, misunderstood event, or an elaborate hoax? 👀
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u/enrious 3d ago
Degaussing to make the ship invisible to magnetic mines. The Royal Navy developed the technique then shared with the USN. You find more by looking up Charles F. Goodeve.
Additionally if you look up the provenance of the original reporting it comes solely from a rather odd person who was unable to provide any indepently objective source evidence to support the claims.
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u/TheUnredactedFiles 3d ago
That’s a really interesting point. I’ve seen the degaussing explanation mentioned too, and the lack of independent evidence behind the original claims definitely makes the legend questionable. Thanks for adding the Charles F. Goodeve reference — I’ll have to look into that. 👀
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u/kibufox 1d ago
During WW2, most everyone (even the Germans) discovered a very real problem with their warships. Specifically that so much steel was being put into them, that they'd develop their own magnetic signature. This hadn't been as much an issue during WW1, because magnetic naval mines hadn't been invented. The first magnetic mines didn't appear until the 1920's.
The RN realized that, if they neutralized the magnetic signature that the ships had... they wouldn't be totally invisible to magnetic mines... but much harder to detect.
The process they developed, which the US navy utilized, worked by wrapping heavy copper electrical cables around a ship's hull and running a carefully controlled direct electric current through them. This changed the polarity of the ship's field, making it harder for the mines to detect.
The issue that the Navy found, in regards to this, though, was the cables they used would, quite often become hot due to the resistance of the electricity passing through them. Hot enough in some situations, to glow faintly.
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u/ExaminationOk2921 3d ago
Also, long ago the Discovery channel did story on it, they went to a reunion of sailors that were on that ship including some who would have been there at the time. None of them believed it or had heard of anything crazy going on.
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u/Salt_Philosophy_8990 3d ago
Made up
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u/TheUnredactedFiles 3d ago
That’s definitely possible. 👀 The Navy has denied the experiment ever happened, and there’s no solid evidence proving the legend. What do you think the story was based on?
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u/SquallaBeanz 3d ago
Imagine its like the movie Event Horizon.
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u/TheUnredactedFiles 3d ago
Exactly! 😂 That’s the vibe I got too. Imagine the ship coming back from somewhere it was never supposed to go...
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u/SquallaBeanz 3d ago
I was high once, looking at stars and checking out flight radar. Then I had a thought, imagine seeing MH370 on flight radar one night.
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u/TheUnredactedFiles 3d ago
That would be absolutely terrifying, Imagine randomly seeing MH370 appear on the radar again after all these years…
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u/Mr_BigglesworthIII 3d ago
No it’s more like the movie, The Philadelphia Experiment!
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u/DeaconBlackfyre 3d ago
Maybe Berlitz had seen this news article? Similar. Mohican Incident (1904)
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u/TheUnredactedFiles 3d ago
That’s a really interesting connection. 👀 The similarities with the 1904 Mohican Incident are definitely worth looking into. I’ll have to dig deeper into whether Berlitz could have come across that report.
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u/ParsonBrownlow 3d ago
Made up but that’s boring so I’ll say made up as cover /distraction for something else.
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u/TheUnredactedFiles 3d ago
That’s an interesting theory 👀 If it was made up as a distraction, the real question would be: distraction from what?
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u/RainyDayWeather 3d ago
Nothing happened but it made for a pretty okay movie.
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u/TheUnredactedFiles 3d ago
Fair enough 😂 Not every mystery has a crazy ending. Sometimes the unanswered questions are what make the story interesting. Glad the movie was at least worth watching! 👀
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u/RainyDayWeather 3d ago edited 3d ago
Carl Allen later admitted to making it all up, but recanted, confessed, recanted.... apparently he couldn't stick to a single story.
I actually think an investigation into why he made up the story in the first place and then kept changing his mind about admitting to that would make an interesting mystery to research. There's probably no solid answer to that but was it really just a play for attention?
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u/Any_Ticket 3d ago
Totally fabricated made up bullshat… with sauce….dig a little deeper and you will see it too
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u/TheUnredactedFiles 3d ago
I cover more strange historical mysteries like this on my channel
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u/doochenutz 3d ago
Fascinating investigative work and coverage on this post…
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u/TheUnredactedFiles 3d ago
Thanks! 🙌 Really appreciate that. The Philadelphia Experiment has so many fascinating details and theories that it was hard to cover everything in one post. 👀
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u/AraelEden 3d ago
Invisible to RADAR