13. The Philadelphia Experiment was the invention of a hoax rather than the leaked truth of a government insider
An alleged military experiment conducted by the United States Navy at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on or around October 28, 1943, the “Philadelphia Experiment” allegedly involved unknown cloaking technology being used to render the destroyer escort USS Eldridge (DE-173) invisible. First appearing as a conspiracy theory in 1955, in letters of unknown origin sent to astronomer Morris K. Jessup, the U.S. Navy has persistently denied any such experiment was ever conducted, either in Philadelphia at the specific date or on any other occasion, whilst, at least according to the known laws of physics, the science is also impossible.
Promoted heavily by Jessup, who had recently published The Case for the UFO, following his acquisition of the series of anonymous letters Jessup became convinced also of the involvement of extraterrestrials in the experiment. Relying almost exclusively on his nameless penpal, who identified himself with the pseudonym Carl Allen, Jessup’s interpretation of events was swiftly adopted by like-minded individuals. However, lacking any corroborating evidence, recent assessments have broadly concluded “Carl Allen” was either a prankster or an imaginative loner merely writing amusing stories to an overly gullible and receptive fool.