Shortly before they tested the
Atomic Bomb,
Manhattan Project scientists fretted about the possible effects of detonating the device. One worry was that the explosion might start an uncontrolled chain reaction and ignite the atmosphere. Despite the uncertainty, the test went on as scheduled. Obviously, the earth survived. But when stories like this began to circulate, the public imagination was caught by the notion that the US governemtn was willing to risk everything to pursue scientific superweapons to win the war.
Is it any wonder that the story of the "
Philadelphia Experiment" began to circulate? (Note the similarity of name with the Manhattan Project.)
While the story of the
Philadelphia Experiment is not directly related to nuclear weapons, it is clearly a manifestation of the anxiety caused by harnessing risky energies using the cutting edge of scientific research.
According to the story, the Navy outfitted a destroyer escort,
USS Eldridge (
Eldritch, anyone?), with an experiemental power generator (according to some version, built on plans from
Nikola Tesla's drawing board) to test the capability of rendering a ship
invisible. The first test was a qualified success in that the ship was replaced by a green fog. The equipment was recalibrated for a second test. During this second attempt, the ship disappeared from the
Philadelphia Naval Yard in a blinding flash of blue light and was reportedly seen off the coast of
Norfolk, VA, before returning in the same mysterious fashion to Philadelphia. Since uncontrolled
teleportation made the Navy nervous, they apparently gave up the experiment at this point.
The story continues in the 1960's, when certain unexplained documents pertaining to the incident were mailed to the
Office of Naval Research. These documents were annotated by two commentators with an unusual use of EnGliSH CapITALizatIOn and Punc.Tua;))tion.! The story revealed in the documents and notes elaborated on the effects of the experiment upon the ship's crew members.
It seems that sudden teleportation was not without some risk. Some crewman were fused with mechanical equipment. Others emerged deformed. Some appeared normal, but later manifested
psychic or
superhuman powers. (Keep in mind that this particular mutation of the story comes at a time when the consequences of certain real activities -- exposing hundreds of
Army troops to nuclear tests -- were becoming known. You can see how the anxiety emerges in the folklore.)
After that, the mainstream conspiracy theory of the
Philadelphia Experiement begins to branch. It became caught up with novels, "non-fiction" books,
movies, TV specials, you name it. These stories fed on each other, and borrowed liberally from other sources. The
Philadelphia Experiment has been a self-titled movie, mentioned on the X-Files, and elements of the story were lifted for this season's failed series
Threshold. The Sci-Fi Channel series, "
The Triangle" blames the
Bermuda Triangle mystery on forces unleashed by the
Philadelphia Experiment.
Proof that this was too good a conspiracy theory is that it spawned a spin-off called the
Montauk Project (again, note the similarity in name to Manhattan Project). In this story, the government closed up the original experiment following the failures and continued the research at an underground facility on Montauk in New York state. You want wacky? This is wacky.
The
Montauk Project succeeded in stabilizing the "electromagnetic bottle" that enveloped the Eldridge. This technology lead to breakthroughs in teleportation and the construction of a Time Tunnel device. Now, government agents could be transported to any point in history. It was even used to "capture" the Eldridge in the midst of the original experiment and trap it in hyperspace. During this incident, two sailors supposedly jumped ship and found themselves in 1982, some 40 years distant from their loved ones. This story was used as the basis for the movie. Of course, the time tunnel was also used to contact
space aliens -- who helpfully shared their technology to enhance the Montauk Project. And let's not forget the giant monster that was somehow sucked through the device and rampaged through the facility.
(I have to mention that
Time Tunnel was a sci-fi TV series brought to you by
Irwin Allen, the same genius who gave us
Lost in Space. It would have been on TV at roughly the same time the actual project was occurring. Either this was exceptionally sloppy, or exceptionally brilliant security -- depending on your conspiracy worldview.)
There's not one shred of hard evidence for the truth of any of the above. It strains credibility. There's plenty of evidence to the contrary. Proponents of this far-fetched idea insist that all eyewitnesses (and there had to be hundreds of people involved over the course of decades) are:
a.) loyal conspirators, b.) falsly discredited as cranks, c.) dead from natural or human causes, or d.) brainwashed to forget. It's a great story, nontheless. And the paranoia is fascinating.
Ultimate Nick Fury bears an uncanny resemblance to Samuel L. Jackson. Go figure.
Mego-style Nick Fury
The Nick Fury SHIELD Needle Gun, designed by Jim Steranko
The best Nick Fury was the Angelina Jolie version in the Sky Captain movie. (Just Kidding.)/poster2.jpg)
And let's not forget David Hasselhoff's gruff turn as Col. Fury. To prepare for the role, he stayed constipated for over a week. And yes, that's Lisa Rina as his sidekick Val. You remember her, she was also on Dancing with the Stars.
Hasselhoff is his generation's Shatner. He'll have a major comeback someday.
