Montauk uncovered

Dear readers

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I had read a book on the "Montauk Project", an unbelievable story which incorporated elements of the earlier (1943) "Philadelphia Experiment."

The "Philadelphia Experiment" is the name given to a long-standing claim that a US Navy destroyer "disappeared" from the Philadelphia Navy yard, and that sailors aboard died under mysterious circumstances.

In several "Montauk" books, the stories are given of Preston Nichols (said to be chief technician of the Project); Alfred Bielek (said to be one one of the two "Philadelphia Experiment" sailors who time travelled between 1943 and 1983) and Duncan Cameron (said to be the prime psychic to the Project).

If the "Philadelphia Experiment" is shown to be a hoax then the "Montauk Project" is also a hoax.

In looking to find out more about research which has been conducted into the "Philadephia Experiment" I came across a fascinating article on the topic, written by none other than Jacques Vallee.

The article, titled "Anatomy of a hoax: The Philadelphia Experiment Fifty years Later" appeared in the "Journal of Scientific Exploration" Volume 8 Number 1 pages 47-71, in 1994.

Vallee first sets out the story of the experiment as told by such individuals as Maurice K Jessup (1950's UFO researcher); Charles Berlitz and William L Moore in 1979 ("The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility." New York. Grosset & Dunlap.); and Brad & Sherry Steiger and Alfred Bielek in 1990 ("The Philadelphia Experiment and other UFO Conspiracies." New Brunswick, NJ. Inner Light Publications.)

Vallee's research led him to one Edward Dudgeon, a retired executive who had served in the US Navy in 1943, the year of the "Philadelphia Experiment."

Dudgeon revealed that he had served on the ship DE50 USS Engstrom, a similar ship to the DE173 USS Eldridge, the latter being the ship featured in the "Philadelphia Experiment."

The Eldidge and Engstrom were in the Philadelphia Navy Yard, at the same time; as were two other similar ships. All four were in the yard as the Navy was "...trying to make our ship invisible to magnetic torpedoes: by de-gaussing the vessels.

Dudgeon stated that this was the big secret, no that the Eldridge was involved in some kind of space/time experiment. The Eldridge, did travel out of the yard over night by inland canal to Norfolk to load ammunition. This probably led to the story that it disappeared but was back by the next morning.

Vallee concluded that with this knowledge , the "Philadelphia experiment" was a hoax story.

"Today most students of UFOlogy...are in agreement that the Philadelphia experiment hoax, which rested on very flimsy data to begin with, should have died a long time ago." (p67.)

Comment:

With the death of the "Philadelphia Experiment," also goes the story of the "Montauk Project."