Philadelphia Experiment -- Complete Timeline

Philadelphia Experiment -- Complete Timeline

Date	Event	Status
January 7, 1943	Nikola Tesla dies at the New Yorker Hotel, New York City, age 86	Historical fact -- documented death; foundational problem for claims of his experiment involvement
February 22, 1943	USS Eldridge (DE-173) laid down at Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newark, New Jersey	Historical fact -- ship construction records
July 25, 1943	USS Eldridge launched	Historical fact
August 27, 1943	USS Eldridge commissioned at New York Navy Yard -- NOT Philadelphia	Historical fact -- contradicts story's basic geography
September-October 1943	USS Eldridge conducting shakedown training exercises; ship's log places it in Bahamas area	Historical fact -- deck logs at National Archives
October 25, 1943	SS Andrew Furuseth (Allen's alleged witness ship) departs Philadelphia -- three days before the alleged experiment	Historical fact -- port records; foundational contradiction of Allen's claimed witnessing
October 28, 1943	Alleged date of the Philadelphia Experiment; USS Eldridge allegedly rendered invisible and teleported to Norfolk	ALLEGED -- ship's log places Eldridge in the Bahamas on this date; no contemporaneous documentation of the experiment exists
November 1, 1943	USS Eldridge departs New York Harbor escorting convoy UGS-23	Historical fact -- convoy records
November 2, 1943	Eldridge arrives at Naval Operating Base, Norfolk -- via normal convoy route, not teleportation	Historical fact
1944-1945	USS Eldridge serves as convoy escort in Atlantic and Mediterranean theaters; conventional wartime service	Historical fact -- deck logs
1945	World War II ends; USS Eldridge returns to peacetime service	Historical fact
1951	USS Eldridge transferred to the Greek Navy; renamed HS Leon; serves until 1992	Historical fact
May 1943	Albert Einstein begins consulting for U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance on explosives research -- not invisibility	Historical fact -- Einstein's Navy employment documented
February 8, 1957	John von Neumann dies of bone cancer at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.	Historical fact -- extensively documented
January 1956	Carl Allen begins writing letters to Morris Jessup under the name "Carlos Allende," claiming to have witnessed the USS Eldridge teleport in October 1943	The mythology begins -- Allen's letters are the first public statement of the Philadelphia Experiment story
1956	Allen obtains a copy of Jessup's book and annotates it extensively in three ink colors, then mails it anonymously to the Office of Naval Research	Confirmed -- the annotated book is real; it arrived at the ONR
April 1957	Jessup summoned to the ONR; identifies Allen's handwriting on the annotated book	Confirmed -- this meeting is documented
1957-1959	ONR officers Commander Hoover and Captain Sherby have 127 copies of the annotated book printed by Varo Manufacturing -- the "Varo Edition"	Confirmed -- the Varo Edition exists; the printing by a military contractor is unexplained
April 20, 1959	Morris K. Jessup found dead in his car at Matheson Hammock Park, Miami; ruled suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning	Historical fact -- death documented; suicide ruling disputed by some associates
1955	Jessup publishes "The Case for the UFO" -- the book that sets everything in motion	Historical fact -- publication documented
Late 1960s-early 1970s	Carl Allen reportedly admits to at least one person that he fabricated the Philadelphia Experiment story "to scare the hell out of Jessup"; later recants this admission	Reported; not documented in writing
1974	Charles Berlitz publishes "The Bermuda Triangle" -- same methodology he will apply to the Philadelphia Experiment	Historical fact -- publication documented
1979	Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore publish "The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility" -- the first book-length treatment; story reaches national mainstream audience	Historical fact -- publication documented
1984	"The Philadelphia Experiment" film released; directed by Stewart Raffill; starring Michael Pare; executive produced by John Carpenter	Historical fact -- film documented
1988	Al Bielek (Edward Cameron) watches the 1984 film and claims to experience a "recovered memory" that he was aboard the USS Eldridge and jumped overboard into time	Bielek's claim -- no corroboration
1989	William L. Moore admits at MUFON symposium that he worked as a government informant and participated in disinformation operations against UFO researchers	Historical fact -- Moore's admission is documented in MUFON records
1992	Preston Nichols and Peter Moon publish "The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time" -- connecting the Philadelphia Experiment to the alleged Montauk experiments	Historical fact -- publication documented
September 8, 1996	ONR releases official information sheet stating "ONR has never conducted investigations on radar invisibility, either in 1943 or at any other time"	Historical fact -- official statement documented
1999	Philadelphia Inquirer covers reunion of USS Eldridge crew members; all interviewed survivors deny any unusual experiment occurred	Historical fact -- press coverage documented
October 10, 2011	Al Bielek (Edward Cameron) dies in Guadalajara, Mexico	Historical fact -- death documented
October 5, 2018	Preston Nichols dies after heart attack and stroke	Historical fact -- death documented
May 9, 2019	Duncan Cameron dies of prostate cancer	Historical fact -- death documented
2016-present	Netflix series "Stranger Things" -- inspired by the Montauk Project mythology; originally titled "Montauk" during development -- becomes a massive cultural phenomenon, introducing the Philadelphia Experiment narrative framework to tens of millions of new viewers	Historical fact -- Netflix production documented
Present	The Philadelphia Experiment remains an active conspiracy theory; the USS Eldridge's actual deck logs refuting the story are publicly available at the National Archives; no evidence of the alleged experiment has ever been produced	Current status