Also known as Project Rainbow, the Philadelphia Experiment is surrounded by inaccuracies and out-of-this-world details. The basis of the experiment began on August 12th of 1943. The US Navy was performing an unknown test on the USS Eldridge based in the Philadelphia naval yard. It's unclear what the actual test was, but all stories appear to state that the test had something to do with electro-magnetism and invisibility. Whether the test was to make the vessel invisible to radar, or to the naked eye is up for debate. The story has been denied by the Navy, and very little evidence backs up the story.
The basis of the experiment
The Philadelphia Experiment's story follows that the US Navy was testing experimental technology. Using electro-magnetism (and in some stories, gravity), the technology was supposedly attempting to create a field around the USS Eldridge. The field's main purpose was to refract light from the ship, which would make it invisible to the naked eye. Sometimes the story goes that the field also absorbed or deflected radar waves to make it untraceable to radar. The idea behind the experiment makes sense, but the really bizarre part of this story is what happened to the ship and the crew itself.
What happened with the test
When the test was cleared to commence, the electromagnetic field extended to a radius of about 100 yards and a greenish haze was said to appear around the ship.
Eventually, the ship was covered by a thick green haze and was effectively invisible to onlookers. Then, the ship, along with the green haze, disappeared entirely. It is said that the ship didn't just become invisible, but that it actually left Philadelphia's waters. The story goes that the vessel appeared off of Virginia's coast for a few minutes and then reappeared back where it originally was.
The horrors
The ship itself seemed fine, but the crew, however, was not. Apparently, the ship "phased out" of reality and, during the ship's moments of not being seen, the crew found out that they could walk through the walls and the other solid objects of the vessel. However, in doing that, when the ship "returned" to Earth, some men were embedded within those objects and died because of it.
Other crew members went insane, and some had what was referred to as the "Freeze."
In this state, the crew members would fade from view and could not move, speak, or interact with their environment at all. Oddly enough, crew members could not see any of the men that were "frozen" and pull them out of the "Freeze." Because of these bizarre horrors, almost all the men were discharged from service and put into asylums. Project Rainbow was immediately discontinued, but the story goes that the US Navy began a similar project known as the Phoenix Project.
