Did the U.S. Navy really stumble upon the secrets of both invisibility and teleportation at the Philadelphia Naval Yard in 1943?
The Project Continues
The next chapter in the strange saga goes like this: Following the disastrous events that occurred in the Philadelphia Naval Yard in late 1943, the U.S. government moved quickly to shut down any and all research into such largely uncharted areas as invisibility and teleportation, primarily as a result of not having a full understanding and appreciation of the science behind what it was the Navy had stumbled upon. Deep, overriding fear of the unknown, in other words, was the prime motivation for halting this research. For a while, at least.
By 1952, rumors suggest, the times were changing; slowly at first, but ultimately at a rapid and mind-boggling pace. In that year, supposedly, some of the surviving military personnel and scientists who had been involved in the Philadelphia Experiment secretly got back together to discuss the possibility of once again trying to force open the doors to those strange realms of invisibility and teleportation — as well as seeking to understand what it was that had so drastically affected the mental and physical well-being of so many of the crewmembers of the USS Eldridge. They wanted to see if whatever had caused such terrible psychological effects could be used as a weapon to manipulate and/or disable the human brain. Mind control, in simplistic terms.
The U.S. Congress, however, members of which had been briefed on the less-than-positive outcome of the Philadelphia Experiment, nixed the entire program. Congress had major reservations about allowing Department of Defense scientists to recklessly dabble in fringe science that might very well end in unmitigated disaster for not only the research team, but for all of civilization as well. Thus, funding was duly, and swiftly, denied.
However, the Pentagon was not about to be thwarted by a bunch of old guys in suits who were closed-minded, stuck in their ways, and fearful of going where very few had gone before. Thus, a plot was initiated for the project to continue in stealth, far away from congressional oversight. Funding would have to come via alternative means. Much of the money for this project came from a huge stockpile of gold that had been liberated from the Nazis at the end of the Second World War, after having been found on a railroad car in France, close to the border with Switzerland. Utilizing such precious gold to fund military programs is certainly nothing new; it most definitely worked for Adolf Hitler during the Second World War, and it reportedly worked for the Montauk program too, a decade later.
So, with the money in place, and the scientists eager to push ahead, the project was ready to be taken to the next level. Allegedly, it first did so at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, which came into existence in 1947, under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission, and whose work throughout the years has focused on high-energy physics. One of the vital requirements for the secondary project dealing with mind control was a large and powerful radar dish working on a specific frequency that could alter and manipulate human behavior. It so transpires that one was available on Long Island itself: at Montauk. The project was now beginning to take significant shape. According to the tales, it did way, way more than that.
Today, the legend of the Montauk Project has risen to astronomical levels. Since it began operating out of Montauk, we are assured, the team has come to understand to a significant degree the nature of time travel and time paradoxes, the secrets of teleportation, and the means by which both may be harnessed and utilized for secret military applications. Far stranger — indeed infinitely bizarre — stories indicate that decades after the Philadelphia Experiment of 1943 occurred, some of the Naval personnel who reportedly vanished into thin air at the time reappeared in the future, as a direct result of some form of fantastic time loop established between the 1943 project and its latter-day equivalent at Montauk.
Sounds like science fiction? Well, yes, it does. In fact, in 1984, a science-fiction movie titled, not surprisingly, The Philadelphia Experiment, was released, which took this scenario as its central theme. In the movie, two of the sailors involved in the 1943 test find themselves plunged into the heart of the mid-1980s, as a result of a time portal being opened between the Philadelphia Naval Yard of the past and a nearly identical secret, modern-era experiment. But there’s much worse to come: the portal cannot be closed, and so the race is on to shut it down before the past and present fuse, resulting in Armageddon. Supporters of the Montauk story suggest that the movie was based upon a very real truth. Detractors suggest precisely the opposite, that the Montauk mythos was borne out of the movie.
Mind-Monsters
Scientists at Montauk involved in exploring the mysterious realms of the human mind supposedly uncovered something truly incredible: the ability to pull imagery from the depths of the human subconscious, externalize that imagery, and then allow it some form of quasi-existence in reality. In simple terms, nightmarish entities of the mind now had the ability to come to some degree of physical life. One longstanding story suggests a Bigfoot-type beast was manifested at Montauk by a man named Duncan Cameron, who reportedly possessed incredible mental skills and was a key player in the experimentation. Unfortunately, the beast slipped out of the control of its creator and ran riot at Montauk, before finally being reabsorbed or outright obliterated from existence.
With mind-monsters running wild and time portals threatening to destroy the world, science was out of control, and the team finally got cold feet. The entire project was abandoned as being too risky, and Montauk closed its doors to the past, the present, and maybe even to the future (if rumors of daring research into future-travel are true).
From Camp Hero to Montauk Air Force Station
Could there be any truth to these incredible tales? Or are they merely the ravings and rants of mentally deranged souls, shysters, and hucksters?
That a military base did exist at Montauk is not an issue of any doubt. As far back as the late 1700s, the eastern tip of Long Island was considered a point of strategic military importance. Initially, and throughout the period of the War of Independence, it acted as a prime lookout point for hostile British forces. Then, during the First World War, the same locale played host to military personnel and spy balloons, all keeping a careful watch for hordes of invading Germans. In early 1942, in direct response to the tragedy of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, as well as the fact that Nazi submarines were perceived as significant threats to East Coast cities, factories, and military installations, the U.S. government finally gave the go-ahead for the construction of an impressively sized official facility, replete with bunkers, at Montauk. It became known as Camp Hero.
To ensure that it did not attract too much unwanted attention — particularly from Nazi spies that might very well have been hovering around — the entire installation was ingeniously disguised as a pleasant little fishing port. A secret military outpost was the last thing anyone had on their mind when viewing Camp Hero from the sea. After the end of the war in 1945 the base became largely obsolete. That is, until it became apparent that the Soviets were seemingly intent on dominating the planet. Soon new plans were formulated for Camp Hero, including a name change in 1948 to Montauk Point, and, five years later, to the Montauk Air Force Station.