The show opens with Art mentioning that the originally scheduled guest, Father Malachi Martin, will appear the following week due to an emergency. Instead, the episode features Al Bielek, a key figure in the Philadelphia Experiment. Bielek, who is in Georgia, shares his experiences and involvement in the experiment, which aimed to make a ship invisible.
Additionally, Art introduces a controversial UFO-related segment. He talks about a photograph provided by Sean David Morton, allegedly a video grab from a six-minute footage smuggled out of Area 51. The image is claimed to show an alien being interrogated by a U.S. general and an aide. This photograph, subject to copyright restrictions, is said to be part of a series of interviews with alien creatures.
The episode delves into the Philadelphia Experiment’s history, with Bielek discussing its early phases, including its initial focus on visual invisibility rather than radar evasion. This project, which began as a feasibility study in 1931, involved notable figures like Nikola Tesla and Albert Einstein and evolved significantly over the years.
Art and Bielek’s conversation touches upon Bielek’s age, his unique experiences, and the potential loss of firsthand knowledge after his passing. Bielek emphasizes the experiment’s long history, its development at the University of Chicago, and later at the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton. The discussion sheds light on the early goals of the experiment, the involvement of various scientists, and the shift in focus from visual to radar invisibility.
Al Bielek delves deeper into the technical aspects and history of the Philadelphia Experiment. He explains that the original intent of the study was to explore the possibility of making objects invisible, which wasn’t initially focused on military applications like making ships invisible to radar. This interest aligned with the U.S. Navy’s pursuit of innovative research, especially under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency.
Bielek mentions that Nikola Tesla was an old acquaintance of Roosevelt and was eventually named the director of the experimental project. This project, which started as a non-classified study at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, was initially unknown to most people.
The technical approach to achieving invisibility involved understanding the interrelationship between electric fields, magnetic fields, gravity fields, visual fields, and time fields. Bielek emphasizes that these fields can potentially be manipulated to affect each other. He provides a basic explanation of these concepts, distinguishing between magnetic and gravity fields and their interaction.
Furthermore, Bielek criticizes the traditional understanding of gravity as presented by Isaac Newton, proposing that gravity is a field effect rather than a mutual attraction of matter. He describes the complexity of creating a gravity field in a laboratory setting and its interconnection with magnetic and electric fields.
The conversation then shifts to a more advanced stage of the experiment, where rotating RF fields were used, a technique not yet applied at the early stages of the project. Bielek’s insights reveal the experiment’s evolution and the intricate theories that underpinned it.
Al Bielek continues discussing the technicalities and historical aspects of the Philadelphia Experiment. He describes how the project evolved from a mere study into a practical application, influenced by the works of several mathematicians and scientists, including Einstein’s unified field theory.
Bielek notes that the first laboratory successes in making objects invisible using electric, magnetic, and gravity fields were achieved around 1936, although these were only partial results. By September 1940, a fully successful test was conducted with a small Navy ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This experiment achieved optical invisibility, but it was conducted without any personnel on board due to the risks involved.
The technical setup for these experiments included coils on the decks of the ships to generate the magnetic field and a powerful RF (radio frequency) transmitter. Bielek explains the complex interplay of rotating RF fields, electric and magnetic fields, and how these interact with the gravity field and the time field. He emphasizes that the correct mathematical relationship between these fields was crucial for the success of the experiments.
The frequencies used for the RF fields were around 160 megahertz, which was considered advanced for that time. Bielek details the technical specifications of the equipment, including the modulation and rotation rates of the fields, and how these parameters were critical in achieving the desired results.
The conversation continues with Al Bielek discussing the specifics of the Philadelphia Experiment. He describes a 1940 test involving a small Navy ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which became completely invisible, including a portion of the water around it. This invisibility applied to both optical and radar observation. Bielek details the setup, which involved drawing power from other ships and using coils and antennas on the test ship to create the rotating magnetic and electric fields necessary for the experiment.
Bielek, who became part of the experiment in January 1940, talks about his background and involvement. He and his brother, both PhD graduates in physics, were brought on board due to their father’s connections. Their role was to assist with the technical aspects and to understand the cutting-edge science behind the project. Bielek emphasizes that the level of scientific and technological advancement in the experiment was far ahead of what was taught in universities at the time.
The discussion also touches upon the technical specifics, like the use of radio frequency (RF) and the creation of the electric field. Bielek notes that they were not producing a static voltage per se but were concerned with the electric field effect. The ship used in the experiment, a small tender, was about 150 feet long, and the power used for this test was relatively low.
After the successful test in September 1940, where a small Navy ship became completely invisible, the project was classified as “Project Rainbow” and taken over by the Navy. Bielek and his brother, both involved in the project, were trained to operate the equipment for potential live experiments.
During the 1940 test, the ship, along with a portion of the surrounding water, became invisible for about 20 minutes. This was achieved without any personnel on board as a precaution. Long cables connected to the ship were used to isolate the test vehicle in case of an emergency, and they were prepared to sink the ship if necessary. The cables, suspended in the air, appeared to disappear into thin air at the point where the field encompassed them.
Following this test, the Navy took a keen interest in the project. Headquarters were set up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard for further testing and development of a full-blown system. Theoretical work continued at the Institute for Advanced Studies with regular involvement from Einstein and Tesla. Einstein, known as “the general” for his ability to solve complex problems quickly, and Tesla, with his impeccable track record, played pivotal roles in the project.
The successful experiment proved that it was possible to make an object invisible, leading to plans to scale the equipment for larger ships like battleships. At this point, there was no consideration of time travel; the focus was solely on invisibility.
The project then moved to a new phase, where they began to prepare a battleship for invisibility testing. This required upscaling the equipment and power, presenting challenges in accommodating the large and cumbersome equipment on the ship, including two large alternators and four coils. Tesla faced difficulties with the increased power requirements needed for a ship significantly larger than the previous test vessel. This raised concerns about potential harmful effects on personnel, as the rotating electric and magnetic fields required could cause severe neurological disturbances.
During this time, Bielek and his brother, both officers, were sent to sea to gain practical Navy experience. They served on the USS Pennsylvania until late 1941, after which they were unexpectedly instructed not to return to Pearl Harbor due to imminent Japanese attack warnings.
Back at the project in January 1942, Tesla expressed deep concerns about the biological effects of the high-power fields on humans. He requested more time to resolve these issues but faced pressure from the Navy, which was urgently seeking a solution to combat German U-boat threats in the Atlantic.
Despite the wartime urgency and the Navy’s willingness to risk sailors’ lives for the greater good, Tesla refused to proceed with a full-scale test knowing the potential harm to personnel. He ultimately sabotaged the test by ensuring the equipment didn’t work in proper synchronization and reducing the power output, leading to a failed test.
Following Tesla’s sabotage of the test on the battleship due to his concerns about the harmful effects on personnel, Dr. John von Neumann took over the project. Bielek speculates whether Tesla shared his concerns with von Neumann, but he acknowledges that he is not privy to such details.
Von Neumann had to reevaluate the situation and found out the reasons behind the failed test. He decided to move away from Tesla’s approach, favoring a digital system over the analog one. The discussion then shifts to the USS Eldridge, which became the central focus of the Philadelphia Experiment.
The Eldridge was outfitted for the experiment over almost a year, with substantial modifications to accommodate the required equipment. This included the installation of large alternators, electric drive motors, and an eight-megawatt diesel-electric power generator, as the ship’s own power was insufficient for the experiment’s needs. Special antennas and Tesla coils, uniquely designed by Tesla himself, were installed for generating the rotating magnetic field necessary for the experiment.
Al Bielek delves into the technical details of the Philadelphia Experiment’s progression under Dr. John von Neumann’s leadership, focusing on the USS Eldridge.
Von Neumann made significant changes to the experiment’s design, moving away from Tesla’s analog system to a pulsed digital system. He installed powerful transmitters capable of 2 megawatts each in continuous wave (CW) mode, which could theoretically produce much higher power when pulsed. This pulsing allowed for a peak pulse power of approximately 8 megawatts per transmitter, a significant increase from Tesla’s half-megawatt system. However, these high power levels posed serious risks to the human element involved in the experiment.
The equipment for generating the rotating magnetic field was driven by 275-ton alternators, which could produce more power on a pulsed basis due to their massive inertia. The RF output was fed to a special quadra-phase antenna, designed to electrically produce a rotating field. The electric field rotated at twice the speed of the magnetic field, with the electric field completing a 360-degree rotation in 2 seconds and the magnetic field in 4 seconds.
During the test, the USS Eldridge had about 25 personnel on board, including Bielek and his brother Duncan, as opposed to its normal complement of 150. The crew operated the equipment manually from a special control room on the deck, where the coils and antenna were also located. The generators were placed below deck.
The ship was positioned in the harbor, approximately six miles downstream from the Philadelphia Navy Yard, near Niccum Island. This location was chosen to ensure safety due to the uncertainty about the size of the field that would be created.
During the test, Bielek and his brother, Duncan, were in a control room shielded by heavy steel, operating the equipment. The test was observed from a carrier ship with only one observer ship present, equipped with cameras and radar to monitor the test. At a specified time, Bielek and Duncan were given the go-ahead to start the experiment. They activated the equipment in sequence, gradually increasing the power to the generators that created the magnetic field.
Observers on the carrier ship saw a strange, rotating field around the Eldridge, and then the ship gradually became invisible, including on radar. This state of invisibility lasted for about 20 minutes. Bielek details the procedure they followed to activate the system and the visual effects observed during the test, likening it to looking through a hot air field with a wavering and then fading out of the ship’s image.
After about 20 minutes, they received orders to shut down the equipment. Communication was challenging during the test due to the RF interference created by the experiment. Upon returning to the dock, it was discovered that the sailors who had been on deck as observers were severely affected. They were nauseous, disoriented, and mentally impaired, confirming fears about the potential biological effects of the experiment.
This first test demonstrated the experiment’s capacity to render a ship invisible but also revealed significant issues regarding the safety and well-being of the crew involved. This led to further concerns and adjustments by von Neumann and his team.
Following the test, the Navy and Dr. John von Neumann acknowledged the severe biological effects on the sailors who were exposed to the experiment. These sailors were hospitalized and treated for their symptoms. Dr. Oscar Otto Schneider, a medical officer involved in the project, managed their treatment.
Despite the obvious risks, the Navy decided to proceed with further experiments. They provided a new crew for the subsequent tests, with the volunteers being classified as casualties of war in case of any adverse outcomes. Bielek explains that none of the sailors from the first test died due to the experiment, but they experienced significant psychological and mental disturbances.
Von Neumann, aware of the severe biological dangers, sought more time to study and address these issues. However, he was pressured by the Navy to complete another test by August 12, 1943. This deadline, imposed by Admiral King, Chief of Naval Operations, perplexed von Neumann and his team. They worked around the clock to prepare for the test, but many crew members, including Bielek and his brother Duncan, had a foreboding feeling about what might go wrong.
Despite concerns about the severe biological effects experienced by sailors in the first test, the Navy pushed for the second test, emphasizing the importance of achieving radar invisibility rather than optical invisibility.
Bielek explains that technically, the only significant change made for the second test was the reduction of the angle of phase shift in the time field. The initial test created a 60-degree phase shift, resulting in optical invisibility. For the second test, they aimed for a 45-degree phase shift, which would allow the ship to remain visible but become radar invisible.
On the day of the test, about 25 personnel were on the USS Eldridge, with only a few on deck and the rest below. Three observer ships were present, including a carrier with personnel overseeing the test, a merchant ship called the SS Princess, and a Coast Guard cutter.
The experiment began with the same procedure as the first test. Initially, the ship appeared through a greenish haze, indicating radar invisibility while remaining optically visible. The field created around the ship was about three times its size, which Bielek notes was larger than necessary based on later engineering and theoretical advancements.
Suddenly, a blue flash of light occurred, and both the ship and the waterline vanished completely, indicating a significant and unexpected turn in the experiment. After initiating the test, the ship became completely invisible, including the waterline around it, and remained missing for about four hours.
Bielek and his brother Duncan, in the control room, started to experience unusual effects. They observed a flickering glow from the tube-driven alternators and strange arc-overs, despite the absence of high-voltage equipment in the room. When they attempted to shut down the equipment due to these anomalies, they found the switches immovable. Deciding to abandon the control room, they encountered disoriented crew members on deck, in a hazy green environment that Bielek later associated with ozone.
In a desperate move, Bielek and Duncan decided to jump overboard, expecting to land in the water. Instead, they experienced a sensation akin to falling down an endless elevator shaft, surrounded by a hazy mist with swirling lights. During this fall, they remained within sight of each other but did not perceive the water or the surrounding environment.
After jumping from the ship, they experienced a sensation of falling and eventually landed gently near a military-style chain link fence. They were suddenly illuminated by a searchlight from a helicopter, a technology unfamiliar to them at the time. Military personnel quickly apprehended them and escorted them to a building where they descended several levels in an elevator. There, they encountered military personnel and advanced equipment, as well as an elderly civilian who introduced himself as Dr. John von Neumann.
Bielek and Duncan were astonished and skeptical when von Neumann claimed it was the year 1983, not 1943, and that they were at Montauk, Long Island. This assertion was difficult for them to believe, given they had just left a much younger von Neumann an hour earlier. The elderly von Neumann explained the time discrepancy and showed them around the facility, which was equipped with modern technology like IBM 360/370 computers and advanced displays, technologies that did not exist in their original time.
Bielek and his brother Duncan found themselves in 1983, 40 years into the future, at Montauk, Long Island. They were greeted by an older Dr. John von Neumann, who informed them of the time leap.
Bielek and Duncan were shown around the facility, witnessing technologies that were non-existent in 1943, such as large-screen color TVs and modern computers. They were bewildered by a commercial for flights to Hawaii featuring a Boeing 747, an aircraft unknown to them at the time.
Dr. John von Neumann, whom they met in this future setting, explained that they needed to return to the Eldridge to shut down the experiment’s equipment, as the ship was stuck in hyperspace. Montauk’s technology, which could control space and time, facilitated their return to the ship in 1943.
Back on the Eldridge, Bielek and Duncan found the crew in a state of chaos. Some crew members who had attempted to leave the ship had disintegrated. Bielek and Duncan managed to shut down the equipment, but not before witnessing some sailors partially embedded in the ship’s structure due to the experiment’s catastrophic effects.
Bielek’s narrative takes an even more science-fiction-like turn with the introduction of soul transference technology. He mentions that Duncan’s soul was transferred to another body born in 1951 to prevent his death. This part of the story delves into concepts of cloning and mind transfer, which Bielek suggests were within the realm of possibility at Montauk.
Al Bielek delves deeper into the implications and discoveries related to the Philadelphia Experiment. He discusses the broader awareness and acceptance of the experiment among audiences compared to earlier skepticism.
Bielek also touches on the feasibility of constructing a time machine, suggesting that it’s simpler than most people think. He claims that the Germans achieved time travel in 1943-44 and that post-war, the U.S. inherited German research, leading to further developments in time travel technology. Bielek himself moved to Los Alamos in July 1944 to work on the atomic bomb project and, during this time, he came across classified information revealing the ancient origins of atomic energy and a highly secretive project named “Operation Southern Cross.”
“Operation Southern Cross,” according to Bielek, involved perfected time travel as early as 1936. This revelation caused significant turmoil when Bielek shared it with colleagues. He also discovered that this project involved exploiting natural phenomena in areas like the Bermuda Triangle, using specific frequencies to enable time travel through a naval or commercial ship situated above Atlantean crystal formations on the ocean floor.
Bielek describes being transferred to 1983, where he was informed that his memory would be erased and he would be regressed to another family in the past, effectively erasing his knowledge and involvement in these projects. This action was necessary due to his involvement in time loops; keeping him alive was crucial until a certain period had passed.
Bielek’s earliest memory after this regression was from 1927, and he recounts having a keen interest in the Philadelphia Experiment without understanding why. It wasn’t until 1988, while watching a movie about the experiment, that his memories began to flood back.
Listeners call in to ask questions, including how the Eldridge’s generator could run for 40 years and comparisons between the real events of the Philadelphia Experiment and its Hollywood portrayal. Bielek clarifies that the generator was running for about four hours from the perspective of Philadelphia time, not 40 years. He also comments on the accuracy of the movie, noting that the first 15 minutes were almost dead-on with the actual events, triggering his memory recall.
One caller questions how Bielek knew he arrived in 1983 when he jumped off the USS Eldridge. Bielek confirms the year based on records and corroborations from others involved in the Montauk project. He is open to the idea of traveling 40 years into the future again, provided he could return, but expresses uncertainty about wanting to live in that future.
Another caller inquires about the possibility of witnessing time travelers appearing or disappearing spontaneously. Bielek acknowledges this as a possibility, noting that he has personally observed partial materializations. He emphasizes the dangers of uncontrolled time travel, which can disrupt the fabric of time itself. He links these disruptions to an increase in alien and UFO activity following the Philadelphia Experiment, citing incidents like the Roswell crash and sightings of UFOs over the White House.
Bielek concludes by stressing the importance of keeping certain technologies, like time travel, secret for safety reasons. The show ends with Art thanking Bielek for the interview.