| The long awaited and much-touted mini-series, | | | | That home was across the street and a couple |
| The Triangle, made it's debut on the Sci-Fi cable | | | | of houses down from us. It was occupied by an |
| channel recently. As a person who has studied the | | | | elderly couple who liked their privacy and, it was |
| paranormal for most of his life, I always watch | | | | rumored, had been involved in some sort of |
| these kinds of fictional entertainment projects | | | | scientific research for the U.S. Government. If you |
| based on unexplained events with a slightly more | | | | were a kid, you knew better then to play in front |
| critical eye then the average viewer or sci-fi fan | | | | of their home. They would call your parents, the |
| might. Unlike other Sci-Fi projects that attempted | | | | police or both. Obviously, they were not the most |
| to report on or fictionalize various areas of the | | | | beloved people on the block. However, that |
| unexplained, this one is a gem. There are several | | | | became a non-issue one summer morning. It was |
| reasons why I believe that The Triangle is one of | | | | the mid-1960s and I was enjoying my summer |
| the best science fiction projects based on | | | | break from elementary school. Since most people |
| unexplained events I have ever seen. Beyond the | | | | went on vacation during that time, I was left to |
| fact that the cast really delivered the goods, | | | | roam the block and rummage up what friends I |
| those responsible for the project know good | | | | could. With stores, a library, park and even a |
| science fiction. Rockne S. O'Bannon is credited | | | | bowling alley close by, I was always looking for |
| with writing the teleplay and as Executive | | | | someone to venture out with me to those places. |
| Producer. With projects like Alien Nation, | | | | Each time I walked pass the house owned by the |
| SeaQuest DSV, Amazing Stories and the 1980's | | | | elderly couple, I admired how well it was kept. |
| incarnation of The Twilight Zone under his belt, | | | | Window boxes were filled with carefully chosen |
| O'Bannon knows how to tell a story well. Dean | | | | flowers, the lawn was manicured to perfection |
| Devlin is also one of the Executive Producers and | | | | and bird droppings were quickly cleaned off the |
| is given writing credits. Despite the disaster that | | | | sidewalk or driveway whenever any dirty bird |
| was Godzilla, Devlin gave us Star Gate and | | | | dared to poop on the property. As I walked |
| Independence Day. Craig R. Baxley is Director and | | | | toward the elderly couple's house to visit a friend |
| is certainly no stranger to the weird having been | | | | next store on that particular day, I was frozen in |
| involved with Left Behind, Rose Red and Kingdom | | | | my tracks. The house was gone! I mean it just |
| Hospital. Despite the luminaries that acted in, | | | | wasn't there and looked like it never had been. |
| wrote, produced and directed The Triangle, the | | | | When I mentioned this to my parents, they |
| most important reason for the success of this | | | | assumed it was a joke. They had never seen or |
| mini-series may be its willingness to offer The | | | | heard about the couple. When they saw how |
| Philadelphia Experiment as an explanation for all | | | | serious I was, my parents assured me that no |
| the weird happenings. It's obvious that those | | | | house like I described had ever existed in our |
| responsible for this production did their homework. | | | | neighborhood. My friends and their parents said |
| Paranormal Investigators have been linking people, | | | | the same thing. In the interest of not being labeled |
| planes and ships lost or missing in the Bermuda | | | | the neighbor nut cake, I dropped the matter. |
| Triangle to the infamous Navy project for many | | | | Beyond the fact that a house and its occupants |
| years. Anyone wanting to create a fictional | | | | had managed to vanish overnight, what really |
| entertainment project about weird events that | | | | bothered me was why I was the only person |
| occur in the area also known as the Devil's | | | | who remembered the structure and the people |
| Triangle would be foolish to ignore the interest | | | | who lived in it. Then I remembered something. A |
| people have in the possible Philadelphia Experiment | | | | few days after the couple had moved in, I was |
| connection. Unlike other Sci-Fi channel projects | | | | walking past the house when the elderly man |
| based on the unexplained, The Triangle doesn't | | | | called out to me. He asked if I wouldn't mind |
| bother to apologize for what's presented. I was | | | | helping him hang some pictures and do some odd |
| especially impressed with the no-nonsense manner | | | | jobs. I ran home to ask my parents for |
| in which the Philadelphia Experiment material was | | | | permission to go into the house. They said it |
| worked into the plot. Anyone who has studied the | | | | would be fine. So I spent most of that afternoon |
| alleged U.S. Government experimentation with | | | | helping the man with various jobs inside and |
| time travel, invisibility and mind control as deeply | | | | outside the house. I earned five dollars and some |
| as I have knows what a hard sell that material is. | | | | good will for my efforts. To my knowledge, I |
| The Philadelphia Experiment was never just some | | | | was the only person living in that neighborhood |
| World War II project to make Navy ships invisible. | | | | who had ever actually been inside the house. That |
| It was and is an incredibly complicated and diverse | | | | is the only reason I can think of for possessing |
| program that is able to exist based on the fact of | | | | the memories of the house and the elderly couple. |
| non-existence in the public mind, propped up by | | | | I gave up thinking about the incident until I started |
| over fifty years of disinformation and secrecy. I | | | | the seventh grade. My junior high school had a |
| have always said that paranormal reality is better | | | | well stocked library. After reading The Time |
| then any science fiction ever presented in book, | | | | Machine, A Wrinkle in Time and some comments |
| film or other forms. The cases I have | | | | by physicists published in a scholastic magazine, I |
| investigated involving the unexplained have | | | | began to consider the possibility that a natural or |
| challenged everything I believe or have been | | | | deliberate event involving alteration of the space |
| taught about the world we live in. I'm not speaking | | | | time continuum had occurred. The comments by |
| of ethereal New Age concepts, but actual | | | | the physicists in an article about modern science |
| occurrences which defy you to explain them. | | | | introduced me to the idea of alternative realities |
| That is what I liked about The Triangle. The | | | | and dimensions. While some felt that there were |
| characters were average people mulling through | | | | only a few physical dimensions, others saw a |
| life until they were suddenly slammed in the face | | | | universe full of alterative realities that could |
| by paranormal events. Whether believers or | | | | eventually be accessed if the technology to do so |
| disbelievers by nature, none of them could deny | | | | was available. With that foundation, it wasn't hard |
| what they were experiencing. Most mini-series | | | | to imagine what someone with access to |
| start off with a bang, then end in the most | | | | technology of the type described as being used in |
| disappointing way possible. That certainly wasn't | | | | the Philadelphia Experiment project could do. |
| true of The Triangle. In the end, the characters | | | | Playing with time would be as easy as riding a |
| involved found themselves in a new and | | | | bike; until you fell off. It's always the aftereffects |
| permanently altered reality. For me, it was a | | | | that anyone wanting to play Time God would |
| more then worthwhile payoff for watching the six | | | | have to take into consideration. The consequence |
| hour presentation over three nights. That's | | | | of messing with the fabric of time and space |
| because I not only believe it's possible, but have | | | | would be a new and possibly undesirable reality. |
| seen evidence that such things have already | | | | That's if you view Time as a line. I believe that |
| happened. As a child growing up on Long Island, I | | | | people involved in the real Philadelphia Experiment |
| found myself constantly confronted by things I | | | | and related projects look at Time as a continuous |
| couldn't understand. Stories of UFO sightings, odd | | | | circle without beginning or end. If you have the |
| disappearances, alien abductions and even strange | | | | right technology, you can jump anywhere into the |
| creature sightings were not uncommon in a place | | | | circle, make subtle changes and still retain the |
| less then a one hour drive from New York City. | | | | overall stability of the reality in which you live. |
| Add to that the weird stories I heard from our | | | | Your reality would be where you were born in the |
| mostly ex-military neighbors. Despite government | | | | circle. The Triangle took a quantum leap (no pun |
| claims that paranormal events were often | | | | intended) for a major production. It dared to take |
| reported by untrained observers or unstable | | | | a plunge in the reality that researchers like myself |
| people, most of those I met with unusual stories | | | | have lived with for most of their lives. That reality |
| to tell were very credible. These included active | | | | is the fact that we cannot always run to science |
| and retired military pilots, police, firefighters, | | | | or some known database of information for |
| engineers, scientists and technical writers. Then | | | | answers when it comes to understanding the |
| there was what I experienced myself. Our home | | | | unexplained. Although a fictional presentation, I |
| was built in the 1950s on what had been farm | | | | was glad to see that those involved with the |
| property. It was the first house built on our block. | | | | project had the guts and intelligence to step out |
| It didn't take long for all the houses that were | | | | from the usual sci-fi mold and give the world of |
| subsequently erected to be purchased. All of the | | | | the paranormal the respect it deserves without |
| homes except one were occupied by families. | | | | the usual skeptical disclaimers. |