| s during my first visit to the historic Montauk | | | | harbors against infiltration by ships and submarines. |
| Lighthouse that I noticed the huge radar dish | | | | These would be part of a multi-faceted system |
| which immediately identifies the base. I must have | | | | which would include radar, hydrophones, magnetic |
| been about eight years old and remember asking | | | | detection devices and more. That was what they |
| my parents about the monstrous structure. My | | | | told him. |
| father said it was part of a system to detect | | | | Everything changed when he arrived at the |
| incoming enemy aircraft or missiles. As a retired | | | | Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The group from |
| Air Force Officer, he would know about that. | | | | Princeton was told to develop a system which |
| However, I’m certain that he had no idea | | | | would demagnetize ships and make them radar |
| what future (or past) events would give that | | | | invisible. David skipped over a lot. When he |
| base such an infamous reputation. | | | | resumed reading, his father was in the middle of |
| I had plenty of friends that worked in the Long | | | | an experiment with one of the moored ships. |
| Island technical community. During the days of the | | | | There were no crew members on board, just |
| Cold War, those jobs were everywhere if you | | | | several carefully chosen junior officers that acted |
| qualified. Part of qualifying sometimes meant | | | | as caretakers. |
| having a parent or other relative already on the | | | | During the process of testing equipment, there |
| inside. David was a good example. His father | | | | was an accident. It looked as though one of the |
| worked for the government or government | | | | junior officers was electrocuted. He accidentally |
| contractors since the days of the Second World | | | | touched an open circuit while standing in the |
| War. That helped David put his engineering degree | | | | middle of an area filled with electronics and |
| to good use for the same company where his | | | | powerful magnetic fields. The power was shut |
| dad worked until his death a few years back. | | | | down and he fell to the floor. When the |
| I thought I had a good working knowledge of the | | | | technicians got to him, he had a pulse and |
| Philadelphia Experiment up until 1987. After years | | | | didn’t look burned. The young Officer was |
| of researching it and speaking with second and | | | | sent to the Naval Shipyard Hospital. |
| third hand witnesses, I was about to get a bit | | | | The junior officer was back with a clean bill of |
| closer. David asked me to come and give a | | | | health a few hours later. David’s father |
| lunchtime talk about UFOs for his coworkers. His | | | | and another member of the team spotted him |
| company sponsored these midday events once a | | | | and headed over to see if he was alright. Before |
| month for employees who cared to attend. It | | | | they could reach him, the young man entered a |
| was all about lessening stress in a very stressful | | | | hatchway and vanished around a corner. The |
| work environment. | | | | engineers didn’t think much about it at the |
| After discussing UFO reports and sightings on | | | | time because it was easy to lose sight of people |
| Long Island for about fifty minutes, I asked if | | | | inside a ship. |
| anyone had comments or questions. There were | | | | Several hours later, everyone was ready to call it |
| plenty. Most came from people that had seen | | | | day. The young officer was no where to be |
| UFOs themselves. For some reason, there | | | | found. Despite a careful search through that ship |
| weren’t many skeptics in the room. One | | | | and others in the area, he could not be located. |
| guy asked me about the Philadelphia Experiment. | | | | The next day there was a more comprehensive |
| In turn, I asked if everyone in the room was | | | | search which turned up nothing. David’s |
| interested enough in the subject for me to spend | | | | father and his associate were extensively |
| another twenty or thirty minutes talking about it? | | | | questioned as were others that saw him enter |
| They were. | | | | the hatchway, but no blame was pointed in their |
| I gave the group a kind of thumbnail sketch about | | | | direction. Those in charge already seemed to |
| the infamous World War II Navy project, then | | | | know what happened to him. |
| proceeded to explain how a simple program to | | | | The Navy was satisfied that the junior officer |
| degauss battleships turned into a massive project | | | | didn’t voluntarily vanish, was not a spy |
| to make ships invisible. I explained how there was | | | | and probably fell overboard as a result of a |
| credible evidence to believe that scientists and | | | | belated reaction to the electrocution. That was |
| engineers working out of Princeton under Einstein | | | | the official position. It was more likely that the |
| had actually made a ship invisible and opened a | | | | young man melted into the ship’s |
| sort of space time portal during a series of | | | | superstructure or floated off into some ethereal |
| experiments. | | | | realm. That situation was repeated on a larger |
| The experiments took place in the Philadelphia | | | | scale during other attempts to test Philadelphia |
| Naval Shipyard and along the east coast of the | | | | Experiment technologies. |
| United States. The trial and error process saw a | | | | David stopped reading and stared blankly at me. I |
| test crew placed aboard a battleship escort | | | | didn’t really know what to say. Sensing I |
| vessel for sea trials of the new technology. A | | | | was at a loss for words, he told me that this was |
| technology which didn’t always work | | | | the first and last time he would be able to share |
| correctly costing lives and creating more questions | | | | this information with me. I passed the photo |
| than answers. | | | | album back to him; he placed the journal on top |
| David called later that night to thank me for | | | | of it and carefully locked everything up in the box. |
| speaking at the lunchtime event. He said | | | | I left with a million more questions than answers. |
| everyone that came to the event talked about it | | | | Sadly, David passed away a few years ago. His |
| for the rest of the day and those that | | | | death was the tragic result of an auto accident |
| didn‘t attend, wish they had. I thanked | | | | and was completely unexpected. With no will or |
| him and admitted that I came away with as much | | | | preparations in place, I asked his surviving |
| information as I had imparted in terms of UFO | | | | relatives about any photo albums or a diary |
| sightings. After some friendly chatter, he invited | | | | belonging to his father they might have found. |
| me to his house on Saturday and said he had | | | | They seemed genuinely surprised and said that no |
| wanted to discuss something about my | | | | such items were found among David‘s |
| investigations. He asked if I would come alone and | | | | possessions. I thought it wise not to pursue the |
| I agreed. | | | | matter. His death ended my agreement to keep |
| Saturday arrived and found me standing at | | | | the information he provided to myself. |
| David’s door around two in the afternoon. | | | | A year after David’s stunning revelation I |
| He opened the door and invited me in. My friend | | | | met several people with similar stories. They are |
| looked spent. I sat down in his living room and | | | | Al Bielek, Preston Nichols and Duncan Cameron. All |
| waited while he ran down to the basement to get | | | | three claimed involvement with projects once |
| something. He reappeared moments later with a | | | | headquartered at the Montauk Air Force Station. |
| large lockbox, opened it and handed me an old | | | | These projects used technologies developed from |
| photo album. Then he dropped the bomb. | | | | the Philadelphia Experiment and involved invisibility, |
| David’s father was a gifted engineer and | | | | time travel, mind control, remote viewing and |
| had a knack for designing complicated machines | | | | psychic war fare. After a lot of phone work, |
| and electronic devices. Radio and electronics were | | | | Bielek, Nichols and Cameron agreed to meet a |
| a hobby for him, but he was better at those | | | | small of group of people assembled to evaluate |
| things than most professionals. I assume both | | | | their claims and film their testimony. |
| talents came in handy for the Philadelphia | | | | Their revelations about the Montauk Air Force |
| Experiment. | | | | Station were stunning and their attention to detail |
| David asked me to listen while he read from the | | | | was amazing. I listened to them for almost |
| journal. It was a diary that his father kept during | | | | twelve hours and ended up with a good four |
| the early 1940s. He carefully chose sections that | | | | hours of solid information non film. One of the |
| could be read, ignored others and explained that | | | | people who came there with me was a technical |
| there were things he couldn’t share with | | | | writer with a great deal of government project |
| me. I understood and was grateful for what he | | | | experience. I asked him to evaluate the |
| was willing to reveal. | | | | information and render an opinion. When the |
| He read about ten hand-written pages. Although | | | | session was over, he went home and |
| no names or specifics were mentioned, the diary | | | | didn’t call me for several days. When we |
| did note that he was at Princeton working on a | | | | finally touched base, he said that he was not able |
| project special project during World War II. He | | | | to sleep. He believed their story and it really |
| was one of several young prodigies personally | | | | troubled him. Without going in to detail, he said |
| recommended by Albert Einstein and engaged by | | | | that it answered a lot of questions about strange |
| the Navy. They were developing a system of | | | | things he came across over the years. |
| magnetic detection devices to protect our | | | | |