When did Carl Allen begin to grasp that he was no longer an invisible, insignificant drifter but an exotic mystery man, earnestly sought after by “those who ponder the elusive disks” (Gray Barker’s phrase), himself as elusive as any of them? That Hispanicized Carlos Allende had become a hero of … [Read more...]
The Philadelphia Experiment – Finding Carlos Allende
He wasn’t lost, at least initially. Except perhaps in a figurative sense. The files in the Barker Collection contain a letter from one Austin N. Stanton of the Varo Mfg. Co, Garland, Texas, addressed to Carl M. Allen at RFD #1, Box 223, New Kensington, Pennsylvania. The letter, dated 5 August … [Read more...]
The Philadelphia Experiment – The Sound of Silence, Part 2
How would you react if you got a letter from a man claiming first-hand knowledge of a Navy experiment in which a ship at Philadelphia and all its sailors had been turned invisible, then teleported to Virginia and back again? Would you pursue the matter? Or would you laugh, say “Crackpot,” and … [Read more...]
The Philadelphia Experiment – “No Mystery Whatsoever About His Death”
One of the my more fascinating discoveries in the Gray Barker Collection was a carbon copy of a long letter, dated February 18, 1976, telling the story of M. K. Jessup, the “Allende letters,” and the mysterious annotated copy of Jessup’s Case for the UFO. This was the book that a group of Navy … [Read more...]
The Philadelphia Experiment – “The Strange Case of Dr. M. K. Jessup”
He wasn’t really a doctor, although the bios on his book jackets hint misleadingly that he was. His full name was Morris Ketchum Jessup. He was born in Indiana in 1900; he died in 1959 in Coral Gables, Florida, an apparent suicide. Only one photograph, as far as I know, is extant. It shows a … [Read more...]
