Hi everyone! Johann here.
I was in my 20's (this was mid 1990's) when I first read about "The Philadelphia Experiment" (this is the one where the US Navy ostensibly made the USS Eldridge invisible and teleported the ship to Norfolk and back within a matter of minutes using Einstein's "Unified Field Theory") - I was absolutely spellbound and amazed that I had come to be in possession of this knowledge ... I could feel the adrenalin running through my veins and was ecstatic to have uncovered something so spectacular! I knew just enough about Einstein's physics to be dangerous, and the author did a fine job of using a few rambling letters from Carlos Allende to fabricate one of the most enduring conspiracy myths of all time...so I admit I totally fell for it. I remember wondering at the time why the US Navy had not, since 1943, used this spectacular technology more broadly given its obvious power, but sadly I did not let such mundane concerns get in the way of my newfound "belief".
Fast forward 20 years, I forgot about the Philadelphia Experiment, and occasionally read about UFO sightings, aliens and so forth. I never really bought into the Roswell story, mostly because as a non-American it always struck me as odd that the majority of UFO's always tended to land in the USA, and I suspected that the UFO sightings taught us more about American storytelling than about alien activity, but I kept a watching brief on the topic anyway. I suspected that 99% of sightings were hoaxes, misidentifications, lies, or optical illusions, but thought that there was probably a stub of 1% that were harder to dismiss so easily, and perhaps warranted further investigation. It also struck me as odd that the UFO photos were always so grainy.
The first time I really sat up and took serious notice was when the Nimitz Tic Tac, and Gimbal, and other videos filmed by US Navy pilots started surfacing. These felt a bit different ... the Navy pilots seemed credible and well trained, did not have the same incentives that "UFOlogists" and others in the field have, and the "corroboration" of the filmed footage elevated these claims to a higher level than, say, Bob Lazard's rambling stories about reverse engineering alien propulsion systems at Los Alamos. A friend pointed me to Mick West's now famous debunking videos, and at last I was able to reconcile my nagging doubts with a credible explanation of why the videos looked so real but were perfectly explainable using mundane and straightforward known characteristics of the camera systems.
The problem with conspiracy theories is that, very occasionally, some of them turn out to be true. The most famous example is probably MK Ultra, the CIA mind control experiments with LSD, which was initially dismissed as paranoia (or perhaps the NSA mass surveillance concerns later exposed by Edward Snowden). I'm not making the argument that all conspiracy theories deserve equal airtime, or any airtime, but merely that each case or incident should be considered on its own merits.
This is why I try to stay humble, stay curious, go easy on friends and family who are conspiracy theorists (show some compassion), research the topic and follow the facts. I don't ever want to fall for a "Philadelphia Experiment" type conspiracy theory again, but I also recognize that there may be another Edward Snowden type revelation on the horizon at some point, and so on this journey of knowledge discovery it's important for me to walk the tightrope between skepticism and curiosity in a sensible balance.
I think this is a great site and applaud the work done here by many to offer rational explanations for seemingly inexplicable events, thereby making it easier for those who are interested to find the truth or at least find the most likely explanation for a given phenomenon.
Regards
Johann
