Archives West Finding Aid

Carlos Allende was born May 31, 1925 in Springdale, PA. During World War II he served in the Marines from July of 1942 to May of 1943. He claimed to have witnessed the disappearance of the U.S. destroyer escort USS Eldridge while serving aboard the SS Andrew Furuseth in what became known as the "Philadelphia Experiment," and that afterwards he was personally tutored by Albert Einstein on Unified Field Theory. The story of the supposed event emerged in 1955 after Morris K. Jessup, author of The Case for the UFO, received letters from Carlos Allende informing Jessup of the experiment. Intrigued, yet skeptical, Jessup wrote Allende back requesting any evidence he had to support his claim. Months later, in May of 1955, Jessup received his response from Allende, who had now anglicized his name to Carl M. Allen. Unable to recall any specific dates for the experiment or news accounts his response and assertion of the event has been doubted. In the years after his famous letters to Morris Jessup, Allende reportedly refuted and again reclaimed his assertion of the experiment. He thoroughly researched interstellar space travel, UFOs, and Einstein’s Unified Field Theory and was described as an eccentric and intelligent individual. He died in March of 1994 at the age of 68.