It was the starting point of the one who would become one of the most bizarre and controversial projects in history, the Philadelphia Experiment. In 1940, the first attempt, invisibility, was accomplished, with the disappearance of a ship without personnel on board. Tesla immediately warned of the serious problems that might have arisen if the ship were personally involved in the activation of Gauss’s coils. The US military navy, eager for new experiences, did not want to accept any postponement, which made Tesla, who did not want the destruction of human lives, to leave the project definitively in 1942.

There are a number of stories stating that before leaving, Tesla would have approved an attempt and some domestic animals aboard.

The effects would have been disastrous and that’s why Tesla would not want to try with people, but the pressure was already too high due to the fighting in the Atlantic and Pacific. In 1943, the project was entrusted to Dr. von Neumann, headed by a team of doctors Gustoff, Clarkson, David Hilbert and Henry Levinson. The objective was to continue investigations into the issue of the invisibility of human beings, after that of the ships. It seems that on October 28, 1943, in the Port of Philadelphia, US Army officials had made available to the USS Eldridge destroyer to test the effects of invisibility on battleships. What followed would be a scenario worthy of horror movies.