10.07
Morris Jessup and Carlos Miguel Allende
In 1955, Morris K. Jessup, an amateur astronomer and former graduate-level researcher, published The Case for the UFO, a book about unidentified flying objects that contains some theorizing about the different means of propulsion that flying-saucer-style UFOs might use. Jessup speculated that antigravity or the manipulation of electromagnetism may be responsible for the observed flight behavior of UFOs. He lamented, both in the book and during the publicity tour that followed, that space flight research was concentrated in the area of rocketry, and that little attention had been paid to other theoretical means of flight, which he felt might ultimately be more fruitful. Jessup emphasized that a breakthrough revision of Albert Einstein’s “Unified Field Theory” would be critical in powering a future generation of spacecraft.
On January 13, 1955, Jessup received a letter from a man who identified himself as one “Carlos Allende”. In the letter, Allende informed Jessup of the “Philadelphia Experiment”, alluding to two poorly sourced contemporary newspaper articles as proof. Allende directly responded to Jessup’s call for research on the “Unified Field Theory”, which he referred to as “UFT”. According to Allende, Einstein had solved the theory, but had suppressed it, since mankind was not ready for it — a confession that the scientist allegedly shared with the mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell. Allende also said that he had witnessed the Eldridge disappear and reappear while serving aboard the SS Andrew Furuseth, a nearby merchant ship. Allende further named other crew members with whom he served aboard the Andrew Furuseth, and claimed to know the fate of some of the crew members of the Eldridge after the experiment, including one whom he witnessed disappearing during a chaotic fight in a bar. Although Allende claimed to have observed the experiment while on the Andrew Furuseth, he provided no substantiation of his other claims linking the experiment with the Unified Field Theory, no evidence of Einstein’s alleged resolution of the theory, and no proof of Einstein’s alleged private confession to Russell.
Jessup replied to Allende by a postcard, asking for further evidence and corroboration.
The reply to that came months later. However, this time the correspondent identified himself as “Carl M. Allen”. Allen said that he could not provide the details for which Jessup was asking, but he implied that he might be able to recall some by means of hypnosis. Suspecting that Allende / Allen was a fraud, Jessup discontinued the correspondence.
It has been claimed that Jessup’s use of a postcard in responding to Allende publicized their correspondence. This possibility, some theorists consider, was plausible cause for the Government to intervene, disrupting the conversation by replacing Allende with Allen, who was possibly a CIA agent monitoring Allende’s inbound mail. This theory is quite suspect for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that neither domestic intelligence nor communications monitoring within the United States are within the purview of the CIA. More importantly, Allende has been accessible to the community of “Philadelphia Experiment” researchers for years, discounting any alleged intervention by the Government.
The Office of Naval Research and the Varo annotation
In early 1957, Jessup was contacted by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Washington, D.C., and was asked to study the contents of a parcel that it had received. Upon his arrival, Mr. Jessup was astonished to find that a paperback copy of his UFO book had been mailed to the ONR in a manila envelope marked “Happy Easter.” Furthermore, the book had been extensively annotated by hand in its margins, and an ONR officer asked Jessup if he had any idea as to who had done so.
The lengthy annotations were written with three different colors of ink, and they appeared to detail a correspondence among three individuals, only one of which is given a name: “Jemi”. The ONR labelled the other two “Mr A.” and “Mr B.” The annotators refer to each other as “Gypsies,” and discuss two different types of “people” living in outer space. Their text contained non-standard use of capitalization and punctuation, and detailed a lengthy discussion of the merits of various suppositions that Jessup makes throughout his book, with oblique references to the Philadelphia Experiment, in a way that suggested prior or superior knowledge (for example, “Mr B.” reassures his fellow annotators, who have highlighted a certain theory of Jessup’s).
Based on the handwriting style and subject matter, Jessup identified “Mr A.” as Allende / Allen. Others have suggested that the three annotations are actually from the same person, using three pens.
The annotated book sparked such interest that the ONR funded a small printing of the volume by the Texas-based Varo Manufacturing Company. A 2003 transcription of the annotated “Varo edition” is available online, complete with three-color notes.
Later, the ONR contacted Jessup, claiming that the return address on Allende’s letter to Jessup was an abandoned farmhouse. They also informed Jessup that the Varo Corporation, a research firm, was preparing a print copy of the annotated version of The Case for the UFO, complete with both letters he had received. About a hundred copies of the Varo Edition were printed and distributed within the Navy. Jessup was also sent three for his own use.
Jessup attempted to make a living writing on the topic, but his follow-up book did not sell well, and his publisher rejected several other manuscripts. In 1958, his wife left him, and his friends described him as being depressed and somewhat unstable when he travelled to New York. After returning to Florida, he was involved in a serious car accident and was slow to recover, apparently increasing his despondency. He committed suicide in 1959.