New Book Reviews
By Brent Raynes
HOAX
By P. J. Dowers
Pandora’s Press
2012, 275 pages, US $15.96
ISBN: 9781620301807
Reviewed by Brent Raynes
Think you knew all that there is to know about the wild tale of The Philadelphia Experiment, about Carlos Allende and Morris K. Jessup? Well my friends, think again! Phyllis J. Dowers and her son Ray discovered an aging Mr. Allende spending his final days at a health care facility in Greeley, Colorado, back in the spring of 1991, becoming close to the friendly gentleman with many tall tales of teleportation, invisibility, UFOs, and visits with Einstein, right up until his death on March 5, 1994. During the time that they were acquainted they spent much time with him, tape recording his stories and trying to make sense of what he shared with them and others, and when possible looking up any information or sources that would either confirm or disprove what he claimed.
Pretty soon there were a lot of puzzling things to try and make sense of that Phyllis and Ray began uncovering. Why would someone break into Phyllis’s apartment just to take correspondence and papers from Allende? Who was the mysterious gentleman dressed in an Air Force uniform who identified himself as Sergeant Peterson and showed up unexpectedly on Phyllis’s doorstep, wanting her to give a questionnaire form to Allende, have him complete it, and then return it to the Sergeant again? Why was the same social security number assigned to a Carlos Miguel Allende and another to a Carl Meredith Allen? How many Allendes were there? Why were there two U.S.S. Eldridges? Did M.K. Jessup really commit suicide, or was it somebody else’s body authorities found in that parked car?
While the author can’t say that they ultimately solved these deep mysteries that they found connected with Allende and Jessup, they did stumble upon many oddball things to probe and ponder into, and they certainly do give the reader a lot of interesting new facts to think about!
