Bizarre conspiracy theories surrounding a mysterious Montauk airbase were the inspiration for Stranger Things, it has been revealed.
Mind control, evil government experiments and a child with incredible powers may have become common science fiction tropes but at the writers and creators were inspired by rumors of creepy experiments at Camp Hero in Long Island.
‘It’s based on a place in Montauk, New York called Camp Hero,’ star Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Dustin, told Wired during a recent Google search reveal interview.
‘There was, like, rumors of secret government spies doing human experiments to fight in the Cold War. It’s based on that one government lab… It’s a place you can go visit but you’re not allowed in why? Nobody knows.’
Camp Hero, or the Montauk Air Force Station, the air base was commissioned by the U.S. Army in 1942 and became a surveillance center in the Cold War with a huge AN/FPS-35 Radar
Rumors about secret experimentation and mind control at the base (pictured) were the inspiration for Stranger Things
Known as Camp Hero, or the Montauk Air Force Station, the air base was commissioned by the U.S. Army in 1942 as coastal defense station to defend New York from a potential invasion by sea – disguised as a typical New England fishing village to protect it from attack.
The base was later used as a surveillance center in the Cold War and a base for the huge AN/FPS-35 Radar. The Montauk installation was eventually shut down on January 31, 1981, and the radar was abandoned in place.
Most of the base was sold off to create the Camp Hero State Park, which opened to the public in 2002, yet some parts near the old satellite and military installations remain closed off and guarded.
But by this time, a mythology had grown around the mysterious base, thanks in no small part to Preston Nichols and Peter Moon’s book The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time.
‘It’s based on a place in Montauk, New York called Camp Hero,’ star Gaten Matarazzo, (right) who plays Dustin, told Wired during a recent Google search reveal interview
‘There was, like, rumors of secret government spies doing human experiments to fight in the Cold War. It’s based on that one government lab… It’s a place you can go visit but you’re not allowed in why? Nobody knows’
The book, which became a huge hit with conspiracy theorists, claimed the government were secretly developing psychological warfare techniques, mind reading and even time travel at the base.
Another theory was that that thousands of vulnerable children were kidnapped from neighboring city streets and experimented, and subjected to mind control, to create an army of super soldier sleeper cells referred to as the ‘Montauk boys.’
The wild theories may sound familiar as Stranger Things’ Eleven displays powerful mind control and telekinesis after she is abducted from her mother, and subjected to brutal experiments by ‘Father’.
Now a documentary is examining the bizarre claims surrounding the real airbase.
Preston Nichols and Peter Moon’s book The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time (left) suggests many theories around mind control and experiments on kids that later inspired the hit show Stranger Things (right)
Filmmaker Chris Garetano insists experiments were conducted at the site and even thinks that the results from the tests may have impacted on the world today.
‘The more you find out it’s a little heartbreaking, as it’s terrifying,’ he told the Daily Mirror. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if this site and these experiments are connected to mind control. The worst thing I can imagine is they were developing a mass mind control situation.
‘That’s where my paranoia increases. There’s new random shootings happening increasingly across the world now.
‘And each time people say ‘I didn’t expect that person to do this.’ It’s very strange and it’s happening far too much now.
‘Let’s say there were certain government operations in the past that were intent on creating a trauma within the public to get the public to see things in a certain way, to persuade them or scare them.
‘And let’s say we now have an assassin, a person who is having subliminal messages put into their mind to get them to commit an assassination.
‘If this is true, that is terrifying. I don’t want to believe it.’
There is no evidence that any illegal or covert experiments were carried out at the lab.
Garetano’s documentary The Dark Files will be shown on HISTORY at 9pm on Sunday, 26th November.