Eerie tale of rumoured ‘military project’ in US village that inspired Stranger Things – HITC

We all know the images we see on screen aren’t real – but what if they were based on a chilling tale? One eerie example are the rumours of a ‘military project’ in a Montauk Village that inspired Stranger Things. The reports of the small village and rumours of what happened there may cause a stir with fans and if there’s a true story behind it.

Season 4 of the highly-anticipated Netflix show is finally here after years of waiting. But it has people wondering if there is an essence of truth to the craziness the kids go through in Hawkins. This is where the village of Montauk comes in.

Montauk Village myth inspired Stranger Things

Montauk is a place in the state of New York where, according to conspiracy theories, the CIA conducted experiments on children. Experiments, according to unproven reports, included mind reading, mind control and time travel at the Camp Hero air force base there.

A man named Preston Nicols claimed to The Sun that back in the 1980s he worked as an electrical engineer in Montauk. He alleged: “I found myself on this screwball project which became known as the Montauk Project. We began to look at how you could interface minds with computer systems, the idea being you could fly a fighter plane by pure thought.”

He went on to say the project workers went on to develop mind-control devices and machines that could potentially ‘generate a vortex’.

Nicols continued: “But it soon evolved into developing a mind-control device. They wanted to flip a switch and have everyone respond to a computer programme. While they never found a signal that worked universally, they were able to target individuals very well.

“Later it was discovered that if the individual whose mind was powering the machine could think of other time periods, this machine could generate a vortex there — essentially a time machine.”

Stranger Things Inspiration

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This may sound incredibly familiar for fans as the Duffer Brothers used this as inspiration when coming up with ideas. And even used the name ‘Montauk’ as a working title for their concept.

Not only is the general concept of the facility used as inspiration, but in his interview, Nicols – who has since written a book about his experience called The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time – said they worked with a ‘psychic; called Duncan Cameron who had some similar attributes to the show’s character Eleven.

He added: “He could actually see through other people, anywhere on the planet.”

Nicols said Duncan was attached to something called the ‘Montauk Chair’ which heightened his abilities. This sounds like the container Eleven is put in. Duncan even claimed a monster was released through the vortex machine. Just like Eleven. After which they had to destroy the chair in an attempt to stop the monster.

However, none of Nicols’ claims has ever been proven or confirmed by the US government.

MKUltra project

Further inspiration for the show also draws from confirmed CIA projects like that of the 1953 MKUltra project. This was created by the CIA in 1953 with the aim of developing mind-control techniques. It was in the hopes that it could give America an advantage against Russia in the Cold War.

No really, this was an actual thing that was fully revealed years later. The project was exposed after a family of a victim of the project sought out justice.

Basically, unwitting participants were subjected to physical and mental abuse via psychedelic drugs, sleep deprivation and other experimental means.

This is said to be the inspiration behind the shady dealings going down in the Hawkins Laboratory.

In other news, Stranger Things fans discuss what Will is painting in Season 4