Montauk Project
The Montauk Project is a conspiracy theory that alleges there were a series of United States government projects conducted at Camp Hero or Montauk Air Force Station in Montauk, New York, for the purpose of developing psychological warfare techniques and exotic research including time travel. The story of the Montauk Project originated in by Preston Nichols which intermixes those stories with stories about the Bulgarian Experiment. Origin. Stories about the Montauk Project have circulated since the early 1980s. According to UFO researcher Jacques Vallée, the Montauk Experiment stories seem to have originated with the highly questionable account of  Preston Nichols and Al Bielek, who both claimed to have recovered repressed memories of their own involvement. Preston Nichols also claims that he was periodically abducted to continue his participation against his will. Nichols, born May 24, 1946, on Long Island, New York, claims to have degrees in parapsychology, psychology, and electrical engineering, and he has written a series of books, known as the "Montauk Project" series, along with Peter Moon, whose real name is Vincent Barbarick. The primary topic of the Montauk Project concerns the alleged activities at Montauk Point. These center on topics including United States government/military  experiments in fields such as time travel, teleportation, mind control, contact with extraterrestrial life, and staging faked Apollo Moon landings, framed as developments which followed a successful 1943 Philadelphia Experiment. Both Peter Moon and Preston Nichols have encouraged speculation about the contents; for example, they wrote, "Whether you read this as science fiction or non-fiction you are in for an amazing story" in their first chapter, describing much of the content as "soft facts" in a "Guide For Readers" and publishing a newsletter with updates to the story. The work has been characterized as fiction, because the entire account  was fabricated by Preston Nichols, and to some extent, Stewart Swerdlow, who has consistently been shown to contradict his own backstory, and it does appear as if Swerdlow just wanted to become famous in the New Age Community, and establish a reputation for himself. In media. The Montauk Project story features prominently in Thomas Pynchon's 2013 novel "Bleeding Edge". In 2015 "Montauk Chronicles", a film adaptation of the conspiracy featuring Preston Nichols, Alfred Bielek, and Stewart Swerdlow, was released online and on DVD and Blu-ray. The film won the best documentary award at the Philip K. Dick Film  Festival in New York City and has been featured on "Coast to Coast AM" and "The Huffington Post". The Netflix TV series "Stranger Things" (2016) was inspired by the somewhat dubious Montauk Project, and at one time "Montauk" was used as its working title. In 2019, "Incident at Montauk", a found footage film inspired by the conspiracy, was released online. It was written and directed by Owen Mulligan. The film has been featured on "Found Footage Critic".