Binge watching any series would leave its imprints inside us for hours. But Stranger Things had left viewers upside down till the series finale ‘The Rightside Up’. 2026 opened up with burning discussions about personal reviews of the degree of satisfaction after watching the final episode of Stranger Things. Netflix crashed again with Stranger Things as admirers were waiting for the story to detangle all the confusions left behind in the rear of season 4.
Wondering what actually made the series hooked from the very first episode, I found it more interesting to delve into the theoretical framework of which made its fictional existence worthwhile, leading me to learn how Montauk Project and surrounding experiments inspired Stranger Things. It is even said that Duffer brothers, when they pitched the idea, had initially planned naming it as Montauk Series which got rethought to Stranger Things.
The conceptual clarity integrated with supposed facts behind Montauk begins sounding bizarre and strange. ‘The Montauk Projects: Experiments in Time’ authored by Preston B Nichols and Peter Moon, gave a crucial lead into the partially believed world of psychological powers. Even though the project backs certain studies and experiments, being widely considered as a dubious theory, urges to take them with a grain of salt. The theory is considered a conspiracy theory which has proved and made its existence always daring, as it dealt with the emerging time travelling, telepathy, teleporting abilities.
The citadel of the process was Camp Hero located in Montauk Point, New York. It alleges the exposing of many illegal weaponizing happened in the US during the second world war and cold war. The strange move of weaponizing the psychic powers invoked by the US cannot be comprehended fully without knowing what CIA’s MK-Ultra was. Those secret experiments were conducted in achieving control over others' minds, gaining knowledge about what other people think and altering their actions and overall thought processing, which eventually led to distorting their brain functioning.
This strategy of engineering others’ mental state was a door to someone’s mind to replace thoughts and implant the controller's mind. The stories of children, pregnant women told by people who were the part of such experiments or were subjects, give insight to the horrors created in the name of preventing foreseen terrors. The assistance of psychedelic drugs like LSD which was prominent then, were crucial in the establishment of the experiments. Sensory deprivation, mind controlling was tried to be achieved through the usage of drugs and electric shocks. The personal privilege of owning your own thoughts and the fluidity of thought processing getting lost in order to acquire psychic powers, made each of these projects semi convincing.
The entire series unmasks the trauma left behind by the hidden conspiracy plans of the authorities. Papa, Eleven and Hawkins Lab reflects what had happened and what would have happened at Montauk’s Camp Hero. The series would be spellbinding for all but nightmarish for victims- if they ever exist.
