Philadelphia Experiment -- The Montauk Project: From Philadelphia to Long Island
Philadelphia Experiment -- The Montauk Project: From Philadelphia to Long Island
The Claimed Connection
The Montauk Project is a conspiracy theory that proposes a series of U.S. government secret experiments conducted between approximately 1971 and 1983 at Camp Hero -- also known as Montauk Air Force Station -- at the eastern tip of Long Island, New York. In the framework constructed by its primary authors, the Montauk Project is a direct continuation of the Philadelphia Experiment: the research begun in 1943 never stopped, it merely moved, expanded, and became more ambitious.
Camp Hero: The Real Location
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official name | Camp Hero State Park (current); formerly Montauk Air Force Station |
| Location | Eastern tip of Long Island, Montauk, New York; approximately 125 miles east of New York City |
| History | Used as military installation from 1942; decommissioned as an Air Force Station in 1981; donated to New York State and opened as Camp Hero State Park in 1984 |
| The radar | A massive AN/FPS-35 radar tower still stands at the site -- visible for miles and a focal point of conspiracy theories about the site's alleged underground facilities |
| Underground | The site does have underground bunkers from its wartime and Cold War use; these are documented military infrastructure, not secret time travel facilities |
Preston Nichols and the Books
The Montauk Project mythology originated with Preston Nichols (born May 24, 1946; died October 5, 2018), who claimed to hold degrees in parapsychology, psychology, and electrical engineering, and who stated he had worked at the Montauk facility on classified projects before having his memories suppressed. Nichols co-authored a series of books with Peter Moon (real name Vincent Barbarick):
- "The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time" (1992) -- the founding text
- "Montauk Revisited: Adventures in Synchronicity" (1994)
- "Pyramids of Montauk: Explorations in Consciousness" (1995)
- Several subsequent volumes
These books themselves carry an unusual disclaimer: the authors wrote in their first chapter that readers should feel free to read the material "as science fiction or non-fiction" and described much of the content as "soft facts."
The Claimed Experiments
According to Nichols and associated claimants, the Montauk Project involved:
- Mind control research: Using electromagnetic waves to transmit thoughts, induce hallucinations, and control human behavior; experiments allegedly conducted on children and teenagers
- Time travel: Using an electromagnetic device called the "Montauk Chair" in which a psychic (primarily Duncan Cameron) could access specific times and locations in history
- Teleportation: Continuing the Philadelphia Experiment's teleportation research at larger scale
- Interdimensional contact: Opening portals to other dimensions and making contact with non-human entities
- The "Montauk Monster": Cameron allegedly manifested a creature from his subconscious through the Chair -- a physical being created by thought
Dr. John von Neumann's Alleged Continuity
A key element connecting Philadelphia to Montauk: proponents claim Dr. John von Neumann -- the mathematician who allegedly ran the Philadelphia Experiment -- was still alive in the 1970s and 1980s (despite having died in 1957) and served as the director of the Montauk Project. This claim requires either that von Neumann faked his death in 1957, that he was kept alive through classified life-extension technology, or that someone else used his name. Von Neumann's actual death is documented; he died of bone cancer at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on February 8, 1957.
The Stranger Things Connection
The Netflix series "Stranger Things" (2016-present) was directly inspired by the Montauk Project mythology. The show was originally developed under the working title "Montauk" and was set at a fictional location called the Hawkins National Laboratory. The show's premise -- a secret government laboratory conducting mind control experiments on children, leading to the opening of a gateway to another dimension -- is a direct dramatization of the Montauk Project's claims, specifically the mind control experiments and the portal/interdimensional contact elements.
