Montauk Is Strange: The Archives: 36 Years Exploring Camp Hero, Long Island and the Legend of the Montauk Project

By Brian E. Minnick

Follow along as Brian Minnick investigates and explores the deeper details of Montauk, and dives into the mysteries of Camp Hero & The strange experiments that were said to have taken place during The Montauk Project.

Minnick who has been visiting Camp Hero since 1988, and has appeared on several network television shows on Montauk, is no stranger to this topic. In Montauk Is Strange, Brian shares some of his archives, eyewitness testimony from Long Island locals, and several field reports from expeditions to the abandoned base in the 1990s, before it was a State Park.

With hundreds of images, several documents, and a full on deep dive into the factual military history of the area, as well as dozens of topics to dive into, this book will not disappoint. Minnick presents his findings and makes his case, but leaves the final outcome up to the reader. If you are interested in the story behind Stranger Things then you have come to the right place... this is a must have for everyone that is interested in Camp Hero, and the land that is Montauk.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9798350951806

Brian E. Minnick

"Brian Minnick takes urban exploration to a whole new level in Montauk Is Strange, the Archives. As a seasoned explorer, Minnick dares to venture where others fear to tread - deep into the abandoned tunnels and bunkers beneath the mysterious Camp Hero military base. Through his first-hand investigations, Minnick uncovers compelling new evidence that sheds light on Camp Hero's shadowy past. Minnick skillfully pieces together clues and connects dots that have eluded outsiders for decades. He presents a compelling case that Camp Hero's real mission went far beyond its public cover as an early warning radar station. What Minnick documents suggests a far deeper level of covert research and testing than has ever been officially acknowledged. Montauk Is Strange, the Archives takes readers on a thought-provoking journey down some truly uncharted rabbit holes. Minnick backs up his revelations with meticulously detailed accounts, maps, and never-before-published photographs that will make skeptics into believers. This is an absolute must-read for anyone fascinated by the unknown history of the Montauk Project and rumors of bizarre government experiments. This collection, is a riveting open window into one of the most intriguing Cold War mysteries we still don't have all the answers to.

Book preview

Introduction

Montauk is Strange

Montauk is a strange and special place. A place of beauty, that houses one of the deepest mysteries of our times. Whether you call it fact, lore, legend, myth, lie, bs, alternate reality or something else, we can prove many things are true. We can make educated guesses. Mostly, we can think with an open mind.

In this lifelong delve into Montauk, I have been through many cycles of belief and disbelief. Historical facts have not swayed me away from the core story, but has in fact, made me see from both sides. Some events match up on the timeline just too well.

These are my thoughts, after all my experience and all I have seen, all I have heard from others, all I have read in public record, and all I have found over the years. We will touch on many sub-topics, every one having to do with the Montauk Project in some way or another. I believe all events and details are relevant in the big picture.

Most likely the bulk of what happened here will never come to light. Nevertheless, I am now able and ready to share a lifetime of experience walking the grounds of Camp Hero and The Montauk Air Force Station, as well as our investigations into The Montauk Project and the general history of Montauk, which is an ancient place of high energies. The Indigenous people knew this. The founding fathers were aware of this, and it is little coincidence that the military has taken this land as a high value location.

At this point, all I want is to share a good portion of our research, and see the land return to it’s natural state, healing the energetic stain that has been left upon the grounds, the scarred minds that were left behind, and the damage we humans have done to this sacred place in the name of power.

In a world of stories that lose important details as they get passed around, I want to document much of what we have collected, and experienced, in the golden era of exploring Montauk. We were very fortunate to be there at the right time, and I feel it is my responsibility to make it accessible to all.

Chapter 1

An Enigma Wrapped in a Mystery

Chapter 1:

An enigma wrapped in a mystery

I Where do we start?

•Montauk (is not) for Dummies

•What is the Montauk Project? In a Nutshell / Down a Rabbit hole

•Montauk, Long Island

•The Whistleblowers that started it all

•Other Recommended Media

•Bridging the Gap from Experiments in Time to Stranger Things

•Stranger than Stranger Things

•Exploring Camp Hero today

II the beginning of our investigations:

•Meet me in Montauk

•A Letter to Sky Books, A phone call with Peter Moon

•Montauk Night: A conversation with Preston Nichols

•Main Objective: Get underground

•The Dreams Begin

•Montauk Our Home away from Home

•Collecting Info and the Early Internet

III Security and suspicious people:

•Toxic Ghost Town or National Park?

•Camp Hero Superfund Site

•Fisherman’s Parking Lot of spies

•People are Strange, when your in Montauk

•Who’s the Boss here? The aggressive civilian that calls the shots

•Getting Arrested at Camp Hero

Where do we start?

Montauk (is not) for Dummies

It’s not meant to be an offensive title, no one that finds this topic interesting, is by any means a dummy. I can not think of a better way to express the fact that Montauk has so many angles and side branches that it is nearly impossible to encapsulate in a few paragraphs, but I will try to present the most basic points of the story that have brought us all here.

I will leave it up to the reader to find their way to this book, which will dive deeper into every aspect of trying to figure out where and when these events could have occurred. We also are presenting as much information as possible for you to make your own decisions… or don’t. Leave it open ended if you please.

The best thing I could suggest, is to start at the beginning, and read The Montauk Project - Experiments in Time, by Preston B Nichols and Peter Moon. This is the original book that started it all. Two follow up books: Montauk Revisited, and Pyramids of Montauk, by the same authors, take the story much further. This is the best place to start - at the surface, where the seed was planted. We will explore the roots, as well as the mighty Oak that this story has become.

What is the Montauk Project? In a Nutshell / Down a Rabbit hole

You can find a quick Cliff notes version on the Montauk Project just about anywhere online, and many people have started to dig in to this topic after the original script for Stranger Things was released; it was named Montauk, and took place in Montauk, and was loosely based on many of the events that were said to have occurred at Camp Hero in the Book Series The Montauk Project - Experiments in Time.

My hopes and intentions are that you read as much as you can or want to about Montauk first, and when you run out, continue here, with this book.

As a long time visitor of Montauk, and decades long researcher of Camp Hero, and the Montauk Air Force Station, my approach is to add all relevant information that I have amassed - so it is hard for me to start at the surface to give a true introduction to the topic, but in order to summarize the legends and lore as best I can, here it goes:

Legend has it…..

The Montauk Project was an experiment allegedly run by shadowy governmental agencies, to experiment with high science for military purposes. This included the highest science of all - Time travel. Because of this discovery, many people were said to have been abducted off the streets, and sent through time. Eventually their evil ambitions sent thousands into the future, lost forever as the legends say.

The story has it that they discovered time travel in 1943, while using theories from Tesla, combined with Einstein’s Electromagnetic bottle, to attempt full invisibility on a US Navy cruiser destroyer vessel, named the USS Eldridge… which ended up teleporting the ship in time and space instead. The government and shadow within, never pass up a chance to weaponize something on a grand scale when possible. Carpe Diem. Never let a good crisis go to waste. Several projects in the early years had combined, such as Rainbow (Invisibility) and Phoenix (Weather Control), which then Integrated for some time with MK Ultra and led to facilities like MONTAUK & HAARP.

I will call the facility beneath Camp Hero ‘MONTAUK’. This is to differentiate from the Montauk Air Force Station (MAFS 1952-1982) an Early Warning Search Radar and communications site run by the Air Force, and the former Army Coastal Artillery base Camp Hero (1942-1946). There were other military branches stationed in Montauk, such as the Navy, and Coast Guard, and the Army even returned twice more to the Camp Hero property, and other agencies made visits to the base, such as the CIA, DARPA & MIT, and the base was part of NORAD, but we will focus on the base below - which had a far different mission.

Other than achieving time travel, there was also the desire to weaponize Mind Control to keep the masses in line. This of course led to the creation of super individuals, which are psychic spies, soldiers, or sleeping with a subconscious mission implanted to be triggered at a later date, and many times having to do with the Secret Space program. Many others were involved, and some were brought into the program in different ways. Some were deceived by volunteering for something else entirely. Others were children from military families, that were enrolled in some program for gifted kids, known as ‘Yellow Tags’. Collectively, along with those who were taken against their will, these unwilling victims are known as ‘Montauk Boys & Girls’. Thousands of young victims were lost in the time stream and others became proficient operators of the Montauk Chair, technology originally provided by alien races from the constellation of Orion and the Sirius star system.

One of the avenues of research included electronic mind control, emitted from an omni-directional microwave transmitter using specific frequencies that interacted with the human mind. Originally discovered by accident by the very first radar technicians in WW2, when they noticed the sweeping beam of the radar had certain effects on the mind. The data was observed, adjusted, and every stimulation and response was empirically cataloged over time, leading to the eventual weaponization of frequencies. The theory is, now this working model has spread across the entire planet - on every cell tower you see, there are omni directional microwaves on a pole, that can emit an entire range of frequencies in the microwave band. On top of that every one of our smart phones send every bit of our data and details about our lives, passing through the very same towers that are emitting background microwave radiation that we soak up every day of our lives, and routinely ping our every location with tower triangulation. Some people even go as far to say that people can be triggered to commit outrageous acts in public, for a desired effect. Problem - Reaction - Solution.

Controlling the masses was their main objective for many years, and Montauk had it all when it came to resources, location, technology & equipment. There was a pre-existing underground, possibly built on top of a more ancient underground. There is an alleged secret deep underground base, which includes a buried UFO, and aliens were said to work in this black site, funded by a black budget.

It depends on how deep you want to go, but this story does not just go down the rabbit hole - it takes you through a wormhole and will conjure an Einstein-Rosen bridge upon command.

At times, it all seems to be a diversion from the incredible secrecy, found in loose clues in public record, or buried in historical details, and forgotten ancient secrets and lore from indigenous peoples. Some of that stuff is just as incredible, and completes what the pure legend, lore, and conjecture lacks in tangibility. Without one, the other is less meaningful. I hope to combine it all, here, so we can step back and look at the entire picture.

Almost every branch of military had some kind of base in Montauk, and at one point the Military took over the entire town. The Cold War bomb shelters became laboratories to study Remote Viewing, Telekinesis, and develop Directed Energy Weapons, and worked hand in hand with Brookhaven National Labs (BNL) and DARPA, on High science experiments. Brookhaven is known for its massive particle accelerator, second only to CERN, and is also, the Large Hadron Colliders partner Accelerator. BNL invented Magnetic Levitation bullet trains (Maglev) in 1968, and only 50 miles away from Montauk Point, so you ask me if it is at all possible, and I would say that I can not prove it otherwise. When I try to, I find more and more details of interest and mystery that pull me back in deeper.

I have felt very connected to this topic, and I believe many do experience Montauk in some other time & space, another dimension, another possible or alternate branch of time, slightly different than ours, who knows? I know that I have felt this on a personal level as well.

I have also tried to be the skeptic, that is how and why I ended up researching so many real historical facts, and technical details, but that did not disprove anything, it only helped me paint a fuller picture. I have tried to debunk certain aspects, and what I found in the process only created 10 times the questions than I had to begin with. That’s why I wrote this book, to share everything that was found in the process, document everything, and let you decide.

Montauk, Long Island

Let’s talk about the area. Montauk is a once sleepy, and small town at the far end of the Hamptons, recently one of the most exclusive of tourist destinations, but still a ghost town in the off season. The natural beauty there, is year round.

As I mentioned above, Long Island, especially Eastern Suffolk County was the home of several important military and science facilities, many of which protected New York City. We have a particle accelerator, second to CERN at one of the top physics laboratories in the world (which remains so to this day), but most of the other facilities have long since been shut down, abandoned, or removed: Tesla built his free energy tower in Shoreham, and all of the radio transmissions from overseas would come into RCA in Riverhead. There were Army nuclear missiles, and Air Force nuclear missiles, a fighter jet factory at the Naval weapons plant in Calverton where they also built the Lunar Rover, and there was a major biological warfare and later animal disease research laboratory on Plum Island in Southold, not to mention the inactive nuclear power plant also in Shoreham. These are just a few examples, not counting the massive Coastal Artillery forts on the island chains out in the Long Island Sound, and Gardiners Bay. Montauk alone, had a Navy submarine & torpedo base, Coast Guard, Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery and the Air Force, which had one of the most sophisticated radar sites of it’s time - the Montauk Air Force Station at Camp Hero.

Montauk is at the extreme SouthEastern tip of Long Island, and Brooklyn NYC being at the opposite side of the island to the West. There are 4 counties on Long Island, two of which are a part of New York City (Kings County is the borough of Brooklyn, Queens County is the borough of Queens) both geographically on Long Island. The name Long Island is only a geographical name of an Island that is 118 miles long, and nothing more. What I mean is there is no actual political place named Long Island - the 2 remaining suburban and rural counties that are not part of NYC have no union together, they are not collectively named Long Island, and there is no Long Island government of any kind, people just tend to think that. Nassau and Suffolk are just 2 stray counties on an island in New York State, that’s it. A portion of our island is part of NYC, and the NYC Metropolitan area extends all the way to Riverhead, where the LIE (The Long Island Expressway) ends and the two peninsulas split off, and you must choose: North Fork, or South Fork if you want to head any further East.

Once you get to Eastern Suffolk, the island changes drastically; you can no longer drive across the island in a North/South direction, because there is a large bay of water in the way. Eastern Long Island splits into 2 peninsulas; the North Fork, and the South Fork., which are not official names, but a common term understood here. Montauk is on the South Fork, as far East as you can go, past the Hamptons, and if you keep going until you can not drive any further without driving into the Atlantic Ocean, you will be at Montauk Point, and that is why it is referred to as The End on many bumper stickers. It can also be the Beginning, depending on how you look at it.

The Whistleblowers that started it all

When we say the book we are referring to ground zero - the book that started it all, well… kind of. For most of us that do not live in Montauk, this was the first we heard of The Montauk Project and that is the case for most Long Islanders. I often wonder what the true code name for the project was, as Peter Moon actually coined the term The Montauk Project. Nevertheless, other than local rumors in the town of Montauk that existed far before the Montauk Project book was released in 1992, the credit should be given to Nichols and Moon for bringing this topic into the spotlight for the first time.

About the book: The story starts when a man begins to recall working at a radar site, as if he were living a double life. Strange anomalies and clues are experienced, connections are made, followed by realizations that he was once part of a top secret project that he is beginning to remember piece by piece. It is a long journey of epiphanies and recollections, and he slowly started to amass allies and sympathetic helpers.

It is an exciting journey that ties into the Philadelphia Experiment, teleportation and time travel, weather control, mind control, mass abductions, alien technology, psychic super soldiers, and ends with a giant Sasquatch destroying the base. It reads like science fiction but is said to be a true account. In the end, we have a rabbit hole of epic proportions, with far reaching tendrils that spread across the planet, changing history as we know it.

In conclusion, it would be an injustice to try and downsize and summarize this epic tale, some of which is most definitely based in fact and the rest being completely un-verifiable. I highly recommend reading this for yourself if you have not already, I am sure most of you have.

The Montauk Project - Experiments in Time was a major inspiration for us, and without the book I doubt any of this would have ever come out of the shadows. For all of us that were out there exploring the high strangeness of Long Island, this book was the spark we needed to get out there and dig deep. Peter Moon’s methods of making connections and pointing out synchronicities has left a mark on me, and has changed the way I follow a lead and gather evidence. I knew that all of us explorers had to take the next step, and continue where the book series left off, and we were not the only ones: others were out there too. I just assumed everyone else was documenting it all like we were at the time.

When Sky Books released The Montauk Tour VHS, my friend, and bandmate Walter picked up a copy of the Pink VHS for $70. We watched every shaky moment of footage and loved it. It was our glimpse into the base, and our information overload! This video was filmed six months before we would get there, but it was an important tool in our research and adventures there going forward, and inspired us to film our own update. [See Figure G-1]

Other Recommended Media

Many of the things i will talk about can be found in these original early writings. This will catch up and bring you current to a world effected by the Montauk project, as it effects us all now. Even if you do not believe in time travel, or mind control, Montauk was factually and directly tied to the beginnings of the internet in the mid-1950s (as an example of world changing achievements).

The media in this list, will also help you to better understand a lot of the sub-topics in this book, as well as the documents I have shared. The best thing I could suggest, is continue to do your own research as you please, and also read and/or watch any, or all of the following.

Internet reading:

• Michelle A. Guerin - Reptillians at Montauk

• John Quinn Newshawk - all writings on the Montauk Project

• Valentine Designs - Investigative Reports #1 through #9

Books entirely on Camp Hero Montauk:

• The Montauk Files - Unearthing the Phoenix Conspiracy, KB Wells Jr., 1998, an amazing read through and through, old school, 5 Stars.

• The Montauk Project book series, by Preston B Nichols and Peter Moon: Experiments in Time, Montauk Revisited, and Pyramids of Montauk. Essential!

Books that have a segment or portion on Camp Hero / Montauk:

• A Pictorial History of Montauk, Albert R. Holden, 1983, (Montauk eye candy)

• Long Island Oddities, Curious Locales, Unusual Occurrences, and Unlikely Urban adventures, by John and Laura Lita, 2013, highly recommended!

• Underground: The Unholy Triangle, Montauk, Dulce, Area 51 - by Martin T. Dooley – 2021

• UFOs Over Long Island New York, Joseph Flammer, 2014 (Lots of rare info on Pine Barrens anomalies and UFO shoot-downs at Montauk & Moriches Bay, as well as the Southaven crash)

Internet Documentary

• The Lost souls of Montauk, Documentary by Michael Roser (YouTube: DarkHour Paranormal) features many 2nd generation survivors Arkheim Ra, James Rink, Alandra Markman, and ex-FBI John DeSouza. A very unique and rare new approach to this topic, with essential viewpoints from victims of the project, that gives high hopes for what comes next, for all involved.

Direct to Video:

• The Montauk Tour VHS

Sky Books, 1993, filmed by Preston Nichols (you can watch this on Youtube).

The original view into Camp Hero, this was our ‘map of the base’ back then.

[The Japanese film crew’s footage from that day in 1993 has never surfaced]

• The Montauk Chronicles Documentary by filmmaker Christopher Garetano (Blu ray recommended with bonus footage base exploration with Paul Fagan) Final Al Bielek Interviews, visits with James Bruce, Swerdlow & Nichols.

Network Television / Streaming services:

• Inside Secret Government Warehouses

SyFy Channel. Features a segment at Camp Hero with Ground Penetrating Radar, and the Catacombs of the Montauk Manor, featuring Lester Holt, Richard Dolan, Stewart Swerdlow.

• DisinfoTV: the Montauk Project

This can be found on Alexandra Bruce’s website: Forbidden Knowledge TV. An earlier show, hard to find, a few insights worth checking out.

• Stranger Things - Seasons 1-5

Watch it again after you read this!

Network Television shows that have both interviewed me and aired our 1990s Camp Hero footage:

• The Dark Files - the Secrets of Montauk

History Channel, 2017. 1 hour, 26 minute TV Movie / Docu-drama, We use the most advanced equipment ever to test below the ground at Camp Hero to date! Features Preston Nichols last interview, Christopher Garetano, Ex-CIA and spy novelist Barry Eisner, investigative journalist Steve Volk, Stewart Swerdlow, and my LSD room photos were shown to Ralph Metzner, Zach Leary, and other psychedelics researchers. I also provided images and video, was hired to research documents, scout locations, and guide the geophysical science team, and shot an interview in Shagwong tavern, as well as an entire day at Camp Hero that did not make the cut.

• Forbidden History - MK-Ultra Revealed - S7 E5

Science Channel UK (SCI) 2022

Our most recent show, Danielle joins me and even gets her UFO footage over the radar aired on this one (while driving in the car with Peter Moon and Michael Roser). I provided video, images, and recorded custom B-Roll shots for the segment as well.

• Mysteries Decoded - the Montauk Experiments

The CW, 2019, with Sam Tripoli, Jennifer Marshall (Max’s Mom on Stranger Things), Michio Kaku and features Joe Loffreno’s hypnotic regression.

I visited the base with the cast and we shot an interview, as well as providing the usual photos and video.

• Strange World - Zombie Boys S1 E1

Travel Channel TRVL, 2019

Christopher Garetano’s new series recaps the Montauk Project on the first episode. I join Christopher for a quick update interview at the Montauk Manor, and again contribute video footage and images. A very interesting segment with Joe Loffreno & his boss, who does not want him on camera.

Bridging the Gap from Experiments in Time to Stranger Things

The Montauk Chronicles is a documentary by filmmaker Christopher Garetano, that features interviews with Preston Nichols, Stewart Swerdlow, and features some of the last interviews with Al Bielek ever seen. A friend of Mine Paul Fagan (RIP), is featured in some of the bonus footage that shows the base in the 2007 era.

In those years, many people that were brand new to the story were flocking to the park, and across the world, people started to remember being involved in the project, splitting the ongoing storyline into several factions of people with different viewpoints, and many camps of people with different opinions, all inserting themselves into the narrative, for that is the nature of this topic. Montauk tends to become familiar to many. This was now officially Deep conspiracy, and I was missing out on the latest developments, especially with so many personal accounts out there.

2006-2010 was an important time to keep the story of Montauk alive, and Chris Garetano carried the torch in those years. At a time where many of us, depressed about the base becoming a park, had taken time away from visiting Montauk, and it slowly faded over time into the background of every day life. Sure I did a few school projects on Montauk, and went through bouts of research where I would binge Montauk, but I pretty much considered the investigation over at one point. That is when I saw a story in Dan’s Papers about a documentary film that was premiering soon on the Montauk Project. The filmmaker was Chris Garetano.

I wanted to contact him, and I wrote an email that I never sent, as I had second thoughts about bringing Montauk back into my life. Ironically I would end up working with Chris years later. I guess it was a matter of time before we met.

Christopher went on to make a second version of his documentary and once again premiere it for the masses, with the support of the local news outlets. I still had not seen it, and before I knew it I would be a part of the follow up investigation to the Montauk Chronicles documentary, which was a 1 hour network television special on the Montauk Project, on History channel, called The Dark Files (the Secrets of Montauk), in which I was honored to be heavily involved. I would work with Chris Garetano again on his TV series Strange World, and again on his podcast Off to the Witch, in memory of our mutual friend Paul Fagan.

One very important detail that I wish to point out, is the style of media used by Garetano (In particular the synth music and visuals in the way of cinematic re-creations) were a major influence on Stranger Things. You can see and hear the similarities in the look and feel of the show, the general ambiance is the same. I do not think of this as stealing, but more of a homage to all of those that paved the way before the Duffer Brothers did their thing. In my opinion, they kind of took the best of Nichols, Moon, Garetano, KB Wells, Krystal Cordero (who made the musical score for Montauk Chronicles), the entire 1980’s culture, and even all of the work of everyone who has explored Montauk and shared in the past, and then bundled it all together in one of the most popular ongoing series of all times.

In order to make our way from Experiments in Time to Stranger Things, it took someone to bridge the gap in those years and keep Montauk alive in the minds of the people, and that was Christopher Garetano’s film and the amazing media coverage he garnered with public screenings of the Montauk Chronicles.

Stranger than Stranger Things

As many of you know, the hit Netflix series Stranger Things is based on the story of the Montauk Project & Camp hero, and the original name for the show was simply: Montauk (as mentioned above) and at first, it was set in Montauk, but was soon changed to Hawkins, Indiana, but the rest of the script remained the same.

People often ask me How do you feel about Stranger Things, and how has it effected your research? I tell them that I absolutely love the show, I think it is very well done, and the perfect way to introduce the masses to the topic, in such a way that people of all ages can enjoy it, and still dive deep into conspiracy and the paranormal, in a fun manner. Meanwhile, those curious about the roots of the story will find their way to Montauk. This underhanded tactic was probably the best thing to happen to the Montauk Project as far as awareness. Sure, many of the details that are passed around, or used in countless Youtube documentaries are completely mistaken or incorrect, or even fabricated in the lack of real information, However Stranger Things is a household name, therefore the story of Montauk is not going away anytime soon.

This is a brilliant way of keeping Montauk alive, whether or not you think their main motivation was financial or not, I like to think that they have considered this and it was some part of their intent when developing the show.

When I first watched the show, I noticed right away that the arcade signs silhouette against the sky, was the same shape as the dish of the Montauk radar, and the sign was rotating as if it were the radar sweeping the skies. Every episode I watched I saw a connection or reference to Montauk, many of which people unfamiliar with the story would not recognize right away: Hawkins Lab was a combination of BNL and Montauk, and the Demogorgon took the role of Junior, the Demodogs - the Montauk Monster. They even referenced parts of the story that were on the fringe: Eleven used Telekinesis, which tied in speculation that some part of Montauk after 1974, experimented with Remote viewing and other Psychic abilities such as telepathy and TK. They also referenced the Russian counterpart to Montauk, and a Stargate in the most recent Season.

I was lucky enough to work with Jennifer Marshall, Ex-navy, and Max’s Mom on Stranger Things, and it was a true pleasure to show her much of my research and archives on a break from filming, and she was impressed at the amount of information in the collection, which in turn - made my day. I greatly appreciated her approval, as she is also a private investigator now, and I often wonder what more skeptical minded people think, when I try to make a case, and I always add as much as I can and leave the outcome open ended, as I will in this book.

Overall, I think Stranger Things has had a positive effect on what has always been a very dark place to look into. It also gives me a larger platform to share what I have collected, which hopefully will cut down on some very basic misinformation and at the same time give people new avenues of Montauk to dig into. Mostly, it will be a relief to get this out in the public domain, and no longer in my hands.

So many new people are interested in Montauk, it provides a great security blanket to those who explore there, and provides strength in numbers, and Camp Hero has seen people come in droves since news got out that the hit show was based on the goings on at Montauk. They can no longer bury the details, it has now reached legendary status!

Exploring Camp Hero today

Over the years, exploring Camp Hero has changed drastically; from a well manicured ghost town, to a dilapidated toxic clean up, to a beautiful State Park. There are still areas that are off limits to this day and this includes Radar Hill, which is a fenced in area at the heart of the old Montauk Air Force Station, a radar site that had 6 large radar towers, that remained standing until around the year 2000.

Only the massive SAGE radar tower (the AN/FPS-35) remains to this day. This massive radar is colloquially named The Montauk Radar and is one of the main attractions and also happens to be off limits. Granted, I can not give you the advice to explore there, only that there are patrolling Park Police on the grounds from time to time, and to be careful for falling debris if and when walking under the dish itself… oh, and do not approach the fence around closing, that is all.

The beginning of our investigations

Meet me in Montauk

We were sitting in a station wagon, five of us in the start of a NorthEaster (which is basically an Atlantic blizzard), talking about this book we just got our hands on - the Montauk Project - Experiments in Time. I drew on my memories of exploring the tunnels of the bunker there, on the bluffs, closest to the lighthouse. I had also heard about this place recently from some older East Hampton kids. I was intrigued and so were the rest of us apparently because we went there that night, too excited to care about the blizzard we were about to drive 40 miles through to get there, and we had no clue where to go when we did get there.

Our mentality at the time was something like: This is a terrible idea, when do we start? Our paths were headed to Montauk, whether we chose another night, or a distant month, I knew we would eventually find ourselves there, that I was sure of. Who knew it would pull us right in so fast.

Montauk became an obsession of sorts, our own abandoned place to explore, that there was a whole book about, yet no one ever seemed to be there except us, or at least that is how it seemed at the time. We were interested in what happened to Preston, but much more interested in experiencing the place itself: the military base, the ancient land, and the underground beneath, whether it be a bunker or a cave, or a rooftop, we were in to explore!

A Letter to Sky Books, A phone call with Peter Moon

After I read the book at least 3 times, and we visited the base just as many, I wrote a letter to Sky Books. My friends were in on it too, but I sent it off. I got a reply in a very short time, in the form of a phone call from Peter Moon himself. As a kid I was blown away. It was surreal that the author of the book I just read 3 times, was on the phone. He let us know about an upcoming public lecture called ‘Montauk Night’ and we could share the evidence we found at the meeting. Things were starting to move quick, the story pulling us in deeper.

We made it to the first Montauk Night, and sat in and listened. After that we would continue to explore every little detail out at Montauk, visiting Camp Hero as much as possible. We would drive out as many times as we could, and spent hours on end exploring. Each trip took the entire day, usually at least 3 or 4 hours of travel by car, and we had to be ready to walk several miles. Back then you had to park at the Lighthouse and sneak in the entire way to the radar. We were hooked and this is when the heavy exploration really began.

Montauk Night: A conversation with Preston Nichols

By the time we made it to our second Montauk Night, we had gathered a number of items we considered evidence to present Preston, to ask him a few questions and opinions on the matter.

When it was my time, I asked my question and was asked to step forward to the table with my 8x10 photo prints I developed in the dark room myself. We were mostly focused on the analog power meter that was recently repaired on the SAGE radar tower. We also had evidence on how the radar dish would still change positions from time to time.

In classic Preston style, he suddenly remembered an important detail - the radar was in ‘Free-sail’ mode and the wind used to move it during heavy storms, but now the motors are locked up, either manually by the parks people or they seized up from lack of maintenance and the brutal onslaught of the salty ocean wind. This terminology checks out today, so he was correct in the engineering details at the very least.

Mostly, we were there to listen, and to share the few things we found. It was surreal to be in the room with a few friends, about 20 strangers in the audience, Duncan Cameron, Al Bielek, Peter Moon, and Preston Nichols. I cover the details of the conversation, in the Field Reports section of this book.

Looking back, this was a key moment in the direction we would take to investigate from this point forward: We wanted to see what we could find outside of any information that comes from the authors of the Montauk Project, independent of anything ever looked into before. We would have to ask around and we would have to go there ourselves more often.

Main Objective: Get underground

We have also decided that the most interesting part of the Montauk lore, was the deep underground base. Local officials were very quick to say there is absolutely nothing underground. I have even heard the preposterous suggestion that ‘There are not even basements at the base because they would be flooded - the water table is too high’. Fact check: The bluffs are 80-100 feet above sea level, and radar hill has artificial hills that bring the elevation up to 120 feet in some spots, not to mention we had the capability to build underwater in the late 1800s so I never understood this blatant dismissal of anything underground by certain folks.

I would constantly think of that deep underground room I saw as a kid beneath Battery 216, and we would regularly walk the 16" Gun bunker tunnels and explore all the side rooms, and even got one floor below ground in the back power room. That was not enough, we were obsessed with getting down below, and were convinced there was older abandoned tunnels we would have to go through first.

We were also convinced that modern entry, was moved to another far off location. We never thought there was a purposeful entrance to the secret underground at Camp Hero, however we did think there was a way in through the old tunnels that they forgot to secure.

Other things came to mind. We had been reading up on the Carl Fisher tower, in which Preston claimed to be in contact with an Air Force Colonel, who had an office at the top of the tower and had some evidence that this used to be the main entrance to the underground base, until they extended it all the way to BNL, years later.

We had also been under the assumption that there was some plain old house in Montauk village that you could drive into the garage and the rest of the house was and elevator and staircase to a subterranean train rail that whips you out to Montauk Point, roughly 4 miles away. All of the rumors and speculation about Reptilians and Grey Aliens working alongside the secret government was just too much for us not to be interested.

The Dreams Begin

Not long after the initial excitement died down, I began to immerse myself in this subject. I started to dream nightly of radar sites, more specifically radome sites. Radome radar towers have an inflated, sometimes rubber bubble dome over the rotating dish, so it ends up looking like a golf ball on a tee. Why was I dreaming of these? When I started to explore Montauk, I climbed around some of the remaining metal radome towers there, which were cylindrical shaped, 2 story buildings with a 18’ deep basement. The radars and bubbles had long since been removed, and I was not aware that Montauk had radomes at the time, I did not put 2 & 2 together. As soon as I started to have the dreams, I realized that the buildings we explored were indeed radome buildings, and have since found photos of the base in those days, when all 4 ‘bubbles’ stood next to the massive SAGE tower.

In the dreams I would visit abandoned radar sites in far off locations. I do not recall what I actually did there, however I remember they were all abandoned. One site was in a huge field with tall wheat grass that went for miles, one was in the snow and had a slightly different set up. In one dream the radar site had all different kinds of radars, some that panned vertically and others that were fixed, along with the usual rotating dishes and radomes. At