The coordinates 41°03′44″N 71°52′26″W (or 41.06222°N 71.87389°W) are located in Montauk, New York. The Montauk Project is a conspiracy theory that claims the United States government conducted secret projects at Camp Hero or Montauk Air Force Station. These projects are said to have focused on developing methods for psychological warfare and unusual research, including time travel. The idea of the Montauk Project comes from a series of books written by Preston Nichols. These books include stories about the Montauk Project and also mix in details about another topic called the Bulgarian Experiment.

Origin

Stories about the Montauk Project have been talked about since the early 1980s. UFO researcher Jacques Vallée says these stories began with the doubtful claims of Preston Nichols and Al Bielek. Both men said they had recovered memories of their own involvement in the project, which they did not remember before. Preston Nichols also said he was taken against his will to continue participating. Nichols, born on May 24, 1946, in Long Island, New York, claims to have degrees in parapsychology, psychology, and electrical engineering. He and Peter Moon, whose real name is Vincent Barbarick, wrote a series of books called the Montauk Project series.

The main topic of the Montauk Project is the alleged activities at Montauk Point. These include claims about United States government and military experiments in areas such as time travel, teleportation, mind control, contact with extraterrestrial life, and faking the Apollo Moon landings. These claims are said to follow events from the 1943 Philadelphia Experiment.

Both Peter Moon and Preston Nichols encouraged people to think about the details in their books. For example, they wrote in the first chapter, "Whether you read this as science fiction or non-fiction, you are in for an amazing story." They described much of the content as "soft facts" in a Guide For Readers and created a newsletter to share updates about the story.

The work has been called fiction.

In media

In 2015, a film called Montauk Chronicles was released online, on DVD, and on Blu-ray. The film is based on a conspiracy involving Preston Nichols, Alfred Bielek, and Stewart Swerdlow. It won the best documentary award at the Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York City and was shown on Coast to Coast AM and The Huffington Post.

The Netflix TV series Stranger Things (2016–2025) was inspired by stories about the Montauk Project. At one time, the show’s working title was Montauk.

The Montauk Experiment was covered in an episode of Discovery Channel’s Mysteries of the Abandoned on October 23, 2003. The episode, titled “The Montauk Conspiracy,” explored stories surrounding an abandoned military base (Camp Hero) on Long Island. Experts discussed the base’s important role in protecting America’s coastline. The topic was also featured in a 2023 episode of the Science Channel’s Mysteries of the Abandoned.