Hawkins, Indiana has become one of the most well-known fictional settings over the past decade, but when the Duffer Brothers first pitched their supernatural series to Netflix, it was originally set in Montauk, Long Island, under a working title of “Montauk.” In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ross Duffer said that they chose Montauk as the initial setting because it served as the basis for the fictional Amity Island in the 1975 film, “Jaws,” and the series intended to pay homage to classic films of that genre. They were also interested in Montauk because of a conspiracy theory called the Montauk Project, which they learned about while making a documentary for school, calling it “one of the most bizarre conspiracies in our country’s history” in the series’ original pitch.
What is the Montauk Project?
The Montauk Project is a conspiracy theory that claims that a series of United States government experiments were taking place from 1971 to 1983 in Montauk, specifically at Camp Hero and the Montauk Air Force Station, with the purpose of researching mind control techniques, time travel and interdimensional travel. Experiments including psychic ability testing, teleportation and communicating with extraterrestrial life forms were said to have taken place, though there is no evidence of these claims. The theory gained popularity in 1992 with the publication of “The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time,” written by Preston B. Nichols and Peter Moon, who both claimed to have been involved in the experiments conducted in Montauk.
The Philadelphia Experiment and “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
*This paragraph includes minor spoilers for the stage play, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”* The 1992 book claims that the Montauk Project was a continuation of another conspiracy, the Philadelphia Experiment in 1943, which alleges that a World War II navy ship was able to be made invisible and teleport. This experiment is mentioned in the series’ initial pitch and is featured in the stage play, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” which serves as the series’ official prequel. In the play, the experiment was led by Captain Brenner, the father of Dr. Martin Brenner. The ship momentarily teleported to an alternate dimension, and Captain Brenner was the sole survivor, yet he returned psychologically affected with an altered blood type. The play reveals that Dr. Brenner made it his goal to make contact with this alternate dimension to learn what happened to his father. His growing obsession ultimately led to his involvement in the experiments at Hawkins National Laboratory in the series, which mirror the alleged experiments in Montauk.
The “Montauk” Pitch
The Duffer Brothers’ initial pitch for the series sets the story in Montauk in the fall of 1980, after an experiment at Camp Hero went wrong and “something” had gotten out. The pitch goes on to explain the intended plot, which is almost identical to season one of “Stranger Things”: a young boy goes missing, unexplainable events occur and characters make contact with an alternate dimension. The pitch concludes with “In order to save Will and the town, our heroes will have to outsmart federal agents and tap into the preternatural abilities of a mysterious child telepath, named Eleven, who has recently escaped from Camp Hero.” Although the Duffer Brothers ultimately went with a fictional Midwest setting and decided against Montauk due to the challenges that would arise from shooting in Long Island during the winter, references to the Montauk Project are still present within the series.
The 23-page “Montauk” pitch deck is available to read online. The pitch is uniquely designed like a vintage short story book and features photos from 1970s and 1980s films to illustrate the intended atmosphere of the series. If you’re interested in learning more about the origins of “Stranger Things,” this is the perfect place to start.