Montauk Project

Coordinates: 41°03′44″N 71°52′27″W / 41.06222°N 71.87417°W The Montauk Project is an alleged series of secret United States government projects conducted at Camp Hero or Montauk Air Force Station on Montauk, Long Island, for the purpose of developing psychological warfare techniques and exotic research including time travel. Jacques Vallée describes allegations of the Montauk Project as an outgrowth of stories about the Philadelphia Experiment.^[1] The history of the Montauk Project story is closely associated with — and often believed to originate in — the Montauk Project series of books by Preston Nichols.^[2]

Origin

Stories about the Montauk Project have circulated since the early 1980s. According to UFO researcher Jacques Vallée, the Montauk Experiment stories seem to have originated with the account of Preston Nichols, who claimed to have recovered repressed memories of his own involvement.^[1] American Preston B. Nichols (born May 24, 1946 in Long Island, New York) claims to have degrees in parapsychology, psychology, and electrical engineering.^[3] He authored a series of books, known as the Montauk Project series, along with Peter Moon, the primary topic of which is alleged activities at Montauk. These center on topics including United States government/military experiments in fields such as time travel, teleportation, mind control, contact with alien life and staging faked Apollo Moon landings, framed as developments which followed a successful 1943 Philadelphia Experiment. These culminate in "a hole ripped in space-time" in 1983.

The authors have encouraged speculation about the contents (for example, writing "Whether you read this as science fiction or non-fiction you are in for an amazing story" in their first chapter,^[4] describing much of the content as "soft facts" in a Guide For Readers and publishing a newsletter with updates to the story).

Nichols's participation at Montauk

Some sources report that Nichols claims to have worked on the Montauk Project and recalls it only through recovery of repressed memories. Others hold that he believes he is periodically abducted to continue his participation against his will.^[5] Most treat Nichols' work as fiction.^[6]

In media

In 2015, Montauk Chronicles, a film adaptation of the conspiracy featuring Preston Nichols, Al Bielik, and Stewart Swerdlow was released online and on DVD and Blu-ray. The film won the best documentary award at the Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York City ^[7] and has been featured on Coast to Coast AM ^[8] and the Huffington Post.^[9]

The Netflix web TV series Stranger Things was allegedly inspired by the Montauk Project, and at one time Montauk was used as its working title.^[10][11][12]

See also

• Philadelphia Experiment
• List of conspiracy theories

References

1. Vallée, Jacques F. (1994). "Anatomy of a hoax: The Philadelphia Experiment fifty years later" (PDF). Journal of Scientific Exploration. 8 (1): 47–71. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
2. Frissell, Bob (2003-04-25). Something in This Book Is True, Second Edition: The Official Companion to Nothing in this Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are. Frog Books. pp. 76–. ISBN 978-1-58394-077-8. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
3. The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time, Chapter 1
4. "The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time by Preston B. Nichols with Peter Moon, exert of". Nature's Tapestry.
5. "Preston Nichols". bibliotecapleyades.net.
6. "Montauk Revisited: Adventures in Synchronicity ~ Preston B. Nichols". FictionDB. categorises Nichols's work as "speculative fiction" and "science fiction"
7. http://www.scifibloggers.com/the-2015-philip-k-dick-science-fiction-film-festival-winners/
8. http://alpha.coasttocoastam.com/show/2015/02/14
9. "Montauk Chronicles". Huffington Post.
10. http://www.sciencealert.com/there-s-a-crazy-government-conspiracy-theory-that-inspired-stranger-things
11. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/stranger-inspired-secret-government-experiments-article-1.2774525
12. Anderton, Ethan (6 September 2016). "'Stranger Things' Was Inspired By a Creepy, Supposedly Real Experiment Called The Montauk Project". /Film. Retrieved 7 September 2016.

Further reading

• Moon, Peter (1997). The Black Sun: Montauk's Nazi-Tibetan Connection. New York: Sky Books. ISBN 0963188941.
• Nichols, Preston B.; Peter Moon (1992). The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time. New York: Sky Books. ISBN 0963188909.
• Nichols, Preston B.; Peter Moon (1993). Montauk Revisited: Adventures in Synchronicity. New York: Sky Books. ISBN 0963188917.
• Nichols, Preston B.; Peter Moon (1995). Pyramids of Montauk: Explorations in Consciousness. New York: Sky Books. ISBN 0963188925.
• Nichols, Preston B.; Peter Moon (1996). Encounter in the Pleiades: An Inside Look at UFOs. New York: Sky Books. p. 247. ISBN 0-9631889-3-3.
• Nichols, Preston B.; Peter Moon (2000). The Music of Time. New York: Sky Books. p. 234. ISBN 0-9678162-0-3.
• Steiger, Brad; Alfred Bielek and Sherry Hanson Steiger (1990). The Philadelphia Experiment and Other UFO Conspiracies. Inner Light Publications & Global Communications. ISBN 0938294970. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
• Swerdlow, Stewart (1998). Peter Moon, ed. Montauk: The Alien Connection. New York: Sky Books. ISBN 0963188984.
• Wells, K.B. (1998). The Montauk Files: Unearthing the Phoenix Conspiracy. New Falcon Publications. ISBN 156184134X.

External links

• The Montauk Project: Experiments in Gullibility
• Alfred Bielek debunked - Real facts about the man who claimed to be a Philadelphia Experiment and Montauk survivor
• Alfred Bielek: The Philadelphia Experiment and Montauk Survivor Accounts
• Disinfo: the Montauk Project