I visited the eerie abandoned Air Force base that inspired 'Stranger Things.' Take a look inside.

SOURCE:Business Insider|BY:Gabbi Shaw

A building at Camp Hero. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Camp Hero is a state park in Montauk, on the easternmost tip of Long Island, New York. It used to be Montauk Air Force Station, which reportedly inspired Netflix's "Stranger Things." I visited the state park and understood why it's the subject of conspiracy theories. As a huge "Stranger Things" fan, I'm officially mourning the end of my beloved show. If you're like me and need a "Stranger Things" fix to help ease the pain, you can pay a visit to the real abandoned base that inspired one of Netflix's biggest franchises. While the interdimensional problems that have befallen our friends in Hawkins, Indiana, are completely fictional, the series is based on a real-life New York town called Montauk and its government Air Force station, which has been at the center of multiple conspiracy theories for decades — Montauk even got a name-check in the series finale. Unsubstantiated claims include that researchers at the base had repressed the memories of employees who'd been subjected to experiments throughout the '70s and '80s. Today, it's possible to visit the station, now called Camp Hero, and after checking it out in 2023, I can confidently say it's still one of the creepiest places I've ever visited. I came away understanding where the Duffer brothers, who created "Stranger Things," got their inspiration for the creepy Hawkins Lab and the psychedelic experiments that go on inside. If you've seen an episode of the Netflix smash-hit "Stranger Things," the creepiness of Hawkins Lab has probably stuck with you. The inside of the mysterious and sinister Hawkins Lab in "Stranger Things." Netflix "Stranger Things" began as the story of a group of pre-teens who, after one of their best friends goes missing, become tangled in a dangerous web of government conspiracies, alternate dimensions, the Cold War, and more. Since its debut in 2016, the show has become a phenomenon, spawning millions of dollars in merch, tie-in novels and comics, a stage adaptation, mobile games, a tabletop game, at least one animated spinoff, and more. One of the show's breakout characters is Eleven (played by Millie Bobby Brown), a young girl born with telekinesis. Immediately after her birth, she was abducted by a scientist whom she calls Papa (Matthew Modine) and taken to Hawkins Lab, where she and other children were experimented on. The show wrapped up its fifth and final season on December 31. The show's creators, the Duffer brothers, were inspired by a real-life government base in Montauk, New York, called Camp Hero. Creators and Executive Producers Ross Duffer and Matt Duffer attend the premiere of "Stranger Things" at Mack Sennett Studios on July 11, 2016 in Los Angeles, California Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic/Getty Images In 2016, Matt and Ross Duffer confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that "Stranger Things" was originally sold as "Montauk" before they decided to switch the name and the location to the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. "We liked Montauk, because we liked the coastal setting," Matt Duffer said, adding that Montauk was also the basis for Amity Island, the fictional location of "Jaws," one of their favorite movies. However, the setting changed when they realized "it was really going to be impossible to shoot in or around Long Island in the wintertime," Matt Duffer said. Filmmaker Charlie Kessler, sued the brothers in 2018, claiming they stole the idea of "Stranger Things" from his script "The Montauk Project," Thrillist reported. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the Duffers denied his claims, and Kessler dropped the lawsuit in 2019. Spoiler for the series finale: Montauk even got referenced by name in the last episode, when Hopper mentioned that a friend mentioned that the town was looking for a new sheriff. The base shut down in 1982 and reopened to the public as Camp Hero State Park in 2002. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider According to signs in the park outlining Camp Hero's history, the US Army commissioned Camp Hero in May 1942 — five months after the US joined World War II in December 1941 — to defend against German submarines and boats. The Army deactivated the base in 1947 and turned it over to the US Air Force in 1951, which remained there until 1982. Camp Hero, named for Major General Andrew Hero Jr., who served as the chief of coast artillery from 1926 to 1930, according to Arlington National Cemetery, opened to the public in 2002. I visited in summer 2023, driving to the easternmost tip of Long Island, New York. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Montauk is commonly known as The End. It's the last town on Long Island, making it the perfect spot for an Army base scanning the oceans for submarines hiding in the depths below. As a huge fan of "Stranger Things" with a mild interest in secret governmental conspiracy theories, I figured I'd drive out east and laugh with my mom (who made the trek with me) about the wildest things we'd learn about Camp Hero. Instead, I came away feeling like "Stranger Things" got the atmosphere of this place exactly right. The park is 123 miles outside New York City. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider I'm from a town on Long Island 99 miles west of Montauk, so it took me around two hours to drive there. When there's no traffic, it can be a fun drive. You pass through picturesque towns worth a stop, like Amagansett, East Hampton, Southampton, Wainscott, and more. It's located past the town center of Montauk, a favorite of celebrities and locals. The Montauk locals and the tourists were extremely friendly. Molly O'Brien Curbed reported that celebrities including Julianne Moore, Ralph Lauren, and Robert De Niro have owned real estate in the town. I grew up on Long Island and have been to Montauk dozens of times, but I'd never explored Camp Hero before. When you turn off the highway, you get a good view of the Montauk Lighthouse. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Montauk Lighthouse, according to the Montauk Historical Society, was the first lighthouse to be built in New York after George Washington commissioned it in 1792. Today, it's a Long Island landmark that is part of the adjacent Montauk Point State Park. It's also the fourth-oldest working lighthouse in the US and just one of 12 lighthouses to be named a National Historic Landmark. The park is open every day from sunrise to sunset, and entry costs $8. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Or, if you're a New York resident with an Empire Pass like I am, it's free. According to New York State's Parks Department, the Empire Pass "permits unlimited vehicle access to most facilities operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation." Essentially, it gets you into most New York state parks for free. A card costs $80 per year (or $72 a year for a digital card), or you can purchase a lifetime pass for $750 (or $742 for a digital card). Three-season and five-season passes are also available, as shown on the parks' website. As my family members are big fans of Jones Beach, another state park, we've had an Empire Pass for as long as I can remember. When you pull in, you're greeted with a map of the park, which covers 754 acres of land. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider I was surprised to learn that a decent chunk of land is off-limits to visitors and is a wildlife and plant sanctuary. First, you see some of Montauk's famous bluffs and a view of the Atlantic Ocean. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider There are a few parks in the Montauk area that offer a good view of the bluffs, including Shadmoor State Park, Montauk Point State Park, and Ditch Plains Beach. Just to the right of the water is one of the many trails throughout the park, along with a caution sign warning people to stay away from the cliffs. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider This wouldn't be the last warning sign I'd see that day. Plenty of signs about the steep edges of the bluffs were posted throughout the park. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Erosion is also a huge problem on Long Island's beaches. The Patch reported that the town of East Hampton, which includes Montauk, was given a $350,000 federal grant to address the erosion issues along the coastline in December 2022. Officials told The Patch that, according to measurements by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Montauk's shoreline "eroded more than 44 feet inland between 2000 and 2012." In the years since, the erosion has only continued, so I heeded the sign's warnings and stayed as far back as possible. I also saw the base's defunct radar tower, which is at the center of many conspiracy theories. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider The radar tower looms over Camp Hero. I knew I needed to make my way over there to get a good look. More about those conspiracy theories later. One of the first remnants of the base we saw was this concrete battery, built for artillery when the US Army commissioned the base in the '40s. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider According to signs in the park, the Army built batteries throughout the base. Batteries 112 and 113, which are both still standing, contained two 16-inch guns each. The artillery was removed in 1947. We eventually reached a parking lot adjacent to the radar tower, but we couldn't get too close. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Even from a distance, you can see just how big it is. The 90-foot tower and its 40-foot-wide dish are visible throughout the park, and they gave me the eerie feeling I was being watched. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Being up close was somehow even more unsettling. According to signs in the park, the "giant" radar, specifically an AN/FPS-35, was built in 1960, and it remained operational until 1980. Its radar dish was built to detect an attack on the US. As The New York Times reported in 2006, it was once "able to detect airborne objects more than 200 miles from shore." The tower was built when the Air Force took over the base in the 1950s. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider At the peak of the Cold War, multiple towers were located throughout the eastern US, but now, the Montauk tower is the only one left. The radar tower is central to many of the conspiracy theories surrounding Camp Hero. Filmmaker Christopher Garetano, who directed a docudrama about Camp Hero called "Montauk Chronicles" in 2014, spoke about the radar dish during a History Channel documentary called "The Dark Files." "Every 12 seconds the radar tower would rotate and there would be animals freaking out and people getting headaches and bad dreams," says Garetano in "The Dark Files," claiming "people's electronic equipment would go haywire" when the dish rotated. "I don't want to add fuel to the fire because I don't believe all the zombie stuff," one resident of 40 years told The New York Post in 2020. "But the impact that tower had on the town was real. I don't know if it affected our thoughts like some people say, but it was a force." There seemed to be unofficial trails along the fence protecting the tower, but a warning sign about ticks put me off getting any closer. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Ticks are frequent carriers of Lyme disease. That was more than enough to keep me away from any heavily wooded areas. We also weren't heartened by the writing on the path stating we were in a "hazardous area." Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider The New York Times reported in 2006 that visitors to Camp Hero were given pamphlets about what to do in case they spotted an undetonated grenade or other unexploded ammunition — it did use to be an active military base, after all. We barely saw anyone else while we explored Camp Hero, but my mom told me she couldn't shake the feeling that people were watching us. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider At first, I scoffed, but as the day went on, I started to see what she meant. It was spookily silent as we walked through the woods, even though we weren't too far from the beach or a busy highway. I felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We came across a sign pointing to an overlook, so we knew we were headed in the right direction. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider As you can see, it looks like we were just about to walk into a heavily wooded forest. These woods really reminded me of the woods where Eleven was discovered during the "Stranger Things" pilot episode. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider In the first episode of "Stranger Things," Mike, Lucas, and Dustin search the woods for their friend Will after he goes missing while biking home. The trio are searching on a rainy night when they suddenly come across Eleven, who had just escaped Hawkins Lab. At the end of season one, Eleven returns to the woods to escape the lab's clutches. After about a mile, we glimpsed the ocean and a treacherous path that seemed to lead down to the water. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider I've read one too many stories about tourists falling to their deaths while trying to take the perfect selfie. Staying on the flat path was enough for me. I was content to sit on this rock and take in the views from a safe distance. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider This rock was helpfully in the perfect place for me to pose for a photo. And the views were, admittedly, pretty great. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Fishing is one of Camp Hero's biggest draws, and I saw a few fishermen on the beach casting their lines. On our walk back to the car, a dog came running out of the woods and scared both of us. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider He was just a friendly pet running back to his owner, but safe to say, we were both on edge. I didn't even have the presence of mind to take a picture of this dog — that's how you know my mom and I were truly freaked out. Our next stop was what was known as "downtown Camp Hero." Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider This building used to be a gymnasium. The sign in front explained more about downtown Camp Hero. When the base was built in 1947, 600 men and 37 officers lived in this area, and the structures were disguised as a "seaside fishing village," with artificial wood siding and fake windows. The gym was designed to look like a church. It's the only structure left from the original "downtown" Camp Hero, though other newer buildings are still standing. Here's one of the buildings that housed barracks. It's seen better days. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider I was half-convinced that someone was just going to pop out of the windows if I got too close. The idea that we were being watched turned out to be pretty plausible — we came across a doe and her fawn behind one of the buildings. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider We didn't want to scare the deer away, so we kept our distance while exploring the buildings. So what exactly happened at Camp Hero? There's the official version, and then there's the conspiracy-theory version. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider According to a comprehensive summary of the conspiracy theories surrounding Camp Hero written by Thrillist in 2016, the events that conspiracy theorists claim happened in Camp Hero were actually pretty similar to what happens in "Stranger Things." Author Preston Nichols brought the theories into the mainstream when he published 1992's "The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time," which detailed his reported experiences working at Montauk Air Force Station — he claimed he'd recovered repressed memories of his time at the base in the '70s and '80s. Nichols said he worked with another former employee on something called the "Montauk Chair," which used electromagnets to strengthen psychic powers. In season four of "Stranger Things," Eleven uses something similar to recover her powers. Nichols also said scientists at the base used abducted children (like Eleven and her "siblings") to perform experiments on, and that some were even sent to an unknown dimension (like the Upside Down). Eventually, these experiments were shut down when one of the children summoned an interdimensional monster, Nichols wrote — just like Eleven bringing the Demogorgon to our world. A Montauk local once told the New York Post that Camp Hero is "a place that's dominated my life and my nightmares." Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Joe Loffreno told the Post in 2020 that he believes he's one of the children who were abducted and experimented on and who were mentioned in "The Montauk Project." "I didn't believe it until two years ago," Loffreno said. "I was hypnotized [by a certified hypnotist] for about 40 minutes and all these memories flooded back. They did a very bad thing to us out there. We were just little kids. They had no right to experiment on us. It was a very dark, very evil thing." One theory also posits that a vast network of underground tunnels still connects the structures of Camp Hero. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Garetano, director of "Montauk Chronicles," spoke with Newsday in 2017 about the reported tunnels. He said that when the History Channel was filming for "The Dark Files," they found proof that the tunnels existed. "Something extraordinary was found, which goes against all the official statements that there isn't anything there," Garetano said. "We didn't get into them, but we have footage of them that was taken by someone else." He added that they saw something on the "electric resistivity imagery tests" that were conducted. Another local, Paul Fagan, told the New York Post that he believes a nuclear reactor might've secretly been buried at the base in the '50s, and that any conspiracy theories are actually meant to distract from the reactor's existence. The New York Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about the claims. The Army and the Air Force have never appeared to go on the record about the claims either, and they did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider either. According to the signs at Camp Hero and other historical sources, the base was actually used as a coastal defense site. One of the signs at Camp Hero. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider When the Army built the base, it was used to surveil the surrounding area for German submarines, and it was also an antiaircraft artillery training station. At the time, according to the sign, all antiaircraft units in New York were sent to Camp Hero for a few weeks to train. The sign also said it was home to other surveillance and height-finding radar that "guarded the New York City area against a surprise attack by Soviet bombers or other missiles." The base was also used "extensively" as a live-fire training range until it was shut down in the '80s. All I know for sure is that I would never want to walk around Camp Hero alone or at night. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider There are no lights and very little signage — I could see myself getting hopelessly lost in the woods. When we left the park, the road forced us to pass the Montauk Lighthouse, slightly relieving the tension. The Montauk Lighthouse. Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider Even though it was just a few minutes down the road, the atmosphere was completely different. The parking lot was bustling, and I could hear kids laughing as they explored the beach. I felt like I had just been to a completely different world. I'd recommend making the drive if you're already in Montauk or the Hamptons. I don't think I'll go back to Camp Hero. If I need my conspiracy theory fix, now I know I can just fire up "Stranger Things" and get the same experience. "Stranger Things." Netflix Do I really believe that there were scientists using abducted children to contact a different dimension at Camp Hero? No. However, I understand the fascination with Camp Hero — the fact that the radar tower and other disguised buildings are still standing decades later, the secluded location, and the idea that there could be secret tunnels underground are all compelling fodder for urban legends. Anyone interested in military history or conspiracy theories would learn a lot at Camp Hero, and I'd recommend visiting — but only during the day, and not on your own. Editor's note: This story was originally published in August 2023 and was most recently updated in January 2026. Read the original article on Business Insider

an abandoned building camp hero — A building at Camp Hero.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Camp Hero is a state park in Montauk, on the easternmost tip of Long Island, New York.
It used to be Montauk Air Force Station, which reportedly inspired Netflix's "Stranger Things."
I visited the state park and understood why it's the subject of conspiracy theories.

As a huge "Stranger Things" fan, I'm officially mourning the end of my beloved show.

If you're like me and need a "Stranger Things" fix to help ease the pain, you can pay a visit to the real abandoned base that inspired one of Netflix's biggest franchises.

While the interdimensional problems that have befallen our friends in Hawkins, Indiana, are completely fictional, the series is based on a real-life New York town called Montauk and its government Air Force station, which has been at the center of multiple conspiracy theories for decades — Montauk even got a name-check in the series finale.

Unsubstantiated claims include that researchers at the base had repressed the memories of employees who'd been subjected to experiments throughout the '70s and '80s.

Today, it's possible to visit the station, now called Camp Hero, and after checking it out in 2023, I can confidently say it's still one of the creepiest places I've ever visited.

I came away understanding where the Duffer brothers, who created "Stranger Things," got their inspiration for the creepy Hawkins Lab and the psychedelic experiments that go on inside.

If you've seen an episode of the Netflix smash-hit "Stranger Things," the creepiness of Hawkins Lab has probably stuck with you.

hawkins lab stranger things — The inside of the mysterious and sinister Hawkins Lab in "Stranger Things."
Netflix

"Stranger Things" began as the story of a group of pre-teens who, after one of their best friends goes missing, become tangled in a dangerous web of government conspiracies, alternate dimensions, the Cold War, and more.

Since its debut in 2016, the show has become a phenomenon, spawning millions of dollars in merch, tie-in novels and comics, a stage adaptation, mobile games, a tabletop game, at least one animated spinoff, and more.

One of the show's breakout characters is Eleven (played by Millie Bobby Brown), a young girl born with telekinesis. Immediately after her birth, she was abducted by a scientist whom she calls Papa (Matthew Modine) and taken to Hawkins Lab, where she and other children were experimented on.

The show wrapped up its fifth and final season on December 31.

The show's creators, the Duffer brothers, were inspired by a real-life government base in Montauk, New York, called Camp Hero.

Creators and Executive Producers Ross Duffer and Matt Duffer attend the premiere of "Stranger Things" at Mack Sennett Studios on July 11, 2016 in Los Angeles, California
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic/Getty Images

In 2016, Matt and Ross Duffer confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that "Stranger Things" was originally sold as "Montauk" before they decided to switch the name and the location to the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana.

"We liked Montauk, because we liked the coastal setting," Matt Duffer said, adding that Montauk was also the basis for Amity Island, the fictional location of "Jaws," one of their favorite movies.

However, the setting changed when they realized "it was really going to be impossible to shoot in or around Long Island in the wintertime," Matt Duffer said.

Filmmaker Charlie Kessler, sued the brothers in 2018, claiming they stole the idea of "Stranger Things" from his script "The Montauk Project," Thrillist reported. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the Duffers denied his claims, and Kessler dropped the lawsuit in 2019.

Spoiler for the series finale: Montauk even got referenced by name in the last episode, when Hopper mentioned that a friend mentioned that the town was looking for a new sheriff.

The base shut down in 1982 and reopened to the public as Camp Hero State Park in 2002.

camp hero sign — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

According to signs in the park outlining Camp Hero's history, the US Army commissioned Camp Hero in May 1942 — five months after the US joined World War II in December 1941 — to defend against German submarines and boats.

The Army deactivated the base in 1947 and turned it over to the US Air Force in 1951, which remained there until 1982.

Camp Hero, named for Major General Andrew Hero Jr., who served as the chief of coast artillery from 1926 to 1930, according to Arlington National Cemetery, opened to the public in 2002.

I visited in summer 2023, driving to the easternmost tip of Long Island, New York.

me in front of the radar tower — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Montauk is commonly known as The End. It's the last town on Long Island, making it the perfect spot for an Army base scanning the oceans for submarines hiding in the depths below.

As a huge fan of "Stranger Things" with a mild interest in secret governmental conspiracy theories, I figured I'd drive out east and laugh with my mom (who made the trek with me) about the wildest things we'd learn about Camp Hero.

Instead, I came away feeling like "Stranger Things" got the atmosphere of this place exactly right.

The park is 123 miles outside New York City.

another camp hero sign — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

I'm from a town on Long Island 99 miles west of Montauk, so it took me around two hours to drive there.

When there's no traffic, it can be a fun drive. You pass through picturesque towns worth a stop, like Amagansett, East Hampton, Southampton, Wainscott, and more.

It's located past the town center of Montauk, a favorite of celebrities and locals.

montauk downtown area — The Montauk locals and the tourists were extremely friendly.
Molly O'Brien

Curbed reported that celebrities including Julianne Moore, Ralph Lauren, and Robert De Niro have owned real estate in the town.

I grew up on Long Island and have been to Montauk dozens of times, but I'd never explored Camp Hero before.

When you turn off the highway, you get a good view of the Montauk Lighthouse.

camp hero entrance — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Montauk Lighthouse, according to the Montauk Historical Society, was the first lighthouse to be built in New York after George Washington commissioned it in 1792. Today, it's a Long Island landmark that is part of the adjacent Montauk Point State Park.

It's also the fourth-oldest working lighthouse in the US and just one of 12 lighthouses to be named a National Historic Landmark.

The park is open every day from sunrise to sunset, and entry costs $8.

Or, if you're a New York resident with an Empire Pass like I am, it's free.

According to New York State's Parks Department, the Empire Pass "permits unlimited vehicle access to most facilities operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation."

Essentially, it gets you into most New York state parks for free. A card costs $80 per year (or $72 a year for a digital card), or you can purchase a lifetime pass for $750 (or $742 for a digital card). Three-season and five-season passes are also available, as shown on the parks' website.

As my family members are big fans of Jones Beach, another state park, we've had an Empire Pass for as long as I can remember.

When you pull in, you're greeted with a map of the park, which covers 754 acres of land.

I was surprised to learn that a decent chunk of land is off-limits to visitors and is a wildlife and plant sanctuary.

First, you see some of Montauk's famous bluffs and a view of the Atlantic Ocean.

There are a few parks in the Montauk area that offer a good view of the bluffs, including Shadmoor State Park, Montauk Point State Park, and Ditch Plains Beach.

Just to the right of the water is one of the many trails throughout the park, along with a caution sign warning people to stay away from the cliffs.

one of the trails — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

This wouldn't be the last warning sign I'd see that day.

Plenty of signs about the steep edges of the bluffs were posted throughout the park.

stay back from the cliffs — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Erosion is also a huge problem on Long Island's beaches. The Patch reported that the town of East Hampton, which includes Montauk, was given a $350,000 federal grant to address the erosion issues along the coastline in December 2022.

Officials told The Patch that, according to measurements by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Montauk's shoreline "eroded more than 44 feet inland between 2000 and 2012."

In the years since, the erosion has only continued, so I heeded the sign's warnings and stayed as far back as possible.

I also saw the base's defunct radar tower, which is at the center of many conspiracy theories.

the radar tower in the distance — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

The radar tower looms over Camp Hero. I knew I needed to make my way over there to get a good look.

More about those conspiracy theories later.

One of the first remnants of the base we saw was this concrete battery, built for artillery when the US Army commissioned the base in the '40s.

a weird concrete structure — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

According to signs in the park, the Army built batteries throughout the base. Batteries 112 and 113, which are both still standing, contained two 16-inch guns each. The artillery was removed in 1947.

We eventually reached a parking lot adjacent to the radar tower, but we couldn't get too close.

do not enter — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Even from a distance, you can see just how big it is.

The 90-foot tower and its 40-foot-wide dish are visible throughout the park, and they gave me the eerie feeling I was being watched.

outside the radar tower — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Being up close was somehow even more unsettling.

According to signs in the park, the "giant" radar, specifically an AN/FPS-35, was built in 1960, and it remained operational until 1980.

Its radar dish was built to detect an attack on the US. As The New York Times reported in 2006, it was once "able to detect airborne objects more than 200 miles from shore."

The tower was built when the Air Force took over the base in the 1950s.

radar tower and abandoned structure — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

At the peak of the Cold War, multiple towers were located throughout the eastern US, but now, the Montauk tower is the only one left.

The radar tower is central to many of the conspiracy theories surrounding Camp Hero.

Filmmaker Christopher Garetano, who directed a docudrama about Camp Hero called "Montauk Chronicles" in 2014, spoke about the radar dish during a History Channel documentary called "The Dark Files."

"Every 12 seconds the radar tower would rotate and there would be animals freaking out and people getting headaches and bad dreams," says Garetano in "The Dark Files," claiming "people's electronic equipment would go haywire" when the dish rotated.

"I don't want to add fuel to the fire because I don't believe all the zombie stuff," one resident of 40 years told The New York Post in 2020. "But the impact that tower had on the town was real. I don't know if it affected our thoughts like some people say, but it was a force."

There seemed to be unofficial trails along the fence protecting the tower, but a warning sign about ticks put me off getting any closer.

a sign warning about ticks — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Ticks are frequent carriers of Lyme disease. That was more than enough to keep me away from any heavily wooded areas.

We also weren't heartened by the writing on the path stating we were in a "hazardous area."

a sign on the ground that says no trespassing hazardous area — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

The New York Times reported in 2006 that visitors to Camp Hero were given pamphlets about what to do in case they spotted an undetonated grenade or other unexploded ammunition — it did use to be an active military base, after all.

We barely saw anyone else while we explored Camp Hero, but my mom told me she couldn't shake the feeling that people were watching us.

the road path turned into a less paved trail — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

At first, I scoffed, but as the day went on, I started to see what she meant.

It was spookily silent as we walked through the woods, even though we weren't too far from the beach or a busy highway. I felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.

We came across a sign pointing to an overlook, so we knew we were headed in the right direction.

bluff overlook sign — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

As you can see, it looks like we were just about to walk into a heavily wooded forest.

These woods really reminded me of the woods where Eleven was discovered during the "Stranger Things" pilot episode.

then the trail turned into a dirt road — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

In the first episode of "Stranger Things," Mike, Lucas, and Dustin search the woods for their friend Will after he goes missing while biking home. The trio are searching on a rainy night when they suddenly come across Eleven, who had just escaped Hawkins Lab.

At the end of season one, Eleven returns to the woods to escape the lab's clutches.

After about a mile, we glimpsed the ocean and a treacherous path that seemed to lead down to the water.

one of the less marked trails — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

I've read one too many stories about tourists falling to their deaths while trying to take the perfect selfie. Staying on the flat path was enough for me.

I was content to sit on this rock and take in the views from a safe distance.

made it to the bluffs — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

This rock was helpfully in the perfect place for me to pose for a photo.

And the views were, admittedly, pretty great.

the bluffs view — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Fishing is one of Camp Hero's biggest draws, and I saw a few fishermen on the beach casting their lines.

On our walk back to the car, a dog came running out of the woods and scared both of us.

one of the roads — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

He was just a friendly pet running back to his owner, but safe to say, we were both on edge.

I didn't even have the presence of mind to take a picture of this dog — that's how you know my mom and I were truly freaked out.

Our next stop was what was known as "downtown Camp Hero."

the gymnasium at camp hero — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

This building used to be a gymnasium.

The sign in front explained more about downtown Camp Hero. When the base was built in 1947, 600 men and 37 officers lived in this area, and the structures were disguised as a "seaside fishing village," with artificial wood siding and fake windows.

The gym was designed to look like a church. It's the only structure left from the original "downtown" Camp Hero, though other newer buildings are still standing.

Here's one of the buildings that housed barracks. It's seen better days.

barracks at camp hero — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

I was half-convinced that someone was just going to pop out of the windows if I got too close.

The idea that we were being watched turned out to be pretty plausible — we came across a doe and her fawn behind one of the buildings.

deer at camp hero — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

We didn't want to scare the deer away, so we kept our distance while exploring the buildings.

So what exactly happened at Camp Hero? There's the official version, and then there's the conspiracy-theory version.

According to a comprehensive summary of the conspiracy theories surrounding Camp Hero written by Thrillist in 2016, the events that conspiracy theorists claim happened in Camp Hero were actually pretty similar to what happens in "Stranger Things."

Author Preston Nichols brought the theories into the mainstream when he published 1992's "The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time," which detailed his reported experiences working at Montauk Air Force Station — he claimed he'd recovered repressed memories of his time at the base in the '70s and '80s.

Nichols said he worked with another former employee on something called the "Montauk Chair," which used electromagnets to strengthen psychic powers. In season four of "Stranger Things," Eleven uses something similar to recover her powers.

Nichols also said scientists at the base used abducted children (like Eleven and her "siblings") to perform experiments on, and that some were even sent to an unknown dimension (like the Upside Down).

Eventually, these experiments were shut down when one of the children summoned an interdimensional monster, Nichols wrote — just like Eleven bringing the Demogorgon to our world.

A Montauk local once told the New York Post that Camp Hero is "a place that's dominated my life and my nightmares."

the radar tower — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Joe Loffreno told the Post in 2020 that he believes he's one of the children who were abducted and experimented on and who were mentioned in "The Montauk Project."

"I didn't believe it until two years ago," Loffreno said. "I was hypnotized [by a certified hypnotist] for about 40 minutes and all these memories flooded back. They did a very bad thing to us out there. We were just little kids. They had no right to experiment on us. It was a very dark, very evil thing."

One theory also posits that a vast network of underground tunnels still connects the structures of Camp Hero.

another abandoned building camp hero — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Garetano, director of "Montauk Chronicles," spoke with Newsday in 2017 about the reported tunnels. He said that when the History Channel was filming for "The Dark Files," they found proof that the tunnels existed.

"Something extraordinary was found, which goes against all the official statements that there isn't anything there," Garetano said. "We didn't get into them, but we have footage of them that was taken by someone else." He added that they saw something on the "electric resistivity imagery tests" that were conducted.

Another local, Paul Fagan, told the New York Post that he believes a nuclear reactor might've secretly been buried at the base in the '50s, and that any conspiracy theories are actually meant to distract from the reactor's existence.

The New York Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about the claims.

The Army and the Air Force have never appeared to go on the record about the claims either, and they did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider either.

According to the signs at Camp Hero and other historical sources, the base was actually used as a coastal defense site.

one of the signs at camp hero — One of the signs at Camp Hero.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

When the Army built the base, it was used to surveil the surrounding area for German submarines, and it was also an antiaircraft artillery training station. At the time, according to the sign, all antiaircraft units in New York were sent to Camp Hero for a few weeks to train.

The sign also said it was home to other surveillance and height-finding radar that "guarded the New York City area against a surprise attack by Soviet bombers or other missiles."

The base was also used "extensively" as a live-fire training range until it was shut down in the '80s.

All I know for sure is that I would never want to walk around Camp Hero alone or at night.

a path at camp hero — Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

There are no lights and very little signage — I could see myself getting hopelessly lost in the woods.

When we left the park, the road forced us to pass the Montauk Lighthouse, slightly relieving the tension.

the lighthouse — The Montauk Lighthouse.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider

Even though it was just a few minutes down the road, the atmosphere was completely different. The parking lot was bustling, and I could hear kids laughing as they explored the beach. I felt like I had just been to a completely different world.

I'd recommend making the drive if you're already in Montauk or the Hamptons.

I don't think I'll go back to Camp Hero. If I need my conspiracy theory fix, now I know I can just fire up "Stranger Things" and get the same experience.

stranger things netflix — "Stranger Things."
Netflix

Do I really believe that there were scientists using abducted children to contact a different dimension at Camp Hero?

No.

However, I understand the fascination with Camp Hero — the fact that the radar tower and other disguised buildings are still standing decades later, the secluded location, and the idea that there could be secret tunnels underground are all compelling fodder for urban legends.

Anyone interested in military history or conspiracy theories would learn a lot at Camp Hero, and I'd recommend visiting — but only during the day, and not on your own.

Editor's note: This story was originally published in August 2023 and was most recently updated in January 2026.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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