Stranger Things Abandoned Montauk Base Now Just A Really Creepy Park

KEY POINTS

•Camp Hero, a Montauk Air Force base commissioned in 1942 and closed in 1982, reopened as a state park in 2002.
•Stranger Things was inspired by Montauk and initially titled after the town, but filming challenges shifted the setting to Hawkins, Indiana.
•The show concluded its fifth season in December 2023, even referencing Montauk in its finale, cementing the town’s eerie influence.

Montauk, aka 'The End' of Long Island, is home to Camp Hero, a former Air Force base that launched more conspiracy theories than a flat Earth convention. Commissioned in May 1942 to spot Nazi subs but shut down by 1982, it morphed into a creepy state park 20 years later. The Duffer Brothers originally named 'Stranger Things' after Montauk, before citing winter cold and production headaches as reasons to ghost its seaside vibes for Hawkins, Indiana. Despite filmmaker Charlie Kessler's 2018 lawsuit over the 'Montauk Project' script, the show premiered in 2016 and left fans mourning after Season 5’s 2023 finale. Even Hopper’s last words gave Montauk a shoutout — proof the ghost of government experiments haunt your summer vacations.

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

Montauk’s Camp Hero: where creepy abandoned military bases inspire hit shows and fuel local dad conspiracy theories. Good thing they didn’t try filming there in winter—your frozen nightmares belong elsewhere.

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