Is 'Stranger Things' based on a true story? Read details about the Netflix series

Ever since its upcoming season was announced back in September 2019 by Netflix, Stranger Things Season 4 has been one of the most-awaited series of the streaming giant by fans around the world. Mostly pertaining to whether this Netflix series is based on a true story, how scared should one be of the monsters from the Upside Down if it actually is? To millions of fans' surprise, Stranger Things is somewhere inspired by real-life events. Thus, read on find out the Stranger Things true story. 

Is Stranger Things based on a true story?

Ever since the sci-fi horror mystery-thriller Stranger Things premiered on Netflix back in July 2016, multiple conspiracy theories about the show being based on real events have surfaced on the internet over the years. For everyone wondering, "Is Stranger Things based on a true story?" the answer is "Yes". However, the Duffer Brothers show is not entirely based on a true story and is low-key inspired by real-life events. In fact, the series was going to be titled Montauk as it takes references from the highly-controversial Montauk Project.

For the unversed, the Montauk Project is a long-held conspiracy theory that suggested that the US military had conducted experiments on children in Montauk back in the '80s. In a 2017 interview with Wired, Stranger Things actor Gaten Matarazzo had revealed that the series is based on a place in New York's Montauk, called 'Camp Hero'. Elaborating further on the same, he said there were rumours of the US military conducting human experiments during the Cold War and revealed the sci-fi thriller is based on "that one government lab". 

True believers have claimed that children were abducted and kidnapped for conducting mind-control experiments on them for the sake of psychological warfare research. The aforementioned experiments were allegedly conducted at the Montauk Air Force Statio as well as Camp Hero. Preston B. Nichols, who was allegedly one of the abductees for the experiment, ended up publishing a full-fledged book to describe his experience in "The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time".

The book was originally published in 1992, followed by a series of Montauk books. Although the Montauk Project remains a conspiracy theory, the CIA did actually conduct a similar program named 'Project MKUltra'. The purpose of this program was to develop drugs with the ability to weaken people with the help of mind control, and it was held in association with the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.