The Real-Life Experiments That Influenced 'Stranger Things'

Look, we all know Stranger Things isn’t exactly the most realistic show around, but what if we told you that elements of the hit sci-fi series were based on real-life events?

From CIA tests to man-made blackholes, here are the crazy stories that influenced the world of Hawkins.

Project MKUltra

Being conducted at the height of the Cold War, MKUltra was a top-secret CIA project which was ethically questionable, to say the least.

The project saw test subjects being given hallucinogenic drugs and being put in a variety of scenarios which impacted their senses to find out whether theoretical mind-control could be weaponised.

While the group of test subjects was initially comprised of volunteers, the CIA started implementing their studies on unsuspecting civilians, including a group of men who unknowingly visited brothels operated by the intelligence agency.

With the research becoming more dangerous (as well as the negative implications of a government testing on its own population), the project was shut down in 1965, with most (but not all) of the evidence being subsequently destroyed.

In the show, it's suspected Eleven's mother was subjected to tests similar to the ones being conducted for Project MKUltra, resulting in her supernatural abilities.

Find out everything we know about Stranger Things Season 4:

The Montauk Project

Far battier (and harder to prove) than MKUltra, the Montauk Project (named after a region in New York) is more of a conspiracy theory than anything concrete.

A series of radical experiments were allegedly conducted in the Montauk area, with one resulting in a man, Alfred Bielek, supposedly tearing a hole in time, connecting the then-present of 1983 with 1943.

Bielek hypothesised the alleged tear in the fabric of time could have ‘[engulfed] part of the planet’, leading him to destroy the equipment before any hard evidence could be collected.

Another man involved in the project, Preston Nichols, claims his brother developed psychic abilities, including the power to manifest objects out of thin air, leading to the creation of a monster which disappeared when Bielek suddenly put the project to an end.

While we have to suspend our disbelief to come anywhere close to accepting the claims as fact, it’s clear to see Stranger Things’ creators used the Montauk Project as a basis for the Upside-Down and the terrifying Demogorgon.

Will Stranger Things Season 4 draw from any other wild real-life events? Time will tell, with the hotly-anticipated series to drop on Netflix sometime around mid-2022.

Stay up-to-date with all things entertainment by downloading LiSTNR, available for iOS and Android: