Have you always wanted to find out the truth about Camp Hero? Here, says event organizers, is your chance.
08/07/19 UPDATE: Following a letter from the NYS Parks Department, this event has been cancelled. The post-event party at the Memory Motel, however, will go on as planned.
Camp Hero has existed as a conspiracy-theory-magnet in the minds of Long Islanders for decades—long before Stranger Things was even a twinkle in its creators’ eyes. Rumors about the 415-acre abandoned military base began to crescendo in the mid-80s, when Preston B. Nichols released his now-infamous book, The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time.
“The book confirmed what a lot of people living in or around Montauk may have already suspected: that the former military base was once ground zero for one of the most sordid and secretive research projects in U.S. history,” writes Alexandra Charitan. “He claimed that government agents were using electromagnetic radiation to transmit ideas directly into people’s heads. His followers—some of whom still wear solid metal pots on their heads to block microwaves—claim that Nichols was also able to control the weather (and thus proved the government’s similar capabilities). ”
Soon after the publication of Nichols’s book, several others—many of whom were involved with the Montauk Project themselves—came forward to corroborate his story.
So what exactly happened at Camp Hero? Nobody really knows, though most fan favorite, tin-foil-hat-friendly theories circle around secret government projects ranging from psychological warfare to time travel, alien experimentation to mind control. Isn’t it time, though, that we found out the truth once and for all?
Yes, says Long Island’s own Surf and Slide Company, the local clothing brand behind the upcoming Storm Camp Hero event—inspired by the much-larger movement to “Storm Area 51” later this fall—that invites Long Islanders to meet in Montauk on Saturday, August 10 to do, well, exactly what the event’s name promises.
“Take your protein pills, put your helmet on, and naruto run for it,” the event description reads. “They can’t stop us all.”
The festivities will begin at 1:00 p.m. with cocktails at the Surf Lodge. At 5:00 p.m., the actual storming will begin, with attendees instructed to meet at the gate outside Camp Hero’s iconic SAGE radar tower. Afterwards, at 10:00 p.m., there will be a “welcome party for any aliens [the group meets along their travels]” at the Memory Motel, with live music by DJ KITZ.
So, what do you say: Are you ready to storm Camp Hero? Depending on whom you ask, the truth is in there—or moved out of Montauk decades ago.
For more on Storm Camp Hero, visit the event’s Facebook page.
