Heroes and Monsters (Based on a true story: Stranger Things, Part 1) episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 22, 2026 · 1H 55M

Heroes and Monsters (Based on a true story: Stranger Things, Part 1)

from We Would Be Dead · host We Would Be Dead

Did the Netflix series Stranger Things take over your life this holiday season? Do you like conspiracy theories, government secrets, magic and monsters? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hear Holly struggle to explain quantum physics? Then boy do we have a good news for you! This episode is the first in a series of the true, and not true stories that inspired the world of Stranger Things.  In this episode we'll cover: The Montauk Monster, Camp Hero, The Philadelphia Experiment/ Project Rainbow, The Montauk Project, and Nina Kulagina the Russian Woman with telekinetic powers. FYI: If you didn't watch the show, don't worry. The stories we are going to explore in this series exist on their own, you don't need to have seen the show to understand or appreciate them. We just love a theme! If you are curious though, any images we think may be relevant, or are interesting points of comparison, will be included in the corresponding week's photo suite.    Click to learn more (sources) https://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/29/montauk.monster/ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/montauk-monster-dead-racco_b_116550 https://nypost.com/2008/07/29/montauk-monster/ https://www.livescience.com/2772-montauk-monster-likely-raccoon.html https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-happens-when-a-body-decomposes-in-water-180963994/ https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/06/06/history-plum-island-animal-disease-center https://parks.ny.gov/parks/fortterry/details.aspx https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/HistoricalVignettes/Fort-Terry/ https://www.archives.gov/research/foreign-policy/related-records/paperclip https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/operation-paperclip-167222690/ https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/gsa-properties/plum-island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Kulagina https://www.cia.gov/readingroom https://web.randi.org https://archive.org/details/archive-search-report-camp-hero-2000/page/n75/mode/2up https://www.flickr.com/photos/sparetimeradio/2587438677 https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/camp-hero-montauk-conspiracy-theories/ https://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Projects-Topics/Camp-Hero-FUDS-Montauk-New-York/ https://patch.com/new-york/easthampton/bp--the-story-of-camp-hero-in-montauk https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/philadelphia-experiment.html https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7984451/ https://www.amazon.com/Montauk-Project-Experiments-Time-ebook/dp/B004OEKH5Q Episode Credits: Hosts/writers: Holly Knapp and Leslie Weidel Editor/Composer/Producer: Jon Katity WWBD Merch Buy your WWBD swag here!  Join the Conversation        

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