History's 'The Dark Files' Explores Camp Hero Legends This Friday

The History channel’s exploration of the Montauk Project mystery and Camp Hero legends, The Dark Files, debuts with a two-hour special this Friday, September 8 at 10 p.m.

The show stars a team of investigators, including Montauk Chronicles filmmaker Christopher Garetano, author and former CIA operative Barry Eisler and award-winning journalist Steve Volk, as they search for answers, once and for all, about what did or did not happen at Camp Hero beyond its coastal defense mission. (Watch the teaser trailer below.)

READ MORE ABOUT CAMP HERO: History, Legend, Hiking

Now abandoned, the Camp Hero military base in Montauk has long been the focus of a wide swath of conspiracy theories—with talk of time travel experiments, mind control, alien technology, LSD testing and thousands of child abductions for a host of nefarious purposes. Garetano, Eisler and Volk went to the source for their extensive investigation, exploring Camp Hero, speaking to the citizens of Montauk and those who have made claims about the covert government programs that supposedly occurred there. The trio even stopped by the Dan’s Papers office during filming to discuss the rumors and make contacts with certain people who have had bizarre personal experiences in and around the defunct base.

As they point out on the show, claims of secret projects and conspiracies may seem outlandish, but it’s an undisputed fact that the United States government experimented on its own citizens in clandestine operations. The CIA’s MKUltra, two-decade-long mind control program, and the Tuskegee experiments—which resulted in more than 600 African American men purposely being exposed to syphilis—are two such conspiracies no one would have believed before they were proven true.

READ MORE ON GARETANO: Filmmaker Completes ‘Montauk Chronicles’ After 10 Painful Years

Garetano took an in-depth look at all of these things with his 2015 film, Montauk Chronicles, but that was just the opening salvo in what The Dark Files reveals to be a massive undertaking toward finding the truth.

Watch The Dark Files on History this Friday, September 8 at 10 p.m. and decide for yourself.

We’ll have more on this fascinating new special, including a conversation with Garetano, soon.