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: