The Montauk Project conspiracy theory originated with a 1992 book by Preston Nichols and Peter Moon.

Before 1992, the wild rumors of time travel and mind control at Camp Hero did not exist in public literature. Preston Nichols, an electrical engineer, self-published a book claiming he recovered repressed memories of working on secret government projects. He spun a tale of kidnapped children, electromagnetic mind control, and portals. This single text transformed a quiet, decommissioned military radar station into a landmark of modern American mythology.