Show Sample for 01/19/26: Stranger Thingamajigs w/ Derek Murphy

About this episode

The episode discusses the connections between Stranger Things and real historical events and conspiracy theories.

Although the worldwide Netflix phenomenon Stranger Things was released in 2016, the Internet is finally catching up a decade later in realizing that the show is both loosely and firmly based on both real historical programs and popular conspiracy theories. But Stranger Things is more than that; it incorporates cultural nostalgia, even of the negative kind, like the Satanic Panic, and puts historical Easter eggs in every season. From Project Rainbow to Astral Projection, and from MK Ultra to child abuse and Project Montauk, many of the themes present in the show are also anything but unique. They pull from myth, legend, and folklore, and in some ways touch on ritual magic and the dark arts. The synchronicities of the show are as powerful today as the archetypal characters of Star Wars were to the 1970s. In the upside down of all this, however, is a world of real science, including real DOE National Laboratories like the Idaho National Lab alongside the labs involved in the Manhattan Project. Tonight on Ground Zero, Ryan Gable fills in for Clyde Lewis and talks with synchrocity researcher, Derek Murphy about STRANGER THINGAMAJIGS. Listen at 7pm, pacific time on groundzeroplus.com.

People in this episode

Host: Clyde Lewis

Guest: Derek Murphy

Topics covered

• Stranger Things
• conspiracy theories
• historical programs
• cultural nostalgia
• ritual magic
• synchronicity
• real science

Keywords

• Stranger Things
• Derek Murphy
• conspiracy theories
• Satanic Panic
• MK Ultra
• Project Montauk
• cultural nostalgia
• synchronicity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Netflix, DOE National Laboratories

Books & works: Stranger Things

Places: Idaho National Lab

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