Reality is Stranger Than Fiction
So "Stranger Things...Firestarter... Escape from Witch Mountain" are actually based on a real military base in NY where the NSA/CIA ran all sorts of weird experiments on ESP, Telepathy, Out of Body Travel, etc.
Weirdo shit basically.
Many of the experiments fell under the Montauk Project.
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/search/site/Montauk%20Project...