My trip to Montauk (Camp Hero)

when you went in 1975, were there loads of guards there, as people have stated this.

The first time a friend of mine and myself explored Camp Hero was a cold January day in 1975. I had seen a front page article, I believe in the summer of 1971, in Dan's Papers, www.danspapers.com...
, a weekly throwaway summer newspaper with a blueprint showing a bunker at Camp Hero with about six levels below the surface. This blueprint drawing may have been nothing more than the imagination of the publisher
of the paper, Dan Rattiner, I don't know. Anyway, in Jan of 75 we decided to explore the camp. It should be noted that Camp Hero was a WWII military installation of about 550 acres. After the war the Air
Force established a radar station on about 150 acres inside the confines of old Camp Hero. We parked at the lighthouse and entered the military installation via the shoreline next to the lighthouse. After
we walked about ten minutes we came to the entrance to the first underground bunker, note this was a smaller anti-aircraft bunker, not the massive ones housing the 16 inch guns, With flashlights in hand,
We were standing at the entrance, which had massive steel doors that were open, (today the bunker entrance is sealed in concrete). Just before we entered we noticed a military jeep CJ-5 with four military guys
with shotguns racing down the road towards us. We had been in Camp Hero for 15 minutes and were already caught. What happen was, these guys were about our age, 19 or 20 and were actually out deer huntting, not after
us. They were cool, and could give a s__t less whether we wanted to explored the underground bunker. It should be noted again, that this was on the abandoned portion of Camp Hero, not the active Air Force base
section that was still in use. The large sage radar was turning, and anywhere within a mile of it you would get a hash across your car radio every 12 seconds when it happened to be pointed in your direction. So
after the guys left, we went inside the bunker which was large, I would guess 5000 square feet, with many rooms. One was a bathroom, about the size you would find in a school with about 12 toilets. Other than that
there was not to much to see. In later years I would explore the larger 16 inch gun bunkers, that were so big, even my flashlight was insufficient to see the whole inside with the darkness. We left the Camp and walked down the
road and slipped out through a missing window in a concrete guard house and went back to our car in the lighthouse parking lot. I will later post my further adventures at Camp Hero, after the base closed in the winter of 1981.

1981?
I thought the base closed 1983!?
Its too bad theres no way to get inside the bunkers nowadays.

About that paper you mentioned, with the blueprints. Theres no chance a library around those parts would have a copy of it? Would have been interesting to take a glance or two

I thought the base closed 1983!?

Montauk Air Force Station closed February 1, 1981. The first of several visits I made after the base closed, was 1983. I went inside the windowless concrete building I call the control building, where the radar operators sat behind the counsels, which is a couple of hundred feet from the radar tower , and the air force left it as if they just walked out of the place. Papers still on the desk, duty charts with airman's names posted on the wall, etc. The days before vandals raided the base. Fantastic place in those days for the urban explorer. Next to no security except for state park maintenance employees.
Regarding the bunker blueprint. It was definately Dan's Papers, front page, and I think it was summer of 1971. Unusual because this was 20 years before the Montauk Project book came out. I know the East Hampton library has some Dan's Papers on microfilm. Not sure if they have that summer. Better yet, email Dan at danspapers.com and rack his memory. He wrote the article that accompanied the bunker print. As I said, it may be nothing more than a story he made up. The bunker print looked halfway profesional though. I do know that Dan grew up in Montauk, and took photos when the local fire department burned down many of the original wooden buildings at Camp Hero in the mid 1960's.
I myself have been in all the bunkers and never found any levels lower than the main level. The sage radar tower is another story. Although I have been inside all levels of the tower and up on the roof where the dish is located, many times, I suspect there is a basement. I found no entry into this lower level from the building itself, but suspect access is through concrete tunnels on the grounds outside the radar building. Again, this is only speculation, but the way the radar sits upon a hill, i would not doubt it. Possibly the old elevator, that was no longer operating decended down to lower levels. Again, I don't know.

Took a look at the area on Google Earth and was surprised to find Camp Hero isn't blocked out.

Here are some coordintes for some of the structures at Camp Hero if anybody is curious.

Radar Installation: 41*03 43.87 N / 71*52 26.56 W

Old 16" Gun Bunkers: 41*03 53.77N / 71*52 13.73 W

Hey photoman, those are some great stories. I would have loved to explore Camp Hero in the 70s or 80s, but I was only born in 1986. I know my dad explored the base back in the 1980s while horseback riding (haha). He noticed nothing out of the ordinary though.

Wow. Thank you for these pictures and taking the time to go out on your own (at night, I would have been scared).

You have voted destillat for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have one more vote left for this month.

Definitely well deserved. Welcome to ATS and I appreciate your contributions already given this early in your time here.

Here are a couple pictures of Camp Hero that I found on Google Earth.

This is the Radar Unit.



And this is a picture of the 16" Gun Emplacements.

I Live an hour away was there not to long ago, but didnt go to camp hero.
last time i was there we explored much of it, even the part with the gate closed we had to park and walk on foot.
the strang feelings you get walking through there alone or not..it puts shivers on your spine.
the wierd part is, i believe when you get close enough to the cliff there and look over there is a pipe leading out of the side of the cliff into the water. this is right by the antenna. ill see if i can dig up some old photos of when i went

I Live an hour away was there not to long ago, but didnt go to camp hero.
last time i was there we explored much of it, even the part with the gate closed we had to park and walk on foot.
the strang feelings you get walking through there alone or not..it puts shivers on your spine.
the wierd part is, i believe when you get close enough to the cliff there and look over there is a pipe leading out of the side of the cliff into the water. this is right by the antenna. ill see if i can dig up some old photos of when i went

I Live an hour away was there not to long ago, but didnt go to camp hero.
last time i was there we explored much of it, even the part with the gate closed we had to park and walk on foot.
the strang feelings you get walking through there alone or not..it puts shivers on your spine.
the wierd part is, i believe when you get close enough to the cliff there and look over there is a pipe leading out of the side of the cliff into the water. this is right by the antenna. ill see if i can dig up some old photos of when i went

i go to montauk a few times a year, its actually really nice.. montauk point is probably one of the nicer areas of the northeast. Dont let those pics lead you to believe montauk is a rundown desolate area. Thats why these things are of interest, because they are out of place in an area like this.

Wow! Those are some great pictures. I commend you on your bravery for walking around the base at night by yourself. I have been out there during the day by myself, and I know exactly what you mean by that eerie feeling. It just doesn't feel right, and to be honest I think it would be easy to start panicking if you let yourself do that. I especially like the photo you got of the weld marks. It verifies some of Preston Nichols story to a certain extent. Great job!

Tomorrow afternoon I will be visiting Camp Hero once again and this time during the day. Montauk Point is very nice to visit in the spring, and I will be taking some daytime photographs this time. I should have them up on here within a day or too.

I am very curious to see what has changed since my last visit in January.

Originally posted by destillat
although I felt some of the most unsettling and unnerving feelings of my entire life while walking around in the dark by myself.

you went there - by yourself.
you went there by yourself in the night.

Man ... you are brave.

Those feelings seems to be what everyone reports on. Considering what is probably there - all that messing around with time and energy - I'm not surprised that it has that effect.

You say nothing happened .. but if 'they' messed with your memory, you wouldn't remember, would you?

EDITED to add - if I had any Way Above votes left - you'd definately have one!

[edit on 4/14/2007 by FlyersFan]

Great thread and great photos.

Can someone post links to the information regarding the welds?

Thanks.

Here are some new photos from my visit to Camp Hero over the weekend:

Entrance to the base

Guard booth with painted on windows

Another of the mysterious concrete building

Pump house surrounded by a snow fence

Pump house with radar tower in the background

Well caps in the woods

Inside of the well - Running Water on a derelict military base?

Another of inside the well... How deep does this ladder go down? Wonder where it leads to...

Bunker as the sun was setting

I wonder where this walkway once lead to..

A stream in the woods

Another of the stream

A deer as we were leaving, very strange

As with every trip to Camp Hero, I always witness a new oddity (or several). This time me and two other friends arrived at Camp Hero around 6pm and explored the area until dark. The first oddity I encountered - Running water in one of the wells.. Why would a derelict military base need running water? Doesn't seem to make any sense at all. Second oddity - A snow fence around the pump house. It appears that this fence was placed here to protect the pump building from the weather. Is there still water being pumped from this structure? And if so, for what purpose? Like I said in an earlier post, the more I visit Camp Hero, the more I start to believe that there is still some activity occurring beneath the surface. As the weather starts to become nicer I am planning to take another trip there soon to try and find a way under ground, and if I reach my goal I will certainly have my camera present for validity.

[edit on 16-4-2007 by destillat]

well done ...and many thanks for the photos,

please do go back and take some more if you can.

good luck with any more trips

and once again thanks

snoopyuk

That is interesting there is a fence around the pump house now. It wasn't there last summer. That is the house that I had found a tunnel leading out of the back of it into the hill under the radar. Very intriguing...

destillat : Great story and great presentation. I envy you when it comes
to having the opportunity to actually check things out.
Because of William and you, all of us get to experience some of the
suspense. I'll stay "tuned".

Very cool Destillat!
I want you to know I appreciate you going out there and gathering more pictures for everyone here at ATS. I became very interested in Montauk after reading WOS' threads on the subject and yours. Awsome Thread!