In this premiere episode of Shadow Wars: Stranger Things and the Cold War from the Cold War Bunker, we dive into the eerie parallels between Hawkins Lab and one of the darkest chapters in American history: the CIA’s Project MKUltra.

Through an interwoven narrative of fiction and fact, we place Eleven’s experiments side-by-side with real-life stories of LSD trials, psychic warfare, and a government obsessed with weaponizing the human mind.

From secret brothels wired with two-way mirrors to mothers unknowingly dosed with hallucinogens, the truth behind MKUltra is more unsettling than fiction. And yet, Stranger Things transforms that history into a metaphorical battleground where paranoia, secrecy, and power created monsters both real and imagined.

Episode 1 asks: when governments use fear as fuel and science as a weapon, who are the real monsters?

Step into the bunker. The shadow wars are just beginning.

What if Stranger Things wasn’t just fiction?
Secret mind control experiments. Psychic warfare. Cold War paranoia.
The real history that inspired Hawkins is darker than you think.

Shadow Wars: Stranger Things and the Cold War — New podcast drops September 15th.

After digging deep into the history, secrecy, and sheer power of America’s airborne command post, we sit down to reflect. In this special Debrief Episode, Ben is joined by Aaron & Blaire to unpack everything we’ve learned about the E-4B “Doomsday Plane.”

From its Cold War origins to its enduring relevance in the modern era, we break down the biggest revelations, ask the tough questions, and debate the legacy of a flying fortress designed to keep the government running at the end of the world.

Expect a mix of serious analysis, surprising perspectives, and even a few laughs as our panel discusses what the E-4B really represents: fear, resilience, and the extraordinary lengths nations will go to prepare for the unthinkable. Whether you’ve been with us from the beginning or you’re just boarding now, this finale is your chance to hear the story behind the story, and discover what the Doomsday Plane tells us about the past, the present, and the future.

In the final chapter of our deep dive into the E-4B Doomsday Plane, we bring the story full circle. We look at the E-4B’s place in today’s world, its role in a new age of cyber warfare, space weapons, and shifting global threats. The Cold War may be over, but the need for airborne command centers hasn’t gone away.

This serves as a reflection: what does this plane really symbolize? Is it a monument to human ingenuity, or a reminder of our obsession with preparing for the end? Through its legacy, we confront the paradox of a machine built for a scenario we pray never arrives.

The E-4B is more than an aircraft. It’s a shadow that still flies above us; a command post in the sky, ready for the unthinkable.

In this stretch of the story, we dive into the living legacy of the E-4B Doomsday Plane. It explores how the aircraft adapted in the post–Cold War era, shifting from nuclear fears to new global threats like terrorism and cyber warfare. We unravel the mysteries and myths surrounding the plane, from sightings on 9/11 to conspiracy theories that keep it shrouded in intrigue. Finally, we reflect on the enduring symbolism of the E-4B: a flying fortress that represents both humanity’s fear of destruction and its relentless drive to survive the unimaginable.

This is where past and present collide, and where we ask the hard question: what does a “Doomsday Plane” mean in the 21st century?

When the Cold War turned white-hot in the minds of military planners, the E-4B had to prove it could do more than just survive — it had to run the nation from the sky.

In this episode of Command in the Sky, we step inside the heart of the “Doomsday Plane” as it evolves from concept to an airborne command post capable of managing nuclear war in real time.
We explore the cutting-edge (and classified) communications systems, the crew who would operate them under unimaginable pressure, and the Cold War crises that tested its readiness.

From simulated apocalypses to shadowy midair refueling operations, these sections reveal how the E-4B became more than a plane — it became the last line of command.

In this first episode of Command in the Sky, we take you back to the darkest days of the Cold War, when the fear of nuclear annihilation shaped policy, culture, and innovation. Here we lay the foundation of this gripping tale — a story of airpower, survival, and silent missions flying high above a world on the brink.

We begin by revisiting the geopolitical paranoia of the 1960s and 70s, when Cold War tensions forced U.S. strategists to ask a terrifying question: What happens if Washington is destroyed in a nuclear strike? The answer was both stunning and secret — a fleet of airborne command centers, designed to keep the President and military leaders alive and in control even if the nation was burning.

You’ll hear how the E-4B "Nightwatch" was born out of this fear, why a converted Boeing 747 was chosen, and how this jet became one of the most powerful and enigmatic weapons in America's arsenal — without ever firing a single shot. From the fail-safes embedded in its hardened airframe to the political debates surrounding continuity of government, we explore the overlapping worlds of military engineering, Cold War paranoia, and elite secrecy.

This is not just the story of a plane. It’s the story of the plan — to command the apocalypse from 30,000 feet.

The Debrief
Cuban Missile Crisis

Description:
Blaire Hicks & Aaron Baldwin join The Bunker Crew to examine the series on The Cuban Missile Crisis.

How close did we really get to nuclear war? What secrets were kept—and what were the long-term consequences of those whispered deals? What myths have shaped our memory of October 1962, and what lessons have been lost to time?

Together, we explore the hidden costs of compromise, the power of backchannel diplomacy, and how the shadows of the Cuban Missile Crisis still shape global politics today. This isn’t just history—it’s a warning.

Don’t miss the final installment - because understanding how we survived the past may be the key to surviving the future.

How the World Changed After the Cuban Missile Crisis
In October 1962, the world held its breath. Nuclear war seemed imminent. The Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved in thirteen tense days — but the real impact would last decades. In this immersive, 60,000-word deep dive, we examine how the Cold War was forever changed by those two weeks of near-apocalypse.

From the rise of Mutually Assured Destruction to the birth of nuclear diplomacy… from haunted presidents to silent submarines… from the nuclear paranoia of schoolchildren to the evolution of superpower strategy — this episode traces the long, chilling shadow the crisis cast across history.

This is not just a story of what almost happened… it’s a reckoning with how close we came, and how we still live in its echo.

Topics Covered:

• The psychological aftermath of nuclear brinkmanship

• Shifts in U.S. and Soviet strategic doctrine

• How the crisis redefined diplomacy, war planning, and intelligence

• The explosion of nuclear fear in global culture

• The treaties, technologies, and tensions born from 1962

• Why the memory of the crisis may be more important now than ever

In Episode 3 we arrive at the razor’s edge of global catastrophe. With Soviet missiles in Cuba discovered, President John F. Kennedy and his advisors must navigate a series of impossible choices. This episode plunges listeners into the intense hours of October 22–24, 1962, when the world waited, breath held, to see if diplomacy could outpace destruction.

We explore the dramatic televised address that shocked the American public, the naval quarantine that tested Soviet resolve, and the backchannel messages that revealed just how close the U.S. and USSR came to launching nuclear war. Meanwhile, Fidel Castro watched nervously from Havana, furious at his role as a pawn in a superpower chess match.

"The Brink" is a visceral, minute-by-minute journey through the most dangerous standoff in human history—a confrontation where every pause, every word, and every move could trigger annihilation.

Prepare yourself. This is the moment the Cold War turned hot—almost.