ATLANTA — “So are you having any sleep issues? Nightmares?” a stern man in a lab outfit asked each person entering Hawkins National Laboratory. His intense eyes and frown lines were discomfiting. He jotted some quick notes and moved on.
Then a video came on featuring Dr. Sam Owens (played by Paul Reiser), director of operations. “We’re excited to serve the great community of Hawkins,” he intoned cheerfully, then informed the participants not to take any photographs, or else “our important work here could be compromised.”
From there, 30 or so people were shepherded into what is known as “Stranger Things: The Experience” at Pullman Yards in Kirkwood. Calamity and death await — though not for the participants. The experience pays homage to the hugely successful Netflix horror drama that debuted in 2016 and is shot largely in Georgia, though is set in a fictional Indiana town called Hawkins in the mid-1980s.
