The full ‘Stranger Things’ timeline, explained

What do we know about the history of Hawkins, Indiana, and the canonical timeline in which Stranger Things takes place?

Almost any place around the world has its fair share of mystical folktales; stories of a supernatural kind, that allude to the existence of beings that control or shape our lives from behind the curtains, and you need but to extend a hand to rouse them from stupor, though you’re always highly discouraged from doing so. In the case of Stranger Things’ cursed midwestern town of Hawkins, those folktales have grown too real for anyone to ignore anymore, at least anyone who would be paying enough attention, like our beloved Hawkins conspiracy theorist, Murray Bauman.

The unnatural has plagued Hawkins for the better part of the past century, and only in the latest generation has this fight reached its crescendo, with our gang of mischief-makers and their parents figures going up against Vecna, the Upside Down, and the Mind Flayer one last time in the upcoming fifth and final season of the show. 

But that’s still a long way away. (The production team recently announced that they’re only just planning to begin principal photography. A long way, indeed.) As such, this might be the perfect opportunity to refresh your Stranger Things knowledge, and review the historical events of Hawkins in chronological order. 

The full Stranger Things timeline

It began roughly two centuries ago, when the town of Hawkins was originally founded. There wasn’t anything particularly distinctive about this small town out in the midwest, but that would change in the early 1900s, when Victor Creel, the father of Henry Creel (aka Vecna) came to reside there. In fact, this story begins with the birth of Victor Creel, in 1919.

1919

• Victor Creel is born.

1922

• Florence, the dutiful secretary of Hawkins Police Station, is born.

1923

• Virginia Creel, the wife of Victor Creel and mother of Henry Creel, is born.
• The last person prior to Will Byers goes missing in Hawkins.

1938

• Ted Wheeler, the father of Mike and Nancy Wheeler, is born.
• Yuri Ismaylov, “the Smuggler,” is born somewhere in the Soviet Union.

1941-1942

• Jim Hopper is born in Hawkins.
• Joyce Byers, originally going by the maiden name of Joyce Maldonado, is born in Hawkins.

1945

• Alice Creel, sister of Henry Creel, is born to Victor and Virgina.

1944-1950

• Henry Creel is born.

1947-1948

• Rebecca “Becky” Ives is born.
• Robert “Rob” Newby (portrayed by Sean Astin) is born in Hawkins, Indiana.
• The Hawkins Post local newspaper is established.
• Scott Clarke, the science teacher, is born.

1950

• Jim Hopper’s dad is promoted to chief of police.

1952

• Hawkins High School is founded.

1953

• Project MKUltra, a real-life mission with the goal of creating telepathically-abled individuals and supervised by Dr. Martin Brenner, is sanctioned by the CIA. Within the Stranger Things universe, experiments begin to take place at Hawkins.

1957-1959

• The Creels movie into a new home in Hawkins. Henry discovers his telekinetic abilities and begins to terrorize the neighborhood in secret. 
• Saturday, March 14, 1959: Henry kills his mother and sister — during dinner, mind you — by gouging out their eyes and breaking their bones. Henry puts his father in a trance, but falls into a coma himself. Brenner removes Henry to study him at his lab, while Victor Creel is arrested for the murder of his family.

1960

• Tom Holloway begins his job at The Hawkins Post.

1965-1968

• Eddie Munson is born in Hawkins. He eventually comes under the care and guardianship of his uncle, Wayne Munson.

1966-1967

• Steve Harrington is born in Hawkins.
• Jonathan Byers, brother of Will Byers, is born in Hawkins.
• Nancy Wheeler, sister of Mike Wheeler, is born in Hawkins.
• Argyle is born in California.
• Barbara “Barb” Holland, one of the first unfortunate victims of the Mind Flayer, is born in Hawkins.

1959-1979

• Having been told that his son Henry didn’t survive his coma, Victor is sent to a psychiatric facility called the Pennhurst Mental Hospital. He tries to commit suicide by putting a razor to his eyes, but he’s stopped by the establishment’s warden, Anthony Hatch.
• Brenner names Henry “001” and begins experimenting on him to replicate his powers. He puts an inhibitor chip inside Henry to restrict his powers.
• Hopper is drafted to fight in Vietnam, where he gets exposed to Agent Orange.

1970

• Terry Ives, Eleven’s mother, participates in MKUltra without knowing she’s pregnant.

1971

• Jane Ives is born to Terry Ives. Brenner takes away the child and calls her “Eleven,” burying the incident and telling everyone that Terry lost the baby.
• Lucas Sinclair is born in Hawkins.
• Suzie Bingham is born in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Max Mayfield is born, presumably in California.
• Monday, March 22: Will Byers is born in Hawkins.
• Mike Wheeler is born.
• Dustin Henderson is born.
• Sara Hopper is born to Jim Hopper and his wife Diane Hopper.

1973

• MKUltra is exposed, and the experiments are halted.

1974

• Terry Ives successfully infiltrates the lab to rescue her daughter, Jane. She kills a security guard and finds Jane, but Brenner interrupts and takes her away, administering her to electroconvulsive shocks. (According to the Dark Horse comics, this rescue attempt took place in 1978, so the date is questionable.)

1975

• The great mistress of sass, Erica “You Can’t Have America without Erica” Sinclair, is born in Hawkins.

1976

• Will Byers and Mike Wheeler go to kindergarten together, and immediately become best friends. They then meet Lucas Sinclair and form a trio.

1977

• On his tenth birthday, Lonnie Byers forces his son Jonathan to kill a rabbit with a gun, which traumatizes him for a long time.

1978

• Sara Hopper, Jim’s daughter, is diagnosed with cancer due to Jim’s exposure to Agent Orange. She passes away, causing Jim and Diane to break up, and the former to go down a mental spiral, becoming an alcoholic.
• Kali, aka Eight, escapes Hawkins Labs and finds a family to take her in. She eventually loses them because of her abilities, and vows revenge on Brenner.

1979

• Hopper becomes chief of police.
• September 4-7: A series of tests conducted by Dr. Brenner on Eleven and the rest of the children at Hawkins Lab.
• September 8: Henry manipulates Eleven into removing his inhibitor chip. With his powers restored, he then proceeds to kill everyone at Hawkins Lab. Seeing the slaughter, Eleven confronts Henry and banishes him to another dimension, the Upside Down. Having overexerted herself, Eleven falls unconscious, and a wary Dr. Brenner comes to collect her.
• Henry finds himself in a strange realm with stranger humanoid creatures. He uses his powers to form them into another shape, that of a Mind Flayer.

1980

• Holly Wheeler is born to Ted and Karen in Hawkins.
• Dustin Henderson and his family move to Hawkins, whereupon he befriends the trio and becomes the fourth member of the friend group.

1982

• Joyce Byers gets a divorce from Lonnie. The Byers brothers build Castle Byers in the woods.

1983 (season 1)

• Eleven undergoes a series of tests at Hawkins Lab under the supervision of Brenner, who is looking to explore her strange potential further.
• November 6-10: Eleven attempts to make contact with the Upside Down monster, but ends up creating a rift into that world, letting loose the Demogorgon. Will Byers is abducted. Eleven visits Benny’s Burgers and kills two agents when they try to capture her. Joyce reports Will’s missing status to the police, and Hopper and his team search the woods. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas stumble upon Eleven in the forest. Mike hides Eleven at their house, and stays home to learn more about her and her telekinetic abilities. Eleven shows them that Will is in the Upside Down. Nancy and Barbara go to Steve Harrington’s party. Barbara is dragged away into the Upside Down. Hopper learns about Brenner’s involvement in MKUltra. Will communicates with Joyce and tells her to “run.” Eleven brings the gang to Will’s house, and says that he’s stuck there. Will’s body is supposedly found near the quarry. Hopper discovers the body is a fake. Eleven convinces the boys that Will is alive, and they manage to communicate with him via the AV Club’s radio. Hopper breaks into the lab and finds the gate, but agents drug him and return him to his trailer.
• November 11-13: Nancy enters the Upside Down. The boys try to look for the gate, but Eleven attempts to dissuade them. Joyce and Hopper learn about Eleven through Terry’s sister. Eleven and the boys reconcile and flee from the agents who invade Mike’s house. Hopper, Joyce, the boys, Eleven, Nancy, and Jonathan band together to locate Will, and use Eleven’s enhanced powers in a sensory deprivation tank (the bathtub) to do so. Jonathan, Nancy, and Steve set a trap for the monster and set him on fire. Eleven and Mike go to Snow Ball, but the Demogorgon arrives. Eleven says farewell to Mike and kills the monster, vanishing in the process. Joyce and Hopper enter the Upside Down and rescue Will. 
• Hopper places waffles for Eleven in the forest, and Mike tries to contact her via radio.

1983-1984

• Eleven and Hopper start living together in his grandmother’s cabin, and develop a bond. Hopper doesn’t want Eleven to see her friends, lest she endanger herself. A secondary entrance to the Upside Down is formed at Hawkins Lab. Sam Owens becomes the new director. Joyce begins dating Bob Newby. Murray Bauman starts investigating Barbara’s death.

1984 (season 2)

• The Soviets try to open a gate into the Upside Down, but fail.
• Billy and Max move to Hawkins and arrive at the school for their first day.
• October 29-November 5: Will continues to have visions of the Upside Down. During one of these breakdowns, the boys notice him and he reveals his condition to them. Steve and Nancy talk about breaking up. Eleven contacts Mike telepathically, after having ignored him for 352 days. Dustin finds D’Artagnan in a trash can outside his house. Eleven and Hopper get into an argument over her restrictions. Will tells Joyce and Hopper about his condition. Hopper is trapped in the Upside Down after his investigation. Joyce investigates his disappearance with Will’s help, and together with Bob, manages to free him. Nancy and Jonathan continue to meet with Murray Bauman and tell him the truth about Barb’s death. Eleven leaves for Chicago to find Kali and seek answers.
• Owens deduces that Will is still infected with a parasite from the Mind Flayer. Meanwhile, D’Artagnan is growing rapidly and kills Mews. The boys, with Max’s help, attempt to trap and kill D’Artagnan. Eleven trains under Kali, but when she sees her friends in danger, leaves Chicago to go help them. The Demodogs attack Hawkins Lab, but Bob sacrifices himself to allow the party to escape. They deduce that Will can help them defeat the monster, but only if he’s not spying on them.
• The Demodogs learn where Will is hiding. The gang prepares to fight them off, but Eleven arrives and kills them. Mike and Eleven are reunited. The team works together to defeat the Mind Flayer, with Eleven closing the gate, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Max drawing the Demodogs away, and the rest helping to draw the monster out of Will before the connection to the Mind Flayer is cut off.
• Bauman’s report closes off Hawkins Lab, and the kids, having defeated the Mind Flayet yet again, celebrate their victory during Snow Ball. 

1985 (season 3)

• The Soviets finally perfect their method of infiltrating the Upside Down. They begin developing a secret facility in Hawkins, under the Starcourt Mall.
• June 28-29: Hopper finds Mike and Eleven kissing, so he intervenes. Mike, Will, Lucas, and Max visit Starcourt Mall. In the hidden Soviet base, the Russians activate the key and open another gate into the Upside Down. Dustin comes back from camp and the gang surprises him. The boys attempt to set up a radio to contact Dustin’s long-distance girlfriend, Suzie. Billy drives to meet Mrs. Wheeler but is intercepted by the Mind Flayer, who drags him away to possess his body.
• June 30: Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan investigate erratic behaviors around Hawkins, including rats that are acting strange. Dustin visits Steve, and tells him about the Russian message they intercepted with the radio. Eleven and Max spend the day together at the mall. A possessed Billy kidnaps Heather Holloway.
• The gang continues to investigate these weird occurrences, with Hopper and Joyce going to Hawkins Lab and Eleven and Max looking into Heather’s disappearance. 
• July 2: Steve and Dustin manage to locate the secret Russian facility, with the help of Erica and Robin. The rest of the kids surmise that the Mind Flayer is back once again, this time using Billy as his host. They trap Billy inside a sauna to drive the Mind Flayer away. Billy and Eleven engage in a battle, but Eleven is overpowered. Mike helps Eleven and she compels Billy to run away from the confrontation.
• July 3: Hopper and Joyce find Alexei and manage to lose the Russian agent Grigori in the chase. The kids reunite with Nancy and Jonathan, and plan to take down the Mind Flayer. Dustin and Steve explore the Russian underground base.
• July 4: Alexei reveals that the Russians plan to open the gate. Eleven and the gang head to Hopper’s cabin, but the Mind Flayer arrives and attempts to kill them. They head to the mall, and at the same time, the other group escapes the underground base. Hopper also learns that the kids are headed to the mall, so he, Joyce, and Bauman make their way there.
• “The Battle of Starcourt” takes place. Joyce and Hopper stop the Russians by exploding the gate, during which Hopper is taken to the Soviet Union as a prisoner. The kids confront the Mind Flayer, and Eleven manages to get through to Billy and free his mind. Billy sacrifices himself to buy the gang some time. As Joyce shuts down the machine, the Mind Flayer avatar collapses in the mall. Owens and government agents arrive at the scene.

1985-1986 (season 4)

• The Byers move to California, and take Eleven with them. After learning Eleven has lost her powers, Brenner and Owens develop Project Nina to help restore them. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas join the Hellfire Club of Dungeons and Dragons players, at Eddie Munson’s behest. 
• Chrissy Cunningham, Fred Benson, and Max begin to suffer from nightmares and nosebleeds.
• March 21: Joyce receives a strange porcelain doll which she cracks, finding a letter therein that says Hopper is still alive. Eddie Munson initiates the “Cult of Vecna” D&D campaign with the Hellfire Club. He later meets up with Chrissy to sell her drugs. Vecna targets Chrissy and mutilates her body in front of a terrified Munson, who flees his trailer and goes into hiding.
• March 22: Murray and Joyce contact Enzo to ask after Hopper. Max, Steve, and Dustin discuss Chrissy’s murder, and come to the conclusion that Eddie couldn’t have been the killer. They find Eddie hiding in a boathouse, and explain the Upside Down to him. Fred Benson is killed by Vecna.
• March 23: Colonel Sullivan continues to hunt down Eleven, which prompts Owens to contact Brenner and initiate the final phase of Project Nina. Robin and Nancy investigate Victor Creel, who was said to have murdered his family in a way similar to how Chrissy died. Dustin and Steve learn that Max is suffering from the same symptoms as Chrissy and Fred.
• March 24: Nancy and Robin infiltrate Pennhurst Mental Hospital to visit Victor Creel. They’re chased away by the warden after a brief conversation, but learn that Victor survived the Vecna because of music. Joyce and Murray meet with Yuri Ismaylov, who drugs them in the hope of earning a bounty from the Russians. Max is attacked by the Vecna, but the group manages to save her by playing Max’s favorite music, which is the 1985 Kate Bush classic, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).”
• March 25: Eleven goes through her memories of Hawkins Lab with the help of Owens and Brenner. Meanwhile, Mike, Jonathan, and Will try to locate her through the desert. Hopper attempts to escape the Soviet prison. Joyce and Murray get out of their bonds and land Yuri’s plane somewhere a little away from the prison complex.
• March 26-March 29: Eleven learns the truth about Henry, and continues to go through her memories. Joyce and Murray manage to rescue Hopper, but decide to return to the prison camp to see this through. Sullivan’s troops attack the Nina Project base and go through Owens and Brenner’s defenses. Eleven manages to kill the soldiers, whereupon the California group arrives and takes her away. Eventually, the gang splits into several different groups and takes on the Vecna. Eleven fights him in the Void and tries to save Max. Robin, Steve, and Nancy infiltrate Victor Creel’s house and find Vecna there in the Upside Down. They try to destroy his body, while Eleven keeps her mind engaged. Eddie and Dustin distract the Demobats, and the former sacrifices himself to save Dustin. While the group successfully stops Vecna, the Upside Down gates open across Hawkins and kill many residents. Max is mortally wounded and goes into a coma.
• The fourth season ends with Hopper and Eleven reunited, and the entire group looking out towards the Upside Down gate.

So, there you have it, folks. It remains to be seen where the upcoming final season will pick up the narrative, but it will hopefully be the last time our Hawkins gang has to square off against the Upside Down and its evil.