Stranger Things weaves a complex narrative spanning decades, with flashbacks, time jumps, and parallel dimensions. This timeline puts every major event in chronological order, from the earliest known moment to the series finale.
Note: This timeline contains spoilers for all seasons.
1947-1958: The Beginning
1947: Henry Creel is born, already displaying unusual abilities that he doesn't understand.
1959: The Creel family moves to Hawkins, Indiana. Henry, now 12, begins to understand his powers—and his contempt for humanity.
September 1959: Henry Creel massacres his family, killing his mother Virginia and sister Alice. He frames his father Victor, who is institutionalized. The effort puts Henry into a coma.
Late 1959: Dr. Martin Brenner discovers Henry at Hawkins National Laboratory. He becomes "001"—the first subject in Brenner's MKUltra-derived experiments.
1959-1979: The Hawkins Lab Era
1959-1979: Brenner conducts experiments on numerous children, numbering them 001 through 018. Some die. Some are "retired." Henry/001 is deemed too dangerous and fitted with a power-suppressing chip. He works as an orderly at the lab.
1970: Terry Ives participates in MKUltra experiments while unknowingly pregnant.
1971: Jane Ives is born and immediately taken by Brenner. She is designated "011"—Eleven.
1979: Henry manipulates young Eleven into removing his suppressor chip. He massacres the other children and lab personnel. Eleven, in self-defense, opens a gate and banishes Henry to the Upside Down. This is the first known gate.
1979-1983: In the Upside Down, Henry transforms into the creature that will be called Vecna. He shapes the dimension, creating the Demogorgons and connecting to the Mind Flayer.
November 1983: Season 1
November 6, 1983: Will Byers is abducted by a Demogorgon and pulled into the Upside Down. This is the date the Upside Down's version of Hawkins becomes frozen in time.
November 6-8: Eleven escapes from Hawkins Lab. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas find her while searching for Will.
November 8-12: Joyce Byers begins communicating with Will through Christmas lights. Hopper investigates the lab.
November 12: Barb Holland is killed by the Demogorgon at Steve's pool party.
November 12-15: The Party discovers the Upside Down's existence. Eleven makes contact with Will and later the Demogorgon.
November 15: Eleven kills the Demogorgon but disappears into the Upside Down in the process. Will is rescued but has been changed by his time in the other dimension.
October-November 1984: Season 2
October 1984: Will begins experiencing "episodes"—visions of the Upside Down and a massive shadow creature (the Mind Flayer).
October 28-29: Eleven, who has been living with Hopper in hiding, discovers she has a "sister"—Kali (Eight), another Hawkins Lab escapee.
October 30: The Mind Flayer possesses Will. Bob Newby deciphers Will's map of the tunnels.
October 31: Dustin adopts D'Artagnan (Dart), a baby Demogorgon.
November 1-4: Bob Newby is killed helping the group escape Hawkins Lab. Eleven returns and closes the gate, severing the Mind Flayer's connection to this dimension—but a piece remains in Will.
November 4: The Snow Ball dance. Mike and Eleven share their first kiss.
July 1985: Season 3
June 28, 1985: Starcourt Mall opens. Unknown to Hawkins, a Soviet facility beneath it is attempting to reopen the gate.
July 1-4: The Soviets successfully breach the gate. The Mind Flayer begins building a new form using possessed Hawkins residents—the Meat Flayer.
- Billy Hargrove is revealed to be the Mind Flayer's primary host
- The Battle of Starcourt Mall
- Billy sacrifices himself to save Eleven and the others
- Hopper and Joyce destroy the Soviet key, closing the gate
- Hopper is presumed dead but actually captured by Soviets
- The Byers family and Eleven move away from Hawkins
March 1986: Season 4
December 1985 - March 1986: Hopper is imprisoned in a Soviet labor camp in Kamchatka.
March 21, 1986: Chrissy Cunningham is killed by Vecna—the first of his new victims.
- More Hawkins High students are killed by Vecna
- Eddie Munson is blamed and hunted
- Eleven's powers remain lost; she enters the Nina Project
- Hopper escapes the Soviet prison with help from Dmitri
- Max becomes Vecna's target but is saved by "Running Up That Hill"
- Eleven recovers her memories and powers
- The truth about Henry Creel/001/Vecna is revealed
- The Party enters the Upside Down to attack Vecna's physical form
- Eddie Munson dies fighting Demo-bats
- Eleven defeats Vecna in the psychic realm
- Max is critically injured (clinically dead for over a minute)
- Four gates open across Hawkins, devastating the town
1986: Season 5 - The Final Battle
March 29, 1986: Season 5 begins two days after the gates opened. Hawkins is quarantined. The Upside Down is spreading.
March-April 1986: The final battle for Hawkins and the world. The timeline compresses as events accelerate toward the climax.
[Specific dates withheld to avoid major finale spoilers]
The series concludes with an epilogue that shows the characters' lives after the events of Hawkins, bringing closure to a story that began in 1983.
Quick Reference: Key Dates
The Essential Stranger Things Timeline:
- 1959: Henry Creel kills his family, becomes 001
- 1971: Eleven is born
- 1979: Eleven banishes Henry to the Upside Down; he becomes Vecna
- November 6, 1983: Will disappears; the story begins
- November 1984: Gate closed, Mind Flayer defeated (temporarily)
- July 4, 1985: Battle of Starcourt; Hopper "dies"
- March 1986: Vecna's return; four gates open
- April 1986: The final battle
The entire main story spans just over two years in-universe, though the full mythology covers nearly 40 years.
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