I've watched Stranger Things enough times that I can pretty much recite the timeline from memory. But getting it all straight—the flashbacks, the time jumps, the parallel dimension stuff—took actual work. This is the result: every major event in chronological order, from the earliest known moment to the series finale.
If you're trying to make sense of how all the pieces fit together, or if you just want to verify your own obsessive note-taking, you're in the right place.
Warning: This timeline contains spoilers for ALL seasons. Turn back if you haven't finished.
1947-1958: The Beginning
This is where it all starts—decades before Will Byers vanished.
1947: Henry Creel is born, already displaying unusual abilities he doesn't understand. I find it fascinating that the show's ultimate villain predates everything else by so much.
1959: The Creel family moves to Hawkins, Indiana. Henry, now 12, begins to understand his powers—and his contempt for humanity grows.
September 1959: Henry massacres his family, killing his mother Virginia and sister Alice. He frames his father Victor, who is institutionalized for murder. The effort puts Henry into a coma. This scene in Season 4 genuinely disturbed me.
Late 1959: Dr. Martin Brenner discovers Henry at Hawkins National Laboratory. He becomes "001"—the first subject in Brenner's MKUltra-derived experiments. The seed of everything terrible that follows.
1959-1979: The Hawkins Lab Era
Twenty years of experimentation. Twenty years of children being used and disposed of. The show only gives us glimpses, but what we see is horrifying.
1959-1979: Brenner conducts experiments on numerous children, numbering them 001 through 018. Some die. Some are "retired" (I don't want to think about what that means). Henry/001 is deemed too dangerous and fitted with a power-suppressing chip. They make him work as an orderly—watching, waiting.
1970: Terry Ives participates in MKUltra experiments while unknowingly pregnant. The government experimented on a pregnant woman. Let that sink in.
1971: Jane Ives is born and immediately taken by Brenner. She is designated "011"—Eleven. Our El, stolen from her mother as an infant.
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—and El's first trauma.
1979-1983: In the Upside Down, Henry transforms into Vecna. He shapes the dimension, creating the Demogorgons and connecting to the Mind Flayer. Four years of building his army.
November 1983: Season 1
Everything happens in nine days. NINE DAYS. I didn't realize how compressed Season 1 was until I mapped it out.
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—something I didn't catch until Season 4 revealed it.
November 6-8: Eleven escapes from Hawkins Lab. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas find her while searching for Will. The beginning of everything.
November 8-12: Joyce Byers begins communicating with Will through Christmas lights—one of the most creative sequences in the show. Hopper investigates the lab.
November 12: Barb Holland is killed by the Demogorgon at Steve's pool party. Justice for Barb took WAY too long.
November 12-15: The Party discovers the Upside Down's existence. El makes contact with Will and later the Demogorgon.
November 15: Eleven kills the Demogorgon but disappears into the Upside Down. Will is rescued but has been changed. We just don't know how much yet.
October-November 1984: Season 2
A year later. The trauma is still fresh, and something is wrong with Will.
October 1984: Will begins experiencing "episodes"—visions of the Upside Down and a massive shadow creature. Our first look at the Mind Flayer, and it's terrifying.
October 28-29: Eleven, who has been living with Hopper in hiding, discovers she has a "sister"—Kali (Eight). The controversial Chicago episode. I actually like it more on rewatch.
October 30: The Mind Flayer possesses Will. Bob Newby deciphers Will's map of the tunnels. Bob deserved better.
October 31: Dustin adopts D'Artagnan (Dart), a baby Demogorgon. Bad idea, Dustin. Adorable bad idea.
November 1-4: Bob Newby is killed helping the group escape Hawkins Lab. I'm still not over this. Eleven returns and closes the gate, severing the Mind Flayer's connection—but a piece remains in Will.
November 4: The Snow Ball dance. Mike and Eleven share their first kiss. After all that horror, a moment of sweetness.
July 1985: Season 3
Summer vibes, mall culture, Soviet spies. Season 3 is a tonal shift that I absolutely love.
June 28, 1985: Starcourt Mall opens. Unknown to Hawkins, a Soviet facility beneath it is attempting to reopen the gate. Cold War paranoia meets Upside Down horror.
July 1-4: The Soviets successfully breach the gate. The Mind Flayer begins building a new form using possessed Hawkins residents—the "Meat Flayer." This body horror sequence is genuinely disturbing.
- Billy Hargrove is revealed as the Mind Flayer's primary host. Dacre Montgomery is phenomenal
- The Battle of Starcourt Mall—one of the show's best action sequences
- Billy sacrifices himself to save Eleven. Redemption earned
- Hopper and Joyce destroy the Soviet key, closing the gate
- Hopper is presumed dead but actually captured by Soviets. That letter destroyed me
- The Byers family and Eleven leave Hawkins. End of an era
March 1986: Season 4
Eight months later. Everyone is scattered. Something is waking up.
December 1985 - March 1986: Hopper is imprisoned in a Soviet labor camp in Kamchatka. The Russia plotline is brutal.
March 21, 1986: Chrissy Cunningham is killed by Vecna—the first of his new victims. That death scene is one of the show's most horrifying moments.
- More Hawkins High students die. Vecna is hunting through trauma
- Eddie Munson is blamed and hunted. Protecting Eddie became my whole personality
- 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." THE moment of the season
- Eleven recovers her memories and powers through trauma. Heavy
- The truth about Henry Creel/001/Vecna is revealed. Mind = blown
- The Party enters the Upside Down to attack Vecna's physical form
- Eddie Munson dies fighting Demo-bats. I'm still not okay
- Eleven defeats Vecna in the psychic realm—but doesn't kill him
- Max is critically injured (clinically dead for over a minute). Sadie Sink's performance here...
- Four gates open across Hawkins, devastating the town. Cliffhanger of the century
1986: Season 5 - The Final Battle
The end. I wasn't ready.
March 29, 1986: Season 5 begins two days after the gates opened. Hawkins is quarantined. The Upside Down is spreading. Everyone is back together—finally.
March-April 1986: The final battle for Hawkins and the world. The timeline compresses as events accelerate toward the climax. No spoilers here, but it's intense.
[Specific dates withheld to avoid major finale spoilers]
The series concludes with an epilogue that shows the characters' lives after Hawkins, bringing closure to a story that began when Will Byers disappeared in 1983. Nine years of our lives. Forty years of theirs.
Quick Reference: Key Dates
For quick reference—the dates that matter most:
- 1959: Henry Creel kills his family, becomes 001
- 1971: Eleven is born
- 1979: El 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. It's wild how compressed the timeline actually is when you lay it out like this.
Ready to Play?
Experience all the Stranger Things challenges yourself.
Play All Stranger Things Games →