Byers House (Hawkins)

* Exterior
* Interior

The **former residence** of the Byers family and Eleven was located in Hawkins, Indiana. The house was somewhat run down and in worse-for-wear condition. According to Jonathan Byers' map, the house is in close vicinity to the Harrington House.

In October 1985, the Byers sold their house in Hawkins and moved to another house in California.

## Profile

In comparison to other houses seen in Hawkins, the Byers' house is much smaller. It only has one floor with three bedrooms, a shed and a dog house.

### Rooms

1. Living room
2. Kitchen/Dining room
3. Will's bedroom
4. Jonathan's bedroom
5. Joyce's bedroom
6. Bathroom
7. Hallway
8. Porch (leading to garden)

### Garden

1. Shed
2. Dog house

## History

### Background

Joyce and Lonnie bought (or inherited) the house some time prior to 1982. The couple ultimately divorced, with Lonnie moving to Indianapolis.

### 1983

On the evening of November 6, Will bicycled home following a game of *Dungeons & Dragons* at Mike's house. A monster suddenly appeared on the road; Will panicked, ditching his bicycle by the side of the road before running to the house. No-one was home except the Byers' pet dog. Will tried calling 9-1-1 on the phone, but he was stopped by the Monster, who continued to pursue him. He ran to his shed where he loaded a rifle to use in self-defense. However, the Monster appeared behind him. The lights in the shed flared and then, both Will and the monster were gone.

The next morning, Will's disappearance was noticed by his mother. Will's family, Joyce and Jonathan, began to search for him. Joyce became convinced that his disappearance had a

   supernatural cause after various strange events began to occur in the house. She filled the house with Christmas lights, painting the alphabet letters in an attempt to communicate with Will. She achieved some success, though she was threatened by the Demogorgon, which burst through the living room wall. Joyce later found a shrinking portal in that same wall, a wound in space-time left from the Monster's breakthrough. Through the portal, Joyce briefly talked to her son before the portal completed healing. Joyce broke through the wall with an axe, but failed to get through to the Upside Down, for it had sealed up again and disappeared. Later on, Hopper arrived at her house and told Joyce that Will really was alive and that the agents of Hawkins Lab tried to cover up his disappearance by planting a fake body.

On Saturday, November 12, Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy went to the Byers' house to get Will's "supercom" radio. Using the radio, they located Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Eleven. Hopper then brought these four kids to the Byers' house. The house was used as a meeting place where the Byers family and friends shared information with Eleven. After an unsuccessful attempt by Eleven to communicate with Will, Eleven realized that she would need to use a "bath" to contact Will. Dustin used the telephone to call the science teacher, Scott Clarke, and to obtain information necessary to create a sensory deprivation tank.

Later on the night of November 12 - 13, Jonathan and Nancy set up a trap at the house, and lured the monster to the house by cutting their hands. The monster attacked them, but with the aid of Steve, they were able to injure the monster.

About a month later, the Byers family ate a Christmas dinner at their home. Will excused himself from the table, and went to the bathroom, where he vomited a living slug-like creature into the sink. The creature slithered down the drain.

### 1984

When Will was brought by Joyce to their house after being overwhelmed by the shadow monster, he confessed that he still felt the shadow monster inside him. Will's condition deteriorated as he's body temperature started becoming lower and didn't agree to taking a bath because of the monster liking it cold. He later admitted to Joyce and Hopper that some part of himself recalled memories that were not his. Unable to explain verbally, he started drawing those events that he called "now-memories". As those drawings were compiled all over the floors of the house, Hopper realized that the drawings were actually vines spreading beneath Hawkins and left for the pumpkin field.

Mike arrived to the Byers' house to help Will. Joyce initially tried to send him away, but when Mike mentioned the shadow monster, she allowed him to stay. As Joyce attached Will's drawings over the wall of their house to form a complete picture, Mike tried to calm down a distressed Will, who felt more connected to the shadow monster. Will was afraid that the shadow monster would use him as a spy, but Mike promised him that they won't let the monster spy back on him.

On November 4, after escaping from the Demodogs at Hawkins Lab, Hopper, Will, Joyce, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Steve, Max, Jonathan and Nancy went to the Byers house where they start forming a plan to defeat the Shadow Monster. Dustin called the monster the Mind Flayer. Mike suggested that the group interrogate Will, Will. who had been sedated since leaving the hospital, was tied up at the shed. The shed was disguised so that the monster couldn't figure out their location through him. Will was revived. While outwardly appearing to be completely controlled by the Mind Flayer, Will was able to tap out messages in morse code. Will first tapped "H-E-R-E" to signal that he was still in his body. Then, he tapped out "C-L-O-S-E-G-A-T-E". At that moment, the house phone rang, which gave away their location.

Realizing that demodogs would soon attack the house, the group quickly began making preparations to defend themselves. Hopper asked Jonathan if he could use a gun, but Nancy replied that she could. Noises of demodogs outside were suddenly cut off - as if the demodog had been killed. Then, one dead demodog was thrown through the window, Eleven made a dramatic reappearance at the house, proving that she was still alive after her disappearance. Mike, relieved to see her alive, embraced Eleven. While Mike was arguing with Hopper, Dustin and Lucas embraced Eleven. Eleven noticed that Dustin now had teeth. Max then tried to introduce herself to Eleven, resulting in Eleven rudely brushing past her.

The group made a plan to purge Will of the Mind Flayer's possession and to close the gate. Eleven and Hopper planned to head to Hawkins Lab and close the Gate, while Joyce, Nancy and Jonathan went to Hopper's cabin to free Will from the Mind Flayer's possession by exposing him to extreme heat. The plan called for the remaining kids, and Steve, to remain at the Byers' house.

After Hopper and Joyce had left, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Max proposed that they distract the Mind Flayer by going into the tunnels and starting a fire. Billy arrived, looking for Max. Although Steve lied and said that Max was not there, Billy saw her in the window, entered the house, and attacked Lucas. A fistfight erupted in the Byers' living room between Steve and Billy. The fight ended when Max used a syringe of sedatives to render Billy unconscious.

Max, Lucas, Dustin, Mike and an unconscious Steve left for the tunnels to distract the Demodogs by burning the tunnels, which would provide Eleven and Hopper enough time to close the Gate.

When things returned back to normal and Will recovered, Will drew and a picture of Bob to honor his heroic sacrifice. It was hung on the Byers' refrigerator door with magnets. About a month later, Joyce taught Will to dance in preparation for the Snow Ball while Jonathan filmed them.

### 1985

Following the events of July 1985, Eleven began residing with the Byers.

In October 1985, Joyce, Jonathan, Will, and El moved away from Hawkins. They moved to the town of Lenora Hills, California.

## Location

The original Byers' house was located in a heavily wooded area on the outskirts of town, in close proximity to Hawkins National Laboratory, Benny's Burgers and the Harrington house. Will would take the road nicknamed Mirkwood when going home from his friends. Castle Byers was located in the woods, close enough for Will to go there and back without much effort.

## Behind the scenes

The house used for exterior shots is at 149 Coastline Road, Fayetteville, Georgia, while the interior of the house was built on a stage in EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Atlanta. In September 2022, the owners listed this house for sale. As of September 29, 2022, the sale of this house was pending. According to Realtor, the house was officially sold in November 2022 for $400,000.

An official LEGO® set of the Byers' house, which included a mirrored counterpart depicted in the Upside Down, was released on May 15, 2019.

## Trivia

* The house is in close vicinity to the Harrington House on Jonathan's map and in *Stranger Things: The Game*.

## References

1. ↑ "149 Coastline Rd, Fayetteville, GA 30214". *realtor.com*.