I'm just kinda sitting here thinking about the death faking but I just thought... What if STANLEY faked his own death? I mean... I don't know. He prepared so well, he hid the journals, he left warnings, he KNEW the portal was dangerous, and he ended up going through there anyway. It actually all seems very calculated- what if he planned it? What if he went through intentionally? What if he wanted to disappear? What if he didn't want to come back? TOO MANY QUESTIONS.
Obviously the portal got shut down thirty years ago, "preventing the end of the world" shut down based on Fiddleford's memories.
Stanley built it. Stanley knew the portal better than anyone else. Maybe he DID preemptively write down all his knowledge, fake his death, leave everything behind.
Because he knew the only way to shut down the portal was from the INSIDE.
And there's no coming BACK.