#90sgate

Here is a document for what is presumably Chrissy Cunningham’s first visit to the councillor’s office immediately after starting Hawkins High. I don’t find it suspicious that she needed counselling so early as Vecna specifically targeted people with pre-existing trauma.

What I do find strange is the date. As with many other in-show (and expanded universe) documents, the day doesn’t match with the date. In 1982, September 19th was on a Sunday, not a Wednesday.

However, September 19th coincided with a Wednesday in both 1984 and 1990.

I was willing to not read too deep into it.

However!

It happened again! Here is a document for an impromptu visit to the councillor’s office by Max on March 12th 1986.

March 12th was a Wednesday in 1986, not a Monday. However, again, it was a Monday in 1984 and 1990.

Note: both of these incorrect dates involve Wednesday

As others have pointed out, her headaches should not have started so early. The 12th was an entire nine days before season 4 even began.

This document is vague enough to be irritating. It is difficult to ascertain whether or not this is the ‘impromptu visit’ that occurred during s4 (at Kelley’s house) or not. Considering Max’s discomfort going into her office at all in the first episode (March 21st), I’m willing to guess that it may be some alternate timeline of season 4. I don’t believe that she would have intentionally set up an extra session a week before.

“Possible causes of student’s recurring nightmares addressed” may be in reference to Chrissy’s death, which they discussed when Max was distracting her. It’s possible that the wording is intentionally vague in order to not directly contradict Chrissy’s canonical death date (as Chrissy was also one of the main subjects of this website).

I think that the fact that Chrissy is one of the subjects of the files may also be quite revealing. Season 4 may have been a significant shift for the Stranger Things timeline.

Why do these dates indicate 1984/1990 rather than 1986?

Due to the fact that these files are specifically stated to have been made between the years of 1983 and 1987, I’m leaning more towards 1984 being the year that they are indicating (though 90sgate is alive and well). I don’t know why both of these dates are leading us towards this year, though I have some theories.

It’s possible that these conversations actually occurred in 1984, though far less likely. Whilst it is possible that Miss Kelley may work for both the Middle and High school, Max only arrived at Hawkins in autumn/fall of 1984 meaning that she was still in California in March.

Though with all of the timeline tomfoolery, who’s to say when anything truly happened? Something that supports this theory is the line “past trauma involving her brother, Billy”. No mention of his death or her grief of him. Surely a councillor wouldn’t shy away from these terms? No “the loss of her brother/her brother’s recent death” or “her late brother, Billy”. It is honestly possible that she could have needed therapy for his erratic behaviour/violence/drug use/drinking before his death, anyway. We don’t know when Chrissy’s mother’s emotional abuse or her disordered eating began, so it is possible that she began freshman year with these notes on her file already.

That being said, my personal theory is less clearly defined. 1984 was a significant year for Stranger Things. The Mindflayer broke into Hawkins through Will; Max arrived in Hawkins; El closed the mother gate after finding Kali; Starcourt mall may have began construction or planning.

Most significantly for many people’s theories, 1984 involved the Snowball where we first saw the Mindflayer stalking the party and Max’s memory was corrupted in season 4.

Honestly, 1984 could be pointing to any one of these events. Kali and her illusionary powers; Will being flayed and an illusionist; the Russians in Starcourt (with an American Spy [Murray?!] as indicated in these files)… The possibilities are endless.

ADD-ON: