In Stranger Things 4, the monsters aren’t just in the Upside Down; they’re in Hawkins, Indiana looking for the nearest scapegoat.
While The Party deals with Vecna, the town is caught in a frenzy of fear and paranoia. And it’s pulled directly from one of the most infamous moral panics in American history: the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Just like in real life, the townspeople of Hawkins don’t understand the dark forces threatening their community. So instead, they turn on each other.
What Was the Satanic Panic? 👿
The Satanic Panic was a wave of hysteria that swept through the U.S. in the 1980s. Fueled by sensationalist media, religious leaders, and a few high-profile cases, people started believing that satanic cults were secretly abusing children, performing dark rituals, and infiltrating American suburbs.
And if you were into heavy metal or Dungeons & Dragons? You were already suspect. Back then, D&D and heavy metal were accused of promoting everything from satanism to suicide.
Completely lacking in evidence but rich in fear, the panic spread like wildfire. Fantasy games, horror films, goth fashion, basically anything associated with youth counterculture, became the target of moral crusaders and overzealous law enforcement.
The Hellfire Club As A Scapegoat
In Stranger Things 4, the paranoia of residents like Jason Carver is a reflection of the frustration towards a string of mysterious events. Throughout the series, Hawkins is plagued by unexplained disappearances, deaths, and supernatural occurrences. All of which are rooted in the secret experiments at Hawkins Lab and its connection to the Upside Down, a parallel dimension filled with hostile creatures.
However, the majority of Hawkins’ citizens remain unaware of the Upside Down’s existence. Instead, they are left with only rumors, half-truths, and a growing sense that their town is cursed or under siege by forces they cannot comprehend. Lacking clear answers, the community looks for scapegoats and simple explanations for their suffering.
This gives Jason the opportunity to turn their suspicion toward outsiders like Eddie Munson and the Hellfire Club. They play a “demonic” board game. They dress differently. They hang out in the woods. That’s all the evidence the town needs. When Jason’s girlfriend Chrissy dies under mysterious circumstances, with Eddie being the last person she saw, he goes into hiding. That single act of fear gets twisted into proof of guilt. And once the rumor mill kicks in, there’s no stopping it.
In many ways, Eddie’s storyline is a tragic homage to the real people (teens, daycare workers, musicians) whose lives were destroyed by false accusations and media-fueled paranoia.
How Hawkins’ Panic Enabled Vecna’s Victory
Vecna’s power is rooted not just in his capacity to exploit emotional vulnerability. He targets individuals suffering from guilt, trauma, and isolation; emotions that are only intensified by the town’s conservatism and fear mongering. As the community obsesses over rooting out imagined cultists, Vecna operates unchecked. Claiming victims in a ploy to open rifts between the real world and the Upside Down.
In the season 4 finale, Jason interrupts Lucas and Max while the latter is in the middle of luring Vecna into a trap. He attacks Lucas and accidentally steps on Max’s Walkman, which is needed to play her favorite song (Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush) and pulls her out of Vecna’s mindscape. When Vecna kills Max (temporarily at least), he succeeds in breaking the barrier between Hawkins and the Upside Down. Which ultimately leads to Jason’s death as he’s split in half and the rifts form around town.
In the end, it’s not just Vecna who tears Hawkins apart; it’s the town itself. Vecna wins by feeding on fear and trauma, while the town is too distracted by moral panic to notice what’s really killing them. Just like in the 1980s, fear of the “demonic” becomes a smokescreen for deeper issues no one wants to face. And in the end, Jason is literally torn apart by the rift he helped open. A brutal reminder that hysteria doesn’t protect you. It destroys you.
