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what was the place that eleven was in as a kid

Quick Scoop
Eleven’s childhood “place” was the Hawkins National Laboratory (often shortened to “Hawkins Lab”) in Hawkins, Indiana — a secret government research facility where she grew up as a test subject.

What Was That Place, Exactly?

The Name and Setting

  • Officially: Hawkins National Laboratory (HNL)
  • Location: Underground, beneath (or near) the related government complex in Hawkins, Indiana
  • In the show’s mythology: It’s a fictional offshoot of the real-life MKUltra program, used to test psychic abilities in children.

Visually, it’s a mix of:

  • Cold, sterile labs with metal chairs and sensors
  • The famous “rainbow room” where the kids played
  • Dark, concrete corridors and containment cells
  • The sensory deprivation tank room where Eleven was “ ورود to the void”

Eleven’s Life There as a Kid

A “Child” Who Wasn’t Really Allowed to Be a Child

Eleven (Jane Ives, later Jane Hopper) was:

  • Raised almost entirely inside Hawkins Lab from a very young age
  • Given only the name “Eleven” because she was the 11th child in Dr. Martin Brenner’s psychic experiment program
  • Taught to call Brenner “Papa” and to obey him without question.

Her days were a weird mix of:

  • Training : psychic drills, focus exercises, memory tests
  • Experiments : especially in the sensory deprivation tank, where she was forced to psychically “see” into the Upside Down
  • Limited play : mostly with other numbered kids (like Eight, Nine, and 9.5) in the rainbow room.

Trauma and Control

  • Brenner filled the emotional void of not having parents, making the children dependent on him.
  • The tanks, shocks, and isolation were meant to strengthen her powers, not protect her well-being.
  • By the time she was 8 (around 1979), she had already endured years of this controlled, terrifying environment.

The Big Turning Point: 1979 Massacre

One of the most important moments in Eleven’s childhood at Hawkins Lab is the 1979 massacre :

  • Eleven (about 8 years old) confronts Henry Creel / One (the first test subject, later Vecna).
  • Henry kills almost all the other psychic children in the lab.
  • Eleven manages to push him into another dimension, but the fight leaves her with a stroke-like episode and she falls into a coma.
  • When she wakes, her memory and speech are damaged, and she’s even more isolated and vulnerable.

This event is what makes her the last surviving child experiment from Brenner’s program at that point.

How She Escaped

Years later, in November 1983 :

  • Eleven is around 11–12 years old.
  • While in the sensory deprivation tank, she reaches out psychically and accidentally connects with the Demogorgon.
  • This opens the Gate to the Upside Down and triggers the chaos that leads to Will Byers’ disappearance.
  • During the chaos and panic at the lab, Eleven escapes and ends up in the woods, where she meets Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will’s friends — the start of the main story in Stranger Things Season 1.

Why “Hawkins Lab” Matters to the Story

The lab isn’t just a setting; it’s the emotional backbone of Eleven’s character:

  • Identity : She was never allowed a normal childhood; “Eleven” was her name, her number, her identity.
  • Memory : Many of her flashbacks in Season 4 happen inside reconstructions of the lab (especially the Nina tank memories).
  • Trauma : Her fear of men in uniforms, her difficulty with trust, and her need for a “family” all come from what happened there.
  • Plot : Almost every major supernatural event in the series (the Gate, the Upside Down’s growth, Vecna’s rise) ties back to things that started at Hawkins Lab.

Mini Timeline: Eleven & the Lab

  1. ~1971 – Eleven is born (Jane Ives) to Terry Ives; taken into government custody shortly after.
  2. Early childhood – Raised in Hawkins Lab, trained as a psychic test subject.
  3. 1979 – Massacre; Eleven confronts Henry/One, pushes him away, goes into a coma.
  4. 1979–1983 – More experiments, including sensory deprivation tank sessions.
  5. November 1983 – Eleven opens the Gate, escapes the lab, and meets the boys — the start of the show’s main story.

TL;DR

The place Eleven was in as a kid was the Hawkins National Laboratory in Indiana — a secret government facility where she was raised, isolated, and experimented on as a psychic test subject from early childhood until she escaped in 1983.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.