when did lab experiments start in stranger things

The lab experiments in Stranger Things are generally understood to have started in the 1960s , when Dr. Brenner’s work tied into the MKUltra-style testing era, before Hawkins Lab became the main setting for the project.

Quick Scoop

The show’s backstory points to experiments beginning years before the main story, with Henry Creel becoming the central subject after Brenner discovered him and took him to Hawkins Lab. The lab’s human testing then continues into the 1970s and 1980s, which is when Eleven and the other test subjects are shown on screen.

In plain terms

• Early roots: secret government-style mind experiments and related research were already underway by the 1960s.

• Hawkins Lab era: the facility and its child experiments are part of the later, more visible phase of that program.

• Main series timeline: the events most viewers remember happen in the 1980s , especially around Eleven’s escape and the first season’s events.

Why fans say that

A lot of fan timelines and recaps treat the experiments as starting before the show’s present-day plot, not with the first episode itself. That is why you’ll often see the backstory linked to earlier Cold War-era research rather than a single exact year.

Bottom note

So, the safest answer is: the lab experiments started in the 1960s, with Hawkins Lab’s child experimentation becoming central later.