Roane Hill Cemetery

Roane Hill Cemetery
Type	Cemetery
Location	Roane County, Indiana

Roane Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in Roane County, Indiana. The town of Hawkins usually buried their deceased at Roane Hill.

The cemetery hosted the funeral of Barbara Holland, and was the final resting place of Billy Hargrove.

In 1986, Max Mayfield visited Billy's headstone to read her stepbrother a letter, fearing her death was fast approaching. Moments later, Max suffered through a psychic attack by Vecna, entering a trance in which she saw herself in another place. However, due to her friends' intervention, Max snapped out of the vision, reawakening in the cemetery.

History

1907

The cemetery was established in 1907, according to the entrance sign.

1984

Barbara Holland's funeral

In 1984, Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers worked with Murray Bauman to expose Hawkins National Laboratory for its wrongdoings, publishing a story claiming the leak of "an experimental chemical asphyxiant" caused Barbara Holland's death the previous year. After the story broke, a funeral was held for Barbara at the cemetery. The funeral's attendees included Mr. and Marsha Holland, Nancy, Jonathan, Karen and Ted Wheeler, and Steve Harrington.

1986

In 1986, Billy Hargrove's stepsister Max Mayfield, anticipating she would soon be killed by Vecna, went to Roane Hill to read a farewell letter aloud at Billy's grave. After she finished reading a farewell letter aloud at Billy's grave, Vecna's hallucinations kicked in; the world went dark, and Billy appeared from the shadows to torment Max. However, Max realized that this Billy was only an illusion; it was truly Vecna lurking beneath.

Max levitating at the cemetery in front of Billy's grave as Dustin, Lucas and Steve watch from below

Max retreated from her hallucinatory version of the cemetery, running towards a scarlet haze in the distance; suddenly, she found herself in the surreal expanses of Vecna's mind: a blood-red psychic terrain, with a fractured version of the Creel House at its center.

At the fractured house, Vecna trapped Max with vines and started to kill her; back in the real world, Max began to float above Billy's headstone, a sure sign of her imminent death. However, due to external influence - her friends playing her favorite song on her cassette player - Max found the emotional strength to snap out of Vecna's trance and return to reality, her body falling back to the ground below.

Description

The cemetery was a somewhat hilly field, surrounded by trees.

Trivia

• The name "Roane Hill Cemetery" is not spoken aloud within the show. However, in "Dear Billy", an entrance sign clearly displays the cemetery's name.
• Stone Mountain Cemetery in Stone Mountain, Georgia was used to film parts of "The Gate" and "Dear Billy". Since these scenes were filmed at the same location, it can be assumed Barbara's funeral was conducted at Roane Hill Cemetery.
  • Another funeral scene appears in "The Flea and the Acrobat", in which the fake Will Byers body was buried. This funeral may have also occurred at Roane Hill, though this is less clear, as the scene was filmed elsewhere (Bethany United Methodist Church Cemetery, 607 Rivers Road, Fayetteville, Georgia).