Sleep Inside the Upside Down: the Real 'Stranger Things' Byers House Is Officially on Airbnb
By James H. Sterling
Stepping through the front screen door feels like walking onto an active soundstage. The living room serves as the centerpiece of the Will Byers house tour experience. The walls feature the iconic hand-painted alphabet Joyce smeared across the floral paper in Season 1, rigged with a functional strand of multi-colored Christmas bulbs that can be triggered to blink, pulse, or mimic incoming Demogorgon signals.
The staging commits deeply to an authentic 80s retro interior aesthetic:
- A heavy brown CRT television sits in the corner, wired to a functioning VHS player stacked with period-accurate tapes, from Ghostbusters to The Evil Dead.
- The kitchen features avocado-green appliances, vintage cereal boxes on the counter, and a rotary wall telephone with a stretched, tangled cord.
- Will's bedroom includes hand-drawn sketches pinned to the wall, a functioning cassette deck playing The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go," and scattered Dungeons & Dragons character sheets from the 1983 basic rules set.
Unlike standard themed Airbnbs that rely on cheap vinyl wall decals and modern furniture with novelty throw pillows, this Hawkins Indiana replica sources heavy, physical relics from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The couches carry the scratchy texture of vintage tweed. The air smells subtly of aged cedar and damp pine needles, blending the fictional atmosphere of Hawkins with the real-world rural geography of Fayette County.
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
