Gravity Falls Journal 3 & The Book of Bill Lost Pages Timeline (1975-1984)
I was tired of not having a clear idea of when events occur so I whittled down as exact of dates as possible for all the 80’s shenanigans. I used the Blacklight Journal 3, The Book of Bill, thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com, and the show itself to piece together a working timeline.
First, I list out the events of the timeline with no further explanation, to make it easier to scan through it quickly if you’re just trying to see where an event happened. I then follow this section up by a complete breakdown of how I came to each conclusion for every single bullet point, with a citation for every source I used to come to each conclusion!
When referring to pages, I give both a page number and the header/most notable writing on the page/the first sentence for Journal 3. For The Book of Bill, since I’m exclusively taking from The Lost Pages section, I don’t include a page number.
Additionally, here's the entire write-up in Google Doc format.
And here it is in video format:
Thank you @amaryllisfleur for beta'ing my insanity!
JUST THE TIMELINE:
bold = explicitly stated date
italicized = date RANGE
standard = working off context clues
1975
Ford arrives in Gravity Falls.
1975-1978
Ford works on Journal 1.
1980
The last time Ford went to Crash Site Omega before the Gremloblin trek.
June 18, 1981
Ford starts Journal 3.
July 3, 1981
Ford writes about his loneliness.
July 4, 1981
Ford reads the inscriptions to summon Bill. That afternoon, Bill appears to Ford.
August 3, 1981
Ford confronts Preston Northwest.
August 3-10, 1981
Ford writes down that he needs to return a library book on August 11th.
January 1-June 14, 1982
Ford writes about what Bill has done for him a year into them knowing each other.
June 15-17, 1982
Ford goes to sleep early on his birthday, then drinks with Bill the next night. Ford writes about his night on the morning of the 17th.
July 3-4, 1982
Ford spends a weekend at Dan Corduroy's cabin with ghosts. Ford goes to sleep on July 4th, and Bill instructs him to build the portal, exactly a year after they first met.
July 11, 1982
Ford records seismic readings from Crash Site Omega (from his cabin).
July 18, 1982
Ford decides to call Fiddleford for help.
July 20, 1982
Fiddleford agrees to join Ford.
July 29, 1982
Fiddleford arrives in Gravity Falls.
August 1-3, 1982
Ford writes about Fiddleford, his habits, etc.
Here we enter the more vague era, where Ford dates literally nothing from August to December. We have a period of up to 4 months and 3 days to work with here, from August 2nd to December 6th.
Here is the set information we have to work with, with all referenced pages being in Journal 3:
Page 69 "Expedition" happens at least a day after page 65 "My Assistant".
Day one of the Crash Site Omega hike happens the day after "Expedition", and ends with them stargazing.
Day two of the hike, they get to CSO, the Gremloblin incident occurs, and they start to head back to the cabin.
Day three of the hike, they arrive back at the cabin.
4-6 days after they get back, Ford reassures Fiddleford that creativity can solve any problem. Likely the same day, but at least soon after, Fiddleford builds the memory gun in one night.
Fiddleford shows Ford the memory gun. As soon as the same day but up to a couple weeks later, Ford and Fiddleford go to the carnival and Fiddleford buys Ford a squash.
At least two days after the carnival, Ford gets rid of the squash (or at least intends to).
At least a day after Ford gets rid of the squash, Fiddleford proposes the bunker idea and they immediately get to work on it.
The absolute maximum amount of time they have to build the bunker up to the degree we see in the show, if you choose the shortest possible intervals for all these mentioned events, is 3 months and 24 days. This is ridiculous no matter what, so use cartoon logic freely here.
Ford has to have Shifty for at least a week before he begins writing the page 107 "Tests" entry.
At least a day passes from the "Tests" entry to when Shifty breaks out.
Here's a little more information on the potential range here of possible dates:
The carnival day could happen from August 10th to October 31st.
The beginning of the bunker building can happen from August 13th to November 3rd. This gives them a range of between 27 days to 3 months and 24 days to build up the bunker to the degree we see in the show. Additionally, Ford notes that it gets hot underground in the bunker. This might mean they were doing a lot of the work closer to the August/September range while it was still hot, but honestly, I don't know how well concrete bunkers retain heat or anything like that, so do with that what you will.
Shifty has to be found by Ford by November 29th at the latest.
In summary, it all just depends on what dates you choose for the other events. The key thing is noting how much time has to pass between certain events, and that the CSO hike and the immediate aftermath of Ford giving Fiddleford advice have a set timeline.
November 30-December 7, 1982
Shifty breaks out and gets cryo'd.
December 21, 1982
Ford reminisces and Fiddleford says he'll be going home for the holidays.
December 25, 1982
Krampus incident. Fiddleford returns.
December 26, 1982
Bill tells Ford to "Trust No One”.
December 26, 1982-January 15, 1983
Fiddleford gives Ford Frilliam. Ford sets Frilliam free at Bill's behest anywhere from December 26th to January 15th as well.
January 1-17, 1983
Ford writes about meeting Bill two years ago.
January 4-15, 1983
Fiddleford warns Ford not to fly too close to the sun. Bill and Ford make the possession deal.
January 16-17, 1983
The night of the 16th, Ford has a premonitory dream about Bill.
January 17, 1983
Ford and Fiddleford go to Greasy's Diner at night. Ford disregards Fiddleford's warnings.
January 18, 1983
Ford and Fiddleford test the portal at 8PM. Ford confronts Bill the same evening. Fiddleford starts the video log shown in Society of the Blind Eye.
January 19, 1983
Ford stares at the journals for hours before deciding to kill Bill around 3AM. Ford builds a retinal scanner, then falls asleep. At 9AM, he awakens to bloody knuckles, and decides to go to the library to research Bill.
January 22, 1983
Fiddleford lauds the effects of the memory gun in his video log.
February 8, 1983
Ford notices the Blind Eye taking over the town and is banned from the library. Fiddleford talks about the Blind Eye. Ford encounters the zombills.
February 9, 1983
Ford writes an entry at 9AM on Bill communicating with him via sticky notes each time he dozes off that day. Fiddleford talks about The Society of the Blind Eye in his video log.
February 10, 1983
Bill wakes Ford up with a rattlesnake and Ford retaliates by listening to The World Is Small Ever After for Always. Ford chases after some cultists. Ford begins writing in blacklight and spends the next 4 days filling Journal 3 with it. In the evening, Bill uses Ford's body to get a tattoo, party, eat spiders, hammer a nail in Ford's hand, etc.
February 11, 1983
In the morning, Ford is given a 72 hour time limit to turn the portal on. Ford notices the Twin Bed Motel and contacts Stan.
February 14, 1983
Stan arrives in Gravity Falls in the morning. Ford falls into the portal.
April 1, 1983
Fiddleford encounters the gnomes and has visibly deteriorated.
July 25, 1983
Fiddleford questions the side effects of the memory gun and has gone gray.
October 17, 1983
Fiddleford has grown a beard and is staying at a motel.
September 27, 1984
Fiddleford gets his scarecrow hat.
THE BREAKDOWN:
1975
Ford arrives in Gravity Falls. This is explicitly stated in J3 page 26, the second page of Ford's timeline.
1975-1978
Ford works on Journal 1. Ford says Journal 1 “describes his first 3 years in Gravity Falls” on J3 page 132 “Hiding Places”.
1980
The last time Ford went to Crash Site Omega before the Gremloblin hike. On J3 page 82 "Crash Site Omega", Ford writes that "the site looked exactly the same as I had left it two years ago". This entry takes place in 1982, so he last went in 1980.
June 18, 1981
Ford starts Journal 3. Explicitly stated on J3 page 1. Ford says he’s been in Gravity Falls for six years, 1975 + 6 = 1981.
July 3, 1981
Ford writes about his loneliness. Explicitly stated in TBOB "Lost in the Woods". This page is likely the day immediately before meeting Bill, based on the humorous switch-up between the last sentence and the first on the one following it. We know this happened in 1981 because Ford explicitly states he met Bill in 1981 on J3 page 26, the second page of Ford's timeline.
July 4, 1981
Ford reads the inscriptions to summon Bill. That afternoon, Bill appears to Ford. On TBOB page "Cipher Speaks", as I said above, it's implied to come immediately after the TBOB "Lost in the Woods" page.
August 3, 1981
Ford confronts Preston Northwest. Explicitly stated on J3 page 31 "August 3rd".
August 3-10, 1981
Ford writes down that he needs to return a library book on August 11th. He writes this on J3 page 34 "return library book". He definitely pauses between the "August 3rd" page and this one, but it's unclear if it's just for a few hours or if actual days are passing. It has to be before the 11th though, obviously.
January 1-June 14, 1982
Ford writes about what Bill has done for him a year into them knowing each other. On TBOB page "My Muse & Me", Ford states it has been a year since he met Bill. I think this makes the most sense being written as close to July 1982 as possible, but it wouldn't technically be incorrect for him to say this earlier on, so I'm giving this wiggle room. The cut-off here is that the following page takes place on June 15th. Additionally, Ford writes that Bill has been absent for random weeks and months at a time at this point, so at least one stint of a 2 month absence and one stint of a 2 week absence are slotted somewhere between their meeting and June 14th 1982.
June 15-17, 1982
Ford goes to sleep early on his birthday, then drinks with Bill the next night. Ford writes about his night on the morning of the 17th. Explicitly stated on TBOB page "June 15th".
July 3-4, 1982
Ford spends a weekend at Dan Corduroy's cabin with ghosts. Ford goes to sleep on July 4th, and Bill instructs him to build the portal, exactly a year after they first met. On J3 page 57, the first page of "what does it mean", Ford says he spent a "weekend" at Dan's cabin. The page after the ghost arc is Ford in distress over not figuring out the Unified Theory of Weirdness, with the ghost weekend having just happened, and then going to sleep. Ford meets Bill in the Mindscape that night and Bill tells Ford to build the portal, which Ford describes on the next page. Given how excited Ford is to get to work on it, I find it hard to believe Ford would wait any longer than the six day timespan this would give him to mark down the next date (July 11th) he mentions while relaying what he discussed with Bill.
July 11, 1982
Ford records seismic readings from Crash Site Omega (from his cabin). Explicitly stated on J3 page 62 "I must not lose my nerve".
July 18, 1982
Ford decides to call Fiddleford for help. Explicitly stated on J3 page 63 "July 18th".
July 20, 1982
Fiddleford agrees to join Ford. Explicitly stated on J3 page 63 "July 18th".
July 29, 1982
Fiddleford arrives in Gravity Falls in the morning. Explicitly stated on J3 page 64 "July 29th".
August 1-3, 1982
Ford writes about Fiddleford, his habits, etc. On J3 page 65 "My Assistant", Ford says "the past few days" referring to Fiddleford's time spent there. "Few" generally means 3-5, and I don't doubt Ford is a stickler for definitions, so this entry is somewhere between these dates.
The Vague Zone
All pages mentioned here are in Journal 3 unless otherwise specified.
Page 69 "Expedition" happens at least a day after page 65 "My Assistant". The pages from "My Assistant" to page 68 "codes" could all be in one day, but Ford starts "Expedition" with "today", and even notes that Fiddleford's knee is bouncing at 10:37AM.
Day one of the Crash Site Omega hike happens the day after "Expedition", and ends with them stargazing. On "Expedition", Ford says he's begun to pack. On the next page, "Day One", Ford says they began their hike in the morning. I think this implies they waited until the next morning to begin the hike since they would've just barely been able to leave during the morning if it was already 10:37AM when Fiddleford brought the issue up to Ford originally. Regarding the stargazing being the end of just one day, Ford states that it's a two-day hike up to CSO on "Expedition", and that works out with Ford only mentioning them sleeping once during the hike.
Day two of the hike, they get to CSO, the Gremloblin incident occurs, and they start to head back to the cabin. On page 79, "I awoke the next morning", Ford… says he awoke the next morning, after they stargazed. There's no break between events, after the Gremloblin on page 88 "We crashed through" Ford simply says he took Fiddleford back to the cabin.
Day three of the hike, they arrive back at the cabin. It took them a day and a half to get up to CSO, so they should get back the morning after the Gremloblin incident.
4-6 days after they get back, Ford reassures Fiddleford that creativity can solve any problem. Likely the same day, but at least soon after, Fiddleford builds the memory gun in one night. On page 89 "Great news", Ford says Fiddleford has been unable to sleep the past "several nights", and that the Cubik's cube has sat scrambled for "days". "Several" generally means 4-11, but I think Ford would state it had been at least a week if a full week had passed, so I'm capping it at 6 days that could have passed. On the following page, "Memory Gun", Fiddleford says he spent "all night working on a solution to his anxiety". If you take Ford's word that Fiddleford "took his advice in the worst possible way" at face value and that Fiddleford was inspired by Ford, it's safe to assume this is the day immediately after the previous page.
Fiddleford shows Ford the memory gun. As soon as the same day but up to a couple weeks later, Ford and Fiddleford go to the carnival and Fiddleford buys Ford a squash. The only material to go off of here is that on page 91 "The Carnival", Ford remarks that Fiddleford's trauma is "recent", so anything beyond a couple weeks would strike me as odd for him to say.
At least two days after the carnival, Ford gets rid of the squash (or at least intends to). On page 98 "Squash with Human Face and Emotions", Ford comments that the squash's "expression changes on a daily basis". To be sure that it changed daily, he'd have to have had the squash for at least two days after the carnival.
At least a day after Ford gets rid of the squash (/intends to), Fiddleford proposes the bunker idea and they immediately get to work on it. On page 99 "A New Concern", the page opens with "this morning", signaling at least a day has passed since the previous entry. Ford says they "will begin building this containment unit at once" at the bottom of the page.
The absolute maximum amount of time they have to build the bunker up to the degree we see in the show, if you choose the shortest possible intervals for all these mentioned events, is 3 months and 24 days. This is ridiculous no matter what, so use cartoon logic freely here. Okay, this one is a bit of a doozy to explain, buckle in. The first thing we must acknowledge is when exactly Shifty breaks out and gets cryo'd. Pages 108 "trouble in the bunker" to 110 "An Encounter" seem to all be written in one night: On "An Encounter", Ford says that he "apologized profusely to F for another traumatic experience". It would be odd to postpone this to the next day and not just immediately apologize, so we'll say that happens the same day Shifty is cryo'd. Ford also says that "once we complete the portal, all of this will have been worth it. We're almost there!" This is the first time Ford mentions the portal being near completion, with Ford's other mentions of it being near completion all being contained to December/January. However, when Ford writes about Bill on the winter solstice on TBOB page "lab snow globe" he says that Bill has been "absent for weeks". I think if Bill had been absent for a full month or longer, Ford would say so, so this gives us a range of November 30th-December 7th that Ford last saw Bill. This isn't too far off from the other times Ford mentions the portal being close to finished, so it's reasonable this would be when Ford first sees the end in sight. So there's our latest possible end date, and for the earliest possible start date, it's just a matter of adding the smallest intervals of time between events together. August 1st + "Expedition" 1 day + CSO hike 3 days + 4 days since they get home + memory gun 1 day + squash 2 days + bunker idea 1 day = August 13th at the absolute earliest. August 13th to December 7th = 3 months and 24 days. [exhales] Cool? Cool.
Ford has to have Shifty for at least a week before he begins writing the page 107 "Tests" entry. On "Tests", Ford outright says "for the past week" he's been testing Shifty.
At least a day passes from the "Tests" entry to when Shifty breaks out. On page 108 "trouble in the bunker", Ford starts the page with "one night", suggesting at least a day has passed since his last entry.
The carnival day could happen from August 10th to October 31st. August 10th is the earliest possible day they could attend the carnival based on the logic above. For the end date, Fiddleford buys a squash at the carnival, and squash generally is out of season by November.
The beginning of the bunker building can happen from August 13th to November 3rd. This gives them a range of between 27 days to 3 months and 24 days to build up the bunker to the degree we see in the show. Additionally, Ford notes that it gets hot underground in the bunker. This might mean they were doing a lot of the work closer to the August/September range while it was still hot, but honestly, I don't know how well concrete bunkers retain heat or anything like that, so do with that what you will. I went over the August 13th logic above. I'm getting November 3rd by working off of the latest possible carnival date. October 31st + squash 2 days + bunker idea 1 day = November 3rd. The earliest possible end date is Nov 30th, and the latest possible end date is Dec 7th, from the logic above. Aug 13 - Dec 7 = 3 months and 24 days, and Nov 3 - Nov 30 is 27 days. Ford states on page 102 "Cooling System" that "it gets hot in here" and "the heat is making me start to see things".
Shifty has to be found by Ford by November 29th at the latest. If we choose the latest possible date for the Shifty breakout, December 7th, and choose the smallest interval between events: Dec 7 - 1 day between "trouble in the bunker" and "Tests" - 1 week mentioned in "Tests" = November 29th. Unlike most of the other dates in this timeline, I really hesitate to put an "earliest possible" date for finding Shifty beyond the fact it has to happen after they've begun work on the bunker (Ford mentions he finds Shifty's egg during the dig for it). It's really just up to how far you want to stretch the cartoon logic of them speedrunning the bunker building. It's worth noting that Ford only finds Shifty after they've already essentially built the entire place, as Ford's entry on Shifty on page 106 "Cryogenic Tube" comes after his enthusiastic entries on Fiddleford's construction of the bunker, but hey, who am I to stop you from saying that just took them a couple days? Follow your dreams.
November 30-December 7, 1982
Shifty breaks out and gets cryo'd. I explained where I got these dates from in the above bullet point starting with "The absolute maximum".
December 21, 1982
Ford reminisces and Fiddleford says he'll be going home for the holidays. On TBOB page "A Winter Break", Ford is discussing how winter has arrived, and says he's "never really understood the appeal of the solstice", so it's safe to assume he's writing on it.
December 25, 1982
Krampus incident. Fiddleford returns. During the Krampus incident, on the TBOB page with Fiddleford silhouetted, Fiddleford says "he and his wife got in a massive fight when she realized he'd forgotten to get her a Christmas present". Ford continues, "The holiday hadn't turned out how he hoped". Palo Alto is about a seven to fifteen hour drive from Oregon depending where you're going, and Ford states Fiddleford was "backlit by the sun", which appears to be setting in his drawing. If we say the McGuckets got up for Christmas and had a blowout in the morning, it's reasonable for him to arrive back around the time the sun is setting. I'm additionally reluctant to say Fiddleford comes back the 26th since Bill also attempts to say happy holidays the next morning, which would make slightly less sense.
December 26, 1982
Bill tells Ford to trust no one. On TBOB page "The Muse Returns", immediately following the events of the Krampus pages, Ford opens with "the next morning".
December 26, 1982-January 15, 1983
Fiddleford gives Ford Frilliam. Ford sets Frilliam free at Bill's behest anywhere from December 26th to January 15th as well. As I said before, Ford's mentions of the portal being near completion are all contained to December and January. On TINAW page (unlocked with code ouroboros) "Goodbye Frilliam", Bill says "With the portal so close to completion…" So this has potential to take place either in our November 30th-December 7th area, or December 26th through our next date of significant Bill interaction, January 15th, as Bill certainly wouldn't ignore Frilliam's presence if he was speaking with Ford. It happening in the Shifty area strikes me as odd since they were spending so much time in the bunker, and Ford says Fiddleford brings him into the lab on the accompanying page, "A Friend". Additionally, it would make sense for Fiddleford to want to get Ford another gift after Ford put together the little celebration on Christmas, and Fiddleford gives Frilliam to him while saying "he thought it could keep [Ford] company the next time he's out". After Ford's probably visible disappointment when Fiddleford told him he was going back home for the holidays on TBOB page "lab snow globe", this is a logical follow-up. It's unclear how long Ford has Frilliam, whether its hours or a couple weeks, but he has to be gone by January 15th since Bill interacts with Ford again then.
January 1-17, 1983
Ford writes about meeting Bill two years ago. We need to backtrack here. On Ford's own timeline on J3 page 26, he explicitly states he met Bill in 1981. However, on J3 page 11 "My Muse", he writes that he met Bill two years ago. The only way this is possible is if we assume he added this page later, at some point in 1983 before the betrayal, so January 1-17. Technically, this would be two years since 1981. On J3 page 12, he describes Bill as a "fickle being who is unpredictable and shows up when I least expect it", which lines up pretty well with their last interaction on December 26th.
January 4-15, 1983
Fiddleford warns Ford not to fly too close to the sun. Bill and Ford make the possession deal. On J3 page 112 "We have nearly", following the Shifty incident, Ford's opening sentence is this: "We have nearly completed the portal and will soon be ready to test it, but we have several more long nights before our work will be ready". Ford has a dream we're aware of on the 16th, so at the latest, the possession deal could happen on the 15th. Going by our "several = 4-11" rule, 15-11 = 4, so there's our potential range.
January 16-17, 1983
The night of the 16th, Ford has a premonitory dream about Bill. On TBOB page "what does it mean", Ford says "F has invited me to dinner at Greasy's tonight to toast tomorrow's test". The test takes place on the 18th, so we know this is written on the 17th. The rest of this page and the previous' entry is Ford describing the dream he had the night before, therefore on the 16th.
January 17, 1983
Ford and Fiddleford go to Greasy's Diner at night. Ford disregards Fiddleford's warnings. Explicitly stated on J3 page 117 "Jan 17th".
January 18, 1983
Ford and Fiddleford test the portal at 8PM. Ford confronts Bill the same evening. Fiddleford starts the video log shown in Society of the Blind Eye. On J3 page 118 "It was just", Ford says they'll "do the test tomorrow night at 8 o'clock sharp". That page is dated January 17th, therefore the test is the 18th. On J3 page 121 "NO", Ford says he will speak with Bill that night. Fiddleford’s video could technically begin at any point after the portal test, but I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t immediately want to erase the memory of Bill, so I think it makes the most sense to begin immediately after leaving Ford.
January 19, 1983
Ford stares at the journals for hours before deciding to kill Bill around 3AM. Ford builds a retinal scanner, then falls asleep. At 9AM, he awakens to bloody knuckles, and decides to go to the library to research Bill. On TBOB page "I was wrong about everything" Ford is reeling from the revelation, saying how there's no time to lose, clearly taking place immediately after he confronted Bill. The rest is explicitly stated.
January 22, 1983
Fiddleford lauds the effects of the memory gun in his video log. This clip is from Day 5 of the log. Going off January 18th as Day 1, Day 5 is the 22nd.
February 8, 1983
Ford notices the Blind Eye taking over the town and is banned from the library. Fiddleford talks about the Blind Eye. Ford encounters the zombills. On J3 page 133 "there it is again", Ford says he's spent "several weeks" researching Bill. On J3 page 137 "Triple Digits" he mentions he's been going to a truck stop the past "couple weeks". I think it's up to you whether you want to add those weeks up or assume he's referring to the same time period, but I'd like to keep this time period as short as possible because otherwise I'm legitimately confused how Ford didn't just die from everything he was going through. I'm breaking my "several = 4-11" rule here because I think if a full month had passed, Ford would have said so, so I'll stretch it as far as possible to 3 weeks. "There it is again" is the last time Ford mentions doing research in J3, and on TBOB page "Bill-proof suit", Ford mentions being banned from the library. I think it keeps things nice and neat to have these pages coincide, as it makes sense Ford would've only stopped his research as a result of being banned. On the following TBOB page, "to destroy Bill once and for all", Ford says he's "off to the morgue to steal a brain". This is followed by TBOB page "zom-Bills", where Ford goes to the graveyard to steal a brain. With his need for urgency, it's safe to assume this is the same day. For Fiddleford, we’re at Day 22 of his log, which would be February 8th.
February 9, 1983
Ford writes an entry at 9AM on Bill communicating with him via sticky notes each time he dozes off that day. With Ford including the time of day here on TBOB page "can we talk", just like he did for the post-portal incident page, this leads me to believe this is 9AM after the previous entry, the "zom-Bills" pages.
February 10, 1983
Bill wakes Ford up with a rattlesnake and Ford retaliates by listening to The World Is Small Ever After for Always. Ford chases after some cultists. Ford begins writing in blacklight and spends the next 4 days filling Journal 3 with it. In the evening, Bill uses Ford's body to get a tattoo, party, eat spiders, hammer a nail in Ford's hand, etc. On TBOB page "wakey wakey", Ford says he "awoke this morning", which makes me assume at least a day has passed since the previous entry. Bill is still doing the same sticky note schtick as well, so it shouldn't be too far away in time, but there's some wiggle room. I'm sticking to exactly one day because again, I think the longer this time period extends, the more unbelievable it is that Ford didn't just die in the midst of it. On J3 page 133 "there it is again", Ford says that two nights after he noticed the many Blind Eye symbols, he chased after the cultists. Feb 8 + 2 = 10. Ford gets the idea to start writing in blacklight immediately after the "there it is again" entry, so I think it's plausible that the Blind Eye interaction was the inspiration for him to begin doing that. Ford retaliated against Bill with the song this day, so it's safe to assume Bill immediately responded that night with his joyride in Ford's body.
February 11, 1983
In the morning, Ford is given a 72 hour time limit to turn the portal on. Ford notices the Twin Bed Motel and contacts Stan. On TBOB page "The War in my Mind", Ford notes that it's in the AM. This would immediately come after Bill using Ford's body, so if that's on the 10th, this has to be the 11th. There's a wonky thing here where on TBOB page "I awoke from", Ford realizes he can only turn to Stan at the bottom of the page, but he also is coming straight out of the hallucination in his living room at the top. However, on J3 page 138 "Twin Bed Motel", Ford says he has the realization to contact Stan when he's at the truck stop. For my sanity, I'm just going to say Ford wrote the top part of "I awoke from", went to the diner, then wrote the rest of the TBOB pages.
February 14, 1983
Stan arrives in Gravity Falls in the morning. Ford falls into the portal. Bill gives Ford a 72 hour time limit in TBOB page "Where was I". If Ford sent his postcard overnight (which was indeed possible in 1983, and no, he couldn’t have used the magic mailbox because we see a mailman leave the postcard) then Stan could have received it the morning of the 12th. Depending on where in New Mexico Stan was, and where in Oregon Ford is, it could be anywhere from a 12 to 28 hour drive. Either way, he could make it before the 72 hour time limit the morning of the 14th as long as he was booking it. Based on everything preceding this, this is the earliest possible date Ford could have fallen into the portal, but based on your own opinions, there’s wiggle room of around a month.
April 1, 1983
Fiddleford encounters the gnomes and has visibly deteriorated. Stated in the Society of the Blind Eye video log.
July 25, 1983
Fiddleford questions the side effects of the memory gun and has gone gray. Stated in the Society of the Blind Eye video log.
October 17, 1983
Fiddleford has grown a beard and is staying at a motel. Stated in the Society of the Blind Eye video log.
September 27, 1984
Fiddleford gets his scarecrow hat. Stated in the Society of the Blind Eye video log.
The end! You made it!
I'm going to assume there will be people ready to say "now wait a minute, Ford fell through the portal in 1982! This doesn't make sense!" and I'm just gonna dispel that preemptively. I reiterate that Ford clearly states he came to Gravity Falls in 1975, and states that it's been six years since then on the first page of Journal 3. With the order of months Ford writes down, it's clear Journal 3 covers around a year and a half after that first page. Additionally, I'm just going to link this excellent post that gives a multitude of other reasons why it must be 1983 if you want the journal to add up: Sweet Dreams Are Made of This came out in January 1983, the show itself takes place in 2013 (Stan does a tax return with 2012 on it, which would mean he's doing it in 2013, Sev'ral Timez continually shouts 2013, the lumberjack curse has an entire rhyme about how he's going to come back 150 years in the future, and the curse is explicitly stated to begin in 1863, so + 150 = 2013, etc.)
I’ll lay out the opposing 1982 evidence as well, and how I think each piece of information still works with this timeline.
There is a calendar open to July 1982 in the room Stan closed off in Carpet Diem. This can be shrugged off as Ford simply neglecting to change the calendar. Also, unrelated but this calendar only has 20 days, lol.
Another thing re: that calendar is that when Stan initially walks in the room in A Tale of Two Stans, the calendar was in a different spot on the wall, flipped to a different month. I think this is just a case of Stan continuing to make use of an unused calendar.
Additionally, Stan holds up a June 2012 calendar in Summerween. Again, you could just write this off as Stan having an old calendar in his pocket. It’s about exactly as silly as him constantly carrying a calendar around.
Finally, Fiddleford says he can’t remember anything before 1982 in Society of the Blind Eye. He’d already started the cult in 1982, so this is possible, with him having memories of the robed figures. He didn’t say he remembers everything from 1982, just that there’s nothing before it.
The only other thing I can think of that would call the timeline I've posited here into question is the video of Fiddleford in Society of the Blind Eye that I referenced a few times throughout. In the video, Fiddleford says he is the first test subject of the memory gun, after the portal test went wrong on January 18th. According to Journal 3, Fiddleford had definitely already used the gun on himself, Ford, and the lumberjacks at minimum by that point. I think this can be shrugged off as the memory gun already very much taking its toll on him and him not remembering he’d used it many times already. Additionally, 22 days into the video, so by February 9th at the absolute earliest, Fiddleford brings up the cult. It seems framed as though you’re meant to believe he’s only establishing it at this point, but actually, all he says is “I call it The Society of the Blind Eye. We will help those who want to forget by erasing their bad memories.” There’s nothing there that outright states he hasn’t already had the cult for a while- he’s just talking about it.
If you have any further questions/comments, fire away! I did my best to go over this several times and have other pairs of eyes make sure this all added up, but I am not infallible. Additionally, don't let this ruin your life if you've been writing things in a way that doesn't align with this lol. This is just speculation for fun, the timeline doesn't matter more than the story, etc. I just enjoy doing this kind of thing.
i think avoidance is such a little-recognized ocd compulsion. all the time i talk to people with ocd who are like "i was always having intrusive thoughts about using kitchen knives and harming myself or others but i'm okay now because i just stopped using knives ever 👍 so i'm good now"
if you don't know why this doesn't work, the issue is that ocd never stops when you implement a compulsion. it evolves. today you've "solved" it by never using a knife again (and losing access to an important cooking tool, thus limiting an aspect of your life) but in a few months or a year it'll be that forks are dangerous too. and hey, isn't it risky to use the stove? avoidance will even begin to manifest in places you might not recognize.
the point is that OCD compulsions are never solutions, they're actually the problems. the intrusive thoughts SEEM like the problem and the compulsions FEEL like the solution. and that's how it getsya.
i once saw a serial killer on the news wearing green and became fixated on the obsession that if i wore green it would like. hypnotize me into serial killing in my sleep (???) so i didn't wear the color green for an entire year. and of course being OCD i knew how "stupid" that was and that i wouldn't actually be effected by green clothes. i didn't actually believe that! but the fear didn't need to be real; the distress was real.
looking back it's so funny. like. dude my eyes are green. i was never safe hahahaaaa
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