More weird stuff in the Microsoft Flight Simulator x Stranger Things expansion from last year.
Back in January, I pretty much wrote up a transcript and summary of "Murray's Missions" inside of MS Flight Sim. It was interesting because...
There seemed to be a lot of potential clues in the nicknames of and dialogues between the NPC flight crew members
The "missions" sometimes echoed events from S5, but were tweaked (e.g., Murray's smuggled Big Buy delivery, but it's being delivered to the Wheeler house?)
"Missions" that were not familiar at all, but might break the fourth wall, possibly helping explain why in 2025/2026, audiences are seemingly able to listen to the radio and receive messages from characters who are presumably still in the 80s.
Well, I never came to a single conclusion about it, and yesterday when I was searching for more possible locations with skylights (to answer this mystery about the "basement library"), I decided to watch a play-through of the "Hawkins Heli-Tours" part of the MSFS expansion.
Did I find more skylights? No. But what I DID find was wild.
You see that? I know the font is tiny.
It says "the Turnbow House is a decaying, isolated home tied to mysterious disappearances and eerie supernatural disturbances, long rumored to be one of Hawkins’ earliest gateways to the UD."
Could it be a typo? Could it have been meant to refer to the Creel House? Sure. But the description for the Creel House is different.
Also - there was something dark and ominous in the community pool, and so many things I thought were odd in the location descriptions.
I'll insert some screenshots here, but have no fear - My priorities were totally fucked today and I decided it'd be good to type up EVERY description for the 46 locations in the game. I'll paste them below.
Okay, so here are the descriptions. I tried to include the couple of (what seem to be obvious typos of names) in red, and then highlight other word choses in another color (just cause I wanted to). It'd be so sad if this was just AI slop, because it really sounds like there was a lot of care put into this expansion (according to how impressed the Flight Sim nerds I was listening to were with it).
Benny's Burgers - First stop on the tour is Benny’s Burgers in its better days in S1. It’s here where former owner Benny Hammond made the mistake of showing kindness to a lost girl with a target on her back that ultimately led to his demise. Turns out no good deed goes unpunished.
Bradley's Big Buy - Take a stroll through Hawkins’ neighborhood supermarket where you might see Eleven stealing boxes of Eggos in S1, or the gang raiding shelves to patch a wound by the Mind Flayer in S3. Oh look, the turkey is only 88 cents a pound! What a deal.
Brimborn Steel Works - Once an industry, now in ruin. Within this Steel Mill’s rusting walls echoes a time when the Mind Flayer once forged its monstrous form, and where Billy kidnapped victims of Hawkins to unwillingly become part of the Flayed’s army.
Byers House - This former family home to Joyce, Jonathan, and Will Byers may seem unassuming on the outside, but it was where Joyce communicated directly with the UD via Christmas lights as Will’s only lifeline to guide him back home.
Castle Byers - Deeper in the woods, you’ll find Will Byer’s wooden fort sanctuary, built from sticks and childhood imagination. A great place to read comic books and draw, or seek refuge from visions of the Mind Flayer.
Clarke House - Welcome to the quiet home of Mr. Clarke, the respected HMS science teacher. It’s here the crew first learns their entire world is thinly separated from a parallel unseen dimension and they harness science as power in their supernatural investigations.
Creel House - A Victorian mansion steeped in tragedy and legend where Victor Creel seemingly murdered his entire family. Abandoned by the mid-1980s, the house was later used by Vecna as his base of operations in the UD. Its halls creak with death, dread, and unearthly power.
Driscoll House - Home of the late Doris Driscoll, who Nancy and Johnathan interview while working at the Hawkins Post. Her possession by the Mind Flayer marks one of the early signs of its growing control over the city. Behind the floral wallpaper and family photos, the smell of fertilizer never faded.
Hargrove House - The tension filled home of Billy and his stepsister Max mirrored Hawkins’ growing darkness. By summer ‘85, Billy’s room became the Mind Flayer’s brief outpost, where unsettling screams weren’t the source of family arguments.
Harrington House - Behind the Harringtons’ tidy lawn, Steve’s journey from cool kid to monster fighter began. Since then, the pool parties of the past have been replaced by baseball bats and bloodied knuckles. Barbara Holland didn’t get so lucky.
Hawk Theater - Craving popcorn? Catch a showing of The Terminator or All the Right Moves at Hawkins’ small town square movie theater.
Hawkins Community Pool - Take a dip at the local swimming hole where Billy Hargrove once worked as a lifeguard. Hot Tip: Don’t get lured into the sauna if you’re under the Mind Flayer’s spell.
Hawkins Elementary School - Welcome to Hawkins Elementary, with one of the best playgrounds in town. Note: If a nice man in a suit starts staring at you from the fence…run.
Hawkins High School - Between Tigers’ basketball games and D&D campaigns, will you choose to be a jock or a member of the “Hellfire Club?” Lucas might tell you it’s hard being both.
Hawkins Memorial Hospital - Ordinary patients come and go, but these halls are often haunted by creatures of another kind. It may arguably be the last “safe haven” anyone wants to be taken [to?]- especially after an encounter with Vecna himself.
Hawkins Middle School - Hawkins’ AV club may have met here, but so has the supernatural. Eleven once battled a Demogorgon in one of the classrooms until it disintegrated. How’s that as a clean up job for the janitor?
Hawkins National Lab - A sterile fortress of white and rainbow walls hides the darker secrets of Dr. Brenner and his experiments on young test subjects. Behind locked doors, the lab is revealed to host a gateway to the UD, plunging Hawkins into supernatural chaos.
Hawkins Police Station - Hopper’s former headquarters as the police chief of Hawkins. If you look closely, you might still see a trail of old cigarettes before Hopper traded in his badge for a shotgun and a very serious problem with the UD.
Hawkins Post - Housed in a brick building on Main Street, you can pick up your local newspaper where Nancy and Jonathan interned during the summer of ‘85.
Hawkins Public Library - Seen here in all its shining glory, the library’s clock tower once stood tall at the center of town before crumbling at the crossroads of converging rifts that tore Hawkins Apart.
Hawkins Town Hall - Mayor Kline’s pride and shame. Behind patriotic speeches and glossy banners, here he sold Hawkins’ silence to the Russians digging under Starcourt Mall for significant sums of cash. Corruption never sleeps in this town.
Henderson House - The home of Dustin Henderson, his mother Caudia, and his many other pets. Turtle the tortoise, Mews the cat, and D’Artagnoan the infant demodog…who ended up killing the cat. Yikes.
Hess Farm - What appears to be your typical midwestern farmstead, but is hiding secrets under its soil. Once acquired, the Soviet Union built underneath it to allow their scientists to hack the power grid. Not exactly the same as raising goats.
Holloway House - The once elegant and now abandoned home of Heather Holloway and her parents, before falling victim to the Mind Flayer. Family reunions are one thing, but being dissolved into a hive-mind is generally not ideal.
Hopper's Cabin - A humble house tucked in the woods and built for solitude. Hopper’s cabin became home for Eleven as a refuge against both monsters and feds - but not the growing pains of becoming a teenager.
Hopper's Trailer - Hopper’s first home-sweet-home in S1 before seeking refuge in the woods.
Junkyard - An overgrown scrapyard to some. A place to defeat demodogs for the crew. The Junkyard later becomes training grounds for Eleven as she prepares against the UD. One person’s trash is another person’s obstacle course against evil, as they say.
Kline Mansion - The mayor’s grand home on the hill in S3. Gilded mirrors, rotting morals. Behind its doors, Hopper eventually finds the truth behind Kline’s corruption.
Lipton House - Lakeside home of “Reefer Rick,” who frequently supplied drugs to Eddie Munson. Eddie later uses the residence and nearby boathouse as a temporary hideout from the police and Jason Carver. At least the views are nice!
Loch Nora - This upscale neighborhood might be posh but great for getting oversized candy bars at Halloween.
Lover's Lake - Enjoy the view of Lover’s Lake, a heart-shaped lake for romantics that earned its new name, “Watergate,” once the crew discovered an opening to the UD lies deep below its surface.
Mayfield Trailer - The once home of Max Mayfield and her mother Susan, yet a place of grief and dreaming of better days after Billy’s untimely death.
McCorkle Farm - On the outskirts of Hawkins, Eugene McCorkle’s pumpkin patch is plagued by a blight that destroys all of his pumpkins - a mysterious phenomenon that impacts other farms in the area, including his rival Merril Wright’s.
Melvald's General Store - From diner to general store, Melvald’s is the family business where Joyce Byers used to be employed. Whether it’s soap, cereals, or Christmas lights to communicate with the UD, Melvald’s has it all.
Munson Trailer - Here, Eddie played his guitar, and Chrissy met her unfortunate demise. Her brutal death at the hands of Vecna opened a gate to the UD, turning this dilapidated park into a gruesome crime scene that falsely framed Eddie as the murderer.
Palace Arcade / Family Video - From arcade cabinets to VHS tapes, welcome to the two central social hubs for the entire crew. Beat your best Dig Dug score at Palace Arcade where Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas first meet the mysterious player MADMAX in S2. Or rent your favorite romcom from Robin and Steve in S4. Don’t say anything if you catch them busy on the computer system tracking records of those connected to Victor Creel.
Roane Hill Cemetery - A final resting place for Hawkins residents, and where Max levitates under Vecna’s control near her brother Billy’s grave. Just before the battle for her soul was nearly lost, she escapes with the help of the crew and her favorite song.
Sattler Quarry - Take in the sights of this massive, water-filled quarry that becomes the point of investigation during the search for Will Byers, after his initial disappearance. Also a great place for a group hug.
Sinclair House - A humble home on Maple Street where Lucas and Erica grew up. Neighbors may see normal family life, but inside are two young heroes - each braver than they first appear.
Skull Rock - Look closely and you’ll see this cluster of boulders resembles something much more sinister. Oddly a popular makeout spot outside of Hawkins, it’s here that Dustin discovers gates to the UD may be nearby when his compass picks up a powerful magnetic field disruption.
Starcourt Mall - Hawkins former crown jewel of gleaming commerce, and the home of Scoops Ahoy. Which naturally made the perfect front for a secret Russian base hosting the gate to open the UD. Eventually the gate is destroyed and the mall burns down after the kids battle the Mind Flayer. Good luck finding ice cream.
The Squawk - Hawkins’ small town radio station where Steve, Robin, and the gang mix your favorite tunes with coded messages to coordinate raids with the help of Murray, who’s become a de facto smuggler for the team in S5.
Turnbow House - The Turnbow House is a decaying, isolated home tied to mysterious disappearances and eerie supernatural disturbances, long rumored to be one of Hawkins’ earliest gateways to the UD.
War Zone - A sporting goods store turned survival depot. Nancy, Johnathan, and the gang stock up on weapons and equipment before facing Vecna in S4. Somehow you can find everything in this town.
Weathertop - Breathe in the fresh air or watch the thunder storms roll in at the highest point in Hawkins. Here the crew temporarily mounted Cerebro in S3, a ham radio Dustin invented to communicate with his girlfriend, Suzie.
Wheeler House - A basement D&D battleground, a place to hide Eleven, and now home to half the crew in S5. Suburbia may look calm here, but the Wheeler House has always been the launch pad to adventure and the rebellion against evil powers.
