BEFORE THE MOVIES: Prehistory-1982

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Before The Movies: Prehistory-1982
c.8000 BC - c.7000 BC - c.4000 BC - c.3500 BC - c.2800-2075 BC - c.2600 BC - c.1600 BC - c.500 BC - 1 AD - Sixth Century AD - Seventh Century - 738 - Tenth Century - 1284 - Fifteenth Century - 1431 - c.1484 - 1505 - "Centuries Ago" - 1598 - 1610 - 1620 - c.1650 - 1684 - c.1689 - 1689 - 1690 - 1742 - 1818 - 1837 - 1840 - 1842 - 1860's - 1870 - 1874 - 1887 - 1888 - 1889 - 1890 - 1897 - Early Twentieth Century - 1900 - 1901 - 1904 - 1908 - 1910 - 1912 - 1915 - 1920 - 1920's - 1928 - 1930 - 1930's - 1933 - 1938 - 1939 - 1940's - 1942 - 1944 - 1946 - 1948 - 1949 - 1950 - 1950's - 1953 - 1954 - 1955 - 1957 - 1958 - 1959 - 1960's - 1964 - 1968 - 1969 - 1970 - 1971 - 1973 - 1975 - 1976 - 1977 - 1978 - 1979 - 1980 - 1981 - 1982
Era One: 1983-1987
Era Two: 1988-1996
Era Three: 1997-On
c.8000 BC
The Undying One, master of the African nation of Tangalla, is challenged by the wizard one day known as "The Collector". The Collector fails, and is banished to the land of lost objects. The twin keys to the realm are held by the Undying One until his own defeat, where they become heirlooms kept by the descendants of Shima-Buku

Ten thousand years before "The Brooklyn Triangle" The fact that the Collector challenged The Undying One is conjecture, inferred from "Moaning Stones"

c.7000 BC
Hob Anagarak, the demonic creature holding sway over the Arctic, is imprisoned in a block of black ice. It is said in Inuit legend that after this, the land grew cold

"Cold Cash and Hot Water"

c.4000 BC
Shima-Buku, chieftain of the Ibandi people of Tangalla, defeats the Undying One and imprisons him in three stones that were scattered throughout the borders of Tangalla

Six thousand years before "Moaning Stones"

c.3500 BC
The Sumerian civilization forms in Mesopotamia. The Sumerians invent writing (cuneiform) and the pantheon worshiped by the Sumerians and their successors, the Babylonians and Hittites, include many colorful figures such as Marduk, god of the city; his nemesis, the great dragon Tiamat; Gozer the Gozarian, and its minions Zuul and Vinz Clortho; and the elemental spirits Anshar and Khishor.

The rise of Sumeria is from Historical accounts. Marduk and Tiamat are authentic figures from Babylonian myth, and appear in "I Am The City" Gozer, Zuul, and Vinz Clortho are, of course, from Ghostbusters. Anshar and Khishor are from "Very Beast Friend"

c.2800-2075 BC
Construction of Stonehenge, marker of a powerful sight where "ley lines" of psycho-kinetic energy cross in a nexus. The sight was an astronomical observatory utilized by it's mysterious builders and later by the Druids.

Historical theory. It's nature as a PKE nexus is a common theory, which in the context of the Ghostbusters universe is verified in Real Ghostbusters#17, when Phineus Eventide uses it to counter Samhaine's spells.

c.2600 BC
The Great Pyramid of Giza is constructed, first and greatest of the pyramids of Egypt. A Necropolis of a deceased pharaoh, they also mark a very powerful series of ley line nexi.

Historical theory. The pyramids marking ley lines is a common theory in supernatural circles

c.1600 BC
An Egyptian chronicle mentions a powerful Hyksos diety known as "Zuul, the Gatekeeper, minion of Gozer"

Ghostbusters, from the research Venkman quotes to Dana Barrett. Louis Tully, possessed by Vinz Clortho, relates colorful details of Gozer's career during such events as "the third rectification of the Meketrex supplicants" and "the last reconciliation of the Vuldronaii" but there are no dating contexts given

c.500 BC
Rise of the classical Greek civilization, which included a colorful pantheon of gods that were later co-opted by the Roman Empire. In 1984, one powerful entity would claim to in fact be the Greek shapeshifting god Proteus.

Historical Accounts. The encounter with Proteus is from "Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster"

1 AD
The Council of Eight, self-proclaimed "Guardians of the Universe", select a thirty-five year old Alexandrian scribe named Tobin to replace Carthio as the "Chronicler of the Spirits". Tobin is reputedly the writer of the famous occult compendium, Tobin's Spirit Guide

Real Ghostbusters 3-D Special (aka Vol.2#0) This account of Tobin conflicts with the version presented in Ghostbusters International, where John Horace Tobin was an Englishman from the early Twentieth Century. I prefer the JH Tobin version, but it's hard to disregard an actual story for an RPG reference work. See Ghostbusters Fact List: Occult Reference Network for more on the GBI version of Tobin, and the Ghostbusters International Timeline for a proposed "compromise" between the two ideas.

SIXTH CENTURY AD
The historical events related to the legendary rise and fall of Camelot occur. Lost among the rush of more colorful figures is thuggish lord Sir Bruce Sans Pite', who is punished for his many crimes by being bound--reportedly by none other than Merlin himself--into a tapestry.

The placement of the historical basis of Camelot in the sixth century is Historical Theory. Sir Bruce is an actual figure, albeit a minor one, of Arthurian myth, and is seen in "A Hard Knight's Day".

SEVENTH CENTURY AD
The cult of the Celtic night god Samhain ("Sowwen") reaches it's zenith in Ireland; through unknown means, Samhain is bound into a monolith. The Feast of Samhain continued to be celebrated on the night of October 31st--the origin of Halloween.

Folklore accounts and "When Halloween Was Forever

c.738
Death of Arab madman Abdul Al-Hazred (more accurately rendered as "Abd Al-Azrad"), writer of a collection of dark spells and lore related to "Khadhulu" and the "Great Old Ones" known as the Kitab Al-Azif. When translated by Western scholars into Greek and Latin, centuries later, it would become known as the Necronomicon, the source work that 20th century horror writer HP Lovecraft would use to create his Cthulhu mythos.

Conjecture from the history of the Necronomicon as detailed in the Lovecraft mythos (Lovecraft himself being a figure of historical account); "Collect Call of Cthulhu" establishes that at least some elements of that mythos apply in the Ghostbusters universe.

TENTH CENTURY
The monks of the monastery of St. Theophilus bind four spirits that appear to be the Dark Riders, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from Christian prophesy. They are contained in the Codex of St. Theophilus, sealed with mystic wax.

"Apocalypse...What, NOW?!"

Peak of the Viking civilization birthed in the Scandinavian peninsula. Their pantheon of warlike gods includes Odin, Thor, Loki, Surt, and many more colorful beings; according to their myth, the world will one day be destroyed in the great battle of Ragnarok.

Norse mythos is from Historical Accounts. The concept of Ragnarok becomes important in "Ragnarok and Roll" and "Slimer's Sacrifice"--the latter of which featuring the demon Surt.

1284
The Pied Piper of Hamlin leads away the city's rats with his magical flute; when he is not paid for his service, he then leads the city's children away and has them throw themselves to their deaths in the Weser River. It is unknown if this was the work of the same entity seen in New York City in 1997, or the later incident was merely inspired by the original Piper.

Historical Accounts and Folklore; the 1997 incident is seen in "The Pied Piper of Manhattan"

FIFTEENTH CENTURY
A Renaissance painter--possibly Piero della Francesca or Raphael--paints an image of four angels and a cherub. The figures bear distinct resemblances to five people who would not be born for some five hundred years: the archangels are Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore, and the cherub is newborn Oscar Wallance. Speculation following this revelation in 1989 would include that the painter had a psychic premonition.

Conjecture from Ghostbusters 2. Egon, while not an art scholar (that we know of, anyway...), identifies it as "Late Renaissance" work, possible "Raphael or Piero della Francesca" Venkman helpfully offers "I think it was one of the Fettucinis..."

1431
Birth of Vlad Tepes in a small kingdom in the Carpathian mountains. He is the son of the hated "Vlad the Dragon" ("Vlad Dracul" in the Transylvanian tongue), but Vlad the younger far exceeds his father's cruelty. Tepes becomes known as Vlad the Impaler, and even more famously as "The Son of the Dragon": Dracula. According to folklore, he "dies" by being embraced by a vampire, going on to become the Count Vladimir Dracula featured in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel. It is unknown if Count Vostok of Buldavia, who claims to be the figure that Stoker based Dracula upon, is actually Vlad Tepes or if the folklore and fiction have mixed the two. Presumably Tepes' career is influential on another Carpathian despot a century later, Vigo the Carpathian.

Vlad Tepes is of Historical Account. His connection to the vampire Dracula is of Folklore Account and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Count Vostok and his claims of being the "real" Dracula are from "Transylvania Homesick Blues"

c.1484
As they do every five hundred years, representatives of good and evil vie for the soul of a single human in a contest determined by the surroundings; if evil wins the soul serves evil for the next five centuries. The outcome of this particular contest is unknown. The site is located in the land known to the modern age as New Jersey, and by the time of the next contest in 1984, the battle site is occupied by the stadium of the Jersey Jaguars baseball team.

Five hundred years before "Night Game"

1505
June 25. Birth of Vigo Von Homburg Deutschendorf, who later terrorizes Eastern Europe as a despot and necromancer known most famously as Vigo the Carpathian, but also as Vigo the Cruel, Vigo the Despised, Vigo the Torturer, Vigo the Unholy, the Scourge of Carpathia, and the Sorrow of Moldavia.

Ray's research in Ghostbusters 2 on Vigo's legends. His full name is seen briefly on Egon's computer record. I should note that Wilhelm Von Homburg was the name of the actor who played Vigo, and Will and Hank Deutschendorf the twins who portrayed Dana's son Oscar. The exact date is conjecture, and a tribute to "Lord Vego" of Ghostbusters.net

"Centuries Ago"
Members of the Deep Ones, living in the South Seas, form an unholy pact with humans desiring to gain greater power, and a race of Deep One/human hybrids are born. They hybrids establish a community on the island later known as Red Hook, off the coast of New York, and continue to kidnap humans to continue the breeding program. When human civilization comes to the area years later, the hybrids create the amusement park called Toad Island, and use the park as a front for more kidnappings until the mid to late 20th century, when hybrids desiring to live in peace do away with the program.

Real Ghostbusters#8. The time frame is vague, but Kenneth Grahame's story makes it sound as though the hybrids had formed their community and it was well established before the founding of New Amsterdam, though this is only Conjectural.

1598
Vigo the Carpathian paints his dynamic self portrait. Following a common practice of the time, he paints it over another, older work depicting four strange archangels and a cherub. Unbeknownst to the world until 1988, Vigo ensorcelled the painting to contain his essence after his death

Ghostbusters 2. Date is conjecture from the> Ghostbusters 2 adventure module for Ghostbusters International

1610
Vigo the Carpathian is killed by his subjects, having lived 105 years. He is shot, hung, stabbed, and drawn and quartered. Before finally expiring, his severed head delivering the prophesy "Death is but a Doorway, Time is But a Window; I'll be back"

Ghostbusters 2

1620
Ancestors of Dana Barrett immigrate to the English colonies of North America, presumably on the Mayflower.

Conjecture from a line in the script for Ghostbusters 2; it doesn't actually mention the famous Mayflower, but it's a logical conclusion posited by Dr. Riddle of Ghostbusters.net

c.1650
Some members of a family of German scholars, the Spenglers, immigrate to the English colonies of North America, settling in the town now known as Lewistown, Massachusetts, and converts from Judaism to Christianity (possibly a Puritan brand). At some point prior to the Twentieth Century, another faction would settle in Ostrov, Poland.

Conjecture; there are competing histories of the Spengler family presented in "If I Were a Witch Man" and the script of Ghostbusters 2. The name is an authentic German surname; in fact, in the DVD Ramis admits he got it from German philosopher Oswald Spengler.

1684
Bandits raid the monastery of St. Theophilus; among the items stolen is the Codex of St. Theophilus, in which the Dark Riders are mystically contained. The order would attempt to find the Codex, but fail until it resurfaces at a Northby's auction in 1985

"Apocalypse...What, NOW?!"

c.1689
Phineus Eventide is born. He would grow up to become one of the most powerful wizards in the world, and due to his magic is still quite alive as late as 1989, and is regarded as the Prince of Warlocks.

Date is conjecture; in Real Ghostbusters#12, Eventide mentions that his cat plays chess better than anyone he's known in "the last three centuries". It's thus entirely possible Eventide is even older.

1689
Eli Spengler saves the colony town of Lewistown. Massachusetts from the witch Kestrel, imprisoning her in a crystal containment unit. Eli's descendants will include Zediciah, 18th century wizard, and 20th century Ghostbuster Egon Spengler

Three hundred years before "If I Were a Witch Man"

1690
Hieronymus, English court wizard, is drawn into the Netherworld of Arzun and Tolay.

Date given in "Egon's Ghost"

1742
Zediciah Spengler, a deranged dabbler in the occult, conjures a small dragon, then imprisons him in a well. The scholarly Spengler family comes to regard him as an embarrassment: one descendant would label him one of the "loons and scoundrels of the family"

"Egon's Dragon"

1818
Captain John Cleves Symmes becomes an early advocate of the "Hollow Earth Theory". It wouldn't be until 1989 that the Ghostbusters would prove it by visiting the inner-Earth realm of Ceratel.

Real Ghostbusters#15

1837
Christmas. English businessman Ebeneezer Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. He regains the Christmas spirit, and his story is chronicled by Charles Dickens in his 1843 book, A Christmas Carol. The chronicle does not include the fact that four travelers from 1984 nearly foil the event.

"X-Mas Marks the Spot" The date of A Christmas Carol is, of course, historical account.

1840
A witch spirit tries to invade the body of Ginevra Jacobs, intent on murdering Ginevra's son Aaron to seal the possession. Two time travelers from the year 1990--Ghostbusters Egon Spengler and Janine Melnitz, the latter a cousin of one of Ginevra's descendants--prevent the possession. Only the two time travelers know that this creates an alternate timeline, as originally Aaron Jacobs did die and Ginevra's body was possessed until 1990. Aaron Jacobs would grow up to become the first disabled Congressman from New York.

Real Ghostbusters#28

1842
Nicolas Camille Flammarion is born on February 26 in Montigny-le-Roi, Haute-Marne, France . Camille Flammarion grew to be an astronomer and author, writing more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction novels, and works on psychical research and related topics. He also published the magazine L'Astronomie, starting in 1882. He maintained a private observatory at Juvisy-sur-Orge, France, and was the first to suggest the names Triton and Amalthea for moons of Neptune and Jupiter, respectively, although these names were not officially adopted until many decades later. Flammarion also developed a scale of supernatural manifestation that would still be known in the late 20th Century; Flammarion died on June 3, 1925.

Historical accounts, some bits rather blatantly stolen from Wikipedia. Egon mentions "The Flammarion Scale" in "The Headless Motorcyclist", which suggests that in the Ghostbusters universe Flammarion may have been more successful in his psychic research (since, after all, in that universe the supernatural is definitely real). I personally kind of consider the Flammarion Scale a precursor to GBI concepts like Ectopresence.

1860's
A Russian family emigrates to the United States; unbeknownst to them, they are accompanied by a small group of domovyen house spirits. Ghostbuster Ray Stantz would be a descendant of this family.

"The Spirit of Aunt Lois". The insinuation is made that the Stantz family is Russian, but the script for Ghostbusters 2 mentions Ray's great-grandparents immigrating from Switzerland--Dr. Riddle of Ghostbusters.net confirms that Stantz is a name of Swiss extraction, so the Russians are the ancestors of Ray's Grandma Stantz.

1870
The New York Pneumatic Rail Road (NYPRR) is first built, the brainchild of Alfred Beach. As envisioned by Beach, it serves as a system of mass transit in Manhattan despite early opposition of corrupt politico Boss Tweed and others. It is later phased out in favor of the famous subway system; some parts of the pneumatic are abandoned; one juncture, Van Horne Station, becomes an important early part of the return of Vigo the Carpathian in 1988.

Ghostbusters 2, which took some liberty from the work of Alfred Beach from Historical Accounts. In real life the Pneumatic Transit only ran one line that was 312 feet long, and was closed down after Beach's store burned down in 1878. Van Horne station is fictional. Thanks to "ECTO-1" and Ben King (Kingpin) for some interesting research on the matter--for more details, go here

1874
Birth of Erik Weisz, who would become an illusionist and escape artist, going down in the annals of history by his stage name Harry Houdini before his death in 1926. Unknown to the world at large, his spirit becomes trapped in one of his own magic boxes; the box would be used by the unscrupulous magician Calimari before the Ghostbusters free Houdini's spirit in 1985.

Historical Accounts and "The Cabinet of Calimari"

1887
Simon Quaig of Providence, after chewing out an inn owner, leaves in a coach and attempts to reach home during a storm. He fails, and unbeknownst to himself, perishes in the storm; for the next ninety seven years, he occasionally appears during New England thunderstorms, chased by a dark rider who is the amalgamation of his misanthropic side.

"The Man Who Never Reached Home"

1888
Death of Captain Nemo. Just before his passing, he hides his famous submarine, the Nautilus, in California, where by 1988 it's being worshiped by a "Space Brother" cult. Nemo would be fictionalized in the famous story 20000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Verne's book is, of course, Contemporary Accounts. The ghost of Nemo is seen in Real Ghostbuster#1-2; Cowan mentions in #2, when the Counter Clock Criminals enter the Nautilus, that "noone has been in here for a hundred years".

1889
The Eiffel Tower is debuted at the World's Fair in Paris. Unknown to the world at large, its creator, Gustav Eiffel, was a ghost hunter and the tower his containment system.

Historical accounts and "Ghostbusters In Paris"

1890
Birth of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, who in the early 20th century would write many horror novels in what will be referred to by some as the "Cthulhu Mythos" before his death in 1937. Unbeknownst to the world at large, Lovecraft did not create the Cthulhu mythos: he drew it from the ancient mystic text known as the Necronomicon. Ray Stantz would be a voracious reader of Lovecraft's works, which inspired his own studies of the supernatural.

Historical accounts and "Collect Call of Cthulhu"

The luxury liner Lady Anne goes under on August 12, in Lake Michigan. Over 200 people die in the disaster.

Real Ghostbusters#27

1897
Bram Stoker's novel Dracula is released, a story of the vampire Count Vladimir Dracula and his battles with John Harker and the Van Helsing family. The Dracula legend had it's roots in the 15th Century Carpathian despot Vlad Tepes, The Impaler; almost a century later, Count Vostok of Buldavia claims that the book is a fictionalized and slanted account of his battles with the fanatical Van Helden family.

The release of Dracula and Vlad the Impaler are from Historical Accounts. Count Vostok and his claims come from "Transylvania Homesick Blues"

EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY
Members of the Stantz family immigrate to the United States from Switzerland; They purchase a dairy farm in Islip, New York that had been worked for ten generations by the Peterson family. They have two sons--one would inherit the farm (which would one day be run by his granddaughter Samantha), while the other would move to the Bronx and marry a descendant of Russian immigrants--the second son would be the grandfather of Ray Stantz

Conjecture from an unused scene in Ghostbusters 2 The dairy farm and Samantha are from "Dairy Farm" (This also adds some "reality" to Venkman's line in the unused scene in GB2 about Ray's Swiss ancestors coming to America to look for "new kinds of cheese").

1900
Engineer Casey Jones dies on one of the most famous wrecks in locomotive history

Historical Accounts. Venkman mentions in "Last Train to Oblivion" that the wreck happened "one hundred years ago" (1985), but he was clearly rounding off.

1901
January 3. Birth of Rose Nelson. Before her death in 1996 at the age of 95, she marries into the Lockyer family and has at least one child, a daughter. Rose is the great grandmother of future Ghostbuster Kylie Griffin.

Great Grandma Rose is established in "Darkness At Noon". Her full name and other biographical details were conjectured by EGBFan.

1904
Birth of Mr. Tummell, who would become a billionaire industrialist listed at the top of the Fortune 500. In his later years, he would invest much of his fortune in dimensional transit research, hoping to take his fortune with him after his death.

"You Can't Take It With You" Tummell (who is never given a first name) says he's spent "eighty years" amassing his fortune; of course, this date could just as easily be the year he began working, making him even older

1908
The Tunguska event, or Tunguska blast or Tunguska explosion, was an enormously powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, at about 7:14 a.m. KRAT (0:14 UT) on June 30 [O.S. June 17], 1908. The explosion is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5–10 kilometers (3–6 mi) above the Earth's surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates of the object's size, with general agreement that it was a few tens of meters across. It is the largest impact event in recorded history.

Historical accounts. Description lifted wholesale from Wikipedia. Ray misspeaks the date as "1909" in Ghostbusters, but this only furthers a pattern of "dysnumera" he has in the first movie

1910
Ivo Shandor, an Albanian medical student, forms a cult dedicated to the worship of Gozer the Gozarian, an ancient Sumerian deity also known as The Destructor and The Traveler. Shandor believed that society was too sick to survive, and performed many "unnecessary" surgeries, experimenting with the pacification of humans. He also branched out into architecture, creating the design for 550 Central Park West, the 1983 residence of Dana Barrett and Louis Tully. His cult had over one thousand members at the time of his death.

Ghostbusters From Ray and Egon's research.

1912
The Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg, killing more than 1500 people.

Historical Accounts. The Titanic finally makes it to New York City on December 31, 1988, as seen in Ghostbusters 2 The depiction in GB2 does conflict with some historical facts; however, they were facts not known until the Titanic was actually found and explored in the late 1990's: there was no huge hole in the ship caused by the iceberg, and in fact no hole that size and shape is on the ship now as it sits under water. Also the letters 'RMS' were not on the name plate as shown on the ghost ship.

1915
Charles Faversham summons a demon in his attic. He hopes to bind and control the entity, but it proves too strong for him--instead, he seals it in the attic, and orders his daughter Agatha to never go up there.

Seventy years before "The Thing In Mrs. Faversham's Attic"

1920
The New York Central City Albany derails, killing hundreds of people.

Historical accounts, embellished in Ghostbusters 2. Winston gets to see a spectral version of the train up close. Once again, as with the NYPRR, some liberties were taken: in real life, the train was running light and only two people were injured when the train jumped its tracks and crashed through a wall. The wreck caught fire, but there were no reports of fatalities. In a bit of irony, the train they show in the tunnel was a steam engine so wouldn't have been used in a subway tunnel, yet the actual 'Albany' was an above ground train and was indeed a steam engine.

1920's
The parents of Edison and Cyrus Spengler, originally of Ostrov, Poland, immigrate to the United States and settle in Cleveland, Ohio. Their two sons would follow in the family tradition of scientific pursuits, becoming a physicist and a biochemist respectively.

Conjecture from the script of Ghostbusters 2. I theorize the Polish branch of the Spenglers are still nominally Jewish, in part because Harold Ramis is Jewish. More on Edison and Cyrus below...

Gangsterism flourishes among the Prohibition. The most notorious crime boss is, of course, Al Capone, who runs the Chicago underworld with an iron fist.

Al Capone is from historical accounts, and is seen in "The Ghostbusters Live From Al Capone's Tomb!"

The New York underworld, meanwhile, is run (at least in part) from the Majestic Hotel by Caesar Caldoni. Caldoni's main rival is one Webby "The Tractor" McBain--until, in 1928, Caldoni has McBain "rubbed out" and sealed in the "vault" opened by Julio Ramanajan in 1989.

Real Ghostbusters#4

1928
Walt Fleishman releases the first cartoon starring Ricky Roach, leading to a dynasty of animated characters like Conqueror Duck and Winchester Wolf

Conjecture. As Fleishman is insinuated as the Walt Disney of the Ghostbusters universe, setting the release of his first cartoon the year Disney released the first Mickey Mouse cartoon seemed appropriate.

1930
James Charles Venkman (usually known as "Charlie" or occasionally "Jim") is born on October 31 to a circus ticket taker in Sedalia, Missouri; raised in the atmosphere of the sleazy circus he grows up with some very warped values. (This isn't saying that all circuses are sleazy, but this one was)

Conjecture. In the novelization of the first movie, Richard Mueller actually conjectures the circus background for Peter Venkman, but as it would contradict the background as established elsewhere, this is transferred over to Charlie. Thanks to Miss Janine for the information, and Dr. Riddle for the compromise idea--Dr. Riddle also provided the conjectural birthdate. I've conjectured that Uncle Alf ("Collect Call of Cthulhu") is Charlie's half brother, and their mother led a somewhat...free spirited lifestyle (Grandma Venkman may have been someone Venkman had in mind talking about the women in his family who "slept around" in the deleted scene from GB2).

Charlie's full name is a combination of one onscreen mention of "Jim" in "Treasure of the Sierra Tamale" and the popular fan name "Charlie" given to him by Shiela Paulson. Older versions of this document used a different name, but when the name "Jim" was confirmed, this entry was revised to take it into account. On the B-cover of Ghostbusters Year One No.3, Venkman's employee info form mentions "James Venkman" as an emergency contact, alluding to this backstory.

1930's
A son of the Stantz family that immigrated to the US in the Early 20th Century marries a granddaughter of the Russian family that immigrated in the 1860's. They would settle in the Bronx, and have at least three children: Gaylord, Lois, and David. Gaylord would settle in Queens and become proprietor of a joke shop; he apparently never marries. Lois would never marry either, and would inherit her parent's house (the house her mother's Russian ancestors built). David would become a doctor and one day move to Morrisville, in upstate New York

Conjecture from the divergent Stantz histories in the cut scene in Ghostbusters 2 and "The Spirit of Aunt Lois". Lois is from that story also--the fact that she inherits their mother's family house suggests she was the oldest of the three siblings. Gaylord is from "The Joke's on Ray" The name David Stantz is conjectural from Shiela Paulson's stories; his occupation is conjecture from the Ghostbusters novelization

Charles Foster Hearse begins his publishing empire, featuring such eclecic magazines as Spooks Illustrated, which would eventually be read by all four of the future Ghostbusters (Venkman especially enjoying the swimsuit issue). Hearse would be succeeded by his heirs, son Charles Foster Jr. and in 1984, grandson Charles Foster III

Conjecture from "Ghostbuster of the Year"

The Hotel Sedgewick is built in New York City, near the edge of the garment district

Conjecture, from the Richard Mueller novelization of Ghostbusters

1933
A junior high ne'er-do-well named Benny falls off a smokestack and dies. His spirit is found and recruited by the barrow wight known as the "Soul Catcher", and he eventually becomes the evil creature's primary enforcer among the child spirits it captures.

Real Ghostbusters#14

The fraternity led by Elwin Spaulding in upstate New York is expelled after stealing the test papers to their final exams. The members of the frat are so angry about failing to graduate, they return to haunt the frat house--occupied by Tri Kuppa Bru by 1985--after their deaths.

"The Old College Spirit"

1938
Superman debuts in the pages of Action Comics No.1, the first superhero comic book. It would inspire scores of imitators and swipes, among them the 1960's hero Captain Steel

The debut of Action Comics is Contemporary Accounts. In "Captain Steel Saves the Day", Steel is presented as a sort of Ghostbusters Universe version of Superman, but we know Superman still exists as a fictional character due to "Egon's Dragon" ("Get out of the car before I get out the kryptonite, Peter") and "Egon on the Rampage" ("Who do you think you are? Lois Lane?")

December 2. Alberto Juan Rivera is born in Mexico. He would immigrate to the United States and settle in New York City, become a policeman, marry, and sire two sons: Carlos and Eduardo

Name and date are conjecture, established by fan fic writer "EGB Fan"

October 31. CBS Radio broadcasts an adaptation of HG Wells' "War of the Worlds" as an episode of The Mercury Theatre On The Air, narrated by actor Orson Welles. The broadcast is in the format of a mock newscast, and causes a brief panic from people who believe the invasion of Martians was actually happening.

Contemporary accounts

Among the audience fooled by the broadcast are a crew of aliens orbiting Earth, who assume they missed the order to join their comrades in waging the attack. They fly down to Earth, only to find it NOT being incinerated by Martians. Thinking they've been tricked, they try to high-tail it out of there but get hit by a meteor, and the flying saucer crashes in Elmo's Hill, New Jersey; the crash is witnessed by a ten year old boy who lived on the farm the saucer crashed on.

Mars Attack The Real Ghostbusters

1939
The World's Fair is held in New York. The Toad Island amusement park, founded by descendants of Deep One/human hybrids, is at the peak of it's attendance.

Real Ghostbusters#8. The New York World's Fair is from Contemporary Accounts.

1940's
Career of the Crime Patrol. Composed of the Crimson Crimebuster, the Lunar Avenger (Robert Weinberg), Doc Hazzard (Will Murray Hazzard, a scientific genius and minor telepath), and the Dark Dwarf. Their archnemesis is a sinister sorcerer named Fu Fang. Hazzard is also a friend to the grandfather of future Ghostbuster Egon Spengler...

Real Ghostbusters#7. Egon mentions that his grandfather without specifying which one, whether it's the one who immigrated from Poland (his father's father) or his mother's father. The Crime Patrol is, of course, James Van Hises' tribute to old pulp sci-fi adventurers...who all had to have a sinister Chinese nemesis, of course...

Airplanes on polar exploration missions begin to disappear into the geomagnetic disturbance leading the inner Earth realm of Ceratel. Over the next forty-plus years, four of those pilots find each other, learn the dinosaur languages, and discover ways of fermenting fuel from fruit trees. These humans become known by the citizens of Ceratel as the "Legion of the Lost"

Real Ghostbusters#20 and #22.

1942
Death of jazz musician Malachi, of Muddy Flats, Louisiana. So intent was he to prove that he was the greatest jazz musician of all time, he returns after death some time before 1985, and begins to warp the flow of time in the community.

"Play Them Ragtime Boos"

The Cosmos Carnival comes to Greentown, New York. The carnival's psychic, Fata Morgana, predicts the world will come to a bad end...with World War II raging, the inhabitants of Greentown ask Mister Cosmos to help them: he's a powerful mystic in his own right. He does indeed grant the inhabitants a sort of immortality, albiet one that keeps their spirits in place in their decaying bodies. He uses a group of were beasts to keep anyone from leaving, and anyone who stumbles into Greentown is forced to stay: as part of his spell, the rest of the world "forgets" Greentown existed, and an illusion keeps it hidden.

Real Ghostbusters#24

1944
The Maxig and Butterworth Circus burns down in Canarsie, a section of Brooklyn, New York. No human lives are lost, but dozens of animals burn in the fire. Two years later, the area undergoes a postwar construction boom, and is sight to several shops frequented by young Janine Melnitz in the 1960's. By 1984, the area is again razed and the animal spirits are awakened by Ray Cougar's seedy carnival.

"Roller Ghoster"

Walt Fleishman disappears. It wouldn't be learned until years later that he was sucked into a pocket realm ruled by his evil creation Winchester Wolf, and tortured for the next forty years

Forty years before "Who're You Calling Two-Dimensional?"

The jewel thief known only as "Blackie" steals from the treasure of King Tod, and is turned into a monster by Tod's curse. Blackie's nemesis, detective Phillip Spade, makes saving Blackie his mission--even after his death.

Forty years before "The Long Long Long Etc. Goodbye"

Evil wizard Rowen Schow disappears. He had discovered a spell that, over time, would allow human imagination and suspension of disbelief to give life to unreal images. That same year, Schow resurfaces as a character in a horror movie, The Deathless Image, at the Rialto theater in New York. The movie plays constantly at the theater for nearly a half-century, and Schow and his monsters slowly grow more powerful.

Real Ghostbusters#23

1946
A gremlin-plagued aircraft factory in Detroit is closed after World War II. It would remain unoccupied until Generous Motors retools it for the production of the Y-car in 1985; the gremlins in the factory remain dormant until that time.

"Don't Forget the Motor City"

1948
Criminals Tony and Nunzio Scoleri are electrocuted. They were sentenced to death after being successfully prosecuted by young lawyer Steven Wexler, in one of the first cases of his forty-plus year career. The Scoleris would be summoned back to try and take revenge on Wexler by the slime of Vigo the Carpathian in 1988.

Ghostbusters 2. The date is not actually given in the final film, and is conjecture from the movie's script (and is given in GB2#1). The names Tony and Nunzio are from production materials, and while they did not appear in the final movie they've been accepted by the fandom for decades.

1949
December. The Crime Patrol disbands after their final battle with Fu Fang. The Lunar Avenger, Robert Weinberg, would marry and have at least two sons, Alan and Matthew. Hazzard would retire to research work, and annually check the stasis capsule containing Fu Fang until the sorcerer's escape in late 1989

Real Ghostbusters#7

1950
A paranormal incident in Santa Clara, apparently involving giant ants.

Ray mentions this in "Troll Bridge". Since it's Ray, of course, it may have actually been in 1949 or 1951. I was a little disappointed to discover that Carl Barks' "Donald Duck and the Titanic Ants" wasn't published until 1958, because it would have been an awesome in-joke if the dates had matched.

1950's
Edison Spengler serves an internship under Will Hazzard, and in the process meets Hazzard's secretary, Katharine Melton, a distant relative who's mother descended from the Lewistown Spenglers. In part because of his resemblance to her notable ancestor Eli, Katharine pursues Edison and the two marry.

Conjecture, unifying the above Real Ghostbusters#7 and the disparate branches of the Spengler family from "If I Were A Witch Man" and an unproduced scene in Ghostbusters 2. Notes on the names are below, in 1957. Katharine's maiden name Melton is my own conjecture.

1953
May 2. Birth of Winston Ramsey Zeddemore, the son of construction worker Edward Lee "Big Ed" Zeddemore and his wife Lucille. Winston has at least one sister; by 1984 he has at least one nephew.

Conjecture. Fandom seems to have latched onto the idea that Winston is older than the other three original Ghostbusters, and may have served in Vietnam--note that if I kept to year derived from Ghostbusters International, he would've been born in 1962, and would instead be the youngest Ghostbuster. Ernie Hudson' birthday: Dec. 17, 1945. The date May 2, 1954 was provided by Dr. Riddle, from Tory Brown's fan site "Real Ghostbusters Out of Control". Middle name "Ramsey" is from Winston's name in early drafts of the first movie, and was established in IDW continuity by Ghostbusters Vol. 2 #13 Father is established in"The Brooklyn Triangle"; IDW suggested Ed's middle name, as a tribute to his voice actor, Roscoe Lee Browne, on one of the covers of 2020's Ghostbusters Year One #1 (that issue also suggested Winston's birthdate as June 17, 1945, making their version exactly six months younger than Hudson. IDW's date was also used in some prop files in Ghostbusters Afterlife as posted by prop designer Luke Whitlock). Mother's name is from Richard Mueller's novelization of the first movie. The Return confirms Winston's father's background in construction, but renamed his mother Evangelean--as Lucille was established first, I'm sticking with it. I have, however, suggested the use of the name Evangelean for Winston's sister, who is mentioned in passing in "Back In The Saddle". Nephew was mentioned in Ghostbusters: Legion#1. He might be the son of the same sister mentioned in "Back In the Saddle", or may not--there is room for speculation that Winston has more siblings, as the GB1 novelization speculates he could be one of twelve children. (In the Ectozone fan fic continuity, they're combined with the Tolan family from Answer The Call). The name "Zeddemore" is believed to be fictitious.

1954
Peter Charles Venkman is born on October 25, in Brooklyn, New York, to James Charles "Charlie" Venkman and the former Margaret Abernathy. Charlie is an itinerant salesman and con-man. Margaret dies, possibly while Peter is very young, and the family spends much of Peter's childhood moving around to avoid the law and disgruntled marks his father accumulates. Peter resents his father for never being home on Christmas, and comes to hate the holiday for many years.

Year derived from Ghostbusters International. Venkman claims to be a Scorpio in "Mean Green Teen Machine". (Bill Murray was born Sept. 21, 1950; IDW gives their version of Venkman this birthdate on the B-cover of Ghostbusters Year One No. 3) The date of October 25, 1957 was one obtained by Dr. Riddle, from Tory Brown's fan site "Real Ghostbusters Out of Control". The date I derived, Oct 25, 1954, was used in prop files used in Ghostbusters Afterlife as revealed by prop designer Luke Whitlock. Venkman's middle name is conjecture from fan fictions, and is named after his Dad. Venkman calls himself "the kid from Brooklyn" in "The Bird of Kildarby". Charlie Venkman is established in "Venkman's Ghost Repellers","Cold Cash and Hot Water", and "Treasure of the Sierra Tamale"; the names of Venkman's mother comes from fan fiction guru Shiela Paulson. Venkman relates information about his mother and his "on the lam" childhood in Real Ghostbusters#9. There is conflicting evidence on the issue of whether Margaret Venkman is deceased: RGB#9 and "The Thing In Mrs. Favesham's Attic" treat her as though she is indeed dead, while "Ghostbuster of the Year" and "Devil In The Deep" have Venkman refer to her as though she's alive. It might be plausible that she dies in late 1984 or early 1985, between "Ghostbuster of the Year" and "Mrs. Favesham's Attic", but that would still conflict with the RGB#9 and "Devil In The Deep" references. I find it more likely she's deceased, but that isn't definitive by any measure. Venkman hating Christmas was mentioned in "X-Mas Marks The Spot". Venkman also mentions an Uncle Alf in "Collect Call of Cthulhu", but doesn't say whether he's the brother of his mother or father; the elder Venkman apparently has farm relatives in Iowa, however, per "Cold Cash and Hot Water". I have conjectured that Uncle Alf is Charlie's half brother and owns the farm, but this is only speculation. It might make Alf something of a "white sheep" of the family.

In his novelization of the first movie, writer Richard Mueller reportedly conjectures that Venkman was raised in a circus. Ironically enough, Mueller himself would void that idea by creating Charlie Venkman--though there is some sentiment that perhaps Charlie grew up in a circus.

Dr. Riddle believed the name "Venkman" fictitious until uncovering people who actually have that name, living in my own home state of Indiana. He believes it is probably derived from the same roots as the word "fink" (The word "Fink" means a contemptible person, someone who’s considered mean, low, a coward or a cheat.) Fits him.

A group of human-appearing aliens, escaping the tyranny of insectoid creatures, hides on Earth in the small Florida town of Beachhead. The aliens live peacefully with the human inhabitants.

Thirty five years before Real Ghostbusters#18; this is how long one of the aliens says she's been dealing with the Florida heat.

1955
October 8. Dana Barrett is born to Gerald and Valerie Barrett. Gerald was a railroad worker for the Boston and Maine, and retired prior to 1983. Valerie ran various undefined "cottage industries". Dana has two brothers; Doug (probably older) was, as of 1983, a reporter for the Boston Globe; Davey (presumed younger) was a short stop for the San Diego Padres. As of 1983, both were married, but have no known children.

Age given in Ghostbusters International. Much of the information about her family comes from Richard Mueller's novelization of the first movie; the names of her parents, however, are conjectural, and from EGBFan. A line in the Ghostbusters script would suggest she's yet another Scorpio, too...but Sigourney Weaver was born October 8, 1949, so I conjecture that as Dana's birthday

1957
April 18. Birth of Louis Bartholomew Tully, the second son of Andrew and Florence Tully. His brother, Albert Robert Tully, would sire a son, Louis's nephew Lawrence

Date is conjecture from Rick Moranis's birthdate of April 18, 1954; in Ghostbusters Louis throws a party to celebrate four years as an accountant; assuming he graduated from a four year program, he would be twenty-six in 1983. (Thanks to "born2bustheads" and "Princess Artemis" for pointing these facts out) Name "Bartholomew" is conjectural--he has the middle initial "B" in the Ghostbusters International role playing books--the age in that book was disregarded, however, as it would imply Louis was born in 1960. Lawrence Tully is from "Busters in Toyland". Louis's mother is apparently widowed or divorced before 1988--Louis mentions in Ghostbusters 2 that he "Had a roommate, but then my Mom moved out." The script for Ghostbusters 2 introduces Louis's cousin Sherm, a dermatologist, but as he didn't appear in the final movie his existence is only conjectural (Sherm does appear in GB2#3) The names of the rest of Louis's family are all conjectural, and suggested by Dr. Riddle.

November 21. Egon Spengler is born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Dr. Edison Spengler and his wife Katharine. His uncle, Cyrus Spengler, will run his own research firm, Spengler Labs. Egon is given a very strict upbringing stressing academic success, so much that he was allowed no toys and reportedly an A- on a test brought a harsh reaction from his parents. At some point in his childhood, Egon is victimized by the entity called "The Boogeyman", who inspires the boy to research the supernatural.

Egon is thirty-nine in 1997, when "The Sphinx" takes place, but by context clues in this episode and "Back In the Saddle", I am assuming that "Sphinx" is before his November birthday. (This assumption was later confirmed by EGB Production Supervisor/Coordinator Shannon Muir in a post on the TV.com forums). Egon is born within a week of Thanksgiving (Nov. 28, 1997), as seen in "Back In The Saddle"; exact date is conjecture--Harold Ramis was born on Nov.21, 1944. December 5, 1956 was a date provided by Dr. Riddle, from Tory Brown's fan site "Real Ghostbusters Out of Control". It is unknown from where she derived it, or whether it was from before EGB was even aired. Cleveland is established in "Rollerghoster". Shiela Paulson's name for Egon's father is Elliot, while I called him Newton in my old stories--I decided to split the difference and suggest the name Edison. Katharine, seen in "Till Death Do Us Part" and "Ghostworld", is named again from fan fiction. Uncle Cyrus is established in "Cry Uncle" Egon mentions that he wasn't allowed any toys (save a Slinky that he straightened) in Ghostbusters 2. The A- incident is related in "The Devil to Pay". Egon's relationship with the Boogeyman is established in "The Boogeyman Cometh", "The Boogeyman is Back", and Real Ghostbusters#26 The comic hints that Egon was 14 when the Boogeyman started to hassle him, but that seems too old.

The novelization of the first movie conjectures that Egon has a brother, but this is unsupported by the totality of canon, which paints him as an only child. Thanks to Miss Janine for the information.

1958

October 28. Janine Melnitz is born to Fritz and Denise Melnitz, and raised in the Canarsie area of Brooklyn. She has an older sister, Doris (who later gives birth to her bratty nephew Victor), an Aunt Bella, and a cousin named Michelle Jacobs (who by 1990 has a son, Alec)

Year derived from "The Brooklyn Triangle" which shows her year of graduation as 1977. Assuming that she was 18, this means she was born in 1958 or 59--"The Crawler" places it in October or November 1958 by establishing her as being born under the zodiac sign Scorpio. Exact date is Conjecture--Annie Potts' birthday is October 28,1952. (Tory Brown did not list a birthday for Janine). The names of her parents are conjectural. Doris was mentioned in "Mrs. Roger's Neighborhood", seen in "Janine's Day Off", and given her name in the EGB episode "Fallout". Canarsie established by "Janine's Day Off" and "Rollerghoster". Victor established by "Janine's Day Off" and "Victor the Happy Ghost" Bella is from "Roller Ghoster" Michelle and Alec Jacobs come from Real Ghostbusters#28. Note that this is one case where the Ghostbusters International age of 39 is ignored, which would've placed her birth in 1951. It is assumed, though not established, that the Melnitz family is Jewish--one more reason I posited the Ostrov Spenglers as being of Jewish descent (more common ground for Egon and Janine). "Melnitz" is a legitimate name, but Dr. Riddle is unsure as to the exact origin, probably Hebrew, Slavic, or Germanic. (In the third issue of NOW's Slimer! comic, Janine also has a niece named Bonnie, but I consider Slimer! references apocryphal.)

1959
October 13. Birth, in the Bronx, of Raymond Francis Stantz to Doctor David Stantz and his wife, the former Carolyn MacMillan of Scotland. A steady diet of comic books and pulp adventure would feed his interest in the supernatural. David Stantz would take him on visits to the Toad Island park in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Ray grew up in the upstate New York community of Morrisville, part of a large family with at least one cousin and a wise maiden aunt. Apparently he had some wierd pets and the people of Morrisville didn't think he'd amount to much. His first crush would be a girl named Elaine Fuhrman. Alan Favish was his childhood nemesis. He also had an interest in stage magic.

Year is from "It's About Time" I orginally used a 1953 date derived from 1990 age of 37 in Ghostbusters International; like Janine I decided an actual animated reference should trump a licensee conjecture. Ray's being born in the Bronx comes from a line in "Citizen Ghost". Exact date is conjecture provided by Dr. Riddle, from Tory Brown's fan site "Real Ghostbusters Out of Control". (Dan Aykroyd was born July 1, 1952, Prop files seen in Ghostbusters Afterlife posted by prop designer Luke Whitlock give Ray a birthdate of July 1, 1954) Middle name is a fan conjecture derived from Ghostbusters ("Come here, Francine..."); the IDW comic series canonizes it on the B-cover of 2020's Ghostbusters: Year One #2, which also has an undefined mention of 1959 that might be a nod to his RGB birth year. David and Carolyn's names are, again, from Shiela Paulson fiction. Morrisville, the weird pets, Favish, and Elaine established in "Look Homeward, Ray"; cousin Samantha is from "Dairy Farm", though we now theorize she's actually his second cousin. Aunt Lois Stantz is from "The Spirit of Aunt Lois", as well as a mention in "Mr. Sandman Dream Me a Dream". Two of Ray's uncles are known: Uncle Gaylord, owner of a joke shop ("Ray's Joke Shop") and Andrew MacMillan of Scotland ("Bustman's Holiday"), presumably his mother's brother. Ray's parents are deceased by 1983: the property he puts up for collateral in Ghostbusters was left to him by them. His inspiration from comics and horror fiction was established in "Collect Call of Cthulhu" and "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" Stage magic was an interest of his in "You Can't Teach an Old Demon New Tricks" Toad Island is from Real Ghostbusters#8

The novelization of the first movie suggests that Ray has two siblings: an older brother, Carl, who is in the USAF and is married with two sons; and younger sister Jean, who is divorced with a daughter, and lives a bisexual lifestyle in California. It also suggests that Ray's father was a doctor and his mother was a housewife. Thanks to Miss Janine for this information.

Fan fictions by Shiela Paulson conjecture that Ray was about eleven (1970) at the time David and Carolyn died in an auto accident, and that afterwards he was raised primarily by rather uncaring foster parents--possibly a fourth Stantz brother (he mentions finding an uncle's name carved into his junior high desk in RGB#14). This is all fan conjecture, however. To add Carl and Jean to the story, Dr. Riddle suggests that perhaps Ray was David and Carolyn's clear favorite, which would explain why he got the house they were born in and, by the novel's accounts, neither of the three Stantz siblings talk to each other (I can also imagine Carl disapproves of Jean's life style) (It gets really wild in a "what if" story she did, "Father to the Man", which speculates on a really shocking true identity of David Stantz...)

Among the Miller Meteor Cadillac Hearse/Ambulances manufactured this year are two vehicles that, when acquired by the Ghostbusters in 1983 and 1988, would be the two incarnations of the famous ECTO-1

Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2. One of these is seen in "It's About Time", painted white. I personally assume it's the second ECTO (the ECTO-1A), as the first is seen as black in GB1, but there's a quarter century for the thing to be repainted, so that is only conjectural.

The firemen of the Hook and Ladder #8 repel a ghost invasion. They are aided by a team of time travelers from 1989, ironically enough the future inhabitants of their firehouse, the Ghostbusters

"It's About Time". One big difference between the Real World and the Ghostbusters World is the fate of the H&L#8--in the Ghostbusters world, it is abandoned sometime before 1983 so the guys can buy it. In the Real World it is a working firehouse to this day.

1960's
As part of the "Silver Age" of comics, young comic writer Len Wolfman created the superhero Captain Steel, an inspired knock-off of Superman. Disguising himself as mild mannered CPA Kirk Clint, he fights a neverending battle against such villains as deranged scientist Doctor Destructo. The series would be a favorite of young Ray Stantz.

"Captain Steel Saves the Day". As mentioned in 1938, Steel is clearly a swipe of Superman; I conjecture Steel as a Silver Age icon because Len Wolfman certainly doesn't look old enough to have been writing since 1938. Wolfman is also, by the way, named for two actual comic writers of the late Silver Age, Len Wein and Marv Wolfman. Steel is also seen briefly in "The Copycat"

1964
Five year old Janine Melnitz attends the World's Fair at Flushing Meadows. She leaves with two souvenir coins that she keeps as good luck charms. She gives one of these to Egon Spengler in 1983, on the eve of the Ghostbuster's battle with Gozer

Conjecture; this was actually from a scene edited from Ghostbusters that showed up as an "extra" on the 1999 DVD release. As I thought it was a cute scene, and it doesn't violate continuity, I thought I'd add it to the timeline...

The last Deadly Doctor Crowley movie is filmed, and the set where the character awakens his monster is boarded up and abandoned. At some point over the next twenty years, an entity seeking peace and quiet hibernates under the trapdoor flooring of the set. [RGB]

"Take Two" The set had been abandoned "Twenty years ago"

Ray Stantz, during a visit to Toad Island with his father, gets separated from him and encounters a mermaid. The mermaid entertains him with stories until David finds him.

Twenty five years before Real Ghostbusters#19 in 1989.

Birth of Irena Cortez in El Centro, Arizona. Like her parents, Irena is born a natural werewolf, and is trained by them in the use of her powers. She would fondly remember running with them through the deserts and mountains during full moons...

Real Ghostbusters#5. The exact year is conjecture, and assumes Irena was 25 in 1989.

A dimensional gateway appears in Southeast Asia, and supernatural creatures begin to pour out of it, perhaps attracted by the death forces released by the Vietnam conflict. Over the next four years, US military forces battle the paranormal in a secret conflict dubbed "The Unearth War". An officer named George Armstrong Badge rises to prominance and the rank of General during this conflict.

Real Ghostbusters#25

1968
The Unearth War is ended when the United States activates atomic bombs on the other side of the dimensional gate. The gate is destroyed and the conflict ends. Knowledge of the Unearth War is hidden in the most top-secret of files.

Real Ghostbusters#25

1969
The Woodstock music festival is held. Peter Venkman claims to have attended and gotten high there

"Lost and Foundry", though take this with a small grain of salt--Venkman would've been fourteen at the time (being before his fifteenth birthday in October or November) Though it's certainly not impossible for Venkman to have been this big a juvenile delinquent...

1970
Child prodigy Egon Spengler gets his first degree at the age of 12. At some point, he becomes a student of Professor Ian Epimethius, an early researcher into dimensional physics.

Conjecture. Egon obviously attains a lot of learning in his time--remember, he's only 26 at the time of Ghostbusters. Having him be one of those college prodigies explains both his vast knowledge and maybe some of his social problems. He once offhandedly mentioned to Janine in "Rollerghoster" that he got a degree in grade school, though this can't be literal truth. An excised line from Ghostbusters would've established that Egon had a doctorate in Physics from MIT. Professor Epimethius is from Real Ghostbusters 3-D Annual#1

1971 OR AFTER
Winston Zeddemore, son of construction worker Edward Zeddemore, is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War.

Conjecture. Winston's service in Vietnam is a popular fan assumption, though unsupported by any canonical evidence--though nothing I know of refutes it either, It IS mentioned in "Ghostworld" that he attended boot camp. 1971 is eighteen years after his conjectured birth in 1953.

Note that in the New Timeline, Winston's military service is confirmed. He trained at Paris Island with Staff Sergeant Adams, and served in the Marines as established in Ghostbusters #16

1973
Peter Venkman enters college. He eventually attains doctorates in parapsychology and psychology. He is also a pledge to the Tri Kuppa Bru fraternity.

Date is conjecture, assuming a graduation date of May 1973 (Venkman was born Nov. 1954). Venkman's doctorates are established in Ghostbusters, though there's always the sneaking suspicion that he earned them at one of those "Send us your money we send you a doctorate" Correspondence Schools--the script for Ghostbusters credits Egon for making Venkman finish grad school. Tri Kuppa Bru established by "The Old College Spirit". The exact timing of Venkman's meeting with Egon Spengler is unknown.

1975
A young witch makes a deal with the demon Astorath. Astorath impregnates her in hopes that the demon halfbreed will allow him access to Earth.

One year before the birth of Shannon Phillips, established as thirteen years old in Real Ghostbusterss#9.

Louis Tully graduates from high school, and attends college majoring in Accounting.

Assumes he attended college for four years before becoming an accountant; he celebrates four years in the field in Ghostbusters

1976
Ray Stantz attends Columbia University. After attaining a degree in Occult Sciences, he bounces from job to job, including at least one in private research.

Conjecture. Ray was born in 1959, per "It's About Time", so he is 18 in late 1977 (meaning he would "normally" graduate high school in May 1978; like Egon, we assume actually be a prodigy and entered earlier; he certainly attained a doctorate by 1983, probably earlier. Ray having attended Columbia is from "The Haunting of Heck House" Ray's bad experience with private research comes from a line in Ghostbusters. As mentioned above, the exact timing and place of his meeting Peter Venkman and Egon Spenger is undefined, other than the fact that he would've met them and Micheal Draverhaven before 1979

Ray Stantz takes one helicopter lesson, which he won free in a contest

"You Can't Take It With You"

Birth of Shannon Phillips. His mother is part of a coven dedicated to the demon Astorath, led by the necromantic sorcerer Nathaniel Blaque, who poses as Shannon's tutor.

Real Ghostbusters#9 Shannon is thirteen years old at the time of the "Father Thing Trilogy"

1977
Janine Melnitz graduates high school

"The Brooklyn Triangle"

A poltergeist torments a family in a North London suburb; at one point one of the family is posessed and calls out to "Gozer".

Contemporary Accounts. I remember writing in the very first version of the Timeline that "The production notes included in the DVD release reveal that the name 'Gozer' actually came from a documented haunting in New England (the notes unfortunately do not include a date, or you can bet I'd cite it)." Seventeen years later, I found an article about the haunting at Higgypop.com and can finally give this piece of lore it's due justice.

Sept. 21. Roland Jackson is born in New York, the first of seven children of Phil and Sharon Jackson

Date is conjecture, derived from birthday of Alphonso Ribiero (Sept. 21, 1971) and assuming an age of 19 at the beginning of 1997. His large family is established in "Grease", and one younger brother, Casey, is seen in "Grundlesque"

Democrat Lenny Clotch is elected Mayor of New York City.

Conjecture. In the Real World, Ed Koch was first elected in 1977. Lenny's party affiliation comes from the novelization of the first movie, his full name from the novelization of the second.

1978
Jan 3. Birth of Garrett Miller to Howard and Susan Miller. Due to a congenital birth defect, his legs are completely useless and Garrett is born paraplegic

Date is conjecture, based on birthdate of Jason Marsden (Jan 3, 1975) and assuming he is 18 at the beginning of 1997. Most XGB background details are established in "Grease". The names of his parents are conjectural, from EGBFan.

Feb. 12. Birth of Kylie Griffin to Steve and Jill Griffin. Her parents divorce when she is very young, and she's raised by her grandmother Rose Nelson Lockyer.

Date conjectured from birthdate of Tara Charendoff Strong (Feb 12, 1973), assuming an age of 18 at the beginning of 1997. Grandmother is mentioned in "Darness at Noon". The names of her parents, and great grandmother's last names, are conjecture from EGBFan

July 18. Birth of Eduardo Rivera, the second son of policeman Alberto Rivera and his wife Carlota. Eduardo has one older brother, Carlos, who follows in their father's footsteps in becoming a policeman. By 1997 Carlos is married to Beth Masters, and they have a son (Eduardo's nephew) Kevin.

Date is conjecture from an age of 18 in 1997--exact date is undefined as IMDB did not have a birthdate listed for Rino Romano; this conjecture comes from Iain Bennett/Sinister. Most background details are established in "Grease"; Carlos and family is seen in "Rage". The name of Eduardo's parents and Carlos's wife's maiden name are conjectural, and taken from fan fictions written by "EGB Fan"

1979
Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and Micheal Draverhaven use a device of Spengler's design, Stantz's construction, and aided with knowledge of Polynesian runes provided by Draverhaven, that attempts to open a portal to the "spirit world". The device fails and explodes, and Draverhaven is driven insane and attacks Stantz. He is committed to Albany Psychological Corrections Facility. Unknown to the future Ghostbusters at the time, the cause of Draverhaven's insanity was the awakening of his psychic ability to talk to and control paranormal entities.

Ghostbusters: Legion#3 While the flashback supposedly takes place ten years before the story (six months after Gozer), this date is unworkable in the Timeline as Ray Stantz isn't even in college yet in 1974. The date has been arbitrarily set five years before the story; as mention is made of the experiment being important in Venkman gaining his degree, it could have actually happened in 1980.

Victor Irwin, son of Janine Melnitz's sister Doris, is born

Victor is seen in "Janine's Day Off" and given a first name in "Victor the Happy Ghost". His last name is conjectural.

Louis Tully becomes a Certified Public Accountant

Ghostbusters. Louis throws a party to celebrate four years as an accountant.

Hunters murder Irena Cortez's parents. She escapes, and the hunters are arrested the next day for parading around with their "trophies". Irena moves to New York and has herself hynpotized to forget her werewolf nature.

Real Ghostbusters#5; the date is conjecture--she was fifteen when her parents were murdered, and I assume she is twenty-five in 1989.

1980
Dr.s Egon Spengler and Peter Venkman are employed by Columbia University to do parapsychological research. By 1983, they are under the department management of Dean Yaeger.

Conjecture. It is never established, but the impression is given that Egon and Venkman met in college, and worked together since. In "The Thing in Mrs. Faversham's Attic" Venkman mentioned that he attended college for seven years. Dean Yaeger is from Ghostbusters

Mount St. Helens erupts. Afterwards, a small dimensional gate similar to the one found in Southeast Asia in the Sixties opens. General Badge, the hero of the Unearth War, spearheads the creation of the Advanced Radical Military Occult Railroad (ARMOR) charged with studying the phenomenon and preventing a second Unearth War.

The eruption of Mt St. Helens is from Contemporary Accounts. ARMOR is from Real Ghostbusters#25

1981
Democrat Lenny Clotch is re-elected Mayor of New York City

Conjecture. In the Real World, Ed Koch was reelected to another term in 1981. Lenny's party affiliation comes from the novelization of the first movie, his full name from the novelization of the second. It is presumed, but not stated, that like Koch Lenny was already incumbent in the position, and this was actually a reelection.

1982
Dr. Ray Stantz is hired by the university, and he is assigned to work with Egon Spengler and Peter Venkman.

Conjecture. As detailed above, Ray worked in the private sector at some point (Ghostbusters), presumably running into Venkman and Egon later--he may have met them earlier than this, however; the Ghostbusters script suggests Venkman introduced Ray and Egon to each other.

Lawrence Tully is born to Albert Robert Tully and his wife. Lawrence is raised a very spoiled child, who gets just about everything he wants. Lawrence's uncle, accountant Louis Tully, tries very hard every year to come up with the "prefect" birthday present for him. He usually fails.

"Busters In Toyland". Lawrence turns eight in that episode.

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Before The Movies: Prehistory-1982
c.8000 BC - c.7000 BC - c.4000 BC - c.3500 BC - c.2800-2075 BC - c.2600 BC - c.1600 BC - c.500 BC - 1 AD - Sixth Century AD - Seventh Century - 738 - Tenth Century - 1284 - Fifteenth Century - 1431 - c.1484 - 1505 - "Centuries Ago" - 1598 - 1610 - 1620 - c.1650 - 1684 - c.1689 - 1689 - 1690 - 1742 - 1818 - 1837 - 1840 - 1842 - 1860's - 1870 - 1874 - 1887 - 1888 - 1889 - 1890 - 1897 - Early Twentieth Century - 1900 - 1901 - 1904 - 1908 - 1910 - 1912 - 1915 - 1920 - 1920's - 1928 - 1930 - 1930's - 1933 - 1938 - 1939 - 1940's - 1942 - 1944 - 1946 - 1948 - 1949 - 1950 - 1950's - 1953 - 1954 - 1955 - 1957 - 1958 - 1959 - 1960's - 1964 - 1968 - 1969 - 1970 - 1971 - 1973 - 1975 - 1976 - 1977 - 1978 - 1979 - 1980 - 1981 - 1982
Era One: 1983-1987
Era Two: 1988-1996
Era Three: 1997-On
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