Back to Movie Clips

Stranger Things: Christmas Lights

"Communication from the Upside Down"

Stranger Things (2016–) — the story behind the lights

Stranger Things is a Netflix phenomenon set in the 1980s, centering on a group of kids in Hawkins, Indiana who encounter supernatural forces from an alternate dimension called The Upside Down.

In one of the series' most memorable early scenes, a young boy named Will is trapped in the Upside Down and manages to communicate with his mother, Joyce, through electrical signals — flickering the household Christmas lights to spell out messages, one letter at a time.

Joyce paints the alphabet on the living-room wall beneath the lights so Will can “type” to her across dimensions. It’s eerie, heartbreaking, and unforgettable — and it inspired a TNT simulation.

Try the simulation!  TNT’s LightWrite app recreates this scene in your browser — watch Claude AI spell out phrases through flickering lights, or type your own messages through the Upside Down yourself.

Movie clip is only available in larger viewports.
On some mobile devices, rotating to landscape will allow viewing.

The Christmas Lights Scene