Damien Echols, who inspired Stranger Things' Eddie Munson, reacts to fan-favorite character in season 4
There is no doubt that the character of Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), leader of the Hellfire Club and an absolute metal head, has managed to earn admiration in his short stint in Season four of 'Stranger Things'.
However, the character is inspired from a real life victim named Damien Echols, who very much like Eddie was blamed for murders he did not commit and spent half his life in jail fighting for justice.
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Now we all know that Eddie Munson was falsely accused of a series of "Satanic" murders that were actually perpetrated by Vecna. But he did have a few loyal friends like Dustin who knew he didn't do anything wrong. Well, the Duffer Brothers have said that Eddie’s character was inspired by artist and writer Damien Echols, who was one of "the West Memphis Three" and a real-life victim of the Satanic panic that swept America in the ’80s and ’90s.
"The West Memphis Three" case is about three murders that took place in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993. The murdered three were identified as Steve Edward Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore. During the time three teenagers Jessie Misskelley Jr, Jason Baldwin, and Damien Echols, who had been accused of petty crimes in the past and were outsiders to “the prevailing cultural climate of West Memphis, situated in the Bible Belt", were accused of the murders.
They were alleged to have conducted them as part of a "Satantic ritual", despite a lack of evidence and a clear bias against them. The three fought long and hard to prove their innocence by trying to use DNA evidence to rid them of the guilty verdict. All three men spent 18 years in jail for crimes they did not commit. After almost two decades of legal battles and attention called to the injustice of the case by moviemakers, musicians, and other public figures, they were finally released from prison on Alford pleas in 2011, sentenced to time served.
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While the legal case to clear Echols’ name is still on-going, it is clear when watching 'Stranger Things' just how much Munson was inspired by the case. Like Echols, Eddie was an outcast because of his love of metal music and his role in the Dungeons & Dragons community. Recently, Echols reacted to the hype on Eddie Munson's character and tweeted about it saying, "In case anyone else is wondering, I was tremendously honored by it. And I greatly appreciate all the new eyes and hearts it has brought to our fight. I was watching it at 3 am in the morning, and when I heard the very first chords from Master of Puppets, my heart exploded."
In case anyone else is wondering, I was tremendously honored by it. And I greatly appreciate all the new eyes and hearts it has brought to our fight.
— Damien Echols (@damienechols) July 16, 2022
I was watching it at 3 am in the morning, and when I heard the very first chords from Master of Puppets, my heart exploded. https://t.co/zHmq2vQhoW
The similarities between Eddie and Echols' stories is quite epic. The false accusations, the feeling of being an outcast in the society for being who they were, the troubles they faced in trying to prove their innocence and most of all the terror in their sparkling eyes with a feeling of a brutal loss. But scarier of it all is how the real murderers of "The West Memphis Three" are still at loose.
