Who Is Bloodaxe Bill in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Season 2?

Hawkins has spent decades remembering William Dandridge as a monster. Better known as Bloodaxe Bill, the miner is blamed for the 1892 silver mine explosion that killed workers and helped shape the town’s history. Season 2 of Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 gradually reveals that almost everything Hawkins believes about him is wrong.

The mystery begins as part of the Hawkins Investigators Club’s school history project, but it soon overlaps with the strange apparitions appearing around town. Because the supposed ghost seems connected to the old mine, Mike, Dustin and the others initially become convinced that Bloodaxe Bill has returned from the dead.

Related: Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Season 2 Ending Explained: What Happens to the Golem?

Bloodaxe Bill Is William Dandridge

Bloodaxe Bill’s real name is William Dandridge. He is also Charlie Dandridge’s great-great-grandfather, something Charlie reveals when the group attempts to conduct a seance inside the Dandridge family’s old cabin.

According to the official version of Hawkins history, Bill was a “silver-mad” miner whose greed caused the mine disaster. The legend claims he could detect veins of silver through rock using his distinctive silver pickaxe, eventually earning him the reputation of the “Mad Miner of Hawkins.”

The children initially believe that story as well. After finding a skeleton in the abandoned mine with a silver pickaxe embedded in its chest, they assume the dead man was one of Bill’s victims. The skeleton is actually Bill himself.

What Really Happened to Bloodaxe Bill?

Arthur Dandridge gives the H.I.C. a very different version of the story. According to the Dandridge family, Bill was not responsible for the explosion and was not the murderous figure Hawkins history turned him into. Arthur says Bill cared about his miners and opposed Samuel Hawkins when Hawkins pushed them to continue digging somewhere dangerous. Rather than accept that resistance, Hawkins betrayed his friend.

Samuel Hawkins took Bill’s silver pickaxe and killed him with it. After the mine disaster, Hawkins covered up what happened and presented himself as the man who helped rebuild the town while Bill became the convenient villain. The finale provides evidence supporting the Dandridge version. The children’s investigation uncovers Samuel Hawkins’ signet ring at the murder scene, and the story becomes public. The news report at the end confirms that William Dandridge’s descendants are pleased to see his name finally cleared.

Is Bloodaxe Bill’s Ghost Real?

No. The frightening entity stalking the children is not actually Bloodaxe Bill. That is one of Season 2’s central misdirections. Because the apparition appears around the same time the H.I.C. discovers Bill’s remains, the children naturally connect the two. Even Charlie believes his family’s supposed curse may be responsible.

They eventually hold a seance and call upon William Dandridge, only for the same terrifying creature to appear. Eleven cannot stop it directly, which makes the ghost explanation seem even more convincing.

The truth arrives later. Dustin discovers that a piece of the creature contains pollen identical to the material carried by the Hate Sprites. He realizes the apparition is made from pollen and depends on the strange flowers growing around Hawkins. It is not Bloodaxe Bill’s spirit at all. It is one of Daniel Fischer’s creations.

What Is the Curse of Bloodaxe Bill?

The Dandridge family believed Bill’s spirit could never rest because the truth about his murder had been buried. Arthur tells the children that anyone from the Hawkins family who crossed Bill’s path would suffer his wrath.

Season 2 plays with that story long enough to make the curse appear genuine, but the paranormal attacks have a different source. Daniel Fischer is exploiting fear across Hawkins, and the apparent ghost becomes another way of frightening people and collecting energy.

There is still a symbolic sense in which the “curse” ends, however. William Dandridge’s name is finally cleared after the H.I.C. uncovers evidence linking Samuel Hawkins to his murder. Bill was never the monster Hawkins made him out to be. By the finale, the town finally begins correcting a lie that had survived for generations.