Timeline

Credit is due to Serge Dee for his saga timeline in Fangoria #130 and to various members of the Friday the 13th Forum for their invaluable feedback.

The timeline of the Friday the 13th films is very difficult to determine because the sequels often contradict the earlier films. After each event, the source is noted in parentheses. Keeping with the title of the series, We’ve attempted to place most major events on or around a Friday the 13th. (It may seem silly, but hey, every Halloween takes place around October 31st.)

There may be a few (unavoidable) discrepancies in the timeline. The ones that have come to my attention are noted in [brackets]. Please e-mail if you find any other glaring ones.

1930

Pamela Voorhees – maiden name unknown – is born. (Tombstone in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)

1935

Camp Crystal Lake established. (Sign in Friday the 13th)

1945

Pamela and Elias Voorhees are married. (Due to Pamela’s young age, the wedding may have occurred after Jason was conceived.)

1946

June 13 – Jason Voorhees is born to sixteen year-old Pamela Voorhees. (Date from Friday the 13th, year from Jason Goes to Hell)

1954

[guess] – Diana Voorhees is born to Elias Voorhees and an unknown woman. (In Friday the 13th, Pamela calls Jason her “only child.” Whether Pamela and Elias divorced prior to her birth, Diana is not Pamela’s daughter.)

1957

Summer – Jason purportedly drowns at Camp Crystal Lake, but his body is never recovered. His mother Pamela is the camp cook. (Year from Friday the 13th)

1958

June 13 (Friday) – Two camp counselors are murdered at Camp Crystal Lake. The murders go unsolved for 21 years. (Friday the 13th prologue)

1959-1961

[guess] – Fires prevent Camp Crystal Lake from reopening. (Enos in Friday the 13th)

1962

Attempt to reopen Camp Crystal Lake halted by “bad” water. (Enos in Friday the 13th)

1972

[guess] – Eighteen year-old Diana Kimble (daughter of Elias Voorhees, Jason’s half-sister), gives birth to Jessica Kimble (Jason’s niece).

1979

June 12-13 (Friday) – Steve Christy plans to reopen Camp Crystal Lake. He and six of his counselors are killed by Pamela Voorhees. Alice, a female counselor, survives by decapitating her. (Friday the 13th, year from tombstone in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter) [June 13, 1979, isn't really a Friday.]

August – Alice returns to Crystal Lake. Jason surprises her with his mother’s severed head and stabs her in the temple with an icepick. Jason takes Alice’s body. (Friday the 13th Part 2 prologue. Paul says Alice disappeared two months after the events of the first film.)

1982

Summer - Teenaged Chris flees from her family’s Crystal Lake cabin into the woods after a fight. She is attacked by Jason Voorhees but passes out. When she wakes, she is back home in her own bed and her parents will not speak of the matter. (Friday the 13th Part 3 flashback)

1984

July 10-11 – Five years after Pamela Voorhees’s murder spree, Paul Holt opens a counselor training camp adjacent to Camp Crystal Lake. After murdering several counselors, Jason is confronted by Ginny Field. She hits him in the shoulder with a machete but he survives, attacks her and kills Paul. Alice’s corpse is found in Jason’s shack. (Friday the 13th Part 2)

July 12-13 (Friday) – Jason kills a cafe owner and his wife near Crystal Lake and gets a new outfit. He makes his way toward the summer home “Higgins Haven” and kills several vacationing teenagers. Chris survives to hit Jason in the head with an axe, but she breaks down the next morning after hallucinating an attack by Mrs. Voorhees. (Friday the 13th Part 3. Chris and Andy refer to a “weekend” in the country, and in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, one of Rob’s clippings calls Jason the ‘Friday the 13th Murderer’.)

July 14-16 – Jason’s body is taken to the Wessex County Morgue, from which he escapes. After returning to Crystal Lake and killing several people, Jason is killed by 12 year-old Tommy Jarvis. Unbalanced, Tommy spends the next four years in mental institutions. (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)

1985

[guess] – In an attempt to disassociate itself from Jason Voorhees, Crystal Lake changes its name to Forest Green.

1987

Summer – Tommy, looking very mature for 15, is moved from an institution to a halfway house for troubled teens. After his son is killed, ambulance attendant Roy Burns impersonates Jason. Tommy is forced to kill Roy, further affecting his mental state. Tommy attacks Pam, one of the survivors, but is subdued and returned to an institution. (Friday the 13th Part V) 1988

May 12-13 (Friday) – Tommy, now a grown-up 16-year-old, is released from the mental institution. When he digs up Jason’s grave, a bolt of lightning reanimates Jason. Jason kills his way toward Camp Forest Green, which is once again attempting to open its doors to campers. Tommy drowns Jason in Lake Forest Green (Crystal Lake) and the camp is shut down permanently. (Friday the 13th Part VI, date from Deputy Cologne)

1989

October 13 (Friday) – John Shepard is killed when his 13 year-old daughter Tina uses her telekinetic powers to collapse the dock he is standing on. Tina is sent to a mental hospital. (Friday the 13th Part VII prologue, day and date shown.)

[guess] – After failing to attract new residents, Forest Green gives up and returns to the name Crystal Lake to capitalize on being the site of the Voorhees murders. The city restores “Camp Crystal Lake” signs to the defunct property.

1993

August 12-13 (Friday) – Tina Shepard, now 17, returns to Crystal Lake with her mother and her psychiatrist, Dr. Crews. Tina accidentally raises Jason with her telekinesis, and he goes on another murderous rampage. Tina finally forces Jason back into the lake. (Friday the 13th Part VII)

1994

May 12-13 (Friday) - The final class of Lakeview H.S. graduates, and a reawakened Jason crashes the graduation cruise aboard the S.S. Lazarus. Jason kills many of the passengers, with most of the rest drowning when the boat sinks. Jason follows the few survivors into New York City, ultimately drowning in a flood of toxic sewage. (Friday the 13th Part VIII)

1995

January 13 (Friday) – Stephanie Kimble, daughter of Jessica Kimble and Steven Freeman, is born.

October 13 (Friday) – After years of unsolved murders, the FBI blow up Jason in an ambush. During the autopsy, his evil heart possesses the coroner and he heads back to Crystal Lake. (Jason Goes to Hell)

October 20-21 – Bounty hunter Creighton Duke makes a statement on tabloid TV program “American Casefile” that Jason is still alive. Jason hops from body to body, committing a series of murders in Crystal Lake before being “reborn” in his own body, then killed by his 22 year-old niece, Jessica Kimble. (Jason Goes to Hell)

2002

September 13 (Friday) – Dream-killer Freddy Krueger resurrects Jason to create fear among the teenagers of Springwood. But Jason is not so easily controlled and doesn’t stop killing the teens Freddy needs to give him power. A battle between the two finds Jason battered and bloody, but victorious. (Freddy vs. Jason. Year – construction site sign says Occupancy Spring 2024. Month – trees are green and corn stalks are full-grown.)

2008

[guess] – After his capture and conviction of hundreds of murders, Jason Voorhees is sentenced to death – a sentence the government finds difficult to carry out. (Rowan in Jason X) 2024

August 13 (Friday) The Crystal Lake Research Facility, built to house and study Jason, is reduced to a skeleton crew in anticipation of the cryogenic suspension of its subject. Jason nearly escapes but Project Leader Rowan manages to freeze them both in cryostasis. (Jason X prologue)

2455

August 13 (Friday) – After the ecological collapse of the Earth, a class on a field trip from Earth 2 returns and recovers the frozen bodies of Rowan and Jason. Jason awakens aboard the transport Grendel, killing most of the Marines and students on the ship. After the android KM-14 nearly obliterates him, nano-technology repairs and “upgrades” Jason and he resumes his single-minded quest. Sgt. Brodski, the only remaining Marine, sacrifices himself to carry Jason into Earth 2′s atmosphere. (Jason X)