Timeline: S1-S5
---SEASON 1 ---
October 31st/November 1st, 2005 - Dean arrives in Palo Alto - quite late at night. The boys spend 2 days investigating a Woman in White in Jericho, California. (Pilot)
November 2nd/3rd 2005 (2:50-3am) - Jessica dies. Sam and Dean hit the road.
-Time taken from unaired Pilot scene.
~November 10th 2005 - Sam and Dean arrive in Lost Creek, Colorado, and spend 4 days hunting a Wendigo.
-Dean says they spent one week in Palo Alto after Jess's death.
Unknown, 2005 - Sam and Dean spend 5 days investigating Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin, where people keep ending up Dead in the Water.
~December 2nd-5th, 2005 - Sam and Dean spend ~4 days investigating the Phantom Traveler at various airports.
-A archived newspaper article in the Djinn-Wish'Verse in S2's What Is And What Should Never Be about Britannia Flight 424 is dated Dec. 5th, 2005.
December 5th 2005 - College friend Rebecca sends Sam an email about her brother being falsely arrested. (Skin) (For detailed timing on the murder that Rebecca is emailing about, please see the comment linked here.)
Unknown - Sam and Dean spend 5-7 days investigating Bloody Mary in Toledo, Ohio - with a side trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
- 21st of November according to another Supernatural Timeline, but implausable considering the time spent on the other cases and the known dates. Plus, the paper says "a short service will be held on ...ber 31st at 2pm" meaning, either October -before the series even starts -or December - but I doubt anyone would hold a funeral service on New Years Eve.
February 28th- March 7th, 2006 - Sam reads the email from Rebecca, while a day's travel from Bisbee, Arizona. St. Louis is said to be 400 miles behind them. Sam and Dean spend 8 days hunting a Shapeshifter in St. Louis, Missouri (two days spent driving there).
-Shapeshifter!Dean is killed on March 7th (according to information in later episode The Benders), making Dean Winchester officially dead according to the authorities. (Skin)
Between March 8th - March 22nd, 2006 - Dean and Sam hunt the Hookman in Ankeny Iowa for 5-6 days.
Friday, March 20th, 2006 - A guy is killed by Bugs in Oklahoma.
Tuesday, March 24th, 2006 - Dean and Sam spend 4-5 days investigating Bugs in Oklahoma
-Presumably the scene in which they hear about the death is on the Monday, which adds an extra *day* to the episode, so the Winchester part of the episode takes place over 5 days.
Unknown, 2006 - Sam and Dean head Home to Lawrence Kansas for 4 days (assuming one day driving time to get there) and try to get rid of a poltergeist.
First week of April, 2006 - Sam and Dean investigate an abandoned Asylum in Rockford, Illinois, for approx. 6 days.
-We know the date because of Sam's exclamation that they are "no closer to finding Dad than we were 6 months ago", plus the next episode picks up directly after this one and we know it takes place the second week of April
Between April 8th and April 15, 2006 - Dean discovers a fugly Scarecrow in Bukitsville, Indiana, and spends 4 days there.
-Most likely leaving on the 15th or 16th, as the night before is mentioned to be the "7th night of the cycle"- if we assume the "cycle" takes place over a calendar week. Or it could be that he leaves on the 13th or 14th, if we assume that the "cycle" ends with the full moon - the full moon was on Wednesday, April 13th in 2006.
End of April, 2006 - Dean gets electrocuted on a hunt somewhere (that is not Nebraska) and Sam takes him to Nebraska to see a Faith healer. The episode spans 7 days, with Dean being healed on the fourth day at 4:17pm. Although the sign outside the tent says that services are Sunday 11am and 2pm, it appears that the healing services happen much more frequently.
Early May, 2006 - Dean gets a call from former girlfriend Cassie, and him and Sam spend 5 days in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to investigate a series of road accidents . (Route 666)
-We know from Sam and Dean’s research that the first killing took place on the 4th of “last month”. We do not know how much time passed between the first death and Cassie’s father’s death...but my guess is not very much. The first killing was probably April 4th, and it is early May when the Winchester’s arrive.
-Dean and Sam are on their way to Pennsylvania for some reason at the beginning of the episode when Cassie calls. The service station informs us that they are in Bismarck, Kentucky, so they are taking a very odd route between Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
Unknown date in May, 2006 - Sam has a Nightmare that leads him and Dean to Saginaw, Michigan, where they spend approx. 5 days getting acquainted with Max Miller.
-Sam says that his abilities started "6-7 months ago", given the time spent on the previous two cases, it's safe to assume that Sam means 7 months ago.
-The boys were only a couple of hours away from Saginaw Michigan at the beginning of the episode, so there is no day added for travel; however, usually people don't have the wake/funeral/death-party-thing the day after the death, so I've added two days to the day count, and have assumed that the boys spent those two days buying priest outfits and cleaning their guns.
Unknown, 2006 - Sam gets kidnapped by The Benders in Hibbing, Minnesota. The boys end up spending 3 days there (Sam is missing for two).
End of May, 2006 - Sam and Dean discover that someone is summoning a Shadow demon in Chicago, Illinois, and they meet up with their Dad. We see the boys for at least 3 days.
- Multiple reasons for time: 1)Sam says he met Meg "weeks ago" and there has been at least 20 days since then shown in episodes, 20 days after April 15th is May 5th, but there are always numerous missing days between episodes while the boys drive, since this is the 5th episode since Sam met Meg, if say there are at least 3 days between episodes, we can say that AT LEAST 35 days has passed since Sam met Meg, which brings us to the end of May. 2)Also, Sam says that the lunar cycle wasn't right for a werewolf, which means that the murder took place between May 13th and June 11th exclusive and in SPN-verse werewolves turn every night during the week leading up to the full moon (Heart), which is another reason this episode would have taken place before June 3rd. 3)The next episode starts as early as June 3rd.
~June 6th/7th - June 13/14th, 2006 - On their way through Richardson, Texas, Sam and Dean spend 7 or 8 days investigating Hell House, which Sam reads about on a website. An update, dated June 10th, 2006, is made to the website on either their fourth or fifth day there. They leave on either June 13th or June 14th.
-We'll have to ignore the fact that the boys' faces are miraculously healed after Chicago...Sam and Dean obviously have super-healing-powers.
Unknown, 2006 - Sam and Dean are sent to Fitchburg, Wisconson, by their Dad, because Something Wicked is attacking children. They spend at least 3 days there (it's harder to count in this episode). Since they were in Texas previously, we can probably assume at least 2 days travel between the last episode and this one.
Unknown 2006 - Sam and Dean find a painting with some interesting Provenance in upstate New York. They spend 6 days there.
Probably July 10th or July 27th, 2006 (see In My Time of Dying notes) - Sam and Dean travel to Manning, Colorado, where they find a nest of vampires, their father, and a need for Dead Man's Blood. The part of the episode with the boys spans 3 days.
-They are in Nebraska at the beginning of the episode, interestingly, heading east. That means that since the previous episode, they have travelled west of Nebraska for some reason. So, a considerable amount of time has passed between the previous episode and this one (they could have even worked a simple case somewhere on the west coast, for all we know). I did not add a day of travel to the day count for this episode, because they are so close to Colorado at the beginning of the episode that they can make it there by nightfall.
July 13th or July 30th, 2006 (see In My Time of Dying notes) - The Winchesters take off from Manning, Colorado, and travel to Salvation, Iowa, to hunt the elusive demon. This episode only spans 2 days.
July 15/16 or August 1st/2nd, 2006 (see In My Time of Dying notes) - Sam and Dean travel from Iowa to Bobby's house in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and use a Devil's Trap to find out where their father is, then they drive to Jefferson City, Missouri, and launch a rescue effort. It appears this episode takes place over a 24 hour period and the boys don't sleep.
---SEASON 2---
July 16th-19th or August 2nd-5th, 2006 - John Winchester dies. In My Time of Dying takes place over 4 days, assuming that Sam has a day of rest in a hospital bed, before we see him check up on Dean and John. They are in Missouri (from Devil's Road Map on S2 DVD).
-The second to last day of the episode is could be August 4th, 2006. We see this by looking at Dean's heart monitor when they restabalize him.
-There is a conflict in the monitors on this show, as John's monitor says that it is July 19th 2006, when they declare him to be dead (at 10:41am); however, if you listen to the DVD commentary, you find out that this episode was filmed the week of July 19th - which means that John's monitor reflects the day of filming, rather than Dean's monitor that reflects an unrelated day. (As episodes are usually put together during an 8 day period, it's unlikely that they were still filming this episode on August 4th). So, originally I took August 4th as the date for the timeline; however, information given in S4 seems to indicate that John may have died in July (see S4 On The Head of A Pin notes).
Early or Mid August (after, but close to, the 12th), 2006 - The boys have been at Bobby's for a week, when Sam finds an old message on John's phone, which in turn leads them to the Harvelle's Roadhouse. They spend 4 days (including the day Sam finds the message) working at jobs at a carnival in Medford Wisconsin, where Everybody Loves a Clown except for Sam.
Unknown, 2006 - Sam and Dean spend 3 days exploring a possible hunt in Red Lodge, Montana, where they meet Gordon, a hunter with a particular Bloodlust for vampires.
-The Impala is fully repaired, so we can assume that this episode takes place a considerable amount of time after the previous one, however, given that the next episode takes place at the very end of August, we'll have to assume that Dean got the impala all fixed up in only two weeks - apparently the car has the same magic healing powers as the boys do - and that the next episode follows closely on the heels of this one.
~August 29th, 2006 - The Winchesters head to Illinois (oddly, according to The Devil's Road Map on the S2 DVD, Mary Winchester's grave is in Illinois and not in Lawrence, Kansas), where they spend 4 days teaching us that Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things. Sam breaks his wrist.
- Angela Mason dies on August 22nd - date on her cellphone; the boys arrive in town a week later - Sam says she "died last week", and four days after her funeral - Dean says "she was buried four days ago".
- Special note: The temporary gravestone marker also has dates on it, however they are out of sync with both the date on Angela's cellphone when she dies, and also with what year it is, so they are disregarded for the purposes of this timeline).
September 2006 - A vision leads Sam and Dean to travel to Guthrie, Oklahoma (and two stops at The Roadhouse). They spend 3 days (2 days and 1 night) in this episode, and only one day and a morning in Guthrie. In Guthrie, they meet Andy, who has abilities like Sam. (Simon Said).
-Sam says his abilities started "about a year ago," which can be interpreted as meaning a little under a year.
September, before the 28th, 2006 - Following immediately after the previous episode, Jo sends Sam and Dean on a hunt to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for 8 or 9 days. (No Exit)
-The invitation one of the victims gets in the mail is for a party on Thursday Sept. 28th, this happens on the fourth day of the episode.
-Note: 2 days have been added to the count, as it's nearly a 24 hour drive between Nebraska, the presumed location of the Roadhouse, and Philadelphia.
Unknown - October most likely - Sam and Dean spend 4 days in Baltimore, Maryland, where they become The Usual Suspects in a series of murders. One day to hear about the job and go to Baltimore, 24 hours in police custody, one day is experienced through flashbacks, and then one day is presumably spent getting the Impala back once they escape.
November 2006 - Sam and Dean track some bizarre deaths in Greenwood, Mississippi, for about 5 days, and encounter a Crossroads Demon. (Crossroad Blues)
Late November 2006 - Sam has a vision that leads him and Dean to River Grove, Oregan, for 3 days (one driving day) where they find the word Croatoan craved into a tree and discover that the town is infected with a demonic virus. (See Hunted notes for details on date)
Late November/Early December 2006 - Immediately following the events of Croatoan, Sam strikes out on his own, stops at the Roadhouse, and then heads to Lafayette, Indiana, only to end up Hunted by Gordon. The episode spans at least 6 days, 4 of which we see, at least 2 of which are spent driving.
-The dead guy's prescription bottles read 23/10/06 and are nearly full. It is said that he was killed "about a month ago" and Ava says her abilities started "about a year ago".
January 2007 - Sam and Dean stay at an Inn in Cornwall, Connecticut, that is filled with interesting Playthings. The episode takes place over 4 days (1 added for travel from Peoria, IL to location).
-Sam says that they've been looking for Ava for a month, which means that a month has passed since the previous episode and this one.
-This is the last episode in which Sam has a cast.
Unknown, 2007 - The boys run into trouble with the law again, when they are trapped in a hostage situation with a shapeshifter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The episode takes place over exactly 3 days, because the boys are already in Milwaukee at the beginning of the episode. (Nightshifter)
-In S3 episode Jus in Bello we see security camera photos of the bank heist that are dated 09/10/06, however, given that the next episode references this one has happening recently, we'll have to disregard the date on the photos in S3.
Unknown (mid-January*), 2007 - The boys investigate Houses of the Holy in Providence, Rhode Island, where they debate the existence of angels. The episode takes place over exactly 2 days, as the boys are already mid-investigation when it begins.
-*Fr. Gregory's tombstone says 2007, and the other priest says that he died 2 months ago...but we know that Roadkill takes place on February 22nd, yet the two episodes between this one and Roadkill consume nearly a month's worth of days, which would mean that this episode would have to take place before January 22nd in order for the numbers to work out. So, either this takes place in mid-January and the tombstone is wrong, or events in the series are shown out of order and Houses of the Holy takes place AFTER Roadkill, I suppose the choice is yours, but personally I prefer to keep things in episodic order - so I believe this episode takes place mid-January and the tombstone date should be ignored.
Unknown, 2007 - Poor Sam was Born Under a Bad Sign and goes missing for "over a week" (departing from West Texas) and eventually leads Dean on a 3 day chase (assuming it takes within one day for Dean to reach Sam when he calls at the beginning of the episode) that goes through Duluth, Minnisota, and ends in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
-This means that by the end of the episode, at least 17 days have passed, since the last episode left the boys in Rhode Island, yet Sam disappeared from West Texas...that's AT LEAST 4 days of travel, I think, if not more.
Unknown, 2007 - The boys tell Bobby some Tall Tales when they encounter a Trickster in Springfield, Ohio. Bobby helps them for either 1 or 2 days, and there are 4 days worth of flashbacks (excluding the flashbacks that happen on the day Bobby arrives), which brings us to a total of 5 or 6 days.
-We know it's only been a short time since the boys left Bobby's, since he says "it's nice to see you again so soon."
February 22nd, 2007 - Sam and Dean spend a night with Molly in Nevada (or Western California - according to The Devil's Road Map on the S2 DVD) trying to find the grave of a farmer who ended up as Roadkill. The events of the episode take place over only one night, but through flashbacks we can guess that the boys probably spent at least 3 days researching the case beforehand.
~ March 3rd, 2007 - Dean's happy to discover a werewolf in San Francisco, California, until it spends 4 days ripping Sam's Heart out metaphorically.
-If we assume that the boys went to San Francisco directly after the events of Roadkill, then the first full moon would have been on March 3rd.
Unknown, 2007 - Still in California, the boys head down to Los Angeles to check out a haunted movie set for at least 5 days, possibly a full week. (Hollywood Babylon)
Unknown (End of March beginning of April possibly) 2007 - Sam and Dean are arrested in Arkansas, in order to check out a haunting at a local prison. The episode takes place over at least a week, and the boys are incarcerated at the prison for at least 4 days. (Folsom Prison Blues).
-Due to the complexity of the set up, and the fact that the boys were called there on a favour, we can guess that there would have been a substantial number of days of research and planning before the beginning of the episode.
Unknown, 2007 - Dean learns What Is And What Should Never Be one night, when he encounters a Djinn in Joliet, Illinois. (Although Dean experiences several days inside his wish, in reality it's only a few hours.) The boys are still freaked out by cop cars, so we can guess that this may be their first stop since escaping prison in Arkansas.
Late April/Early May, 2007 (Possibly April 29th to May 2nd - based on S2 Companion Book info, Possibly ending on May 18th - based on S4 facts) - All Hell Breaks Loose (I&II) when Sam disappears from a roadside cafe and ends up in Cold Oak, South Dakota. Dean takes 24 hours to find him, but by then the damage is done. Part II picks up an estimated 24-48 hours later and spans 2 days. In total, including the missing estimated 24-48 hours, the two parts span 3 to 4 days.
-According to the Season Two Companion Book (but NOT accredited to Kripke or anyone specific), Sam was resurrected on his birthday May 2nd...this can only be confirmed partially using information in the episodes: the episodes do occur in early May - Sam tells Eva that she's been missing for 5 months, and asked the others if they are also 23 (not 24, as Sam would be if it were after his birthday) - so it's possible, but a horrible Birthday for Sam IMO. Also note: In S3 episode Ghostfacers, Sam mentions that Dean's deal comes due in 2 months. We know Ghostfacers occurs on February 28/29th, so that also supports the May date for the deal. This would make Sam’s life read as “May 2nd 1983 - April 30th 2007; May 2, 2007 - ??” - many people write it as though he died on May 2nd, but Dean waits 2 days before he resurrects Sam, so Sam actually dies at the end of April.) Regarding the Possible May 18th date, please see S4 notes.
-Sam dies at night, Bobby goes out to buy chicken and then leaves during the day, Dean makes the deal at night, Dean rejoins Sam during the day. We do not know whether we come in during the first 24 hours of Sam's death or the second. Given that Bobby is pushing for burial, I'm more willing to believe that a Dean makes the deal a full 48 hours after Sam dies.
---SEASON 3---
May, 2007 - Bobby and the boys spend 4 days fighting The Magnificent Seven deadly sins in Lincoln, Nebraska.
-They say it's been 5 days since the Devil's Gate was opened.
Unknown, 2007 - Sam and Dean head to Cicero, Indiana, so that Dean can catch up with an old flame named Lisa Braeden. He also meets her son Ben and discovers that some of The Kids Are Alright, and some of them aren't. They spend 2 or 3 days there.
-The boys never change outfits in this episode, but I highly doubt that the whole thing happens over just one day.
Unknown, 2007 (shortly after previous episode, based on subject matter of first conversation) - The boys get a call on their Dad's cell phone informing them of a break-in at a storage locker. Sam ends up having A Bad Day At Black Rock, NY (near Buffalo), where they spend 3 or 4 days (depending on distance from Buffalo at time of call) trying to track down what was stolen.
Early July, 2007 - Sam and Dean leave Bobby's house and head to Elizabethville, Ohio, spending 5 days trying to figure out what has turned the once quiet town into Sin City. (Given the starting point of Bobby's place, I've added 2 extra days for travel).
- The boys confirm that it has been two months since they opened the Devil's Gate.
October 24-26th, 2007 - Sam and Dean head to Maple Springs, NY, for 3 days, where they run into a spirit obsessed with Bedtime Stories. The episode opens on the evening of Wednesday, Oct 24th.
-When the boys think it's a werewolf, Sam says that the full moon is on Friday, and Dean says that gives them two days - there was a full moon on October 26th, 2007. We know it is October, because when they see the pumpkin, Dean says that it is close to Halloween.
Unknown, 2007 - Dean and Sam spend 5 days on the coast of Massachusetts investigating a ghost ship. (Red Sky At Morning).
-By the conversation between the brothers in the first Winchester scene, we can assume that not that much time has passed since the last episode
Unknown, 2007 - Dean and Sam hunt a vampire in search of Fresh Blood for his family, meanwhile Gordon renews his hunt for Sam.The episode covers 4 days, with the first scene with Gordan taking place the same night as the first scene with the Winchesters.
-Gordon tells Bela that he knows she was just in Masschusetts with the Winchesters - of course, that doesn't tell us how much time has passed since then, but it has probably not been that much.
Dec 22nd, 2007 - Dec 25th, 2007 - The boys enjoy A Very Supernatural Christmas in Yypsilanti, Michigan. We spend 4 days with them.
-The first scene has a woman telling them that it is 3 days until Christmas, arguably, we don't know if she means exclusively or inclusively, but let's not be nitpicky.
Unknown, 2008 - Dean and Sam spend 2 days tracking down a coven of witches. (Malleus Maleficarum)
Unknown, 2008 - The boys come to Bobby's aid, when he falls victim to a dreamwalker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They spend 6 days in this episode. (Dream A Little Dream Of Me)
Unknown Tuesday, 2008 - Sam gets trapped in a time loop while checking out the Mystery Spot in Broward, Florida. Only 2 days pass for Dean, but Sam experiences over 100 Tuesdays, plus an extra 6 months, before he returns to Dean's Wednesday.
Unknown, 2008 - Sam and Dean are arrested in Monument, Colorado. They spend the next 24 hours in jail, trying to defend themselves and Agent Hendriksen from a demon siege. (Jus in Bello)
February 28th, 2008 - Dean and Sam run into the Ghostfacers when they hunt a leap-year ghost at Morten House in an unknown town (not in Texas). They spend only one night at Morton House, but they don't leave town until after the Ghostfacers have edited together the video footage. So, they are probably there 2 or 3 days.
Unknown, 2008 - The boys spend 3 days in Milan, Ohio, where people are receiving a Long-Distance Call from the dead.
April 2008 - Sam cannot say "Time Is On My Side", when, with only three weeks to go until Dean's deal is up, he seeks out an immortal organ harvester near Erie, Pennsylvania. This episode spans around 3 days, give or take.
[Optional (either S3 or S4) - April 2008 - Dean and Sam track a serial killing demon in Couer d’Alene, Idaho. (Repo Man)
-A flashback in S7 states 4 years previously, but due to a continuity error in S6, it is unclear whether this event takes place during S3 or S4. If it takes place in S4, it would occur before The Monster At The End of This Book. This post is too large for me to add it in there as well.
-If it takes place in S3, then it would take place between 3x15 (Time is On My Side) and 3x16 (No Rest for the Wicked), as they only learn that Lilith holds Dean’s contract at the end of 3x15. Though, they have known that Lilith is after Sam since 3x12 (Jus in Bello). At the beginning of 3x15, we already see Dean torturing a demon in order to get more information on who holds his contract - so Dean torturing the demon possessing Jeffrey for information on Lilith would make sense plot-wise.]
Late April/Early May, 2008 (Possibly May 2nd, based on S2 Companion Book facts or Possibly May 18th - based on S4 facts) - With just 30 hours left until Dean's deal comes due, the boys and Bobby work around the clock in a last ditch effort to save him. There is No Rest For The Wicked, as the boys drive to New Harmony, Indiana.
---SEASON 4---
Sometimes between May and September 2008 - Jimmy Novak becomes a vessel. (See The Rapture notes)
~June, 2008 - Sam develops a severe drinking problem. He attempts to make a deal, but is unsuccessful. Ruby reappears. (I Know What You Did Last Summer)
~July, 2008 - Sam attempt a suicide mission to kill Lilith or die trying, Ruby saves him. (I Know What You Did Last Summer)
September 18-20th, 2008 - Dean is our very own Lazarus Rising, when he awakens in a coffin, in Pontiac, Illinois, after four months in hell. (Dean reads the date on a newspaper, and later Bobby tells us that Dean was buried for 4 months.) The boys spend 3 days in this episode. The first day, Dean drives from Pontiac to Bobby's house in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (9 hours). On the second day (Sept 19th), Dean and Bobby drive BACK to Pontiac, Illinois, to find Sam. Then on the third day (Sept 20th), Dean finally finds out who raised him from perdition.
September 21st-23rd, 2008 - We join Dean and Sam at Bobby's in Sioux Falls, where Bobby is yet unaware that a Hunter friend of his died two days ago. Dean has got questions, primarily: "Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester," but there is little time for religious contemplation as the Winchesters spend 2 days battling the familiar ghosts after the Rising of the Witnesses. Dean awakens from his conversation with Castiel on the 3rd day of the episode.
-Castiel informs us that "three days ago" Dean didn't believe in angels. We also know that Bobby has been trying to get in touch with Olivia for three days.
Unknown night, between September 25th and 30th, 2008 - Castiel sends Dean back in time to Lawrence, Kansas, in order to see what happened In The Beginning. Although Dean spends 3 days in the past (April 30th - May 2nd, 1973), no time passes in the present.
-Dean reads the date on a newspaper. Mary makes her deal 10 years before Sam is born.
-Interesting sidenote: Dean's cellphone tells him that it's 5:12pm, when he wakes up in Lawrence.
Unknown, between September 25th and 30th, 2008 (following directly after In The Beginning) - In the middle of Dean yelling at him about using his powers, Sam gets a call from a fellow Hunter, who tells the boys to go to Carthage, Missouri, and deal with a guy undergoing a Metamorphosis. The boys spend 3 days (including the night shared with the previous episode) dealing with a Rugaru.
October 3rd to 6th, 2008 - The boys find themselves in a makeshift Monster Movie, during Oktoberfest in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. They spend 4 days there.
-It appears most places in Pennsylvania hold Oktoberfest on the first weekend of October.
~October 13th or 20th, 2008 - Dean gets infected by a ghost sickness, perhaps called Yellow Fever, in Rock Ridge, Colorado, and Sam has 48 hours to find a cure. The episode takes place over a 48 period that spans 3 calendar days, beginning on a Monday. Oddly enough, the end scene could possibly take place on a 4th day, as all characters have changed clothes.
-Sam tells us that the autopsy occurred on a Monday morning, given the number of days spent in the episode, it is unlikely to be the 27th.
October 29th - November 1st, 2008 - A witch must make 3 blood sacrifices in order to to raise Samhain, while the Winchesters spend 4 days trying to track her down and talking to angels about unnescessary smiting. (It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester)
~November 5th, 2008 - The Winchesters head to Concrete, Washington, to save some women in showers, but discover that it was all just Wishful Thinking. They spend at least 3 days in the episode.
-Given the conversation at the beginning of the episode, it's a fair to say that it isn't long after the previous episode, as I doubt Sam would wait that long to confront Dean about what Uriel told him - however, that's the only bases I have for the date, so take it with a grain of salt.
-Dean tells Wes that on Thursdays, they're Teddy Bear doctors. By my estimation they were Teddy Bear doctors on the second day of the episode. It was really hard to count the days though.
~November 7th to 19th, 2008 - The Winchester meet Anna Milton and try to keep her safe from both angels and demons. This two part episode spans 12 days (9 in the first ep, 5 in the last ep - excluding shared night), from the time Anna escapes from the mental instution, to the conversation between Sam and Dean at the side of the road at the end of the second episode, during that time they drive 3 days to find Anna, then to Bobby's house, then Dean drives to Pamela's house twice. Then they drive to Kentucky. (I Know What You Did Last Summer - Heaven & Hell)
-Dean tells Sam that the hospital is a three day drive from where they are when Ruby informs them of Anna's escape. In the second part of the episode, Dean both drives Pamela from and to her home, which is at least 5 hours away from Bobby's, as we know from the fact given in Lazarus Rising that she lives 4 hours outside of Pontiac Illinois. We know it is mid November, because 1)the doctor at the hospital tells us that Anna was perfectly healthy 2 months ago, and we know from Anna that she didn't start hearing voices until Sept. 18th. 2)Anna's psych evaluation states that she was admitted on 09/10/08, which we'll have to assume is day/month/year, since she was still angel-free on Sept. 10th. 3)The flashbacks of Sam say 'Six Months Earlier' which place them in mid-late May, just after Dean's death.
~December 2nd, 2008 (Or ~Mid/Late December, 2008) - The Winchesters spend 3 days finding some interesting Family Remains in Nebraska.
-See Death Takes a Holiday notes for reasoning behind date. Personally though, I prefer the first option, since I highly doubt a family would move that close to Christmas.
- Sam says they've been chasing cases for a month since Dean told him about hell, however, in order for Death Takes a Holiday to take place on a solstice, we have to assume that Sam is exaggerating, and it's really only been about two weeks...it just feels like a month.
~December 5th, 2008 (Or ~December 28th, 2008) - We see 5 days of magic week in Sioux City, Iowa, where everyone agrees that Criss Angel is a Douche Bag.
-Date based on Death Takes a Holiday.
-Sidenote: we learn that 34 seals have been broken by this point.
~December 10th, 2008 (Or ~January 2nd, 2009) - The Winchesters spend at least 5 days at Truman High in Fairfax, Indiana, investigating an odd series of possessions and reflecting on their own high school experience. (After School Special)
-Date based on Death Takes a Holiday
~December 15th, 2008 (Or ~January 7th, 2009) - The boys head to Bedford, Iowa, where there is plenty of Sex and Violence. They spend at least 4 days hunting a Siren
-Please note, it is very hard to count days in this episode. Also note that if we want to go for believable, there is no way that the end scene is still in Iowa, no place in Iowa has Vancouver-like bridges or shipyards.
-Date based on Death Takes a Holiday
December 19th-Dec 22nd, 2008 (Or ~January 11th-14th, 2009 - see notes) - Sam and Dean get a call and find out that even Death Takes a Holiday sometimes, because no one has died in Greybull, Wyoming, for the last 10 days. They spend at least 4 days trying to figure out why.
-Sam tells Dean, on the estimated second day of the episode, that the reapers have to be killed under the solstice moon, which is 'tomorrow night'.
-Ok, this episode is extremely problematic. Solstices are either in December or June, and there is no possible way that this could take place in June, given the weather and the fact that there is snow in the episode after it. Therefore, it HAS to take place in December. That means that all episodes between Family Remains and this one have to occur back-to-back, and the Winchesters can't spend more than a day getting to places, and Sam had to have been exaggerating when he said it had been a month since the roadside confession in Heaven and Hell. It's the only way to get to this episode in time for the solstice.
-That being said, Cole Griffith died “10 days ago” and his death was announced on January 2nd, 2009 (as seen on Dean’s computer). His gravestone also reads 2009, which probably means that he died January 1st, 2009 - which would place this episode in January, well after the solstice. Personally, I’d prefer basing the timeline around the solstice date and not the split-second glimpse of obituaries on a computer screen. However, if we were to base it off the computer screen, then this episode would take place around January 12, 2009. Adjusting the episodes backwards, we could say that Sam WASN’T exaggerating when he indicated that a month had passed between Heaven and Hell and Family Remains).
-Also, going off the solstice date makes much more sense for episodes like After School Special, which could not take place over Christmas. It’s either that, or you could take a combination of the two optional timelines. You could claim that Sam was exaggerating and that Family Remains took place only two weeks after Heaven and Hell, and that After School Special took place December 10th, but then there was a greater gap between After School Special and Sex and Violence, or a greater gap between Sex and Violence and Death Takes a Holiday.
End of December, 2008 (Or Mid January) - Angels may dance On The Head Of A Pin, but they apparently can't torture demons without Dean Winchester's help. We spend at least 3 days in Cheyenne, Wyoming. (days may not be consecutive)(Dean is only conscious for the first night, the rest of the time he's recovering and Castiel is trying to figure out what went wrong). The boys have just come from Pamela's funeral, so we can assume that this episode takes place at most 3 or 4 days after the last episode.
-See Death Takes a Holiday notes for details on date.
-Another important thing we learn in this episode is the fact that John Winchester was in hell for "close to a century (in hell years)"...this fits in well with the July 19th death-date that I have listed for John in S2.
~March 1st, 2009 - Dean Smith and Sam Wesson both start new jobs at Sandover Bridge and Iron Inc.
-In It's a Terrible Life, Dean and Sam both say that they started working at the company 3 weeks ago. The fact that they both started at the same time, to me, indicates that they actually HAVE been working there the full 3 weeks before meeting up, and the only false memories in their heads are the ones from before their starting date.
~March 24th, 2009 - Dean and Sam discover It's a Terrible Life in corporate America, when, over the course of 5 days, a ghost starts picking off their co-workers, and they both begin to feel like they were meant for other things.
-Paul Dunbar, the first dude to commit suicide, was set to retire in 2 weeks, on April 14, 2009, according to Dean's computer.
Unknown, 2009 - While investigating a haunting, the Winchesters discover a book series about their lives. They spend 3 days tracking down the author, Carver Edlund aka Chuck Shirley, to try to find out who The Monster At The End Of This Book is.
~April 17th, 2009 - After answering a call on their dad's old cell phone, Dean and Sam drive to Windom, Minnesota, where they discover that they have a half-brother named Adam Milligan. There are 3 days between Kate Milligan's death and Dean and Sam's arrival in Windom. Dean and Sam spend at least 2 days getting to know Adam, so in total this episode spans a total of 5 days (Jump the Shark).
-Date based off information in When The Levee Breaks
~May 3rd, 2009 - Sam and Dean find out all about The Rapture of Jimmy Novak, when they go to meet Castiel and discover that he's been dragged out of his vessel and back to heaven. The boys spend 3 days trying to protect Jimmy's family from demons. They travel from their undisclosed first location to Pontiac, Illinois, and then at the end to Bobby's house in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
- NOTE: according to a network treatment of the script ( http://anteka.livejournal.com/666729.html link now dead ;_;) Jimmy is first contacted by Castiel on Christmas eve 2007, is tested with the boiling water in March 2008, and accepts possession in September 2008.
~May 8th 2009 - We find out what happens When the Levee Breaks, as Dean tries to force Sam into detox and the gulf between the brothers grows. It's hard to tell how many days Sam spends in the panic room, but by my estimate the episode covers about 5 days. We spend most of the episode at Bobby's in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but once Sam breaks lose he travels to James Town, North Dakota, and then on to Elk River and Cold Spring, Unknown state.
-Sam askes Ruby where she's been for the past 3 weeks - here we will have to assume that it was after the blood-letting in Jump the Shark that Sam first failed to get a hold of Ruby for a fresh dose.
Wednesday May 13th- Thursday 14th, 2009 - The boys fail to prevent Lucifer Rising. We pick up the day after the ending of the previous episode and spend 2 days with the boys. Sam kidnaps a nurse from an undisclosed location the first night and travels to Ilchester, Maryland, to kill Lilith the second night.
-When Sam checks his cellphone and sees that he has a message from Dean, the display states the date. It also says that the time is 7:13pm.
---SEASON 5-----
Thursday May 14th - ~Sunday May 17, 2009 - There is little Sympathy For The Devil as the Winchesters begin to regroup after Lucifer's rising. They spend approx. 3 to 4 days traveling from Ilchester, Maryland, to Baltimore (by plane), to Chuck's house, and, presumably, a city close to Chuck's house.
-The clock on the car radio in the rental says 11:58 (pm, assumed, given that it’s night time). Sam had to kill Lilith at midnight, so the time on the clock could very well be a full 24 hours after Lucifer rose. This would account for the time it would take to get off the airplane and rent a car. Either that, or the clock is simply wrong. Day count includes the 14th.
Unknown between May 27th and May 31st, 2009 - Good God Y'All, after a phone call from Rufus, the boys leave their unknown city in the east and drive to River Pass, Colorado, where it's War. Estimated at least a 1 day trip to get to Colorado from where they were, means that they spend around 4 or 5 days in this episode. (2 days are spent in River Pass, the conversation at the end could take place on a 3rd day, based solely on Sam changing his shirt, the choice is yours).
-Dean says at the beginning that Bobby hasn't spoken in 3 days, which would put this episode between ~May 20th - 25th. However, we do not know whether he stopped talking immediately after the last episode or not, so unfortunarely that tells us nothing. We learn from the citizens of River Pass though, that War showed up "last wednesday". If we assume that Bobby fell silent immediately after the last episode, that would mean that War showed up the day after Rufus put in his distress call...which doesn’t make sense. People don't usually say "last wednesday" unless it is, or is after, another wednesday. War couldn’t have shown up BEFORE Lucifer rose, so, it's more likely that there's been a little more time between episodes. Since the boys are still hanging around the hospital though, it probably hasn't been too long, at most a week, I'd say.
-Dean’s X-ray has a date of “...4-09-2009” as it cannot be April or September already, this date has been disregarded.
June to August 25nd, 2009 OR The first-second week of June, 2009 (see notes) - Dean and Sam are Free to be You and Me, when they spend an unspecified time apart. We follow a 3 (or 4) day storyline for each Winchester. Sam's takes place in Garber, Oklahoma. Dean hunts vampires in Greeley, Pennsylvania, and then heads to Maine with Castiel.
-There are two ways to interpret the timing of this episode:
1. The boys spend a week apart - Dean hunts a vampire and Sam gets a job - before the events of the episode take place.
2. The boys have spent nearly 3 months apart: The date spotted on Sam's laptop on the second day of his storyline - 08/23/09, 3:38pm - would mean that the boys have actually spent almost 3 months apart.
Let's look at the supporting evidence for both:
- Lindsey tells Sam that he blew into town "last week" - this would support the one week theory; though, one could also argue that Sam may not have given up the normadic lifestyle, and this might not be his first stop since leaving Dean.
- I find it doubtful that Cas would go almost three months without contacting Dean; however, the two storylines we are seeing may NOT actually be happening simultaneously. It is possible that we are seeing Dean in June and Sam in August.
-The next episode - The End - may also take place in August. Given that Sam calls Dean with the news from Lucifer at the beginning of that episode, it is likely that it follows shortly after this one, as I doubt Sam would keep the information from his brother for long. That being said, The End might not actually take place in August either - see The End notes.
3. The Third Option: Both storylines take place in August, after an unseen two months apart
-In Supernatural The Official Companion Season 5, there is a mock up of a tabloid article about the Gas Station fire that Dean and Cas investigate in order to find Raphael. The tabloid is dated August 21st, 2010...now, the problem with this is that it’s not 2010 yet (however, it was 2010 when they were putting together the Official Companion).
~August 25th, 2009 OR Mid June, 2009 - Dean finds out what happens in The End, when Zachariah transports him 5 years into the future to August 2014. At the beginning of the episode, Dean has just driven "16 hours" to Kansas City. He spends 3 days in the future, but only 4 hours pass in 2009. Dean then meets back up with Sam either that same day or after traveling to the meeting point.
-Dean is transported to August 2014 - the Newspaper Zach shows him says August 4th, the City-sign says August 1st - either he was transported there because that is when the final show down with Lucifer takes place, or he was transported there because it happens to be EXACTLY 5 years in the future. However...
-Dean says that he is from the "tail-end" of 2009 - which would support the August, 2009 date more than the June date.
-Another interesting thing to note is that Dean said he drove "16 hours" to get to Kansas City - we last saw him in Maine, which is considerably further than a 16 hour drive. This could support the idea that the storylines we see in Free to Be You and Me are actually not occuring simultaneously...if we believe that Sam would have called Dean immediately after his visit from Lucifer, which I personally do.
Saturday - Wednesday, Mid September OR Early July, 2009 (3 weeks after The End) - Dean and Sam encounter many a Fallen Idol as famous people begin to kill their super-fans in Canton, Ohio. We spend 5 days with the Winchesters as they hunt Leshi, the forest god.
-Dean says they've spent 3 weeks looking for the Colt.
-Sam is researching Leschii on the fourth day of the episode, and the website he’s on informs us that it’s a Tuesday.
-On the third day, Sam and Dean go to the Wax Museum at 4:30pm. It is a Monday.
Unknown, 2009 - "I Believe The Children Are Our Future" is something Sam might have said, as he and Dean drove from Alliance to Elk Creek, Nebraska, and then back again, when the Winchesters meet Jesse - the most adorable Anti-Christ ever. They spend at least 3 days in this episode.
-It's 9 hours driving time between Alliance and Elk Creek - I'm assuming that Dean and Sam drive all night to get to Elk Creek on the evening of the second day - meet Jesse's mother in the morning of the third day, and then drive back to Alliance - arriving in the evening of the third day
November, 2009 - It's The Curious Case of Dean Winchester, after Bobby leads the boys into a dangerous high-stakes poker game in an unknown location (though relatively close to Bobby's house). The Winchester part of the episode takes place over 3 days.
-The missing person, Cliff, gets an hourly rate at a motel every Tuesday. Dean finds an old receipt in a jacket pocket at his house. Dean's thumb covers the date on the receipt, but you can see what looks like "Tues. 11/-" which would make it November. (Americans write their dates MM/DD/YY)
- In my opinion, this supports the hypothesis that the Winchester's were separated for 3 months between Good God Y'all and Free To Be You And Me, instead of one week, and that the two separate storylines of Free To Be You And Me did not occur simultaneously.
Unknown Friday - We discover that Dean is a closet Dr. Sexy MD fan when Sam catches him not Changing Channels when the show comes on. The brothers then get trapped in TVland for at least 2 days in Wellington, Ohio.
-Dean looks up the article on the victim on a Friday ("Guardian Archives" list days in descending order as "yesterday, wednesday, tuesday, monday, etc...)
-Castiel tells the brothers that they've been missing "for days" when he runs onto the set of the game show. We do not know the last time that Dean contacted Castiel, but we do know that the sitcom (which came after the game show) was only two days after the day they started investigating the Hulk case. So, either Dean forgot to check in with Castiel before they got trapped by the Trickster, or Castiel is exaggerating a little bit.
Unknown - Sam and Dean drive all night to see Chuck at an unknown location, only to discover they've been duped into attending the first ever Supernatural convention. They spend 2 days finding out who The Real Ghostbusters are.
-The actress at the convention works at a Hooters in Toledo, Ohio. In my opinion, this episode must take place somewhere close to there, as I doubt she’d go very far afield for this type of gig.
Unknown - Unknown Friday - It might be time to Abandon All Hope, when the Hunters all get together to try to kill Lucifer in Carthage, Missouri. The meeting with Crowley and everything that follows all happens within the span of one week, but it is impossible to give an accurate day-count. We know that the events in Cathage occur on a Thursday. We witness approx. 3 days during the episode, but there is no way to tell how much time passes between the events that we see. (ie: between Castiel tracking down Crowley, and Jo’s ruse to get inside the mansion, or between getting the Colt and the party the night before Carthage, or between Carthage and the “funeral” for Ellen and Jo).
-Crowley says that Lucifer will be in Carthage on Thursday. I’ve assumed, for the sake of the timeline, that the “Funeral” for Ellen and Jo is held by Bobby and the boys on the Friday. That being said, Bobby technically needed time to get that picture developed...unless he has a dark room we don’t know about. So some lee-way could be taken with the amount of time between Carthage and the “funeral.”
Unknown - a “few weeks” after Abandon All Hope - The boys spend 3 days in Glenwood Springs Psychiatric Hospital in Ketchum, Oklahoma, where they promptly go crazy trying to hunt a Wraith. (Sam, Interrupted)
-There IS a date in this episode of 09/11/09 (on the Winchesters’ psychiatric report), which by American dating standards would be September 9th, 2009. There is a problem with using this date though: 1. It’s the same date that appears on the first victim’s psychiatric report as the date she was admitted - even though we know she has been there far longer than they have. 2. The psychiatric report about Sam and Dean (or “Alex and Edward”) already has the results of the meeting they are in typed out on the report. 3. As much as I have very little to base the other dates so far this season on, I highly doubt they’d only be in September - Supernatural has a tendency to follow the year as we watch. So, in conclusion, I’m ignoring the dates on the report - you can disagree if you want though. If it IS September, that doesn’t support the 3 month separation theory.
Unknown (mid-week) - Dean and Sam spend 2 days in Housatonic, Massachusetts, when an amateur warlock finds a way to Swap Meat-suits with Sam. Gary spends approx. 24 hours in Sam’s body.
-A booklet in Gary’s locker says “Advanced Placement Physics - Notice of Exam - Dec. 11th”; however, this is a kid’s locker, there’s no telling how long that booklet has been in there for.
Unknown, 2010 - The Winchesters spend one night in 1978’s Lawrence, Kansas, trying to save their parents, but sadly The Song Remains The Same. Their location in the present is unknown. In the present, they change clothes before Cas comes back, so there’s no real way of knowing how much time passes between the Winchester’s return to the present and Castiel’s return.
-Dean informs Mary that they are from 2010.
-We do not know how long Castiel stayed in 1978 before returning.
February 14th - 17th, 2010 - It’s one big My Bloody Valentine when Famine rolls into an unnamed town and starts causing people to kill themselves and each other in the throes of hunger. Sam, Dean, and Castiel, spend 4 days on the case, and then head to Bobby’s in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
-Sam says that it’s Valentine’s Day just after he returns from interviewing the friend of the opening victim.
-According to the container holding the heart of one of the double suicide victims, the autopsy was performed on 02/15/10 at 10:24 - which means that the guy was working on Valentine’s Day! It also means that the restaurant that Dean, Sam, and Castiel go to in order to find Cupid is late taking down its Valentine’s Day decorations.
-The dead Coroner’s toe-tag is dated 02/17. He died that morning, and Dean and Castiel follow his soul to the final showdown with Famine.
-It is unclear whether they are close enough to make it to Bobby’s on the same night, or if the final scene takes place a day or more later - if it is a day later, then the day could would be 5, and the date the episode ended would be the 18th.
Either February 24-26th or March 3rd-5th, 2010 - We discover that Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, when the dead start rising near Bobby’s house in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We spend 3 days with the boys, but the dead began to rise 4 days before the episode began.
-Bobby says that the thunderstorms aren’t that unusual for South Dakota in February.
-Clay came back from the dead 3 days before the Winchesters break into his house (which they do the evening of the first day they are in town).
-Dean says “Another Horseman, great, must be Thursday”, while this line is really a breaking-the-fourth-wall joke, canon-Dean does not know he’s on a TV show that airs on Thursday - so we have to assume that he chose to say Thursday because it actually is Thursday.
-We know the boys have been away from Bobby’s house before the episode begins, or else Bobby’s wife wouldn’t have come as a surprise. So, your take on when the episode takes place, depends on how long you think it took Sam to detox. Personally, I see the episode occurring in the first week of March, with the thunderstorms the boys are referring to having been the week before (in February).
Unknown, 2010 - Sam and Dean are shot and killed by two Hunters. They are only dead for a few hours presumably, and they most likely leave shortly after being resurrected. Their location is unknown. (Dark Side of the Moon)
Unknown (possibly mid to late March), 2010 - Sam and Dean have 99 Problems when they find the Whore of Babylon in Blue Earth, Minnesota. They spend at least 3 days in Blue Earth, and Dean’s final scene is on a 4th day in Cicero, Indiana.
-Dean says that the world is going to end in a month or two - I can only assume he is choosing the foretold event in Detroit as “the end.” If we assume Abandon All Hope took place in November, than that would make Detroit take place in May (which is consistent with how the show usually makes their season finale match up with the date it airs), which would in turn put this episode sometime in March.
Unknown (possibly mid to late March) (the same day, or the day after the final scene of 99 Problems), 2010 - The boys reach the Point of No Return after Sam tracks Dean down in Cicero, Indiana, and gets him back to Bobby’s in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They spend one day at Bobby’s, and then one day getting Castiel to zap them to Van Nuys, California, in order to rescue Adam.
-After Castiel disappears, they steal a truck to presumably get back to Bobby’s for their car, so no travel time needs to be added for the trip from South Dakota to California, but travel needs to be taken into account between this episode and the next one.
Unknown, 2010 (possibly only a day or two after the events of Point of No Return, based on general location) - Dean and Sam find themselves corralled into a swanky roadside hotel, which just so happens to be playing host to a conference of Pagan gods. The episode takes place probably within the span of 12 hours, but covering 2 calendar days. (Hammer of the Gods).
-The Winchesters were travelling down the I-90 when they were forced to take a detour, this would place them in the northern US, perhaps just traveling away from Bobby’s house, where they would have gone to pick up the Impala after the events of Point of No Return.
-Dean is concerned because Sam hasn’t slept much the past week - whether he hasn’t slept because this is shortly after the events of Point of No Return, no one says. Nor is it mentioned how long Castiel and Adam have been missing.The cuts on Dean’s face have healed, but on Supernatural, that means very little.
Unknown, 2010 (a few days after Hammer of the Gods) - Crowley introduces Sam to The Devil You Know, when the boys take two days to track down and destroy the Horsemans’ stable boy, in West Nevada. We spend at least 2 days with the Winchesters, and then a third day with Bobby.
-When Crowley is giving Dean directions, he talks about the intersection of 50 and 93 North, this would place them somewhere around Ely, Nevada.
-They’ve already tracked Pestilence through 4 towns. It’s also been and a half since “those statues started crying.” These are our only clues as to how much time has passed between episodes. That being said, Brady lifts up the same Weekend Edition of the paper that we saw in the final scene of the previous episode - which suggests that it has perhaps only been a few days.
Unknown Sunday-Thursday, 2010 - It’s Two Minutes to Midnight as the apocalypse looms and Sam and Dean are running out of time to prevent the end of life as they know it. The boys travel between Bobby’s place in Souix Falls, South Dakota; Davenport, Iowa; Chicago, Illinois; and an unnamed location (possibly Nevada) where the Niveus plant is located. We spend at least 5 days in this episode.
-The Niveus shipment is set to be distributed on Wednesday according to the article that Crowley shows Sam. When Bobby, Sam, and Cas go to prevent the shipment, it is on the day that it is being shipped.
-It’s 9 hours driving time between Sioux Falls and Chicago, but it seems that Dean drives to Chicago the night before, foregoing sleep in order to get there the next day.
Unknown, 2010 - We watch Sam’s Swan Song, as the boys decide to go through with Sam’s plan of saying yes to Lucifer in order to trap him in the whole. Including estimated driving times, we spend at least 3 days with the boys: One day preparing, one day for the showdown, and one day with Dean dealing with the immediate aftermath. They travel from Sioux Falls, SD, to Detroit, MI, to Lawrence, KS, and then Dean drives back to Sioux Falls before heading on to Cicero, Indiana. The final scene, in which Dean eats dinner with Lisa and Ben, happens on an unspecified date sometime after the events of the episode.
-The season finales are usually set in May. So, if you are in dire need of an approx. date for this episode, May would be your best bet.
Unknown (A week after Swan Song), 2010 - Bobby hunts a Rugaru outside of Dayton, Ohio.
--------
SEASON 6 TIMELINE
Timeline Master Post
October 31st/November 1st, 2005 - Dean arrives in Palo Alto - quite late at night. The boys spend 2 days investigating a Woman in White in Jericho, California. (Pilot)
November 2nd/3rd 2005 (2:50-3am) - Jessica dies. Sam and Dean hit the road.
-Time taken from unaired Pilot scene.
~November 10th 2005 - Sam and Dean arrive in Lost Creek, Colorado, and spend 4 days hunting a Wendigo.
-Dean says they spent one week in Palo Alto after Jess's death.
Unknown, 2005 - Sam and Dean spend 5 days investigating Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin, where people keep ending up Dead in the Water.
~December 2nd-5th, 2005 - Sam and Dean spend ~4 days investigating the Phantom Traveler at various airports.
-A archived newspaper article in the Djinn-Wish'Verse in S2's What Is And What Should Never Be about Britannia Flight 424 is dated Dec. 5th, 2005.
December 5th 2005 - College friend Rebecca sends Sam an email about her brother being falsely arrested. (Skin) (For detailed timing on the murder that Rebecca is emailing about, please see the comment linked here.)
Unknown - Sam and Dean spend 5-7 days investigating Bloody Mary in Toledo, Ohio - with a side trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
- 21st of November according to another Supernatural Timeline, but implausable considering the time spent on the other cases and the known dates. Plus, the paper says "a short service will be held on ...ber 31st at 2pm" meaning, either October -before the series even starts -or December - but I doubt anyone would hold a funeral service on New Years Eve.
February 28th- March 7th, 2006 - Sam reads the email from Rebecca, while a day's travel from Bisbee, Arizona. St. Louis is said to be 400 miles behind them. Sam and Dean spend 8 days hunting a Shapeshifter in St. Louis, Missouri (two days spent driving there).
-Shapeshifter!Dean is killed on March 7th (according to information in later episode The Benders), making Dean Winchester officially dead according to the authorities. (Skin)
Between March 8th - March 22nd, 2006 - Dean and Sam hunt the Hookman in Ankeny Iowa for 5-6 days.
Friday, March 20th, 2006 - A guy is killed by Bugs in Oklahoma.
Tuesday, March 24th, 2006 - Dean and Sam spend 4-5 days investigating Bugs in Oklahoma
-Presumably the scene in which they hear about the death is on the Monday, which adds an extra *day* to the episode, so the Winchester part of the episode takes place over 5 days.
Unknown, 2006 - Sam and Dean head Home to Lawrence Kansas for 4 days (assuming one day driving time to get there) and try to get rid of a poltergeist.
First week of April, 2006 - Sam and Dean investigate an abandoned Asylum in Rockford, Illinois, for approx. 6 days.
-We know the date because of Sam's exclamation that they are "no closer to finding Dad than we were 6 months ago", plus the next episode picks up directly after this one and we know it takes place the second week of April
Between April 8th and April 15, 2006 - Dean discovers a fugly Scarecrow in Bukitsville, Indiana, and spends 4 days there.
-Most likely leaving on the 15th or 16th, as the night before is mentioned to be the "7th night of the cycle"- if we assume the "cycle" takes place over a calendar week. Or it could be that he leaves on the 13th or 14th, if we assume that the "cycle" ends with the full moon - the full moon was on Wednesday, April 13th in 2006.
End of April, 2006 - Dean gets electrocuted on a hunt somewhere (that is not Nebraska) and Sam takes him to Nebraska to see a Faith healer. The episode spans 7 days, with Dean being healed on the fourth day at 4:17pm. Although the sign outside the tent says that services are Sunday 11am and 2pm, it appears that the healing services happen much more frequently.
Early May, 2006 - Dean gets a call from former girlfriend Cassie, and him and Sam spend 5 days in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to investigate a series of road accidents . (Route 666)
-We know from Sam and Dean’s research that the first killing took place on the 4th of “last month”. We do not know how much time passed between the first death and Cassie’s father’s death...but my guess is not very much. The first killing was probably April 4th, and it is early May when the Winchester’s arrive.
-Dean and Sam are on their way to Pennsylvania for some reason at the beginning of the episode when Cassie calls. The service station informs us that they are in Bismarck, Kentucky, so they are taking a very odd route between Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
Unknown date in May, 2006 - Sam has a Nightmare that leads him and Dean to Saginaw, Michigan, where they spend approx. 5 days getting acquainted with Max Miller.
-Sam says that his abilities started "6-7 months ago", given the time spent on the previous two cases, it's safe to assume that Sam means 7 months ago.
-The boys were only a couple of hours away from Saginaw Michigan at the beginning of the episode, so there is no day added for travel; however, usually people don't have the wake/funeral/death-party-thing the day after the death, so I've added two days to the day count, and have assumed that the boys spent those two days buying priest outfits and cleaning their guns.
Unknown, 2006 - Sam gets kidnapped by The Benders in Hibbing, Minnesota. The boys end up spending 3 days there (Sam is missing for two).
End of May, 2006 - Sam and Dean discover that someone is summoning a Shadow demon in Chicago, Illinois, and they meet up with their Dad. We see the boys for at least 3 days.
- Multiple reasons for time: 1)Sam says he met Meg "weeks ago" and there has been at least 20 days since then shown in episodes, 20 days after April 15th is May 5th, but there are always numerous missing days between episodes while the boys drive, since this is the 5th episode since Sam met Meg, if say there are at least 3 days between episodes, we can say that AT LEAST 35 days has passed since Sam met Meg, which brings us to the end of May. 2)Also, Sam says that the lunar cycle wasn't right for a werewolf, which means that the murder took place between May 13th and June 11th exclusive and in SPN-verse werewolves turn every night during the week leading up to the full moon (Heart), which is another reason this episode would have taken place before June 3rd. 3)The next episode starts as early as June 3rd.
~June 6th/7th - June 13/14th, 2006 - On their way through Richardson, Texas, Sam and Dean spend 7 or 8 days investigating Hell House, which Sam reads about on a website. An update, dated June 10th, 2006, is made to the website on either their fourth or fifth day there. They leave on either June 13th or June 14th.
-We'll have to ignore the fact that the boys' faces are miraculously healed after Chicago...Sam and Dean obviously have super-healing-powers.
Unknown, 2006 - Sam and Dean are sent to Fitchburg, Wisconson, by their Dad, because Something Wicked is attacking children. They spend at least 3 days there (it's harder to count in this episode). Since they were in Texas previously, we can probably assume at least 2 days travel between the last episode and this one.
Unknown 2006 - Sam and Dean find a painting with some interesting Provenance in upstate New York. They spend 6 days there.
Probably July 10th or July 27th, 2006 (see In My Time of Dying notes) - Sam and Dean travel to Manning, Colorado, where they find a nest of vampires, their father, and a need for Dead Man's Blood. The part of the episode with the boys spans 3 days.
-They are in Nebraska at the beginning of the episode, interestingly, heading east. That means that since the previous episode, they have travelled west of Nebraska for some reason. So, a considerable amount of time has passed between the previous episode and this one (they could have even worked a simple case somewhere on the west coast, for all we know). I did not add a day of travel to the day count for this episode, because they are so close to Colorado at the beginning of the episode that they can make it there by nightfall.
July 13th or July 30th, 2006 (see In My Time of Dying notes) - The Winchesters take off from Manning, Colorado, and travel to Salvation, Iowa, to hunt the elusive demon. This episode only spans 2 days.
July 15/16 or August 1st/2nd, 2006 (see In My Time of Dying notes) - Sam and Dean travel from Iowa to Bobby's house in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and use a Devil's Trap to find out where their father is, then they drive to Jefferson City, Missouri, and launch a rescue effort. It appears this episode takes place over a 24 hour period and the boys don't sleep.
---SEASON 2---
July 16th-19th or August 2nd-5th, 2006 - John Winchester dies. In My Time of Dying takes place over 4 days, assuming that Sam has a day of rest in a hospital bed, before we see him check up on Dean and John. They are in Missouri (from Devil's Road Map on S2 DVD).
-The second to last day of the episode is could be August 4th, 2006. We see this by looking at Dean's heart monitor when they restabalize him.
-There is a conflict in the monitors on this show, as John's monitor says that it is July 19th 2006, when they declare him to be dead (at 10:41am); however, if you listen to the DVD commentary, you find out that this episode was filmed the week of July 19th - which means that John's monitor reflects the day of filming, rather than Dean's monitor that reflects an unrelated day. (As episodes are usually put together during an 8 day period, it's unlikely that they were still filming this episode on August 4th). So, originally I took August 4th as the date for the timeline; however, information given in S4 seems to indicate that John may have died in July (see S4 On The Head of A Pin notes).
Early or Mid August (after, but close to, the 12th), 2006 - The boys have been at Bobby's for a week, when Sam finds an old message on John's phone, which in turn leads them to the Harvelle's Roadhouse. They spend 4 days (including the day Sam finds the message) working at jobs at a carnival in Medford Wisconsin, where Everybody Loves a Clown except for Sam.
Unknown, 2006 - Sam and Dean spend 3 days exploring a possible hunt in Red Lodge, Montana, where they meet Gordon, a hunter with a particular Bloodlust for vampires.
-The Impala is fully repaired, so we can assume that this episode takes place a considerable amount of time after the previous one, however, given that the next episode takes place at the very end of August, we'll have to assume that Dean got the impala all fixed up in only two weeks - apparently the car has the same magic healing powers as the boys do - and that the next episode follows closely on the heels of this one.
~August 29th, 2006 - The Winchesters head to Illinois (oddly, according to The Devil's Road Map on the S2 DVD, Mary Winchester's grave is in Illinois and not in Lawrence, Kansas), where they spend 4 days teaching us that Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things. Sam breaks his wrist.
- Angela Mason dies on August 22nd - date on her cellphone; the boys arrive in town a week later - Sam says she "died last week", and four days after her funeral - Dean says "she was buried four days ago".
- Special note: The temporary gravestone marker also has dates on it, however they are out of sync with both the date on Angela's cellphone when she dies, and also with what year it is, so they are disregarded for the purposes of this timeline).
September 2006 - A vision leads Sam and Dean to travel to Guthrie, Oklahoma (and two stops at The Roadhouse). They spend 3 days (2 days and 1 night) in this episode, and only one day and a morning in Guthrie. In Guthrie, they meet Andy, who has abilities like Sam. (Simon Said).
-Sam says his abilities started "about a year ago," which can be interpreted as meaning a little under a year.
September, before the 28th, 2006 - Following immediately after the previous episode, Jo sends Sam and Dean on a hunt to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for 8 or 9 days. (No Exit)
-The invitation one of the victims gets in the mail is for a party on Thursday Sept. 28th, this happens on the fourth day of the episode.
-Note: 2 days have been added to the count, as it's nearly a 24 hour drive between Nebraska, the presumed location of the Roadhouse, and Philadelphia.
Unknown - October most likely - Sam and Dean spend 4 days in Baltimore, Maryland, where they become The Usual Suspects in a series of murders. One day to hear about the job and go to Baltimore, 24 hours in police custody, one day is experienced through flashbacks, and then one day is presumably spent getting the Impala back once they escape.
November 2006 - Sam and Dean track some bizarre deaths in Greenwood, Mississippi, for about 5 days, and encounter a Crossroads Demon. (Crossroad Blues)
Late November 2006 - Sam has a vision that leads him and Dean to River Grove, Oregan, for 3 days (one driving day) where they find the word Croatoan craved into a tree and discover that the town is infected with a demonic virus. (See Hunted notes for details on date)
Late November/Early December 2006 - Immediately following the events of Croatoan, Sam strikes out on his own, stops at the Roadhouse, and then heads to Lafayette, Indiana, only to end up Hunted by Gordon. The episode spans at least 6 days, 4 of which we see, at least 2 of which are spent driving.
-The dead guy's prescription bottles read 23/10/06 and are nearly full. It is said that he was killed "about a month ago" and Ava says her abilities started "about a year ago".
January 2007 - Sam and Dean stay at an Inn in Cornwall, Connecticut, that is filled with interesting Playthings. The episode takes place over 4 days (1 added for travel from Peoria, IL to location).
-Sam says that they've been looking for Ava for a month, which means that a month has passed since the previous episode and this one.
-This is the last episode in which Sam has a cast.
Unknown, 2007 - The boys run into trouble with the law again, when they are trapped in a hostage situation with a shapeshifter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The episode takes place over exactly 3 days, because the boys are already in Milwaukee at the beginning of the episode. (Nightshifter)
-In S3 episode Jus in Bello we see security camera photos of the bank heist that are dated 09/10/06, however, given that the next episode references this one has happening recently, we'll have to disregard the date on the photos in S3.
Unknown (mid-January*), 2007 - The boys investigate Houses of the Holy in Providence, Rhode Island, where they debate the existence of angels. The episode takes place over exactly 2 days, as the boys are already mid-investigation when it begins.
-*Fr. Gregory's tombstone says 2007, and the other priest says that he died 2 months ago...but we know that Roadkill takes place on February 22nd, yet the two episodes between this one and Roadkill consume nearly a month's worth of days, which would mean that this episode would have to take place before January 22nd in order for the numbers to work out. So, either this takes place in mid-January and the tombstone is wrong, or events in the series are shown out of order and Houses of the Holy takes place AFTER Roadkill, I suppose the choice is yours, but personally I prefer to keep things in episodic order - so I believe this episode takes place mid-January and the tombstone date should be ignored.
Unknown, 2007 - Poor Sam was Born Under a Bad Sign and goes missing for "over a week" (departing from West Texas) and eventually leads Dean on a 3 day chase (assuming it takes within one day for Dean to reach Sam when he calls at the beginning of the episode) that goes through Duluth, Minnisota, and ends in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
-This means that by the end of the episode, at least 17 days have passed, since the last episode left the boys in Rhode Island, yet Sam disappeared from West Texas...that's AT LEAST 4 days of travel, I think, if not more.
Unknown, 2007 - The boys tell Bobby some Tall Tales when they encounter a Trickster in Springfield, Ohio. Bobby helps them for either 1 or 2 days, and there are 4 days worth of flashbacks (excluding the flashbacks that happen on the day Bobby arrives), which brings us to a total of 5 or 6 days.
-We know it's only been a short time since the boys left Bobby's, since he says "it's nice to see you again so soon."
February 22nd, 2007 - Sam and Dean spend a night with Molly in Nevada (or Western California - according to The Devil's Road Map on the S2 DVD) trying to find the grave of a farmer who ended up as Roadkill. The events of the episode take place over only one night, but through flashbacks we can guess that the boys probably spent at least 3 days researching the case beforehand.
~ March 3rd, 2007 - Dean's happy to discover a werewolf in San Francisco, California, until it spends 4 days ripping Sam's Heart out metaphorically.
-If we assume that the boys went to San Francisco directly after the events of Roadkill, then the first full moon would have been on March 3rd.
Unknown, 2007 - Still in California, the boys head down to Los Angeles to check out a haunted movie set for at least 5 days, possibly a full week. (Hollywood Babylon)
Unknown (End of March beginning of April possibly) 2007 - Sam and Dean are arrested in Arkansas, in order to check out a haunting at a local prison. The episode takes place over at least a week, and the boys are incarcerated at the prison for at least 4 days. (Folsom Prison Blues).
-Due to the complexity of the set up, and the fact that the boys were called there on a favour, we can guess that there would have been a substantial number of days of research and planning before the beginning of the episode.
Unknown, 2007 - Dean learns What Is And What Should Never Be one night, when he encounters a Djinn in Joliet, Illinois. (Although Dean experiences several days inside his wish, in reality it's only a few hours.) The boys are still freaked out by cop cars, so we can guess that this may be their first stop since escaping prison in Arkansas.
Late April/Early May, 2007 (Possibly April 29th to May 2nd - based on S2 Companion Book info, Possibly ending on May 18th - based on S4 facts) - All Hell Breaks Loose (I&II) when Sam disappears from a roadside cafe and ends up in Cold Oak, South Dakota. Dean takes 24 hours to find him, but by then the damage is done. Part II picks up an estimated 24-48 hours later and spans 2 days. In total, including the missing estimated 24-48 hours, the two parts span 3 to 4 days.
-According to the Season Two Companion Book (but NOT accredited to Kripke or anyone specific), Sam was resurrected on his birthday May 2nd...this can only be confirmed partially using information in the episodes: the episodes do occur in early May - Sam tells Eva that she's been missing for 5 months, and asked the others if they are also 23 (not 24, as Sam would be if it were after his birthday) - so it's possible, but a horrible Birthday for Sam IMO. Also note: In S3 episode Ghostfacers, Sam mentions that Dean's deal comes due in 2 months. We know Ghostfacers occurs on February 28/29th, so that also supports the May date for the deal. This would make Sam’s life read as “May 2nd 1983 - April 30th 2007; May 2, 2007 - ??” - many people write it as though he died on May 2nd, but Dean waits 2 days before he resurrects Sam, so Sam actually dies at the end of April.) Regarding the Possible May 18th date, please see S4 notes.
-Sam dies at night, Bobby goes out to buy chicken and then leaves during the day, Dean makes the deal at night, Dean rejoins Sam during the day. We do not know whether we come in during the first 24 hours of Sam's death or the second. Given that Bobby is pushing for burial, I'm more willing to believe that a Dean makes the deal a full 48 hours after Sam dies.
---SEASON 3---
May, 2007 - Bobby and the boys spend 4 days fighting The Magnificent Seven deadly sins in Lincoln, Nebraska.
-They say it's been 5 days since the Devil's Gate was opened.
Unknown, 2007 - Sam and Dean head to Cicero, Indiana, so that Dean can catch up with an old flame named Lisa Braeden. He also meets her son Ben and discovers that some of The Kids Are Alright, and some of them aren't. They spend 2 or 3 days there.
-The boys never change outfits in this episode, but I highly doubt that the whole thing happens over just one day.
Unknown, 2007 (shortly after previous episode, based on subject matter of first conversation) - The boys get a call on their Dad's cell phone informing them of a break-in at a storage locker. Sam ends up having A Bad Day At Black Rock, NY (near Buffalo), where they spend 3 or 4 days (depending on distance from Buffalo at time of call) trying to track down what was stolen.
Early July, 2007 - Sam and Dean leave Bobby's house and head to Elizabethville, Ohio, spending 5 days trying to figure out what has turned the once quiet town into Sin City. (Given the starting point of Bobby's place, I've added 2 extra days for travel).
- The boys confirm that it has been two months since they opened the Devil's Gate.
October 24-26th, 2007 - Sam and Dean head to Maple Springs, NY, for 3 days, where they run into a spirit obsessed with Bedtime Stories. The episode opens on the evening of Wednesday, Oct 24th.
-When the boys think it's a werewolf, Sam says that the full moon is on Friday, and Dean says that gives them two days - there was a full moon on October 26th, 2007. We know it is October, because when they see the pumpkin, Dean says that it is close to Halloween.
Unknown, 2007 - Dean and Sam spend 5 days on the coast of Massachusetts investigating a ghost ship. (Red Sky At Morning).
-By the conversation between the brothers in the first Winchester scene, we can assume that not that much time has passed since the last episode
Unknown, 2007 - Dean and Sam hunt a vampire in search of Fresh Blood for his family, meanwhile Gordon renews his hunt for Sam.The episode covers 4 days, with the first scene with Gordan taking place the same night as the first scene with the Winchesters.
-Gordon tells Bela that he knows she was just in Masschusetts with the Winchesters - of course, that doesn't tell us how much time has passed since then, but it has probably not been that much.
Dec 22nd, 2007 - Dec 25th, 2007 - The boys enjoy A Very Supernatural Christmas in Yypsilanti, Michigan. We spend 4 days with them.
-The first scene has a woman telling them that it is 3 days until Christmas, arguably, we don't know if she means exclusively or inclusively, but let's not be nitpicky.
Unknown, 2008 - Dean and Sam spend 2 days tracking down a coven of witches. (Malleus Maleficarum)
Unknown, 2008 - The boys come to Bobby's aid, when he falls victim to a dreamwalker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They spend 6 days in this episode. (Dream A Little Dream Of Me)
Unknown Tuesday, 2008 - Sam gets trapped in a time loop while checking out the Mystery Spot in Broward, Florida. Only 2 days pass for Dean, but Sam experiences over 100 Tuesdays, plus an extra 6 months, before he returns to Dean's Wednesday.
Unknown, 2008 - Sam and Dean are arrested in Monument, Colorado. They spend the next 24 hours in jail, trying to defend themselves and Agent Hendriksen from a demon siege. (Jus in Bello)
February 28th, 2008 - Dean and Sam run into the Ghostfacers when they hunt a leap-year ghost at Morten House in an unknown town (not in Texas). They spend only one night at Morton House, but they don't leave town until after the Ghostfacers have edited together the video footage. So, they are probably there 2 or 3 days.
Unknown, 2008 - The boys spend 3 days in Milan, Ohio, where people are receiving a Long-Distance Call from the dead.
April 2008 - Sam cannot say "Time Is On My Side", when, with only three weeks to go until Dean's deal is up, he seeks out an immortal organ harvester near Erie, Pennsylvania. This episode spans around 3 days, give or take.
[Optional (either S3 or S4) - April 2008 - Dean and Sam track a serial killing demon in Couer d’Alene, Idaho. (Repo Man)
-A flashback in S7 states 4 years previously, but due to a continuity error in S6, it is unclear whether this event takes place during S3 or S4. If it takes place in S4, it would occur before The Monster At The End of This Book. This post is too large for me to add it in there as well.
-If it takes place in S3, then it would take place between 3x15 (Time is On My Side) and 3x16 (No Rest for the Wicked), as they only learn that Lilith holds Dean’s contract at the end of 3x15. Though, they have known that Lilith is after Sam since 3x12 (Jus in Bello). At the beginning of 3x15, we already see Dean torturing a demon in order to get more information on who holds his contract - so Dean torturing the demon possessing Jeffrey for information on Lilith would make sense plot-wise.]
Late April/Early May, 2008 (Possibly May 2nd, based on S2 Companion Book facts or Possibly May 18th - based on S4 facts) - With just 30 hours left until Dean's deal comes due, the boys and Bobby work around the clock in a last ditch effort to save him. There is No Rest For The Wicked, as the boys drive to New Harmony, Indiana.
---SEASON 4---
Sometimes between May and September 2008 - Jimmy Novak becomes a vessel. (See The Rapture notes)
~June, 2008 - Sam develops a severe drinking problem. He attempts to make a deal, but is unsuccessful. Ruby reappears. (I Know What You Did Last Summer)
~July, 2008 - Sam attempt a suicide mission to kill Lilith or die trying, Ruby saves him. (I Know What You Did Last Summer)
September 18-20th, 2008 - Dean is our very own Lazarus Rising, when he awakens in a coffin, in Pontiac, Illinois, after four months in hell. (Dean reads the date on a newspaper, and later Bobby tells us that Dean was buried for 4 months.) The boys spend 3 days in this episode. The first day, Dean drives from Pontiac to Bobby's house in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (9 hours). On the second day (Sept 19th), Dean and Bobby drive BACK to Pontiac, Illinois, to find Sam. Then on the third day (Sept 20th), Dean finally finds out who raised him from perdition.
September 21st-23rd, 2008 - We join Dean and Sam at Bobby's in Sioux Falls, where Bobby is yet unaware that a Hunter friend of his died two days ago. Dean has got questions, primarily: "Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester," but there is little time for religious contemplation as the Winchesters spend 2 days battling the familiar ghosts after the Rising of the Witnesses. Dean awakens from his conversation with Castiel on the 3rd day of the episode.
-Castiel informs us that "three days ago" Dean didn't believe in angels. We also know that Bobby has been trying to get in touch with Olivia for three days.
Unknown night, between September 25th and 30th, 2008 - Castiel sends Dean back in time to Lawrence, Kansas, in order to see what happened In The Beginning. Although Dean spends 3 days in the past (April 30th - May 2nd, 1973), no time passes in the present.
-Dean reads the date on a newspaper. Mary makes her deal 10 years before Sam is born.
-Interesting sidenote: Dean's cellphone tells him that it's 5:12pm, when he wakes up in Lawrence.
Unknown, between September 25th and 30th, 2008 (following directly after In The Beginning) - In the middle of Dean yelling at him about using his powers, Sam gets a call from a fellow Hunter, who tells the boys to go to Carthage, Missouri, and deal with a guy undergoing a Metamorphosis. The boys spend 3 days (including the night shared with the previous episode) dealing with a Rugaru.
October 3rd to 6th, 2008 - The boys find themselves in a makeshift Monster Movie, during Oktoberfest in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. They spend 4 days there.
-It appears most places in Pennsylvania hold Oktoberfest on the first weekend of October.
~October 13th or 20th, 2008 - Dean gets infected by a ghost sickness, perhaps called Yellow Fever, in Rock Ridge, Colorado, and Sam has 48 hours to find a cure. The episode takes place over a 48 period that spans 3 calendar days, beginning on a Monday. Oddly enough, the end scene could possibly take place on a 4th day, as all characters have changed clothes.
-Sam tells us that the autopsy occurred on a Monday morning, given the number of days spent in the episode, it is unlikely to be the 27th.
October 29th - November 1st, 2008 - A witch must make 3 blood sacrifices in order to to raise Samhain, while the Winchesters spend 4 days trying to track her down and talking to angels about unnescessary smiting. (It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester)
~November 5th, 2008 - The Winchesters head to Concrete, Washington, to save some women in showers, but discover that it was all just Wishful Thinking. They spend at least 3 days in the episode.
-Given the conversation at the beginning of the episode, it's a fair to say that it isn't long after the previous episode, as I doubt Sam would wait that long to confront Dean about what Uriel told him - however, that's the only bases I have for the date, so take it with a grain of salt.
-Dean tells Wes that on Thursdays, they're Teddy Bear doctors. By my estimation they were Teddy Bear doctors on the second day of the episode. It was really hard to count the days though.
~November 7th to 19th, 2008 - The Winchester meet Anna Milton and try to keep her safe from both angels and demons. This two part episode spans 12 days (9 in the first ep, 5 in the last ep - excluding shared night), from the time Anna escapes from the mental instution, to the conversation between Sam and Dean at the side of the road at the end of the second episode, during that time they drive 3 days to find Anna, then to Bobby's house, then Dean drives to Pamela's house twice. Then they drive to Kentucky. (I Know What You Did Last Summer - Heaven & Hell)
-Dean tells Sam that the hospital is a three day drive from where they are when Ruby informs them of Anna's escape. In the second part of the episode, Dean both drives Pamela from and to her home, which is at least 5 hours away from Bobby's, as we know from the fact given in Lazarus Rising that she lives 4 hours outside of Pontiac Illinois. We know it is mid November, because 1)the doctor at the hospital tells us that Anna was perfectly healthy 2 months ago, and we know from Anna that she didn't start hearing voices until Sept. 18th. 2)Anna's psych evaluation states that she was admitted on 09/10/08, which we'll have to assume is day/month/year, since she was still angel-free on Sept. 10th. 3)The flashbacks of Sam say 'Six Months Earlier' which place them in mid-late May, just after Dean's death.
~December 2nd, 2008 (Or ~Mid/Late December, 2008) - The Winchesters spend 3 days finding some interesting Family Remains in Nebraska.
-See Death Takes a Holiday notes for reasoning behind date. Personally though, I prefer the first option, since I highly doubt a family would move that close to Christmas.
- Sam says they've been chasing cases for a month since Dean told him about hell, however, in order for Death Takes a Holiday to take place on a solstice, we have to assume that Sam is exaggerating, and it's really only been about two weeks...it just feels like a month.
~December 5th, 2008 (Or ~December 28th, 2008) - We see 5 days of magic week in Sioux City, Iowa, where everyone agrees that Criss Angel is a Douche Bag.
-Date based on Death Takes a Holiday.
-Sidenote: we learn that 34 seals have been broken by this point.
~December 10th, 2008 (Or ~January 2nd, 2009) - The Winchesters spend at least 5 days at Truman High in Fairfax, Indiana, investigating an odd series of possessions and reflecting on their own high school experience. (After School Special)
-Date based on Death Takes a Holiday
~December 15th, 2008 (Or ~January 7th, 2009) - The boys head to Bedford, Iowa, where there is plenty of Sex and Violence. They spend at least 4 days hunting a Siren
-Please note, it is very hard to count days in this episode. Also note that if we want to go for believable, there is no way that the end scene is still in Iowa, no place in Iowa has Vancouver-like bridges or shipyards.
-Date based on Death Takes a Holiday
December 19th-Dec 22nd, 2008 (Or ~January 11th-14th, 2009 - see notes) - Sam and Dean get a call and find out that even Death Takes a Holiday sometimes, because no one has died in Greybull, Wyoming, for the last 10 days. They spend at least 4 days trying to figure out why.
-Sam tells Dean, on the estimated second day of the episode, that the reapers have to be killed under the solstice moon, which is 'tomorrow night'.
-Ok, this episode is extremely problematic. Solstices are either in December or June, and there is no possible way that this could take place in June, given the weather and the fact that there is snow in the episode after it. Therefore, it HAS to take place in December. That means that all episodes between Family Remains and this one have to occur back-to-back, and the Winchesters can't spend more than a day getting to places, and Sam had to have been exaggerating when he said it had been a month since the roadside confession in Heaven and Hell. It's the only way to get to this episode in time for the solstice.
-That being said, Cole Griffith died “10 days ago” and his death was announced on January 2nd, 2009 (as seen on Dean’s computer). His gravestone also reads 2009, which probably means that he died January 1st, 2009 - which would place this episode in January, well after the solstice. Personally, I’d prefer basing the timeline around the solstice date and not the split-second glimpse of obituaries on a computer screen. However, if we were to base it off the computer screen, then this episode would take place around January 12, 2009. Adjusting the episodes backwards, we could say that Sam WASN’T exaggerating when he indicated that a month had passed between Heaven and Hell and Family Remains).
-Also, going off the solstice date makes much more sense for episodes like After School Special, which could not take place over Christmas. It’s either that, or you could take a combination of the two optional timelines. You could claim that Sam was exaggerating and that Family Remains took place only two weeks after Heaven and Hell, and that After School Special took place December 10th, but then there was a greater gap between After School Special and Sex and Violence, or a greater gap between Sex and Violence and Death Takes a Holiday.
End of December, 2008 (Or Mid January) - Angels may dance On The Head Of A Pin, but they apparently can't torture demons without Dean Winchester's help. We spend at least 3 days in Cheyenne, Wyoming. (days may not be consecutive)(Dean is only conscious for the first night, the rest of the time he's recovering and Castiel is trying to figure out what went wrong). The boys have just come from Pamela's funeral, so we can assume that this episode takes place at most 3 or 4 days after the last episode.
-See Death Takes a Holiday notes for details on date.
-Another important thing we learn in this episode is the fact that John Winchester was in hell for "close to a century (in hell years)"...this fits in well with the July 19th death-date that I have listed for John in S2.
~March 1st, 2009 - Dean Smith and Sam Wesson both start new jobs at Sandover Bridge and Iron Inc.
-In It's a Terrible Life, Dean and Sam both say that they started working at the company 3 weeks ago. The fact that they both started at the same time, to me, indicates that they actually HAVE been working there the full 3 weeks before meeting up, and the only false memories in their heads are the ones from before their starting date.
~March 24th, 2009 - Dean and Sam discover It's a Terrible Life in corporate America, when, over the course of 5 days, a ghost starts picking off their co-workers, and they both begin to feel like they were meant for other things.
-Paul Dunbar, the first dude to commit suicide, was set to retire in 2 weeks, on April 14, 2009, according to Dean's computer.
Unknown, 2009 - While investigating a haunting, the Winchesters discover a book series about their lives. They spend 3 days tracking down the author, Carver Edlund aka Chuck Shirley, to try to find out who The Monster At The End Of This Book is.
~April 17th, 2009 - After answering a call on their dad's old cell phone, Dean and Sam drive to Windom, Minnesota, where they discover that they have a half-brother named Adam Milligan. There are 3 days between Kate Milligan's death and Dean and Sam's arrival in Windom. Dean and Sam spend at least 2 days getting to know Adam, so in total this episode spans a total of 5 days (Jump the Shark).
-Date based off information in When The Levee Breaks
~May 3rd, 2009 - Sam and Dean find out all about The Rapture of Jimmy Novak, when they go to meet Castiel and discover that he's been dragged out of his vessel and back to heaven. The boys spend 3 days trying to protect Jimmy's family from demons. They travel from their undisclosed first location to Pontiac, Illinois, and then at the end to Bobby's house in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
- NOTE: according to a network treatment of the script ( http://anteka.livejournal.com/666729.html link now dead ;_;) Jimmy is first contacted by Castiel on Christmas eve 2007, is tested with the boiling water in March 2008, and accepts possession in September 2008.
~May 8th 2009 - We find out what happens When the Levee Breaks, as Dean tries to force Sam into detox and the gulf between the brothers grows. It's hard to tell how many days Sam spends in the panic room, but by my estimate the episode covers about 5 days. We spend most of the episode at Bobby's in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but once Sam breaks lose he travels to James Town, North Dakota, and then on to Elk River and Cold Spring, Unknown state.
-Sam askes Ruby where she's been for the past 3 weeks - here we will have to assume that it was after the blood-letting in Jump the Shark that Sam first failed to get a hold of Ruby for a fresh dose.
Wednesday May 13th- Thursday 14th, 2009 - The boys fail to prevent Lucifer Rising. We pick up the day after the ending of the previous episode and spend 2 days with the boys. Sam kidnaps a nurse from an undisclosed location the first night and travels to Ilchester, Maryland, to kill Lilith the second night.
-When Sam checks his cellphone and sees that he has a message from Dean, the display states the date. It also says that the time is 7:13pm.
---SEASON 5-----
Thursday May 14th - ~Sunday May 17, 2009 - There is little Sympathy For The Devil as the Winchesters begin to regroup after Lucifer's rising. They spend approx. 3 to 4 days traveling from Ilchester, Maryland, to Baltimore (by plane), to Chuck's house, and, presumably, a city close to Chuck's house.
-The clock on the car radio in the rental says 11:58 (pm, assumed, given that it’s night time). Sam had to kill Lilith at midnight, so the time on the clock could very well be a full 24 hours after Lucifer rose. This would account for the time it would take to get off the airplane and rent a car. Either that, or the clock is simply wrong. Day count includes the 14th.
Unknown between May 27th and May 31st, 2009 - Good God Y'All, after a phone call from Rufus, the boys leave their unknown city in the east and drive to River Pass, Colorado, where it's War. Estimated at least a 1 day trip to get to Colorado from where they were, means that they spend around 4 or 5 days in this episode. (2 days are spent in River Pass, the conversation at the end could take place on a 3rd day, based solely on Sam changing his shirt, the choice is yours).
-Dean says at the beginning that Bobby hasn't spoken in 3 days, which would put this episode between ~May 20th - 25th. However, we do not know whether he stopped talking immediately after the last episode or not, so unfortunarely that tells us nothing. We learn from the citizens of River Pass though, that War showed up "last wednesday". If we assume that Bobby fell silent immediately after the last episode, that would mean that War showed up the day after Rufus put in his distress call...which doesn’t make sense. People don't usually say "last wednesday" unless it is, or is after, another wednesday. War couldn’t have shown up BEFORE Lucifer rose, so, it's more likely that there's been a little more time between episodes. Since the boys are still hanging around the hospital though, it probably hasn't been too long, at most a week, I'd say.
-Dean’s X-ray has a date of “...4-09-2009” as it cannot be April or September already, this date has been disregarded.
June to August 25nd, 2009 OR The first-second week of June, 2009 (see notes) - Dean and Sam are Free to be You and Me, when they spend an unspecified time apart. We follow a 3 (or 4) day storyline for each Winchester. Sam's takes place in Garber, Oklahoma. Dean hunts vampires in Greeley, Pennsylvania, and then heads to Maine with Castiel.
-There are two ways to interpret the timing of this episode:
1. The boys spend a week apart - Dean hunts a vampire and Sam gets a job - before the events of the episode take place.
2. The boys have spent nearly 3 months apart: The date spotted on Sam's laptop on the second day of his storyline - 08/23/09, 3:38pm - would mean that the boys have actually spent almost 3 months apart.
Let's look at the supporting evidence for both:
- Lindsey tells Sam that he blew into town "last week" - this would support the one week theory; though, one could also argue that Sam may not have given up the normadic lifestyle, and this might not be his first stop since leaving Dean.
- I find it doubtful that Cas would go almost three months without contacting Dean; however, the two storylines we are seeing may NOT actually be happening simultaneously. It is possible that we are seeing Dean in June and Sam in August.
-The next episode - The End - may also take place in August. Given that Sam calls Dean with the news from Lucifer at the beginning of that episode, it is likely that it follows shortly after this one, as I doubt Sam would keep the information from his brother for long. That being said, The End might not actually take place in August either - see The End notes.
3. The Third Option: Both storylines take place in August, after an unseen two months apart
-In Supernatural The Official Companion Season 5, there is a mock up of a tabloid article about the Gas Station fire that Dean and Cas investigate in order to find Raphael. The tabloid is dated August 21st, 2010...now, the problem with this is that it’s not 2010 yet (however, it was 2010 when they were putting together the Official Companion).
~August 25th, 2009 OR Mid June, 2009 - Dean finds out what happens in The End, when Zachariah transports him 5 years into the future to August 2014. At the beginning of the episode, Dean has just driven "16 hours" to Kansas City. He spends 3 days in the future, but only 4 hours pass in 2009. Dean then meets back up with Sam either that same day or after traveling to the meeting point.
-Dean is transported to August 2014 - the Newspaper Zach shows him says August 4th, the City-sign says August 1st - either he was transported there because that is when the final show down with Lucifer takes place, or he was transported there because it happens to be EXACTLY 5 years in the future. However...
-Dean says that he is from the "tail-end" of 2009 - which would support the August, 2009 date more than the June date.
-Another interesting thing to note is that Dean said he drove "16 hours" to get to Kansas City - we last saw him in Maine, which is considerably further than a 16 hour drive. This could support the idea that the storylines we see in Free to Be You and Me are actually not occuring simultaneously...if we believe that Sam would have called Dean immediately after his visit from Lucifer, which I personally do.
Saturday - Wednesday, Mid September OR Early July, 2009 (3 weeks after The End) - Dean and Sam encounter many a Fallen Idol as famous people begin to kill their super-fans in Canton, Ohio. We spend 5 days with the Winchesters as they hunt Leshi, the forest god.
-Dean says they've spent 3 weeks looking for the Colt.
-Sam is researching Leschii on the fourth day of the episode, and the website he’s on informs us that it’s a Tuesday.
-On the third day, Sam and Dean go to the Wax Museum at 4:30pm. It is a Monday.
Unknown, 2009 - "I Believe The Children Are Our Future" is something Sam might have said, as he and Dean drove from Alliance to Elk Creek, Nebraska, and then back again, when the Winchesters meet Jesse - the most adorable Anti-Christ ever. They spend at least 3 days in this episode.
-It's 9 hours driving time between Alliance and Elk Creek - I'm assuming that Dean and Sam drive all night to get to Elk Creek on the evening of the second day - meet Jesse's mother in the morning of the third day, and then drive back to Alliance - arriving in the evening of the third day
November, 2009 - It's The Curious Case of Dean Winchester, after Bobby leads the boys into a dangerous high-stakes poker game in an unknown location (though relatively close to Bobby's house). The Winchester part of the episode takes place over 3 days.
-The missing person, Cliff, gets an hourly rate at a motel every Tuesday. Dean finds an old receipt in a jacket pocket at his house. Dean's thumb covers the date on the receipt, but you can see what looks like "Tues. 11/-" which would make it November. (Americans write their dates MM/DD/YY)
- In my opinion, this supports the hypothesis that the Winchester's were separated for 3 months between Good God Y'all and Free To Be You And Me, instead of one week, and that the two separate storylines of Free To Be You And Me did not occur simultaneously.
Unknown Friday - We discover that Dean is a closet Dr. Sexy MD fan when Sam catches him not Changing Channels when the show comes on. The brothers then get trapped in TVland for at least 2 days in Wellington, Ohio.
-Dean looks up the article on the victim on a Friday ("Guardian Archives" list days in descending order as "yesterday, wednesday, tuesday, monday, etc...)
-Castiel tells the brothers that they've been missing "for days" when he runs onto the set of the game show. We do not know the last time that Dean contacted Castiel, but we do know that the sitcom (which came after the game show) was only two days after the day they started investigating the Hulk case. So, either Dean forgot to check in with Castiel before they got trapped by the Trickster, or Castiel is exaggerating a little bit.
Unknown - Sam and Dean drive all night to see Chuck at an unknown location, only to discover they've been duped into attending the first ever Supernatural convention. They spend 2 days finding out who The Real Ghostbusters are.
-The actress at the convention works at a Hooters in Toledo, Ohio. In my opinion, this episode must take place somewhere close to there, as I doubt she’d go very far afield for this type of gig.
Unknown - Unknown Friday - It might be time to Abandon All Hope, when the Hunters all get together to try to kill Lucifer in Carthage, Missouri. The meeting with Crowley and everything that follows all happens within the span of one week, but it is impossible to give an accurate day-count. We know that the events in Cathage occur on a Thursday. We witness approx. 3 days during the episode, but there is no way to tell how much time passes between the events that we see. (ie: between Castiel tracking down Crowley, and Jo’s ruse to get inside the mansion, or between getting the Colt and the party the night before Carthage, or between Carthage and the “funeral” for Ellen and Jo).
-Crowley says that Lucifer will be in Carthage on Thursday. I’ve assumed, for the sake of the timeline, that the “Funeral” for Ellen and Jo is held by Bobby and the boys on the Friday. That being said, Bobby technically needed time to get that picture developed...unless he has a dark room we don’t know about. So some lee-way could be taken with the amount of time between Carthage and the “funeral.”
Unknown - a “few weeks” after Abandon All Hope - The boys spend 3 days in Glenwood Springs Psychiatric Hospital in Ketchum, Oklahoma, where they promptly go crazy trying to hunt a Wraith. (Sam, Interrupted)
-There IS a date in this episode of 09/11/09 (on the Winchesters’ psychiatric report), which by American dating standards would be September 9th, 2009. There is a problem with using this date though: 1. It’s the same date that appears on the first victim’s psychiatric report as the date she was admitted - even though we know she has been there far longer than they have. 2. The psychiatric report about Sam and Dean (or “Alex and Edward”) already has the results of the meeting they are in typed out on the report. 3. As much as I have very little to base the other dates so far this season on, I highly doubt they’d only be in September - Supernatural has a tendency to follow the year as we watch. So, in conclusion, I’m ignoring the dates on the report - you can disagree if you want though. If it IS September, that doesn’t support the 3 month separation theory.
Unknown (mid-week) - Dean and Sam spend 2 days in Housatonic, Massachusetts, when an amateur warlock finds a way to Swap Meat-suits with Sam. Gary spends approx. 24 hours in Sam’s body.
-A booklet in Gary’s locker says “Advanced Placement Physics - Notice of Exam - Dec. 11th”; however, this is a kid’s locker, there’s no telling how long that booklet has been in there for.
Unknown, 2010 - The Winchesters spend one night in 1978’s Lawrence, Kansas, trying to save their parents, but sadly The Song Remains The Same. Their location in the present is unknown. In the present, they change clothes before Cas comes back, so there’s no real way of knowing how much time passes between the Winchester’s return to the present and Castiel’s return.
-Dean informs Mary that they are from 2010.
-We do not know how long Castiel stayed in 1978 before returning.
February 14th - 17th, 2010 - It’s one big My Bloody Valentine when Famine rolls into an unnamed town and starts causing people to kill themselves and each other in the throes of hunger. Sam, Dean, and Castiel, spend 4 days on the case, and then head to Bobby’s in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
-Sam says that it’s Valentine’s Day just after he returns from interviewing the friend of the opening victim.
-According to the container holding the heart of one of the double suicide victims, the autopsy was performed on 02/15/10 at 10:24 - which means that the guy was working on Valentine’s Day! It also means that the restaurant that Dean, Sam, and Castiel go to in order to find Cupid is late taking down its Valentine’s Day decorations.
-The dead Coroner’s toe-tag is dated 02/17. He died that morning, and Dean and Castiel follow his soul to the final showdown with Famine.
-It is unclear whether they are close enough to make it to Bobby’s on the same night, or if the final scene takes place a day or more later - if it is a day later, then the day could would be 5, and the date the episode ended would be the 18th.
Either February 24-26th or March 3rd-5th, 2010 - We discover that Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, when the dead start rising near Bobby’s house in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We spend 3 days with the boys, but the dead began to rise 4 days before the episode began.
-Bobby says that the thunderstorms aren’t that unusual for South Dakota in February.
-Clay came back from the dead 3 days before the Winchesters break into his house (which they do the evening of the first day they are in town).
-Dean says “Another Horseman, great, must be Thursday”, while this line is really a breaking-the-fourth-wall joke, canon-Dean does not know he’s on a TV show that airs on Thursday - so we have to assume that he chose to say Thursday because it actually is Thursday.
-We know the boys have been away from Bobby’s house before the episode begins, or else Bobby’s wife wouldn’t have come as a surprise. So, your take on when the episode takes place, depends on how long you think it took Sam to detox. Personally, I see the episode occurring in the first week of March, with the thunderstorms the boys are referring to having been the week before (in February).
Unknown, 2010 - Sam and Dean are shot and killed by two Hunters. They are only dead for a few hours presumably, and they most likely leave shortly after being resurrected. Their location is unknown. (Dark Side of the Moon)
Unknown (possibly mid to late March), 2010 - Sam and Dean have 99 Problems when they find the Whore of Babylon in Blue Earth, Minnesota. They spend at least 3 days in Blue Earth, and Dean’s final scene is on a 4th day in Cicero, Indiana.
-Dean says that the world is going to end in a month or two - I can only assume he is choosing the foretold event in Detroit as “the end.” If we assume Abandon All Hope took place in November, than that would make Detroit take place in May (which is consistent with how the show usually makes their season finale match up with the date it airs), which would in turn put this episode sometime in March.
Unknown (possibly mid to late March) (the same day, or the day after the final scene of 99 Problems), 2010 - The boys reach the Point of No Return after Sam tracks Dean down in Cicero, Indiana, and gets him back to Bobby’s in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They spend one day at Bobby’s, and then one day getting Castiel to zap them to Van Nuys, California, in order to rescue Adam.
-After Castiel disappears, they steal a truck to presumably get back to Bobby’s for their car, so no travel time needs to be added for the trip from South Dakota to California, but travel needs to be taken into account between this episode and the next one.
Unknown, 2010 (possibly only a day or two after the events of Point of No Return, based on general location) - Dean and Sam find themselves corralled into a swanky roadside hotel, which just so happens to be playing host to a conference of Pagan gods. The episode takes place probably within the span of 12 hours, but covering 2 calendar days. (Hammer of the Gods).
-The Winchesters were travelling down the I-90 when they were forced to take a detour, this would place them in the northern US, perhaps just traveling away from Bobby’s house, where they would have gone to pick up the Impala after the events of Point of No Return.
-Dean is concerned because Sam hasn’t slept much the past week - whether he hasn’t slept because this is shortly after the events of Point of No Return, no one says. Nor is it mentioned how long Castiel and Adam have been missing.The cuts on Dean’s face have healed, but on Supernatural, that means very little.
Unknown, 2010 (a few days after Hammer of the Gods) - Crowley introduces Sam to The Devil You Know, when the boys take two days to track down and destroy the Horsemans’ stable boy, in West Nevada. We spend at least 2 days with the Winchesters, and then a third day with Bobby.
-When Crowley is giving Dean directions, he talks about the intersection of 50 and 93 North, this would place them somewhere around Ely, Nevada.
-They’ve already tracked Pestilence through 4 towns. It’s also been and a half since “those statues started crying.” These are our only clues as to how much time has passed between episodes. That being said, Brady lifts up the same Weekend Edition of the paper that we saw in the final scene of the previous episode - which suggests that it has perhaps only been a few days.
Unknown Sunday-Thursday, 2010 - It’s Two Minutes to Midnight as the apocalypse looms and Sam and Dean are running out of time to prevent the end of life as they know it. The boys travel between Bobby’s place in Souix Falls, South Dakota; Davenport, Iowa; Chicago, Illinois; and an unnamed location (possibly Nevada) where the Niveus plant is located. We spend at least 5 days in this episode.
-The Niveus shipment is set to be distributed on Wednesday according to the article that Crowley shows Sam. When Bobby, Sam, and Cas go to prevent the shipment, it is on the day that it is being shipped.
-It’s 9 hours driving time between Sioux Falls and Chicago, but it seems that Dean drives to Chicago the night before, foregoing sleep in order to get there the next day.
Unknown, 2010 - We watch Sam’s Swan Song, as the boys decide to go through with Sam’s plan of saying yes to Lucifer in order to trap him in the whole. Including estimated driving times, we spend at least 3 days with the boys: One day preparing, one day for the showdown, and one day with Dean dealing with the immediate aftermath. They travel from Sioux Falls, SD, to Detroit, MI, to Lawrence, KS, and then Dean drives back to Sioux Falls before heading on to Cicero, Indiana. The final scene, in which Dean eats dinner with Lisa and Ben, happens on an unspecified date sometime after the events of the episode.
-The season finales are usually set in May. So, if you are in dire need of an approx. date for this episode, May would be your best bet.
Unknown (A week after Swan Song), 2010 - Bobby hunts a Rugaru outside of Dayton, Ohio.
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SEASON 6 TIMELINE
Timeline Master Post