and go hand in hand, with fans always unearthing suggestions the show has .
The latest theory doing the rounds on social media claims the legendary animated series predicted villain Vecna – – all the way back in 1998 with season nine’s fifth episode Bart Carny.
In the classic episode, Homer and Bart befriend father and son duo Cooder and Spud, who are working at a travelling carnival which has rolling into Springfield.
Homer tries to fix a game for Cooder and naturally his plan is a total failure, and so he invites them to stay at the family home.
Marge is understandably unimpressed, and things take a turn for the worse when Cooder and Spud trick the Simpsons out of their home.
Here’s where the Stranger Things connection comes in, with Spud telling Lisa: ‘Hey, check this out, I can unhinge my joints all at once. Doing anything tonight blue eyes?’
You might see where this is going.
Stranger Things fans have pointed out that his unique bone-popping talent bares an uncanny resemblance to how Vecna kills his victims in the Netflix sci-fi horror show.
As viewers will remember from season four, he lifts them into the air before using his mind to twist their joints out of shape.
The Simpsons theory was shared by user @jccampie, who posted a clip of the episode and wrote: ‘The Duffer Brothers are sooooo good. They wrote Vecna into S9 Simpson’.
Naturally, Kate Bush’s classic track Running Up The Hill played over the scene, and the fan quipped: ‘How will this play into season 5?’
Not surprisingly, fans have loved this crossover theory, with many of them wondering if there’s anything The Simpsons hasn’t predicted.
One TikTok user replied: ‘I swear the Simpsons creators are time travelers or something like whatever they predict it comes true.’
‘The Simpsons predicted everything,’ another added, while a third fan said: ‘I watched that episode yesterday and I thought of Vecna as well.’
Stranger Things is streaming on Netflix. The Simpsons is available on Disney+.
