Do y'all think sometime in the mid-90s there was an Unsolved Mysteries about Will (and Hawkins). The Party is obsessed with it (they like to point out the inaccuracies) but it mostly gets forgotten by the general public.

Then in the mid-2000s they go over "The Strange Town of Hawkins and The Mysterious Vanishing of Will Byers" on Buzzfeed Unsolved and that picks up and every horror/true crime podcast is covering it, and 45 yo Will is like "are you fucking kidding me?" and Mike thinks it's the funniest thing.