Marsha Holland and her husband… this guy... gave birth to their daughter Barbara on September 13th,
1967. They appear to be loving and doting parents, treasuring all of their photos of
her after her after her disappearance... even in the bathroom. In
an interview with W, actress Shannon Purser revealed that these are actual photos from
her youth, which were also part of a shrine dedicated to her character at Comic-Con.
But despite the love Barb gets in our world, she’s more of an afterthought in the world of
Stranger Things in Hawkins, Indiana where she grew up. To see what caused her to become a
bit of an outcast in their community, stick around the end of this video.
(mysterious music)
In her youth, Barb’s best friend was Nancy Wheeler. While it’s never stated
when Barb met Nancy, it’s assumed to be a long lasting friendship.
Since Barb has her own car in high school, she oftentimes ends up as the designated driver for
Nancy, like when the pair went shopping for clothes in November 1983. However,
despite the fact the fact that they still consider each other as best friends, it’s clear that they
are beginning to drift apart before the events of the story begin. Stranger Things is, at its core,
about growing up in the 80s, and growing up means finding out who you are, and it seems that
the two find out that Barb is a lot more based than Nancy. She wears the clothes she wants to
wear, and honors her own values, not letting peer pressure influence her decisions or thinking.
Nancy, on the other hand, expands her horizons in high school. She
starts hanging out with different people and participates in riskier
activities in order to impress a boy she likes, Steve Harrington.
– It's faberge organics.
– [Zac] On the morning
of November 7th, Barb is trying to pry details out of Nancy about how things are going with
Steve. While supporting Nancy’s feelings, she simultaneously teases Nancy and
jokingly requests that Nancy doesn’t forget about her, which is perhaps a projection of
her worries that Nancy will move on and she’ll be left behind, alone. She’s realizing that she
isn’t as much of a priority in her best friend’s mind as she once was, and that idea scares her.
Nancy discovers a note from Steve in her locker. Despite the concern over Nancy’s
newly growing popularity, Barb plays it cool, and seems to be excited for her.
She respects Nancy’s decisions and trusts her to be smart enough to make her own choices.
This dynamic changes on Tuesday evening when Nancy decides to go to Steve’s house party. Barb
receives a call from her, pleading for a ride. Barb’s response is firmly against sneaking out
to the party and lying to her parents, but Nancy is insistent on dragging her along.
In the car, Barb criticizes Nancy’s decisions on going while insisting that Steve only cares
about getting in her pants and that Nancy’s not this stupid. There may be
some real concern that Steve could be using her, but a lot of this argument seems to be
rooted in jealousy. Caught between wanting to be a good friend and her disdain towards the party,
she still attends, even if it’s only to keep an eye on Nancy.
The party once again shows how the two friends are just going in opposite
directions in life while trying to hold onto each other because of their past.
Nancy’s pressures her to shotgun a beer and Barb hesitantly takes the
can and pocket knife to try and punch a hole in the bottom of it. Unfortunately,
the knife slips and slices into her thumb instead, and she rushes to the bathroom to clean up.
She returns to discover Nancy, soaking wet, wrapped in a towel, and going upstairs -- THE
SAME PLACE SHE TRIED TO WARN NANCY THAT STEVE WOULD TAKE HER.
– Why don’t you go ahead and go home. I’ll just… I’ll get a ride or something.
– Nance.
– Barb. – Donkey!
– [Zac] Barb tries to say that Nancy’s new behaviour isn’t really her, because she’s in denial of
the fact that this IS the new Nancy; she’s not going to stay as she was as a kid forever.
Rather than leaving, Barb decides to go back outside and sit on the diving board to dip her
feet in the pool and reflect. Get it? Reflect? Cause the pool has a reflection-- She has no
reason to stay at Steve’s anymore, but maybe her sense of loyalty to Nancy keeps her there,
hoping to offer her a ride home later so they can make up. Or maybe she’s
just trying to listen in on her friend getting drilled in the upstairs bedroom.
– You know, you're so cute when you lie.
– [Zca] We may never
find out what her true intentions are, because a droplet of blood falls from Barb’s hand into the
pool and attracts the Demogorgon, which attacks her and drags her into the alternate realm known
as the Upside Down just as Steve Harrington turns Nancy’s virginity upside-down. When Barb wakes up,
she finds herself in the bottom of the pool, but it’s empty and covered in strange vines.
She’s bleeding and trying to figure out where she is, instinctively calling out for Nancy.
The upside down is a cold, isolated realm devoid of human life. One of the only sounds
you’re likely to hear there, is your own voice echoing back at you. I find it interesting that
the Demogorgon takes its victims there when they are at lonely, vulnerable point. For Will Byers,
it’s after an argument breaks out among the friends about the outcome of their game of
Dungeons and Dragons which ultimately breaks up the game, and for Barb it comes for her at
her loneliest point. Maybe the upside down is a representation of the feeling of being alone.
When Barb turns around, she finds herself face to… flower thing… with the Demogorgon.
(growl)
(scream)
(impact)
(brooding music)
After finding herself trapped with the terrifying monster in the upside-down version
of the Harringtons’ pool, Brab f--
Brab!
(laughter)
...Barb frantically starts clamoring around to find a way out. Eventually,
she finds the ladder and makes it up to the edge as she screams for Nancy. The Demogorgon grabs
and drags Barb back into the pool. She tries to hold onto the top of the ladder but eventually
loses grip and is yanked towards the bottom. With her final scream for her friend cut off,
she becomes the next victim of the Demogorgon. For Nancy and the citizens of Hawkins, Barb is
declared a runaway after Nancy steps forward to talk with police. While Nancy is adamant
that Barb is missing, the officers Callahan and Powell inform her, as they’re getting her story,
that Barb’s car wasn’t where Nancy claimed it was, leading them to believe she’d skipped town.
Callahan later tells Chief Hopper that some guys from the state found the car.
– [Callahan] Oh hey, they found Barbara’s car. – [Hopper] What?
– [Powell] Barbara Holland’s car. Seems she ran away after all.
Staties found it late last night at the bus station.
– [Zac] He’s referring to the Indiana State Police, but it was obviously not Barb who drove it there.
This is the work of the Hawkins Lab, who is trying to cover up the two disappearances from the town,
as not to raise suspicion. It is their efforts, in combination with the fact
that Barb was never very popular to begin with, that are the reason she’s forgotten so fast by
the public -- the reason fans in the real world started the online movement: #justiceforbarb.
The next people to see Barb are Will and Eleven. When Will wakes up in
the Demogorgon’s nest, he sees her body encased in the sticky,
web-like substance with a slug crawling out of her mouth. Eleven eventually uses
her astral projection power and finds her at Nancy’s request, confirming that Barb is dead.
With the real cause of Barb’s death being related to supernatural phenomena,
Nancy and everyone who knows the truth had to swear they wouldn’t tell anyone,
or the government would step in. This adds tension between Nancy and Steve,
because she starts grappling with the guilt of Barb’s death being her fault.
Unfortunately, the “official” story of Barb being a runaway gives a false hope to Mr. and
Mrs. Holland that they’ll be able to see their daughter again. However, this story is easier for
the town to accept and brush aside without much thought. Since she’s only really seen hanging out
with Nancy and since she’s an only child, most of the town doesn’t actually notice that she’s gone.
– [Barb] You forget about something? You forget about Old Barb? Nancy’s friend? … Trapped in the ****ing
Upside-Down for the past two months? – [Jimmy Kimmel] Alright, Barb…
– [Barb] NA-NA-NA-NA-NAH! … There were two people down there. And you rescued one of them.
– [Zac] The lack of attention to her is partially because the news of Will Byers returning from
the dead is a bigger headline, and partly from her seeming to be a loner when she’s not with Nancy.
I should note that many people in town were probably willing to accept the “runaway” story
so easily thanks to the 1974 Runaway Youth Act, which assisted runaways and provided
resources and information on community food banks, shelters, and other services. This
also kept her parents hopeful for as long as they were, which takes a sad turn the following year.
At a Kentucky Fried dinner with Barb’s parents in 1984, Nancy discovers that the Hollands
are selling their house to pay a private detective named Murray Bauman to find Barb.
Discovering this makes Nancy feel guilt about the lack of closure for the Hollands,
and she devises a plan with help from Jonathan Byers and Detective Bauman.
She creates a tape that captures Dr. Owens, the director of operations at the lab,
admitting that Barb’s death was linked to the lab. This way,
they can craft a believable story that won’t likely get them on any government hit list.
Rather than proposing that Barb died of supernatural causes, they go with a storyline
about her disappearance being part of a conspiracy to hide an experimental chemical asphyxiant leak
that was from the lab. By basing it on something familiar and terrifying, they are able to get
the support of the media and the public, and get Hawkins Laboratory shut down. In doing so,
the Hollands must accept that Barb is gone and finally hold a funeral for her.
Barb Holland was a good natured girl, who simply wanted to protect her friend
from the dangers of peer pressure, but ended up becoming a victim of it herself
in doing so. But other than that one night, she was pretty based,
and her story is a sad example of how a tragedy can be spun to push some kind of narrative.
So I’m just gonna spill some out for Barb. Justice for Barb. This is water.
(weird noise)
I’m gonna be covering more Stranger Bois here on Horror History,
so if you have any self-respect at all, check out that playlist
on the left and remember to subscribe to CZsWorld for new horrors every week,
RING that deathbell for notifications and I’ll see you in the next one. Assuming we both survive.
(synth music)
– FOR BARB!