Warning: The following post contains spoilers regarding the fifth season of Stranger Things!
One of the most unexpected mysteries to come out of the first four episodes of Stranger Things season 5 was the mystery of why Henry is terrified of the cave in his memories. We learn in episode 4 that Max has been trapped in Henry’s mind as part of a world of memories.
Upon first arriving in this world, Max tries to find a way out and she nearly succeeds in escaping before Vecna found her. Max took off and kept running until she eventually came to a cave system and she ducked inside. To her surprise, Henry did not follow her into the cave. As Max told Holly, Henry was more than just scared, he was terrified. This fear allowed Max to turn the cave into a sanctuary.
The show fails to provide much context as to why Henry was afraid of the cave in part 1, but the second part of the episode provides fans with a bit more clarity.
In “Escape from Camazotz,” Holly is determined to find a way out of Henry’s prison and ventures out into the land beyond the cave. Their search eventually leads them to a mine shaft underground, where they encounter a young Henry in a truly disturbing memory.
They see a pool of blood and begin hearing someone panting in fear. They walk in the direction of the sound and see a trail of blood. Max takes the lead as they walk and find a man clutching a briefcase. It at first seems like the man is able to see them as he shouts, “How did you find me?” and points a gun in their direction. Only, it’s not Max and Holly he’s shouting at.
We see young Henry walking into the cave wearing his Boy Scouts uniform, trying to reassure the man that he was in the caves when he heard a scream, so he came to see if someone needed help. The man doesn’t believe Henry, and shoots Henry in the hand. As the man prepares to shoot again, Henry charges at him in an attempt to get the gun away. When it becomes clear he won’t be able to get the gun, we watch as Henry bashes the man’s head in with a rock.
As Max and Holly run off, Holly looks back to see Henry covered in blood and the man who shot Henry is dead. Max begins clearing rocks from the collapsed wall, but Holly glances back and watches as Henry opens the case. Before its content are revealed, Max calls for Holly and her attention shifts, leaving fans to wonder what was inside the briefcase.
While the show leaves fans guessing about the identity of the man Henry encounters in the cave, The First Shadow provides us with details on who the man is and what was in his briefcase!
Who was the man Henry kills in the cave?
Although it is not explained in the show, The First Shadow Broadway play reveals the identity of the man Henry kills in Stranger Things season 5, episode 6, “Escape from Camazotz.”
The man that Holly and Max witness a young Henry Creel murder within the cave is a Russian scientist. In The First Shadow, it is revealed that when Henry was eight, he went missing for roughly 12 hours near a military base in Lincoln County, Nevada. Henry was found outside a cave with a wound on his hand and no memory of what had happened. It’s also revealed that around this same time a Russian spy, who had been working at the nearby military base went missing and was later found dead in the cave system.
There are no details on how the Russian spy died in the play; however, the show establishes that young Henry killed the man. The episode also gives insights into how Henry injured his hand by establishing that the Russian spy had shot Henry in the hand.
With this added context from the play, it’s easier to understand why the man was so suspicious of young Henry. This is likely because the man feared the U.S. military would come for him after he made off with the stolen briefcase. It meant nothing to him that Henry was a child, as in his eyes, this could have been by design to try to trick him into a false sense of security. Sadly, the reality was that Henry simply was lost in the cave system, making this an instance Henry being in the right place, wrong time.
What was in the briefcase Henry took from the man in the cave?
Although it’s not explicitly explained in Stranger Things season 5, episode 6, the briefcase Henry takes from the Russian spy in “Escape from Camazotz” contains military technology connected to Dimension X.
When Henry plays around with the technology found within the briefcase, he is transported to Dimension X for roughly 12 hours. During this time, Henry comes into contact with a shadowy creature we later learn to be the Mind Flayer, and this encounter inflects Henry with the Mind Flayer’s particles, forever altering the course of his life.