Exclaim!

The U.S. Department of Energy Is Searching for the Upside Down from 'Stranger Things'

The U.S. Department of Energy Is Searching for the Upside Down from 'Stranger Things'
By Brock Thiessen
Published Oct 07, 2016
As anyone who's watched Stranger Things knows, the hit Netflix show doesn't exactly present the U.S. Department of Energy in the fondest of lights — a fact the agency apparently is well aware of. In fact, the DOE amazingly even penned a blog post called "What 'Stranger Things' Didn't Get Quite-So-Right About the Energy Department," claiming it "doesn't explore parallel universes" while playing down its new reputation for exploring dangerous science. And while that seemed to settle things down for a while, a new can of worms has now been opened up about the DOE thanks to Stranger Things.

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz appeared on Chelsea Handler's Netflix show earlier this week for an interview, and as Paste points out, she effectively contradicted the agency's blog post, saying, "I will note that we do work in parallel universes."

To help get to the bottom of things, Lachlan Markay — writer from the Washington Free Beacon — filed a Freedom of Information request at the Department of Energy, asking for any internal communications from the DOE's public affairs office regarding Stranger Things. As you can see from the tweet below, what he got back was hardly light reading. Since then, Markay has been combing through the findings and tweeting what he's turned up. And this includes the revelation that the DOE is in fact looking for the Upside Down. Unfortunately, though, as the DOE even points out, none of this will bring Barb back.