Netflix’s runaway hit Stranger Things did a lot of things right, and chief among them: Antagonising the US Department of Energy.
Of course, the DoE wasn’t going to be reduced to a stale sci-fi trope laying down and penned a blog post refuting how it was depicted by a fictional internet TV show. The DoE claims that it “doesn’t explore parallel universes” and overall tried to downplay its newfound reputation as ground zero for shady science. And that seemed adequate, until Free Beacon writer Lachlan Markay requested internal communications from the DoE’s public affairs office for any correspondence related to Stranger Things.
I FOIA’d DOE’s public affairs office for internal talk of Netflix’s Stranger Things. This is…more than I expected pic.twitter.com/asSgPllk8J
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) October 6, 2016
Markay has lots to comb through, but has been tweeting some of his finds. First among these: We’ve been lied to. The DoE is absolutely helping support research into parallel worlds.
Stranger still, Markay has since deleted only that tweet. What could the DoE be trying to cover up? In another email, members of the DoE admitted to manufacturing weapons and experimenting on humans during nuclear testing. And this particular employee is “not sure when these ended”. Possibly never!
Update on this: these are some seriously shady redactions pic.twitter.com/3DTrHaro2c
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) October 6, 2016
What else will Markay learn? And what will the DoE do to stop him from setting the record straight on what is clearly a government-funded cadre of superscientists gone rogue? From this point forward each day will surely bring new horrors.
Initially the DoE tweeted replied to the FOIA tweets in what seemed to be a nod of Stranger Things appreciation. I’m now reading it as a thinly veiled threat to Markay’s livelihood.
@lachlan no matter what you write, it won’t bring Barb back. #JusticeForBarb
— DOE Press Staff (@EnergyPressSec) October 6, 2016
Stay safe out there Lachlan.