The version of the US Government’s Department of Energy in Netflix original Stranger Things is a pretty shady one, with its shadowy operatives involved in experimentation on children, breaking into parallel universes and covering up multiple murders caused by their actions.

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So perhaps understandably the real-life Department of Energy has been keen to distance itself from this fictional 1980s equivalent, stating in a blog post that it “doesn’t explore parallel universes” or “mess with monsters” and generally trying to give off the impression that it’s not the sort of group that would ever unleash a Demogorgon on a small Indiana town. Fair enough.

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Matthew Modine as Stranger Things' DoE bigwig Dr Brenner

However, now one reporter has delved into the inner workings of the DoE, and things aren’t quite that simple – because based on the internal communications Free Beacon reporter Lachlan Markay received after sending a Freedom of Information request, it sounds like there WAS some slightly shady stuff going on in the department’s history, perhaps even (believe it or not) concerning research into parallel universes.

But let’s backtrack a bit. When Markay requested internal communications about Stranger Things from the department, he got a little more than he bargained for, as he revealed on Twitter.

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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

Upon diving in, he soon found that the department has talked a LOT about the series and their own “sinister (yet awesome) portrayal”, with some employees hilariously upset that they’d had the Duffer Brothers’ nostalgic hit spoiled for them by the conversation.

These poor @energy staffers never stood a chance pic.twitter.com/kqs15AEetE

— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) October 6, 2016

However, his research soon took a darker turn as one employee noted that not every part of the depiction could be refuted, citing "eyebrow-raising" experiments on human subjects the department had once been a part of and commenting that he was “not sure when these ended.” Hopefully some time before 1980…

Update on this: these are some seriously shady redactions pic.twitter.com/3DTrHaro2c

— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) October 6, 2016

All that, AND in a tweet that Markay later deleted (via Gizmodo), it turns out that the DoE’s earlier statement that it didn’t explore parallel universes may not have been entirely accurate.

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As an employee explained, “We support theoretical physicists/cosmologists through the Office of Science High Energy Physics program, some of whom almost certainly are doing a fair amount of research on parallel universes.” What next, confirmation of Eggo waffles' efficacy at extending telekinetic ability?

Still, at least the Department of Energy can still keep a sense of humour about their part in 2016’s biggest sleeper hit, answering Markay’s research with the perfect response.

In summary, a good number of curiosity doors have been opened today. Well done all.

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Stranger Things is streaming on Netflix now

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