10 Stephen King References And Homages In Stranger Things
6. Officer Callahan
How about another subtle Stephen King nod.
In Salem's Lot, and elsewhere in the world of King, exists a priest named Father Callahan. Originally just a one-off character in King's vampire novel (named for the fictional town of Jerusalem's Lot), he was long the possible focus of an eventual sequel novel. However, when King nixed that idea, he incorporated Callahan into the world of The Dark Tower, his magnum opus.
In Salem's Lot, Callahan winds up damned by the vampire Barlow; in the final three novels of The Dark Tower, he finds his redemption.
One of Sheriff Jim Hopper's officers in Stranger Things happens to be named Callahan. While there's little past the shared name to link the two, it's still an interesting choice given how aware of King's works the Duffer brothers are, and how the character of Callahan returned to prominence among King fans after he was brought back in the early 2000s as part of The Dark Tower.