Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished - Revised & Expanded Edition (5 page)

King’s original inspiration,
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
is reproduced as an Appendix to this chapter.

Maine Street Horror

The most comfortable setting for a King story is his home state of Maine, in the beautiful New England region of the northeastern United States. King’s deep love of the land, lakes, sea, islands, people and culture of Maine is a keynote to his body of work. Maine Street Horror Reality stories are largely set in the state of Maine and exist in our world’s physical existence and (mostly) in our timeline.

In addition to using real towns and cities such as Pownal, Bridgton, Portland, Bangor, Brewer, Durham (King’s later childhood was spent there), Augusta, Mechanic Falls, Fryeburg, Old Orchard Beach or Lewiston/Auburn, King took early to creating a fictional Maine. This Maine is so well portrayed that a visitor to the state can almost expect to turn the corner of some country road and actually find one of the towns King has created.

From a Constant Reader’s point of view the favorite fictional town is likely to be either Castle Rock or Derry. Among other fictional creations are: Harlow (the Rock’s neighbor), the vampire-infested Jerusalem’s Lot, Haven(past home of
The Tommyknockers
), Ludlow and its deadly Route 15, Little Tall Island (where Dolores Claiborne lived and which suffered the
Storm of the Century
), the zombie-targeted Gennesault Island, Goat Island and its nearby Reach, Blainesville, Johnny Smith’s Cleaves Mills, Carietta White’s Chamberlain, Gates Falls (with its ubiquitous mill), Huffman, Willow (with its
Rainy Season
), Chester’s Mill, Weathersfield, the Jefferson Tract (recently visited by aliens), Tarker’s Mills (once home to a werewolf), the haunted TR90 and Dark Score Lake, Motton, and Kashwakamak.

The sheer breadth and depth of these towns and their residents, cut wholly from the cloth by King, is testament to his descriptive powers. To the reader, most of these towns feel so real it can be a shock (if a comforting one, at times) to discover they do not, in fact, actually exist.

Many stories involve Stephen and Tabitha King’s alma mater, the University of Maine at Orono (“UMO”) and dozens of King’s characters attended it or one of the other UMaine campuses. Among these are: Jo Arlen and Mike Noonan (
Bag of Bones
), Pete Riley, Carol Gerber, and Stokely Jones (
Hearts in Atlantis
), Stephanie Stepanek and David Drayton (
The Mist
), Amy Lauder (
The Stand
), Michael Anderson (
Storm of the Century
), Joe St. George, Jr. (
Dolores Claiborne
), Gordon Lachance (
The Body
), John Smith and Sarah Bracknell (
The Dead Zone
), Victor Pascow (
Pet Sematary
), Alan Parker (
Riding the Bullet
), and young Gary (
The Man in the Black Suit
). Among those teaching at the University was Thad Beaumont (
The Dark Half
) and Dr. Louis Creed worked in the infirmary there before losing his family and his mind (
Pet Sematary
). Jim Gardener was once a poet in residence (
The Tommyknockers
).

A less happy place for the characters to visit has been Shawshank Prison, host to: Red and Andy Dufresne (
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
), George Footman (
Bag of Bones
), Richard Macklin (
It
), Nat Copeland (
Needful Things
), and Ace Merrill (
The Sun Dog
), among others. Those with mental health problems were more likely to end up at Juniper Hill, near Augusta. Among inmates there have been: Raymond Joubert (
Gerald’s Game
), Henry Bowers (
It
), Nettie Cobb, and Bill Keeton (
Needful Things
).

One should take care when hitchhiking the highways and back roads of Maine, but while doing so, one just might catch a passing view of Ophelia Todd (
Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut
) or George Staub (
Riding the Bullet
).

Castle Rock is probably the most famous of King’s fictional towns. He has sketched its history and the doings of its denizens since its initial appearance in
The Dead Zone
(published in 1979). “The Rock” has been the site of many strange and mysterious events, including the Castle Rock Strangler murders (1970 to 1975); killings by a rabid dog in
Cujo
(1980); the destruction of much of the downtown by explosives in
Needful Things
(1991); and a series of lesser, more human, but often tragic events. Castle Rock is the County seat of Maine’s smallest county, Castle County and last featured prominently in
Bag of Bones
,
Premium Harmony,
and
Under the Dome
.

Among interesting parts of Castle Rock are: Castle Falls, the Castle River, the GS&WM railroad trestle, Castle Heights (near the bridge to neighboring Harlow), Castle Hill (on which Red’s wife crashed, leading to his imprisonment in Shawshank), Castle Lake, the Castle Stream, the Bandstand and Town Common, Southwest Bend, Castle View and the Homeland Cemetery (George Stark was “buried” there in
The Dark Half
). Out on Town Road #3 one might find the old Camber place (
Cujo
) or one might drive down Maple Sugar Road to the Birches Cemetery (
Gramma
), or one could cruise the Black Henry Road past George McCutcheon’s old Cresswell truck sitting in Otto Schenck’s meadow (
Uncle Otto’s Truck
).

Around 1900 Sara Tidwell and Jared Devore may have walked the town’s streets (
Bag of Bones
) and, in the summer of 1914, the Devil may have visited the banks of Castle Stream (
The Man in the Black Suit
). In 1960 four young boys set out from Castle Rock in search of a body and discovered much more
(
The Body
). A teenager who harassed them at the time would be responsible for much of the devastation of the town three decades later (
Needful Things
). A creature that emerged from a Polaroid camera killed the same man’s uncle. (
The Sun Dog
). An inadvertent psychic attended the town at the behest of Sheriff George Bannerman and flushed out local deputy, Frank Dodd, a serial killer (
The Dead Zone
); but, not five years later, a rabid dog killed Bannerman (
Cujo
). The Beaumonts had a home near town that was visited by Thad Beaumont’s alter ego and burned down in a subsequent fire (
The Dark Half
).

The Sheriffs of Castle Rock make many appearances across the stories in this Reality, from the late Bannerman to the more fortunate (if somewhat traumatized) Alan Pangborn, to the Barney Fife-like Norris Ridgewick.

The following are the important Castle Rock stories. We suggest readers follow the order of publication in reading them to achieve the full benefit of discovering Castle Rock and its history.

• The Dead Zone
  (1979)
  
• Cujo
  (1981)
  
• The Body
  (1982)
  
• Uncle Otto’s Truck
  (1983, collected in
  Skeleton Crew
  , 1985)
  
• Gramma
  (1984, collected in
  Skeleton Crew
  , 1985)
  
• Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut
  (1984, collected in
  Skeleton Crew
  , 1985)
  
• Nona
  (first published as a Castle Rock story in 1985)
  
• The Dark Half
  (1989)
  
• The Sun Dog
  (1990)
  
• Needful Things
  (1991)
  
• It Grows on You
  (first published as a Castle Rock story in 1993)
  
• The Man in the Black Suit
  (1994, collected in
  Everything’s Eventual
  , 2002)
  
• Bag of Bones
  (1998)
  
• Premium Harmony
  (2009)
  

Derry, a town near Bangor has an even more troubled past than Castle Rock. Derry was first mentioned in
The Bird and the Album
(published in 1981 and reviewed in another chapter of this book,
Stories Swallowed by Monsters
). In 1741 the town’s entire population disappeared without trace; and 67 people died when the water tower collapsed in 1985. Derry appears to suffer a form of collective memory loss, considering the rampage against its children by a monster, often masquerading as a clown, every quarter century or so, most recently in 1957/58 and 1984/85 (
It
). During the interludes between Pennywise/It’s appearances, Derry has also been the site of a political killing in
Insomnia
(1993) and individual human tragedy. As recently as 2001 there was further evidence that Pennywise, the clown/monster survives (
Dreamcatcher
).

Among residents of note over the years were Ralph Roberts (
Insomnia
), Mike and Johanna Arlen Noonan (
Bag of Bones
), Richard Kinnell (
The Road Virus Heads North
, Morton Rainey of
Secret Window, Secret Garden
(Noonan, Kinnell and Rainey were all successful writers), Henry Devlin, Gary Jones, Joe Clarendon, Pete Moore and Duddits Cavell (
Dreamcatcher
), and a group who called themselves “The Losers’ Club” (
It
).

Interesting geographical features of the town include The Barrens, The Standpipe, and the Kissing Bridge (the latter two were destroyed in 1985). Cruising Up-Mile Hill one will pass a Rite-Aid, outside which Jo Noonan died one hot August day in 1994; and perhaps come to Secondhand Rose, Secondhand Clothes (
Insomnia
). One would pass the old Tracker Brothers depot (
It
,
Dreamcatcher
) if driving Kansas Street or the site of the old Rainey home, and if the road is followed far enough out of town, one would reach Richard Kinnell’s house, perhaps to see a Trans Am parked outside. While cruising Neibolt Street avoid number 29. However, the Derry Home Hospital does have an excellent reputation. And, never,
never
go into the sewers!

The following are the important Derry stories. Again, we suggest readers follow the order of publication in reading them to achieve the full benefit of discovering Derry and its history.

• The Bird and the Album
  (1981, revised and later included in
  It
  )
  
• It
  (1986)
  
• Secret Window, Secret Garden
  (1990)
  
• Insomnia
  (1994)
  
• Autopsy Room Four
  (1997, collected in
  Everything’s Eventual
  , 2002)
  
• Bag of Bones
  (1998)
  
• Dreamcatcher
  (2001)
  

Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine, having been the earlier site of devil-worship and the disappearance of its entire populace in 1789, was taken over by a colony of vampires and effectively abandoned again by the living in 1975. Despite the town’s destruction by fire in 1976 vampires were known to be in the area as late as 1977. Jerusalem’s Lot’s history may be read and discovered in the following order:
Jerusalem’s Lot
,
‘Salem’s Lot
,
One for the Road
and parts of
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
.

One of the latest Maine Street Horror tales was the outstanding TV series,
Kingdom Hospital
, set at the Kingdom Hospital in Lewiston (although probably not in
our
reality).

The following is a full list of the works we define as part of the Maine Street Horror Reality. The list includes unpublished works. Each is listed with their primary geographical settings.

Story: Primary Settings:

Autopsy Room Four
Derry

Bag of Bones
Dark Score Lake/TR90/Derry/Castle Rock

The Bird and the Album
Derry

Blaze
Cumberland County