With the long-awaited adaptation of ‘Salem’s Lot finally hitting Max, it’s gotten audiences wondering how the story of the book and the town itself, Jerusalem’s Lot, ties into other Stephen King stories. The story of ‘Salem’s Lot, which has been adapted for TV and now a movie, follows protagonist Ben Mears, a writer who returns to his once-childhood home of the oddly-named Jerusalem’s Lot to fight some personal demons and get inspiration for his current book. When he meets Susan Norton and there’s an instant spark, things seem to look up, until they and a few of the townsfolk find themselves confronting an ancient evil that is slowly taking over the town.
‘Salem’s Lot is the first novel where Stephen King tackled vampires, but it certainly wouldn’t be his last. While the 1975 novel was originally meant to be King’s answer to Dracula, over time, the in-universe lore of his vampires grew as his interconnected literary universe did. That interconnectedness means that, while the town of Jerusalem’s Lot doesn’t feature in Stephen King’s stories as prominently as other places, it and the events that happened in it are still referenced in more than a dozen Stephen King books and short stories.
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1 ‘Salem’s Lot (1975)
Standalone Novel
The main book, of course, is where the majority of the events in Stephen King’s universe take place. Unlike other notable fictional locations like Derry or Castle Rock, Jerusalem’s Lot couldn’t, by the nature of events that happened there, be a setting King returned to again and again in his work, as Kurt Barlow effectively destroyed the Lot and made it a ghost town.
Those who didn’t move away to greener pastures or pack up and flee the darkness spreading through the town during ‘Salem’s Lot were either turned into vampires and then killed or just killed outright. After Straker and Barlow’s work, there was no town to return to. Still, there are two short stories that serve as bookends to the events of ‘Salem’s Lot.
2 One For The Road (1977)
Short Story
The short story “One for the Road” was first published in Maine magazine in 1977 before, like many of Stephen King’s short stories and novellas, being later collected and republished in one of his short story collections. In this case, that was 1978’s Night Shift, one of King’s more beloved short story collections.
The story follows up on where things stand after the events of ‘Salem’s Lot. As it turns out, a few vampires still linger, and the residents of nearby towns regard Jerusalem’s Lot with fear and suspicion. They wield religious symbols and stay away from the cursed area, warning passersby not to go into the Lot, as they won’t be coming back. Of course, not everyone listens to those warnings, leading to dire consequences.
3 Jerusalem’s Lot (1978)
Short Story
Image via Max
Also part of the Night Shift collection was the short story “Jersusalem’s Lot.” While “One for the Road” serves as a sequel to ‘Salem’s Lot, “Jerusalem’s Lot” serves as a prequel, explaining why the town was primed for Kurt Barlow’s evil workings and expanding on the mythology of King’s vampires.
The epistolary story begins in the small town of Preacher’s Corners, Maine, and reveals the story of the evil cult that took root in the nearby village of Jerusalem’s Lot before mysteriously vanishing. The cult was obsessed with an occult book titled De Vermis Mysteriis, which they used to summon a great Lovecraftian, vampiric entity known as the Worm before becoming vampires themselves. In researching his family’s cursed history, protagonist Charles Boone stumbles into the horror nesting in Jerusalem’s Lot. It’s strongly hinted in King’s mythology that all vampires in that universe are descended from the Worm.
|
Salem’s Lot Adaptation |
Release Year |
Kurt Barlow Portrayed By |
|---|---|---|
|
Salem’s Lot (2 ep. miniseries) |
1979 |
Reggie Nalder |
|
Salem’s Lot (2 ep. miniseries) |
2004 |
Rutger Hauer |
|
Chapelwaite (10 ep. limited series) |
2021 |
N/A (“Jerusalem’s Lot” adaptation) |
|
Salem’s Lot (feature film) |
2024 |
Alexander Ward |
While only those three stories are set in Jerusalem’s Lot, other stories reference it and the events there. One major character from the original ‘Salem’s Lot even goes on to become a significant character in another series, The Dark Tower: Father Donald Callahan.
4 The Dark Tower V: Wolves Of The Calla (2003)
The Fifth Book In The Dark Tower Series
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Father Callahan walks off – or rather, rides off in a bus – toward the end of ‘Salem’s Lot. His faith had been wavering, and Kurt Barlow exploits that, forcing the priest to drink his blood and thus be forever unclean, barred from churches, sanctuaries, or any type of hallowed ground. He re-enters Stephen King’s literary universe in Wolves of the Calla, where Roland and his ka-tet find him in Roland’s world in the village of Calla Bryn Sturgis.
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During the events of the novel, Father Callahan tells his new acquaintances about what happened in Jerusalem’s Lot, explaining that he spent the next few years using his newfound ability to see vampires to hunt them. Eventually, he was lured into a trap and died, crossing over into Mid-World. Eventually, he ends up settling with the Manni people in Calla Bryn Sturgis, where Roland and his allies meet him.
5 The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
The Sixth Book In The Dark Tower Series
Father Callahan continues to be part of Roland’s ka-tet, traveling with Jake and Oy to 1999 New York City to free their friend, Susannah Dean, from her possession by the demon-turned-mortal woman, Mia. While there, they confront the agents of the Crimson King at the Dixie Pig restaurant. Interestingly, Father Callahan’s faith is now restored, his time fighting vampires as a fearless protector of the good helping him to regain his belief and faith in God. That faith helps him and Jake prepare to fight the Crimson King’s vampires and other henchmen.
6 The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
The Seventh Book In The Dark Tower Series
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In the final Dark Tower book, and the final Stephen King book in which Father Callahan appears, the redemption arc of the once-disgraced priest is completed as he sacrifices himself to save Jake and Oy in the Dixie Pig. Even though he succumbs in the end, Father Callahan goes out as a bona fide hero, his newfound faith blazing forth so brightly that he’s even able to hold off the Grandfathers, the most ancient and powerful vampires in Stephen King’s universe, while simultaneously also fending off a horde of lesser vampires. Before they can swarm him and turn him into one of them, he shoots himself with his revolver, going out on his own terms.
The Dark Tower
is an inversion of Father Callahan’s story in
‘Salem’s Lot.
In that story, Kurt Barlow can overpower him even with the holy objects he holds, because his faith is weak. In
The Dark Tower
, Father Callahan’s faith is strong enough to withstand the vampires without a cross and Bible.
The other Stephen King books and stories that incorporate ‘Salem’s Lot aren’t as involved as The Dark Tower books, but there are still references and nods to the town of Jerusalem’s Lot and its events sprinkled throughout.
7 The Shining (1977)
Standalone Novel
The Shining‘s connection to ‘Salem’s Lot is more thematic than anything, referencing a specific ability that pops up a few times in Stephen King’s books. At one point in ‘Salem’s Lot, Ben Mears is talking to Susan Nortan and tells her about a conversation he had with the senile Minella Corey, the sister-in-law of ‘Salem’s Lot figure Hubert Marsten. She described to Ben a moment when she was standing in her kitchen making a salad when she was suddenly hit with a flash of knowing, and in that moment knew that her sister-in-law had been murdered by Hubert. It’s very similar to Dick Halloran’s moment in The Shining in which he suddenly smells oranges as a young man and knows intuitively that his brother is dead.
8 The Dead Zone (1979)
Standalone Novel
The Dead Zone connection to ‘Salem’s Lot is one of the briefest in Stephen King’s books. In the novel, protagonist Johnny Smith is in a conversation and the location of Cumberland, Maine, comes up. He responds, “Cumberland General. I know where it is. Just above Jerusalem’s Lot.” The events of the vampire novel don’t at all factor into The Dead Zone, but the moment is one of the many ways Stephen King weaves his fictional places and people together and makes them feel real.
The Dead Zone
was first adapted as a movie in 1983, with Christopher Walken in the lead. It was later turned into a six-season TV show in 2002 with Michael Anthony Hall taking on the lead role.
9 The Body (1982)
Novella
The Body, later turned into the classic 1986 coming-of-age movie Stand By Me, was a novella that first appeared in the collection Different Seasons. The reference to Jerusalem’s Lot comes when Gordie LaChance is first telling his friends his made-up “Lard Ass” story and they interrupt him because they think the name of the town he uses sounds silly. Ever the hero, his best friend, Chris Chambers, chastizes the guys and sticks up for Gordie: “‘Lots of real towns sound stupid,’” Chris says. ‘I mean, what about Alfred, Maine? Or Saco, Maine? Or Jerusalem’s Lot? Or Castle – f**in’ Rock? There ain’t no castle there. Most town names are stupid. You just don’t think so because you’re used to ’em. Right, Gordie?’”
10 Pet Sematary (1983)
Standalone Novel
The connection to Jerusalem’s Lot in 1983’s Pet Sematary is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference on the page, not just to readers but also to the characters in the story. In the scene in which Rachel Creed is driving to Ludlow, she passes an exit sign for Jerusalem’s Lot and it strikes her as strange. “Jerusalem’s Lot, she thought randomly, what an odd name. Not a pleasant name, for some reason… Come and sleep in Jerusalem.” Even to characters who have no connection to the ‘Lot, the chill of evil still makes them uneasy when they pass.
11 It (1986)
Standalone Novel
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King’s iconic It and ‘Salem’s Lot share a small snippet of a connection – not a refrence or a character, but a refrain. In ‘Salem’s Lot, when vampire Danny Glick is trying to hypnotize Mark Petrie into letting him in, Mark breaks the mental hold by repeating the tongue-twister “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. In vain he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.” Years later, It protagonist Bill Denbrough repeats the refrain to control his stutter, and still later in the Dark Tower series, Jake Chambers also recites the lines, all three boys using the refrain as something of a magical talisman.
12 Dolores Claiborne (1992)
Standalone Novel
Dolores Claiborne is another epistolary novel, unique in that it has no chapters and no section breaks, instead framed as one long transcript of the titular character’s testimony after she is accused of murdering her employer. The reference to Jerusalem’s Lot is oblique; as Dolores gets to a village a few hours before an eclipse, she comments on how eerily empty it is. “[T]he streets were so empty it was spooky,” the passage says. “It made me think of that little town down in the southern part of the state where they say no one lives.”
13 Dreamcatcher (2001)
Standalone Novel
The novel Dreamcatcher is another one in which there’s a drive-by reference to the town of Jerusalem’s Lot – literally. In a paragraph that describes multiple characters driving to different locations, an Exit 9 is mentioned, explaining that it leads to various small Maine towns, including Falmouth, Cumberland, and Jerusalem’s Lot. Unlike the reference in Pet Sematary, there is no strange feeling that accompanies the drivers or riders as it’s simply mentioned as part of the lay of the land.
14 Doctor Sleep (2013)
Standalone Novel, The Shining Sequel
Close
The sequel to 1977’s The Shining, 2013’s Doctor Sleep has a more concrete connection to ‘Salem’s Lot than the previous few books. In the novel, the antagonists are the True Knot, a group of semi-immortal vampires who feed not on blood but on the life force of psychically gifted children. In the book, it’s revealed that the True Knot has clusters of members ensconced in locations all over, slowly taking over the nearby towns. One of those base locations, unsurprisingly, is Jerusalem’s Lot, a fitting place for psychic vampires to thrive.
15 Revival (2014)
Standalone Novel
There are a few connections between 2014’s Revival and the town of and story of “Jerusalem’s Lot,” which makes sense considering they both share certain themes, chiefly among them what happens when religious fanaticism opens evil doorways that can’t be closed. Revival follows Jamie Morton across decades as he encounters a traveling preacher and mad scientist, Charles Jacobs, at various points in his life. In the section of the book during Jamie’s childhood, he mentions Jerusalem’s Lot at one point. Later, the fanatical preacher Jacobs mentions the book De Vermis Mysteriis, the damned occult book that started all the trouble in Jerusalem’s Lot.
16 The Institute (2019)
Standalone Novel
The most humorous reference to the events of ‘Salem’s Lot comes most recently in The Institute. In it, a homeless woman named Annie is a big fan of conspiracy theories. She tells deuteragonist Tim Jamieson about how people in black cars keep kidnapping kids and tells him that it’s not the first time it happened, revealing her theory that it’s what befell the town of Jerusalem’s Lot: “There’s a town in Maine, Jerusalem’s Lot, and you could ask the people who lived there about the men in the black cars,” she warns. “If you could find any people, that is. They all disappeared forty or more years ago. George Allman talks about that town all the time.”
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6/10 6.7/10 Salem’s Lot (2024) HorrorThriller
Salem’s Lot is a 2024 remake of the movie of the same name released in 1979. The latest adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 novel stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, and Bill Camp, with Gary Dauberman writing and directing the Max original film. The plot revolves around a writer who discovers a vampire in his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot upon returning home for inspiration.
Director Gary Dauberman Release Date October 3, 2024 Studio(s) New Line Cinema , Atomic Monster , Vertigo Entertainment Distributor(s) HBO Max Writers Gary Dauberman Cast Lewis Pullman , Alfre Woodard , Makenzie Leigh , Bill Camp , Spencer Treat Clark , Pilou Asbæk , John Benjamin Hickey , William Sadler , Jordan Preston Carter , Nicholas Crovetti , Cade Woodward , Kellan Rhude , Debra Christofferson , Rebecca Gibel , Mike Bash , Fedna Jacquet , Avery Bederman Character(s) Ben Mears , Dr. Cody , Susan Norton , Matthew Burke , Mike Ryerson , Richard Straker , Father Callahan , Kurt Barlow , Mark Petrie , Danny Glick , Ralph Glick , Floyd Tibbits , Anne Norton , Mabel Wertz , Officer Taylor , June Petrie , Ruthie Crockett Runtime 113 Minutes Main Genre Horror Expand