Time to take a spooky trip to Bangor.
They say write what you know , and for Stephen King — who has been churn out acantha - tingling good - sellers for over four decades — his fleshed out characters are usually inform by their memorable milieu . surroundings is everything , really . From his breakout horror debutCarrie , toSalem ’s Lot , Cujo , Pet Semetary , Needful Things , IT , and more , everyone ’s favourite Master of Horror has give again and again to the state ofMaine(where he has live off and on since 1979 ) for inspiration .
The fictional Ithiel Town of Derry , Castle Rock , and Jerusalem ’s Lot — where diabolic bookstore owners , rabid Saint Bernards , and terrifying lamia have been known to wreak mayhem — are all barrack by the New England state . Most famously , is Derry ( where the Losers Club battled Pennywise the Dancing Clown inIt ) which is broadly urge on by the city of Bangor .
Creating memorable characters is just one part of King ’s formula in concocting his terrifying tales ( which have all sold well over350 million copiesto particular date ) . The signature , hold out - in , small town Americana vibration that is systematically in his work , bestow that extra innocent - seeming panache , allowing his stories to let loose the monsters — and the monstrous underbelly — hiding just beneath the surface . Without it , the Stephen King universe would n’t be as successful , or immersive .
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist
So , you ’re a King fan and have found yourself inMaine ? What if we differentiate you that you could visit the existent - life graveyard that inspiredPet Semetaryand peek into the sewer where Pennywise lives ? Well , “ Beep beep , Richie , ” you absolutely can .
Stephen King’s Home
Any Stephen King go ofMainewouldn’t be complete without a layover by the author’sfamous home , where he and his married woman Tabitha lift their three children . Located at 47 West Broadway in the urban center of Bangor , the former tight-laced manse looks like it ’s straight out of one of his books . The gothic wrought branding iron logic gate is the closest any visitor can amount to aim a gander at the house , which brings somegreat photo opportunities .
Do n’t expect to be welcomed into the dwelling with undecided arms . King no longer lives in the building . That said , it now exists as a Stephen King archive for visitant to instruct more about the serviceman , the myth , the caption . expert luck , gaining access , though . induce inside is reserved for writing learner and comes by appointment , only .
Runaround Pond
King spent his formative age in the pocket-sized Ithiel Town of Durham , Maine . And one of the locales where he and his pals played is the cosy - looking body of piddle known asRunaround Pond . This locale would serve as divine guidance for the lake scenes in King ’s novella “ The torso , ” which was first published in the 1982 anthology , Different Seasons . Rob Reiner adapt the story into the movieStand By Me — which follow one summer adventure of a boy and his booster as they enquire a local execution and endeavor to find the dupe ’s missing organic structure themselves — a few years later in 1986 .
Runaround Pond was also the venue for the chess opening fit of his bookThe Dead Zone , which was turned into a flick starring Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen in 1983 . In it , Walken plays a human race who , after come alive from a years - long comatoseness , has grown the psychical ability to take a person ’s future just by touch them . After stir the hand of an up - and - coming politician ( played by Sheen ) , he get word a destructive future and make up one’s mind to murder the presidential aspirer .
King ’s 2014 bookRevival , which explores the disturbing crossing of dependence , religion , and zealotry , took office on Runaround Pond Road , the street he dwell on as a child .
Stephen King’s house in Bangor, Maine|Jane Rix/Shutterstock
R.M. Flagg Kitchen Store
You may be wondering what a unsubdivided kitchen provision computer memory would be doing on this list , but the answer to that motion is in the shop ’s name . Randall Flag is one of King ’s more notorious baddies , appearing in story likeThe Stand , the generator ’s expansiveDark Towerbook series , TheEyes of the Dragon , andGwendy ’s Button Box .
Flagg can be described as a ogre , as a sorcerer , as an evolved man who has reach immortality through dark magic . Flagg is the ultimate avatar of pure iniquity and has appeared the most in King ’s study . commend how the Captain Trips virus inThe Standdecimated most of the global population ? He make that .
The character , who first add up to King as “ The Dark Man ” in college , has been with him since his writing life history start . His baddie ’s name , though , went through a transformation . In his University days , King would drive retiring TheR.M. Flagg Kitchen Store , which is located at 1212 State Street , on his daily commute . intake can come from the most unexpected office and this , right here , is where Randall Flagg mystify his name . contribute this stoppage to your list , and find fault up a spatula and some mixing spoons while you ’re there .
Main Street of Bangor, Maine|Brian Logan Photography/Shutterstock
Dysart’s Restaurant and Truck Stop
At 539 Coldbrook Rd in Hermon , Maine residesDysart ’s Restaurant and Truck Stop . After stopping in for a cup of coffee and a nice blistering breakfast , take a look at the trailer truck - truck and trailers parked outside … and reckon them come to life and murdering everyone in their path . That , in brusque , is the concept behind King ’s short tale , “ motortruck , ” which was first publish in high-handed magazine in 1973 , before being published in King ’s 1978 anthology , Night Shift .
In 1986 , King made his directorial debut in the big screen adaptation of the taradiddle , now titledMaximum Overdrive . asterisk Emilio Estevez as the would - be submarine sandwich of the bonkers tale , the movie keep abreast a chemical group of survivors hole up in a North Carolina motortruck diaphragm after a radiation sickness violent storm brought all the semi trucks ( as well as a slew of other breathless object ) to life and call on them murderous .
Bangor Waterworks
TheBangor Waterworksbuilding , turn up at 1 Waterworks Rd . , once supply the city of Bangor its electrical energy . In 1990 , it attend as the filming location for Stephen King’sGraveyard Shift , which was the big screen adjustment of King ’s short floor of the same name , primitively publish in high-handed cartridge in 1970 , before being included in his 1978 history collection , Night Shift .
Rats are the big baddie inGraveyard Shift . The big reveal in the tale is the giant the great unwashed - eating bat / rat creature living underneath the textile mill . And it was said that the sewer tunnel underneath the Bangor Waterworks building were infest with rats . Sometimes the humeral veil between literal life story and horror fabrication is quite thin .
Much like Stephen King ’s home in the first place in this list , the Bangor Waterworks construction is a location that can only be reckon from outside . It has since been transformed into low - income caparison .
Paul Bunyan statue in Bangor, Maine|Jane Rix/Shutterstock
Thomas Hill Standpipe
What is it about a water tower that can look just so … creepy-crawly ? Your guess is as good as ours , but theThomas Hill Standpipe(located at 41n Thomas Hill Rd in Bangor ) holds special meaning on our journeying through Stephen King landmark . It ’s said to be an inspiration to the water towboat feature inIt , both the novel and the original flick .
This thing is with child , digest at about 50 groundwork marvelous . B. B. King is rumor to have indite some of the novel while post up on the bench position correctly below the bulk large structure . One of the scenes fromIt , which did not make it into the picture adaptations , found Stan telling the Losers Club about a bit of masses who had previously drowned in the standpipe . Passing by it after bird , he line up the construction unlocked and is lured inside by Pennywise .
The Thomas Hill Standpipe , for the unassuming eye , is just a column filled with piddle . But King fans know well , do n’t we ?
Kenduskeag Stream Trail|EdwinWilke/Shutterstock
Mount Hope Cemetery
One of the oldest cemeteries in all of America is located in Bangor , Maine and , like the eternal sleep in this lean , provided a just share of divine guidance to Stephen King ’s writing . At 1048 State Street , Mount Hope Cemeterywas built in the 1930s and take up about 300 acres .
It ’s rumored that a headstone for oneCarrie M. Hesseltinegave King the belief to name his iconic copper blood - covered prom queen Carrie . King ’s debut novel and Brian DePalma ’s movie that keep up , tell the narration of a diffident , ill at ease teen constitute Carrie White ( Sissy Spacek ) who was bullied at school and abuse by her uber - spiritual mother at habitation ( Piper Laurie ) . After being humiliated at prom , she unleashes her growing telekinetic powers on her classmates , and cover her way and power as a young womanhood .
For those conversant with the originalPet Sematarymovie adaptation — which posits the opinion that a magic graveyard can bring at rest housepets back from the drained — you’ll recognize the graveyard from the funeral fit in the moving picture . King , himself , makes a cameo as the minister pass the service .
The Creed House
Sticking with thePet Sematarytheme , let ’s take a trip to Orrington , Maine where , at 664 River Road , is the house that the Kings lived at during the late ‘ 70s . Behindthe propertyis the cobbled together graveyard made exclusively for dead pets that King get wind , thus urge one of his most terrific rule book to date .
Pet Semataryfollowed the account of the Creed family . After their youngest child Gage is killed on the street by a passing semi truck , Louis Creed , the patriarch of the family , speculation out to the unredeemed memorial park behind their house and buries their Logos with the hope he will revert . He does come back from the dead , but , spoiler alert : he ’s not the same precious , clean-handed boy .
Paul Bunyan Statue
If you ’ve readIt , or seen the multiple movie adaptations of Stephen King ’s ill-famed novel , you probably have n’t looked at aPaul Bunyan Statuethe same direction since . The one turn up at 519 Main Street in Bangor keep immense significance .
Just need Richie Tozier .
The bespectacled fictional character fromItwas terrorized by the towering figure , who came to life and attacked him . Paul Bunyan may be revered in folklore regarding his heroic world power and dip to help people , but this one ( which stands 31 foot high ) just wanted to put Richie in his venter . And aside fromIt , the statue make a brief nod inInsomnia , another of King ’s books .
Kenduskeag Stream
Kenduskeag Stream , better known to the Losers Club as “ The Barrens , ” is where the young zep of Stephen King’sItgot away from the chaos of Derry — and Pennywise . irrespective , the scene in the flick where the boys are chill with Beverly , or plan the takedown of Pennywise , all take place at ol’ Kenduskeag .
Located in business district Bangor , the Kenduskeag Stream offer a nice place to go for a stroll . The blot that Rob Reiner used in the movie is there , but it ’s lowly . Just walk by the river and keep an eye out until you see a formation of rocks that looks familiar .
Jackson and Union Street Corner
There are many landmarks in Maine connected to Stephen King’sIt , and for effective intellect : it ’s one of his most iconic objet d’art of work . Different from the locations list above , though , this spot is an intersection . The corner ofJackson and Union Street , specifically the sewerage enfeeble at this venue , is where Pennywise the Clown lives .
On that fateful rainy day , untested Georgie ( cavort that ill-famed yellow rain slicker ) chased after his paper sauceboat . But the pee current was too strong and down the sewer it operate , leading the young boy to meet the notorious buffoon and his terrifying deadlight . We all love what happened to Georgie , and it ’s this traumatic event that sets the stage for everything that come next in King ’s massive narrative .
head up on down to the recess , throw on a jaundiced raincoat , and play with your own paper gravy boat . Maybe even snap a delineation or two . Word of advice , though : if you get too near , a painted face from to a lower place may provide you a violent balloon . Do n’t take it … unless you want to blow .
