Stephen King’sSalem’s Lotcenters on a fictional Maine town that seems to attract evil, but the story’s primary setting has a dark history that dates back to the 1700s. Before Max released a live-action adaptation of the horror tale, the story inspired two miniseries based on the 1975 novel. Many ofSalem’s Lot’s charactersremain the same within the movie and miniseries, in addition to Jerusalem’s Lot being the setting of the vampire conflict. Town history may have been one of thechanges in theSalem’s Lot2024 remake, but the book provides the town with an intriguing backstory.
“Salem’s Lot” is another name for Jerusalem’s Lot, with the residents commonly using the shortened version or simply referring to it as “the Lot.” The Max remake even makes a clever nod to the name preference by showing dirt and grime covering up a part of the town’s welcome sign so that only “Salem’s Lot” can be clearly seen. Aside from various town residents,Salem’s Lotfeatures the vampire Kurt Barlow, who comes to town after purchasing the infamous Martsten House, a key location in Jerusalem’s Lot and a significant source of evil.
How Jerusalem’s Lot Got Its Name
The Town Was Founded In 1710
Before the Marsten murder-suicide haunted the residents and Barlow plagued the town, Jerusalem’s Lot experienced what was known as “the great fire of 1951.” However, the darkness goes back even further, according toStephen King’s books.Night Shiftconfirms that the town was initially founded in 1710 by a Puritan cult known to welcome witchcraft.King’sSalem’s Lotbook provides more of the town’s backstory, including how the area officially got its name, and it comes down to a myth about a child-eating pig, not the holy city or the town of Salem, Massachusetts.
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Jerusalem’s Lot reportedly received its name in 1765 thanks to a local farmer named Charles Belknap Tanner and his pigs. After one of his pigs, Jerusalem, escaped its pen, it became “wild and mean,” leading Tanner to use it as a lesson to keep kids off his property by warning, “Keep ‘ee out o’ Jerusalem’s wood lot, if ‘ee want to keep ‘ee guts in ‘ee belly!“The threatening myth involving Jerusalem the pig led to the phrase “Jerusalem’s Lot"before it was used so much that it became the town’s actual name.
Where Jerusalem’s Lot Is Located Within Maine
The Location Connects To Stephen King
Like many other settings in Stephen King’s works, Jerusalem’s Lot is not a real town. That said, the fictional location is said to reside in the very real Cumberland County of Maine, even if thenewSalem’s Lotwas filmed elsewhere.King is a Maine resident, so he tends to set many of his stories throughout the state, including other fictional towns like Derry and Castle Rock. After he was born in Portland, King spent time living in towns such as Scarborough, Durham, and Bangor. Though he doesn’t live in Maine full-time anymore, his life there will always influence his work.
Other Stephen King Stories That Feature ‘Salem’s Lot
Jerusalem’s Lot Frequently Appears In Stephen King’s Books
After Jerusalem’s Lot was introduced in 1975 as the setting ofSalem’s Lot, the town made a few more appearances in other King stories outside two short stories–“One for the Road” and “Jerusalem’s Lot”–fromNight Shift. In total, the setting ofSalem’s Lotmakes an appearance or is mentioned in 12 other Stephen King books:
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