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Jeremiah's Lot

posted 6 years ago by Gary O. (1009)
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King said in an interview that 'Salem's Lot was in part inspired by a town in Vermont called 'Jeremiah's Lot'. As I recall, he said that he was riding in rural Vermont when his companion told about the town.

From the wiki article on the novel:

In a 1969 installment of "The Garbage Truck", a column King wrote for the University of Maine at Orono's campus newspaper, King foreshadowed the coming of 'Salem's Lot by writing: "In the early 1800s a whole sect of Shakers, a rather strange, religious persuasion at best, disappeared from their village (Jeremiah's Lot) in Vermont. The town remains uninhabited to this day."[8]

Now, I believe that King is sincere: he believes the story. The problem is that there is absolutely no evidence, other than what King said that the town ever existed. It does not appear in lists of ghost towns of Vermont and there is no records I could find of any Shaker communities ever existing in Vermont.

My conclusion is that whoever told the story to King either believed it and was passing it along or was pulling his leg.

[–] Moonglum9 (11267) 5 years ago

I really enjoyed his short story, Jerusalem's Lot. It wasn't connected with the novel Salem's Lot (at least it didn't have vampires, but I think it was the same town but during an earlier time period.)

[–] Gary O. (1009) 5 years ago

I really enjoyed his short story, Jerusalem's Lot. It wasn't connected with the novel Salem's Lot (at least it didn't have vampires, but I think it was the same town but during an earlier time period.)

Many believe that Jeremiah's Lot* is a prequel to Salem's Lot just like Two for the Road is a sequel to it. TFTR is certainly a sequel, but I don't see JL being a prequel.

Thee are a couple of reasons for this. One is that, like you very astutely point out, there were no vampires in JL and the second is the novel tells us that Salem's Lot was continuously inhabited since its' founding in the mid-1700's. In JL, which took place in the early 1850's, the town had been abandoned for a long time.

*This is an error on my part. I meant "Jerusalem's Lot".

[–] greenbudgie (2355) 2 years ago

I would think the Jerusalem's Lot of the short story is the same town. I think was considered for the title of this movie but was rejected because of the religious connection and film-goers tastes.

[–] Gary O. (1009) 5 years ago

King said in an interview that 'Salem's Lot was in part inspired by a town in Vermont called 'Jeremiah's Lot'. As I recall, he said that he was riding in rural Vermont when his companion told about the town.

From the wiki article on the novel:

In a 1969 installment of "The Garbage Truck", a column King wrote for the University of Maine at Orono's campus newspaper, King foreshadowed the coming of 'Salem's Lot by writing: "In the early 1800s a whole sect of Shakers, a rather strange, religious persuasion at best, disappeared from their village (Jeremiah's Lot) in Vermont. The town remains uninhabited to this day."[8]

Now, I believe that King is sincere: he believes the story. The problem is that there is absolutely no evidence, other than what King said that the town ever existed. It does not appear in lists of ghost towns of Vermont and there is no records I could find of any Shaker communities ever existing in Vermont.

My conclusion is that whoever told the story to King either believed it and was passing it along or was pulling his leg.

Edward Deming Andrews, an American scholar and quite knowledgeable on the Shakers, says that there were two small
Shaker communities in Vermont, but neither of them was called Jeremiah's Lot. The communities are still around, but without the Shakers, so they were not Jeremiah's Lot, which allegedly vanished sometime in the 1800's, and which I still think never existed.

[–] Costumer (1821) 5 years ago

Ultimately, does it matter? King says he was told about the town. Whether it ever existed or not is irrelevant. He was told a story which inspired him to write a story. Even if he knew his companion was deliberately lying through his teeth it doesn't invalidate the inspiration.

It is an interesting anecdote about the inspiration for the book, however.

[–] Gary O. (1009) 5 years ago

Point taken. What can I say? I like to check things out.

You're right: it is interesting.

[–] Costumer (1821) 5 years ago

Oh, I think checking out the town's existence is great. I like those little bits of trivia as well.