Castle Rock (Stephen King)
Castle Rock is a fictional town appearing in Stephen King's fictional Maine topography, providing the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. Castle Rock first appeared in King's 1979 novel The Dead Zone and has since been referred to or used as the primary setting in many other works by King. The nearby fictional Shawshank State Prison is also featured in several of King's works and is often associated with Castle Rock.
As a native of Durham, Maine, King was inspired by his hometown when creating Castle Rock. The town name is taken from the fictional mountain fort in William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies.
Other notable fictional towns that King has used as the central setting in more than one work include Derry and Jerusalem's Lot.
Population and geographical location
The population of Castle Rock was 1,280 by 1959 and around 1,500 in Needful Things. According to the book cover, Needful Things was "The Last Castle Rock Story". However, the town later served as the setting for the short story "It Grows on You", published in King's 1993 collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. This story, according to King, serves as an epilogue to Needful Things.In Needful Things, Castle Rock is placed 18 miles southwest of South Paris. In The Body, Harlow is 30 miles east of Castle Rock. In the anthology film Creepshow, written by King, a sign at the end of "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" puts Portland at 37 miles, and Boston at 188 miles. "Weeds", the 1976 short story on which "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" was based, was set in New Hampshire.
Geographically, this puts Castle Rock within 37 miles of Portland, Maine. This region could include real places such as Durham, Lisbon, Danville, Auburn, Lewiston, Bridgton, and maybe even Sabattus.
In the short story Mrs. Todd's Shortcut Castle Rock is described as being 79 miles from Bangor, Maine as the crow flies, with the most common driving route being 156.4 miles: Route 97 to Mechanic Falls, then Route 11 to Lewiston, and then the Interstate to Bangor.
A map on King's official website places Castle Rock in Oxford County, in the vicinity of Woodstock. The works in which Castle Rock appears place the town in the fictional "Castle County", which also includes such fictional towns as Castle Lake, Castle View, and Harlow. The location of Castle Rock has been linked to Marblehead, which has a park by the same name.
Part of the Castle Rock area is underlain by limestone. It makes the water hard and hosts at least one bat-infested cave unknown to the inhabitants, as noted in Cujo.
Besides Castle Rock and the oft-used Derry and Jerusalem's Lot, King has created other fictional Maine towns. These include Chamberlain in Carrie; Chester's Mill in Under the Dome; Haven in The Tommyknockers; Little Tall Island in Dolores Claiborne and Storm of the Century; Harlow in Revival; Tarkers Mills in Cycle of the Werewolf, and Ludlow in Pet Sematary and ''The Dark Half.''
Characters of Castle Rock
George Bannerman
George Bannerman is the sheriff of Castle Rock, appearing in The Dead Zone, Cujo, and The Body. In The Dead Zone, Bannerman, after years of failing to catch the local serial killer the Castle Rock Strangler, approaches Johnny Smith to help catch the Strangler. Bannerman is horrified to learn the Strangler is, in reality, Deputy Frank Dodd, whom he viewed as a surrogate son. The two men corner Dodd in his house, where he commits suicide.In Cujo, Bannerman helps organize the search for Donna and Tad Trenton, who are currently missing, and unbeknownst to anyone, trapped at the Camber house by the titular rabid Saint Bernard. Suspicious when there are no leads to their location and inspired by his previous investigation with Smith and the Dodd case, Bannerman checks at the Camber house and discovers Donna and Tad. Before he can phone in this discovery, Cujo appears and viciously mauls and disembowels him.
Bannerman was portrayed by Tom Skerritt in The Dead Zone and Sandy Ward in Cujo. In the television adaptation of The Dead Zone, Bannerman is merged with the character of Walt Hazlett to form the character Sheriff Walt Bannerman, portrayed by Chris Bruno.
Joe Camber
Appeared in the novel Cujo and portrayed by Ed Lauter in the film adaptation of the same name, Joe is an alcoholic, controlling man who frequently abuses his wife Charity and is generally hostile to everyone around him; the only two exceptions are his son Brett and his friend Gary Pervier. The townspeople are aware of his hard drinking but consider him a competent, honest mechanic. Joe is mauled to death by his own dog, Cujo, once he becomes rabid.Alan Pangborn
Alan Pangborn appears in the novel The Dark Half, the novella "The Sun Dog", and the novel Needful Things. He is also a primary character in the Castle Rock television series based on King's novels. In The Dark Half, Pangborn is introduced as the sheriff of the town Castle Rock. He has a wife Annie and two children, Toby and Todd. The story establishes that Pangborn has a penchant for magic tricks. Pangborn re-appears again as the main protagonist of Needful Things, which establishes him as a widower dating Polly Chalmers. The story reveals that Annie and Todd died in a car crash soon after the events of The Dark Half. Pangborn was portrayed by Michael Rooker in the film adaptation of The Dark Half and Ed Harris in the film Needful Things, both released in 1993. Alan and Polly are also briefly mentioned in Bag of Bones in a conversation between author Michael Noonan and the then-Castle County Sheriff Norris Ridgewick. Ridgewick mentions they are "doing real well" after having relocated to New Hampshire, though Polly still suffers from arthritis.In the television series Castle Rock, which features an original story set around established Stephen King characters and stories, Alan Pangborn worked as town sheriff in the 1980s and '90s, but is now retired. He is in a romantic relationship with town resident Ruth Deaver and has pursued her since at least 1990. He is said to be a widower and shown to have an interest in magic and sleight of hand, but no mention is made in regards to Polly ever being in his life. The show and its characters regularly discuss the town's history, but do not ever reference the destruction the town suffered in Needful Things, suggesting the main events of that novel did not happen in the continuity of the show, and this version of Pangborn never met Polly. The younger Pangborn of the 1980 and 90s is portrayed by actor Jeffrey Pierce while the Pangborn of 2018 is portrayed by Scott Glenn.
Ace Merrill
John "Ace" Merrill is a psychopathic, cruel bully who appears in "The Body", "The Sun Dog", "Nona", and Needful Things. In "The Body", Ace is the leader of some bullies who torment Gordie Lachance, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio. He later attempts to murder them after they find the body of Ray Browers, so that Ace and his gang will get the credit. Chris scares Ace and his gang off by threatening them with a handgun. As an adult, Gordie sees that Ace has become an alcoholic, overweight millworker and takes pleasure in seeing his tormentor so miserable.By the time of "The Sun Dog", Ace has been sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary and disowned by his only remaining family, his uncle Pop Merrill. In Needful Things, Ace returns to his hometown, on the run to avoid being murdered by two drug dealers over unpaid debts. Ace now holds a grudge against Sheriff Alan Pangborn for being the one to arrest him. Ace becomes the right-hand man of Leland Gaunt, a demon who provides Ace with cocaine and the implications of buried treasure in exchange for procuring guns for him. In the climax of the novel, Ace and Buster Keeton team up at Gaunt's behest to wreak havoc. Merrill holds Pangborn's girlfriend Polly Chalmers at gunpoint when Gaunt and Pangborn confront each other, only to be shot in the head by Norris.
Merrill is played by Kiefer Sutherland in Stand by Me and Paul Sparks in the television series Castle Rock.
Pop Merrill
Reginald Marion "Pop" Merrill is a loan shark and the owner of the Emporium Galorium, a local junk store, who appears in "The Sun Dog" and is mentioned in Needful Things. Pop is a greedy, cruel, and miserly man, who often scams his customers and is disliked by the rest of the town. In spite of this, Pop is extremely wealthy and well-connected and serves a variety of clients, from desperate people he takes advantage of to renowned billionaires. In "The Sun Dog", Kevin Delevan takes his haunted Sun 660 Polaroid camera to Pop, who is unable to uncover anything wrong with the camera. Kevin and his father John resolve to destroy the camera, but Pop, sensing the opportunity for money, swaps the camera with another Sun 660 and keeps the haunted one. All of Pop's clients balk at it, either believing it to be a fraud or being overcome with dread when they see it. The dog also begins to gradually drive him mad, allowing it to take control of him and force him to take photos on the Sun 660, which Pop believes to be a broken cuckoo clock he is repairing. Kevin and John, who had caught on to Pop's scam, attempt to stop him from releasing the dog, but they are too late; the dog breaks free, causing molten plastic to slice Pop's throat open. The dog is trapped once again by Kevin, and the Emporium burns down. Needful Things shows that the reason for Pop's death is unknown to the general public, though everyone, even his nephew Ace Merrill, is happy that he is dead. Gaunt later convinces Ace that Pop had buried part of his fortune to gain his assistance and cause a feud between him and Sheriff Pangborn.Pop was portrayed by Tim Robbins in the television series Castle Rock.