Salem's Lot 1975

Part I: The Marsten House

Chapter 2 - Susan [1]

subchapter 2

• pg. 27
  1. Ben asks Susan "Whatever happened to it?", referring to the Nordica Theater. Susan informs him it is now Larry Crockett's real estate office now. Later however we see that Nolla Gardener & Deputy Parkins Gillespi spoke -while Ben and Susan enter Spencer's Sundries for ice-cream- (Subch. 3, pg. 27) and Nolla tells the Deputy that Ben had already spoken to Larry about the Marsten House "…the other day…". Why doesn't Ben know about the status of the theater, as he has already met with Larry at his office.

Chapter 3 - The Lot (I)

subchapter 9

• pg. 60
  1. We are told Mark Petrie "…towered over most of his classmates…". Later, Mark is described as "…a little smaller than the average…"(Ch. 6 - The Lot [II], Subch. 5, pg. 152).

Part II: The Emperor of Ice Cream

Chapter 10 - The Lot [III]

subchapter 1

• pg. 225
  1. (Firearm errors) King writes "…the trigger of the .30-.30…".
     • The proper designation is ".30-30".
       • King makes the same error in Apt Pupil and The Stand.

subchapter 4

• pg. 270
  1. Doctor Jimmy Cody describes what the Glick boy would look like when they open the coffin. He says "The hair will have grown down over his collar—it continues to grow for an amazing period of time—and the fingernails will also be quite long.". Now I can buy into a Vampire having these traits, but this Doctor is describing what he knows a normal body would look like. Both the hair and fingernail growth points are old wives tales. A Doctor would know better.

subchapter 12

• pg. 257
  1. King Sets the rules for his vampire stating "Of course, You have to invite them inside.". This introduces two problems.
     • Who invites the vampire (Barlow?) who kills baby Randy (Ch. 10 - The Lot [III]), Subch. 2, pg. 228) into the McDougal home? Ten-month old Randy can't offer an invitation.
     • Barlow enters the Petrie home without an invitation, kills Mark Petrie's parents, and confronts Father Callaghan (Ch. 15 - The Lot [IV], Subch. 20, pg. 371).

Chapter 11 - Ben [IV]

subchapter 8

• pg. 278
  1. King writes "…she began to grasp how deep the division between the human cerebrum and the human midbrain had become". That is not true. The midbrain is a part of the cerebrum.

Part III: The Deserted Village

Chapter 14 - The Lot [IV]

subchapter 1

• pg. 329
  1. We read that today "…Monday, October 6, 1975…" is "…thirteen days after the Vernal Equinox…" and is a full moon. Several problems.
     • There are two Equinoxes per year. The Spring -aka Vernal- Equinox occurs near March 20. It is the Autumn -aka Autumnal- Equinox that occurs in the fall. Typically near September 22. So Stephen named the wrong Equinox here.
     • Subtracting 13 days from October 6, means the Equinox occurred on September 21st. In actuality, the Autumnal Equinox for '75 was on September 23, not the 21st.
     • We are told (Ch. 6 - The Lot [II], Subch. 2, pg. 140) that "…the first day of fall" was Sept 28th, the day of Danny Glick's funeral. So we have been given 2 dates and neither is correct.
     • The full moon for October of '75 was on October 20, not the 6th.
     • We read that the night of October 5th is eleven hours and forty-seven minutes long. However, between the fall equinox and the spring equinox, the nights are always longer than the days, always longer than twelve hours. The quote from the Old Farmer's Almanac - "See less sun, harvest's nigh done" refers to this.

subchapter 5

• pg. 338
  1. (Firearm errors) Ben finds the .38 revolver and we are told "He checked the safety to be sure it was on, and put the gun…". Revolvers do not have "Safeties".

subchapter 44

• pg. 420
  1. Ben and Mark stop at Sonny's Exxon Station. Sonny asks Mark, "No school today?". It's 5:15 p.m. (pg. 421) a bit late for school, no?

( Note: All page numbers are from the Doubleday hardcover, unless otherwise noted. )

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This page was last modified on 6/26/2015