Jerusalem's Lot (Stephen King) - Fictional History and Myth

Fictional History and Myth

The town that would become Jerusalem's Lot was founded in 1710 by a preacher named James Boon, the leader of a cult of schismatic Puritans. The cult became notorious in the region for its open embrace of witchcraft and for its amoral sexual practices, including inbreeding. Jerusalem's Lot became an incorporated town in 1765, but was abandoned in 1789 after Boon and his followers mysteriously vanished. The mass disappearance occurred not long after Philip Boone, a wealthy individual and unknowing descendant of James Boon, obtained an occultic book known as De Vermis Mysteriis; Philip Boone disappeared along with the rest of the village.

In 1850, aristocrat Charles Boone, the last of the Boone line, re-discovered the deserted town with his manservant, Calvin McCann. Boone and McCann found the copy of De Vermis Mysteriis, and eventually discovered a gigantic wormish monster living beneath the town's church—hinted to be an incarnation of the Cthulhu Mythos deity Shudde M'ell. Calvin McCann was killed by the creature. Boone drove off the monster by burning the book, but was forced to flee when the corpse of James Boon made an appearance. In a series of letters to an acquaintance, Boone stated his intention to kill himself in order to end both the Boone line and the evil in Jerusalem's Lot. He is unaware that a bastard line exists; the last known Boone descendant is James Robert Boone, who collects Charles' letters in 1971.

When Jerusalem's Lot was incorporated in 1765, Maine was still part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The town got its name from a myth about one of the earliest residents, Charles Belknap Tanner, who raised pigs; one of these pigs was named Jerusalem. One day, Jerusalem escaped from her confines into a nearby forest, and became aggressive and wild. Tanner began warning young children who trespassed on his property to "Keep 'ee out o' Jerusalem's wood lot," lest the pig devour them. Eventually, the phrase "Jerusalem's Lot" was adopted as the town name.

At an unknown date sometime after Boone and McCann's exploration, people began inhabiting the town again. The town had a representative named Elias Jointner in the House of Representatives by 1896. As chronicled in the novel 'Salem's Lot, Jerusalem's Lot has been identified as a residence for great and mysterious evil, particularly vampires.