Not even a year ago, I participated in my first ever ghost hunting expedition while visiting the historic downtown district of Orlando, FL. I had become obsessed with all kinds of ghost hunting entertainment on TV including Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State and was looking forward to seeing what I would be able to experience for myself.
It was a pretty big let-down. Nothing much happened and we spend most of the night pointing EMF Readers at suspiciously old looking walls and asking questions into the darkness at the run-down courthouse building. It made me wonder…What made me so interested in the paranormal in the first place?
Stephen King, the Master of Horror himself, is a big culprit for my fascination with the paranormal. As People.com pointed out in a 1999 article, he had a talent for turning the ordinary into something extraordinary. He fed off our most basic fears and would bring them to life on paper.
Since the debut of his first novel Carrie in 1974, he has produced over 50 novels to date. This doesn’t even include the short stories, illustrated works, novellas and other works – including some non-fiction works.
Discovering Horror
So how did this English teacher from Maine capture my attention? It was in his 1998 release of Bag of Bones – the story of a tortured author who travels to his lakeside home to escape the grief from his wife’s recent death and to begin writing again only to be haunted by his wife and another who cannot rest until the untimely death of a woman and her child are acknowledged and avenged.
From there I was hooked and by the time I was in college, I had quite a little collection of Stephen King novels and short stories to line my shelves.
From the Novel to the Movies
When I was in college I briefly dated a guy who had an obsession with horror movies that could match my obsession with horror stories. He introduced me to some of the classic Stephen King movies that made it to the big screen. Of my favorites, there are two that stand out to this day.
Misery (1990), starring Kathy Bates and James Caan, is the story of a woman who is obsessed with a writer. When he visits her town to try and get some work done on a new novel in the works, she kidnaps him and holds in her home nursing the wounds she created and slowly the delusions of the woman becomes apparent and author is desperate to escape her care. I still cringe every time I even think of her breaking his legs on the bedposts. Yikes!
Christine (1983), starring Keith Gordon and a bright red 58 Plymouth Fury, is the story of an awkward teenage boy who finally starts to date only to have his recently restored car turn on him in a jealous rage. Spooky.
Still Going
Regardless of the success that Stephen King has already garnered from his works and not the mention the piles of money – at one point Stephen King was making $40 million a year – he’s still going. Just this past March on StephenKing.com, he announced the release of a new novel titled Doctor Sleep that is still being worked on.
What about you? What is your favorite Stephen King novel or movie?
