Pet Semetary

Recently, (meaning two days ago) I finished the Stephen King masterpiece, Pet Semetary. Originally, I was going to write my passion blog about the second book in the Dark Tower Series, The Drawing of the Three, (I still might write about it later) but Pet Semetary was just too exciting not to talk about. Also, the reimagining of the story is coming to the big screen in just a matter of months. Perhaps next week I will review the movie from 1989.

Anyway, the story opens up with a family moving into their new home. There’s the father, Dr. Louis Creed, the mother, Rachel Creed, the daughter, Ellie Creed, and the two-year-old son, Gage Creed. Louis just received a new job as a doctor at the nearby University, so they moved from Chicago, Illinois to Ludlow, Maine; where they meet their new neighbors, Jud Crandall and his wife, Norma.

Jud welcomes them and Louis suddenly feels a fatherly attraction to the 80-year-old man. Louis often notices the fact that Jud acts like a man much younger than 80 and they become fast friends. As they are greeting each other, a large truck barrels down the stretch of road. Jud warns the family that the road has claimed the lives of many animals and that they should keep a close eye on their cat, Church.

Then, Rachel notices a lush path behind their house that leads into the woods. She asks Jud what is back there and Jud decides to show them. They walk down the path until they find a clearing. In the clearing, there are markers, roughly made markers that obviously did not come from skilled hands. There is a sign at the entrance of the clearing reading, Pet Semetary. Jud explains that the children of the town have been burying their pets in this clearing for years. (Thus, explaining why cemetery is spelled wrong and the graves look crude.) Jud himself buried his dog, Spot there many years ago.

Rachel suddenly hates the place because of her aversion to death. (Rachel had a sister, Zelda, that tragically died from spinal meningitis, and that scarred Rachel for life.)

Louis Creed does not think about the cemetery for a while, until his daughter’s cat, Church gets hit by a truck and tragically dies on the side of the road. His family is on vacation with Rachel’s parents, so he is the only one there to know that the cat is dead. Jud asks him if he wants to bury the cat in the Pet Semetary and Louis thinks about it. However, Jud suddenly looks off and asks Louis if Ellie loved the cat. Louis answers of course, that his daughter will be heartbroken to know her precious pet is dead. Jud says that they should go and bury it now. But Louis is confused.

However, he takes a garbage bag and walks with Jud down to the semetary. But then, instead of stopping in the clearing, Jud walks on. Louis questions this, but Jud explains that there is another spot to bury the cat other than the Pet Semetary. He explains that there were once Native Americans here who would bury their dead up in those lands. He says that they claimed the land had special powers, but the ground had gone sour, so they stopped doing this. (The legend was that the wendigo would touch the Native Americans and give them the idea to cannibalize their fellow men in times of crisis. They would then bury those poor souls in the graveyard. Thus, cursing it.

Louis does not really believe this because he is a strong agnostic. However, he buries the cat himself. (Jud explains that you must bury your own, and keeps him company.) They walk back and Jud has gotten quiet. Louis asks if he should tell his daughter that the cat has died, and Jud answers that he should wait just a little bit.

The next morning, Louis is shocked to find that Church COMES BACK! He smells horrible and his eyes turned from a bright green to a muddy yellow, but he is back and walking the halls. Louis is shocked, but for some reason, he realizes that somewhere deep down he was expecting this to happen. Jud explains that he knew about the burial ground when he brought his dog back to life. He says that he wasn’t the same, but it was his dog.

When his family returns, no one is any the wiser that Church has died and essentially become a zombie. The family does comment on the smell and the aggressive way he is acting, but they chalk it up to him rolling in something and being an angry cat. Louis does see that there is definitely something off about him, but as long as he does not have to explain death to Ellie, he feels better.

Time goes by and the family falls into a comfortable routine. That is until one day in May where that time of peace comes to an abrupt and screeching end. The road decides to claim another victim, and this time it is not their sweet pet.

This time it is their toddler, Gage. Gage wandered into the street and was killed by a speeding truck. The family is obviously devastated and Louis can’t shake the feeling that the burial ground is calling him. Jud warns him and tells him of the story of Timmy Baterman whose father buried him in the soil to bring him back. Timmy became, for lack of a better word, a monster. He had an evil spark in his eye and he seemed to be all-knowing. Telling Jud and his friends all of their deepest and darkest secrets.

Timmy Baterman father eventually puts him down for the second time and the town relaxes.

Louis thinks about the story but instead chooses to ignore it. He unearths his son and takes him up to the Micmac burial ground. Jud tries to stop him, but the Wendigo makes him sleep until the deed is done. Afterward, Louis comes back home and falls asleep himself and wait for his son to return from beyond the grave. Jud then wakes up to find that someone is in his house. At first, he believes it to be Louis, but then sickeningly worries that it might be Gage. His worries turn out to be true as Gage reveals himself and stabs Jud with a knife.

Rachel then comes home to find her son alive. She cannot see that he is not the same and falls for a trap he lays, where she too is killed. Louis finally wakes up and suddenly knows that something is wrong. He looks at Jud’s house and sees Church waiting outside for him. Coming in the door he sees the carnage that was waiting for him. He sees Jud’s corpse as well as his wife’s and this finally breaks him. Gage comes out from his hiding spot and Louis ends his life for the second time. He then burns down Jud’s house in hopes of cleansing the area.

However, he did not learn his lesson and carries his wife’s body up to the burial ground in order to try the experiment one last time. The book ends with Rachel calling out to her husband in a raspy voice, “Darling.”

This was truly an amazing book and the scares were real. I myself cried while reading it and Stephen King admits that out of all his books, this one keeps him up at night.

You can watch the trailer for the upcoming movie here.