I don't know if it was my Aunt who lived in Maine, or that I had read it in Fangoria Magazine, or my other Monster Squad buddies who, like me, thought 'Stephen King Ruled,' but somewhere, SOMEBODY told a kid-aged-Me that Stephen King would tell scary ghost stories by a campfire at his house every Halloween.
Such a concept blew my mind as it was all about things I loved: campfires, ghost stories, Stephen King and Maine. I always wondered how I could get in on such a thing. Did he sell tickets? Was it a lottery system, or was anyone eligible for a seat? And that's another thing: how many seats could there be? A normal-sized campfire can fit 8-10 around it comfortably. Was it a Wicker Man-sized fire to fit more people? That would leave quite a scorch mark on the man's lawn. Could Mr. King even be heard over the roar and crackling of the flames?
So many questions.
So here we are in 2010 and I'm a grown-up. And I have the internet. And the thought occurred to me most recently: Heeeeeyyyy, DID Stephen King ever do those campfire ghost stories on Halloween? And if he DID, when did he stop? Well folks, I have the answers...
My first stop was this Entertainment Weekly article HERE. For those of you who don't know Mr. King writes a column in EW called The Pop of King where he comments on various facets of pop culture. This particular article happens to be about King giving his 'thumbs ups' for horror movies to watch that year (2007). But there's an interesting section to the Halloween Addict when he shares his opinion of the Halloween holiday:
"Halloween has been my least favorite holiday ever since the mid-'80s, when trick-or-treaters started showing up at my house in battalions, many dressed as Pennywise the Clown. That was when I realized I'd been elected America's Guru of Grue without even running for the position. Ever since, my family and I have taken to spending the last day of October elsewhere. Far, far elsewhere. Birmingham, Ala., is good; Birmingham, England — where Halloween is little more than the name of a John Carpenter movie — is even better"
Now if I crane my head toward the window, I can hear many of you from where I write screaming "Nooooo! Stephen King hates Halloween! The world is not right! It's the apocalypse! Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!"
Calm down. Look at it from his point of view. It's the mid-'80s. King is at the top of his game. Books on best seller lists. Movies in the theaters. Movies on television. His popularity is at a peak. Suddenly, one night at the end of October, his quiet home in quiet Maine is besieged by people dressed as homicidal clowns.
Not the most settling evening.
I tell you what: if I finished dinner and found 20 - 40 people on my doorstep dressed a homicidal clowns--- I'd be pooping candied apples.
Now on the other hand, if you're a rich horror writer who has wrought-iron gates in front of your house that look like giant spiders and gargoyles (he does! Look at the pics!): Yes, I'm trick or treating at your house. Further evidence of his dislike of Halloween was found HERE at this September 2005 post on ContactMusic.com where King states:
"It used to be we'd stay home and thousands of people, literally, would converge on the house and we gave out I dunno how much in candy and everything else.
"We got to the point where we were actually thinking about bringing in fog machines and putting up fake gravestones and I'm like, 'Hold on here a second, I'm turning into the Hallowe'en Santa Claus.'"
And I say again, your gates DO have spiders and gargoyles on them. Just sayin'.
My last stop was was the man himself, rather the digital version of him: StephenKing.com. On his website there is a very long Frequently Asked Questions page . (I guess the guy gets a lot of the same questions. Well he's been at it for over 30 years and new fans discover his work every day, so it makes sense.)
There was this question, which goes along with King's quote about the fog machine and gravestones:
Q: Do you really have a haunted house at your home on Halloween?A: Absolutely not - don't come to my house on Halloween. We've done trick-or-treat a few times and we had 600 or 800 - one time we had 1,400 people show up for candy and treats and it's fun, it's great to see everyone, but it wears everybody out and it plays hell with the law so we're not doing that anymore.
Then there was THE question. MY question:
Q: Is it true that you have an annual campfire ghost story event?
A: No, I really don't. I did a campfire ghost story once as a favor to the local PBS station in central Maine. They were raising money and one of the things they did was for people who pledged a certain amount, they got to come to this campfire event and that was kind of fun, but it was a once-only event.
And that's pretty much the answer that I need to sleep well at night. I just have to go about erasing that image of Stephen King sitting at a campfire looking much like John Houseman from The Fog.
I tried looking to see if Maine's PBS station (MPBN) website had anything on the event, but no luck. So until the day that I decide to go to the library and scan through microfiche to find that inevitable article the local paper did on it... I think I'm satisfied.
I tried looking to see if Maine's PBS station (MPBN) website had anything on the event, but no luck. So until the day that I decide to go to the library and scan through microfiche to find that inevitable article the local paper did on it... I think I'm satisfied.
3 comments:
I get how he would be against the droves of people showing up at his house, but to turn on the holiday and tradition of passing out candy is ridiculous. He could at least pass out candy at some smaller residence somewhere other than his own home. Dress up and be disguised so you don't get ravenous fans flooding the house. Nobody would suspect a thing and he could still enjoy the holiday.
In the 80's there was a video tape called "Stephen King's World of Horror", it featured footage of this camp fire story telling.
Its too bad that only his house lives up to our imagined image of this amazing horror writer. In reality he is just a bitter old man who does not want to be bothered!
I literally live right down the street from him. I have never trick or treated his house, but was thinking of doing so this year until I read your article. Guess there isn't any point now. :(
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