It is one of the most terrifying scenes from a horror story: a clown in a storm drain invites a little boy to come closer, and then bites his arm off. The clown is, of course, Pennywise, and the scene originated in the imagination of author Stephen King, who included it in his 1986 book, It.
Like many of King’s books, It is set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, which is a reimagined version of the city of Bangor, Maine, where King lives and where part of the 2017 film It was filmed. Every year, Stephen King fans travel from all over the world to Bangor to take the city’s only Stephen-King-themed tour; they visit the storm drain that inspired the terrifying scene from It and is depicted in the film, as well as other sites from other King books and the films that they inspired.
a family of fans
The tour is operated by the Tinkers, a family of Stephen King mega-fans in Bangor. Stu Tinker went to the signing of King’s first book, Carrie, in 1974 and developed a friendship with the author. He went on to open a bookstore that specialised exclusively in King books and memorabilia, and became an international destination for King fans. Then, in 2012, Stu started doing a Stephen King-themed tour of the city, which his son, Jamie, now operates.
king in the house
As well as visiting the storm drain from It, participants in the three-hour bus tour also visit the real-life locations that have been reimagined by King and that play a prominent role in one or more of his books. They go to the cemetery depicted in the 1989 film Pet Sematary, which stars Johnny Depp and was based on King’s 1983 novel of that name. And they go to the house where King now lives. If they’re lucky they might even see the author himself, who at the age of seventy-three remains a prolific author. Speak Up talked to tour operator Jamie Tinker. He told us that Stephen King was a family friend.
Jamie Tinker (American accent): My father had a very good relationship with him for years because the bookstore my dad went to to meet Stephen King for the first book signing ever. In 1991, he bought that store, and Stephen King through doing signings, having conversations with my father, put us on the map as the largest Stephen King collectible book store in the world for twenty years. And then their friendship went on forever.
A REGULAR GENIUS
As Tinker explains, King was both an unusual talent and an ordinary guy.
Jamie Tinker: It’s intimidating, but he’s also the guy you see at the movie theater. He’s the guy you see walking home with a pizza… You just see him out and about around town. You say, “Hi, Steve,” and let the guy be a regular guy. If he’s walking his dog, Molly, let him walk his dog. Sometimes on the tours, he’ll see the van and he’ll just wave to us and then walk into his house. And sometimes, he’s walked past people and they have their back turned, or they’re not looking at where he is, and he’ll walk right past them and right in.
SOMETHING ABOUT MAINE
We then asked Tinker what inspired King to set his horror stories in Maine.
Jamie Tinker: Steve says, “Write what you know,” and he grew up primarily in Maine. He went to college here in Maine and he has a lake house in Maine. And in Maine, the nature, the setting, the woods, they’re almost their own character. And they impact the characters in the book almost as though an actual person or an entity would. And if you’re here in the winter, you know cold. It’s just like in The Shining how, up at the Overlook [Hotel], how the weather itself had such an impact. In Maine, we have that same type of weather and climate and environment and terrain that is very easy to kind of get lost in and see as something that affects our lives and our stories… I mean you get that in L.A. in the traffic. That’ll change your life. You can go clinically insane on the roads there. I think that has a lot to it, but he writes what he knows. Wherever he is, he could do it, he’s just spent more time here in Maine than anywhere else.
TOP STOPS
And, he says, there are some stops on the tour that people get really excited about.
Jamie Tinker: They love the house. They love getting to the house because the house is the public face of Steve —the house, the gate... People have been waiting their whole lives to get in front of the house. I would go to Steve’s house and turn left to go to middle school, so it’s not the same to me. I walked past Steve’s house every day of my life. The tour is great but they want the house. And when they get to that, they get the picture of themselves in front of the house. People love the storm drain, and they love just being in the cemetery. Mount Hope Cemetery is the second oldest garden cemetery in America. It was built in 1834. It’s a beautiful, old cemetery that you get to just stand in and look at and see amazing headstones.