'Salem's Lot Allusions and Cultural References

Literary, Artistic, and Philosophical References

• Edward Albee (5.128)—The line about monkey nipples is from the play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
• Sherwood Anderson (5.4)
• Jane Austen (6.141)
• Beowulf (13.14)
• Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal (14.191)
• Thomas Carlyle (14.141)
• Geoffrey Chaucer (3.286)
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Cristabel" (7.196)
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (3.285)
• James Dickey, "Kudzu" (13.111-112)
• Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes stories (14.58) (14.401 reference to Mycroft Holmes from the stories)
• Sigmund Freud (11.27) (13.81) (13.82) (13.107)
• James Frazier, The Golden Bough (13.13)
• Fu Manchu (11.397) (11.402)
• Nathaniel Hawthorne (13.72)
• Hepplewhite (4.94)—Valuable furniture, made by George Hepplewhite, an English cabinetmaker in the 1700s.
• Oliver Wendell Holmes (11.77)
• Mr. Hyde (6.165)—The monster from the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
• Impressionist painters (3.290) (14.164)
• Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (Part One epigraph; 5.87)
• Henry James (6.141)
• Sybil Leek, On Exorcism: Driving Out the Devils (13.78)—Father Callahan gets the title wrong in the text.
• C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (13.14)
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (11.77)
• H.P. Lovecraft (13.72)
• James Russell Lowell (11.77)—Shmoop believes that this is who Matt is referring to as the poet "Russell." You can forgive him the mistake; he's under a good deal of stress.
• Anthony Masters, Natural History of the Vampire (13.13)
• Travis McGhee (11.413)—A fictional detective in stories by John D. MacDonald.
• Grace Metalious, Peyton Place (9.213)—A 1956 novel about secrets and lusts in a small town. One of the inspirations for 'Salem's Lot. It was turned into a TV series from 1964-69.
• Richard Nixon (14.411)
• O. Henry (11.360)
• Elliott O'Donnell, Strange Disappearances (14.950)—A 1927 book about the occult. Matt is talking about it when he dies.
• Edgar Allan Poe (13.72)
• Edgar Allan Poe, "The Haunted Palace" (Part Three epigraph)
• Edgar Allan Poe, "The Masque of the Red Death" (14.750)
• Ellery Queen (10.153)
• Edwin Arlington Robinson (5.4)
• Norman Rockwell (11.123 first reference)
• James Malcolm Rymer, Varney the Vampire, or, The Feast of Blood (13.13)
• Shangri-La (3.155)
• William Shakespeare (3.285)
• William Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice" (13.84) – The character of Shylock is mentioned.
• Mary Shelly, Frankenstein (6.127) (11.112)
• John Steinbeck (3.286)
• St. Paul (14.259)
• St. Stephen (6.299)
• Wallace Stevens, "The Emperor of Ice Cream" (Part Two epigraph) (8.184) (14.1154)
• Bram Stoker, Dracula (6.165) (7.196) (8.95) (13.13) (14.154, reference to Van Helsing, the vampire hunter in Stoker's novel) (14.333)
• Bram Stoker, Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories (13.13)
• Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (9.173)
• Mark Twain (4.414)
• Rabelais (3.18)
• George Seferis, "Mythistorema" (Epilogue first epigraph)
• George Seferis, "Now she's eyeless…. (Epilogue second epigraph)
• George Seferis, "The Return of the Exile," lines 1-5 (Preface epigraph)
• George Seferis, "This column has," (Chapter Two epigraph)—A haiku.
• James Whittier (11.77)
• Gahan Wilson (11.184)
• Thomas Wolfe (5.195)

Historical References

• Napoleon Bonaparte (9.173)
• George Washington Carver (5.189)
• Civil War (3.2)
• Hiroshima (10.155)
• Adolf Hitler (first reference 2.224)
• Harry Houdini (first reference 12.122)
• Kennedy family (9.34)
• Peter Kurten (13.15)—Misspelled as "Kurtin" in the novel. A German serial killer in the early twentieth century.
• Mad Bomber (George Metesky) (2.158)—A criminal who placed bombs in various places, especially movie theaters, during the 1940s and 1950s before being apprehended. He was declared insane and placed in a mental hospital.
• Mary Celeste (Preface.22)—A British merchant ship found abandoned in the Atlantic in 1872. No one knows what happened to the crew.
• Missouri Compromise (2.138)
• Jonas Salk (5.189)
• B.F. Skinner (9.213)
• Vietnam War (first reference 2.148)
• Watergate (11.195) (14.411)
• Ziegfeld Follies (2.140)

Pop Culture References

• Muhammad Ali (6.299)
• Amazing Stories. (2.224)
• Fred Astaire (first reference 6.293)
• Johnny Carson (7.161)
• Cosmopolitan (11.391)
• Walter Cronkite (2.148)—A newscaster.
• Dick Curless, "Bury the Bottle With Me" (3.357)
• Doris Day (10.374)
• "Dialing for Dollars" (8.250)—A television game show.
• Disneyland (3.155)
• Bob Dylan, "North Country Blues" (Part Three Epigraph)
• "Endless Sleep" (Part Three Epigraph)—This is the rock song King quotes but doesn't name.
• Frank Frazetta (14.465)—A pulp fantasy and comics artist.
• Joe Frazier (6.299)
• Marvin Gaye, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (5.186)
• Goodbye Mr. Chips (3.287)—A film about a schoolteacher, based on the novella by James Hilton.
• Good Housekeeping (9.91)
• Gunsmoke (10.174)
• Boris Karloff (11.112)—The actor who played Frankenstein's monster in several famous movies in the 1930s.
• Hammer horror films (8.95) (11.207)
• Buddy Holly (7.31)
• Hollywood Squares (2.152)—A game show.
• Rock Hunter (10.374)
• Ross Hunter (3.287)—Hollywood film producer.
• Sonny James (14.1042)
• Christopher Lee (8.95)—Actor famous for horror film roles.
• Marcus Welby, M.D. (11.125)—A television medical drama.
• Peter Marshall (2.148)—A television personality.
• National Enquirer (6.90)
• New Yorker (2.224)
• "Okie From Muskogee" (5.217)—A country song by Merle Haggard.
• Random House Publishers (Preface.8)
• Reader's Digest (3.2) (14.918)
• Ginger Rodgers (6.293)
• Mickey Rooney (6.293)
• Saturday Evening Post (first mention 2.224)
• Spencer Tracy (6.278)
• Vampirella (13.19)
• Wall Street Journal (6.141)
• Winnie the Pooh (14.936)
• Wolfman Jack (Preface.12)—a famous rock DJ
• "You've Never Been This Far Before" (5.128)—Country song made famous by Conway Twitty.