Durham
Town in MaineWikipedia
8
MENTIONS
5
EPISODES
5
PODCASTS
Search complete. 8 mentions across 5 episodes found for "Durham".
Oct 12, 2026
speaker_1HOST
The Mental Floss article details his incredible pop culture footprint here.
speaker_1HOST
Stephen King was born in Portland and raised in Durham.
speaker_1HOST
Maine is fundamentally in his blood.
speaker_2HOST
It really is the setting for almost all his work.
Dark MarkHOST
Filmed in Northern California, the town of Ferndale was the perfect location to represent Jerusalem's Lot, the fictional town in King's story.
Dark MarkHOST
But it's Durham, Maine, King's hometown, that the writer drew his inspiration from.
Dark MarkHOST
The evil, ominous Marston House was inspired by Shallow Chapel, a large Gothic-style religious cult building located in Durham.
Dark MarkHOST
Hooper's version had the perfect cast.
Dark MarkHOST
David Soul as Ben Mears, James Mason as Richard Stryker, and the perfect actor who remained uncredited to play the head vampire, Kurt Barwell, Reggie Nalder, who I will always remember as the horrific witchfinder general in the torture-fest film Mark of the Devil.
Caroline BicksGUEST
That's what he does so well.
Caroline BicksGUEST
One of my favorite conversations with him was when we were talking about his move to Durham, Maine, when he was 11.
Caroline BicksGUEST
So a lot of people just assume he always lived in Maine, but he didn't.
Caroline BicksGUEST
Like, his, he was born in Maine, and then his father left the family when Steve was two, and he never saw him again.
Caroline BicksGUEST
And they moved all around America for nine years just trying to make ends meet.
Caroline BicksGUEST
Like, he moved all over, and it wasn't till he was 11 that he really lived in Maine.
Caroline BicksGUEST
Um, and Durham, which is a very rural community about 25 miles outside of Portland, is what he based Salem's Lot, the town of Salem's Lot, on.
Caroline BicksGUEST
And we had such a great conversation 'cause I didn't realize that was the first time he'd really put down roots in Maine.
speaker_1HOST
You need to introduce the mechanism of physical dread.
speaker_0HOST
Which means we need to leave the schoolyard and travel to a house in Durham, Maine.
speaker_1HOST
Ah, yes.
speaker_1HOST
This is the environment of the second ghost, the girl King gives the pseudonym Sandra Irving.
speaker_0HOST
King is hired by Sandra's mother to do some heavy lifting.
speaker_1HOST
Okay.
speaker_0HOST
He goes to their home in Durham to help move furniture.
speaker_0HOST
It's a completely mundane, transactional, everyday errand.
Tom DeadyGUEST
Well, he used to do public book signings.
Tom DeadyGUEST
So when he released Finders Keepers, the second book in the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, the Bill Hodges trilogy, he did a signing up in Durham, Maine, which is where his lake house is, not his famous house.
Tom DeadyGUEST
And he only let, I don't know, he sold like 100 tickets or something.
Tom DeadyGUEST
I was very fortunate to get a ticket.