Synopsis: Jerusalem’s Lot, a short story by Stephen King published in the collection Night Shift (1978), is a gothic horror story set in 1850. We follow Charles Boone, a man who inherits the Chapelwaite mansion on a remote cliff in Maine, through letters and diaries. Accompanied by his servant, Calvin McCann, Charles discovers that the house and the nearby abandoned village, Jerusalem’s Lot, hide a dark past linked to his family. As they explore the history of the place, they become embroiled in an increasingly disturbing mystery, where ancient superstitions and strange manifestations threaten to reveal a terrifying truth.
Warning
The following summary and analysis is only a semblance and one of the many possible readings of the text. It is not intended to replace the experience of reading the story.
Summary of Jerusalem’s Lot, by Stephen King.
In 1850, a Boston gentleman, Charles Boone, inherited the old Chapelwaite mansion on a cliff near Preacher’s Corners, Maine. He moves there with his faithful servant, Calvin McCann, despite the locals’ warnings, who consider the house cursed. From the moment of his arrival, Charles senses a disturbing atmosphere: the mansion is in a bad state of repair, infested with rats that seem to move around inside the walls, and the residents of the nearby village treat him with suspicion.
In letters to his friend Bones, Charles recounts his life at Chapelwaite and his growing interest in the rumors surrounding his family. He soon discovers that the house has a dark past: his uncle Randolph Boone died tragically in the basement, his cousin Stephen Boone fell from the balcony in strange circumstances, and many believe that a curse marks their lineage. The housekeeper, Mrs. Cloris, and other inhabitants of Preacher’s Corners try to warn him. Although skeptical, Charles decides to investigate on his own.
While exploring the library, he finds an old map that shows the location of Jerusalem’s Lot, a nearby town that has been completely abandoned. Intrigued, he decides to visit it with Calvin. The road takes them through a desolate forest until they finally reach the town, intact but shrouded in an atmosphere of decay and death. Upon entering the church, they discover a profaned altar and an ancient book called De Vermis Mysteriis (Jerusalem’s Lot), which seems related to ancient rituals. As Charles examines it, he feels a strange vibration in the earth and hears murmurs that seem to come from the shadows. Terrified, they flee the place.
After their return to Chapelwaite, the unexplained phenomena in the house intensify. The noises in the walls increase, and the rats seem to move increasingly organized and unnaturally. Meanwhile, Calvin does some research in the library and finds the diary of Robert Boone, Charles’ grandfather. There, he discovers that, in 1789, Robert tried to save his brother Philip Boone, who had fallen under the influence of a mysterious preacher called James Boon, leader of a sect in Jerusalem’s Lot. The diary reveals that the village was founded in 1710 by a group of religious fanatics who, over time, began to practice dark rituals to invoke an entity known as Yogsoggoth, “The Worm,” a primeval being of unknown origin. On the night of October 31, 1789, the village’s entire population disappeared, and since then, the place has been uninhabited.
Charles becomes obsessed with the idea that the cult has not entirely disappeared and that his blood is linked to the curse. Convinced that the book De Vermis Mysteriis is the key, he returns to Jerusalem’s Lot to destroy it. Calvin, fearing for his life, tries to stop him but finally accompanies him.
When they re-enter the church, they find it devastated, with the remains of recent sacrifices. On the pulpit, the book is still open and bathed in blood. Charles picks it up, and as he does so, a crack opens in the floor, revealing a vast monstrous worm that had been dormant under the church for centuries. The creature writhes and emits inhuman sounds while the temple walls tremble. Amid the chaos, Charles manages to set the book on fire, causing the entity to retreat. However, at the last moment, he sees James Boon emerge alive after more than sixty years from the shadows. His body is rotten, but his eyes shine with unnatural intelligence. Boon reaches out a hand towards Charles, who, in a panic, flees, leaving behind the lifeless body of Calvin, who dies during the confrontation.
Back in Chapelwaite, Charles falls into a deep despair. In his last letter, he confesses that the book’s destruction had only delayed the inevitable and that he is the last living Boone, the remaining link to the entity. Convinced that his death is the only way to prevent the Worm’s return, he throws himself into the sea from the cliffs.
Decades later, in 1971, James Robert Boone, a distant family descendant, discovers Charles’ letters and decides to publish them. In his final postscript, he states that there is no evidence that anything supernatural happened in Jerusalem’s Lot and suggests that Charles succumbed to madness. However, he mentions that noises can still be heard in the walls of Chapelwaite and that the rats seem unusually large.
Characters from Jerusalem’s Lot, by Stephen King.
The main character is Charles Boone, an educated and rational man who inherits the Chapelwaite mansion and decides to move there despite the locals’ warnings. From the beginning, he is shown as an educated gentleman with a certain intellectual arrogance that leads him to belittle local superstitions. However, as the story progresses, his self-confidence cracks, and what initially seemed a simple concern becomes an obsession to discover the truth behind Jerusalem’s Lot and its connection to his lineage. Charles is marked by misfortune: his wife Sarah died before the story starts, and his arrival in Chapelwaite seems to be the turning point that determines his destiny. His evolution is tragic: from a skeptical and rational man, he becomes a victim of the dark forces that inhabit the cursed village. His desperation leads him to make an extreme decision, convinced that ending his lineage is the key to preventing the entity from returning.
Calvin McCann, his faithful servant and only companion in Chapelwaite, joins Charles. Cal is a practical, reserved, and loyal man who, from the beginning, perceives the growing threat in the house. Although he does not entirely share Charles’ fascination with the mystery of Jerusalem’s Lot, he remains at his side out of duty and friendship. His role is witness and support, but also that of a rational conscience trying to dissuade his master from making impulsive decisions. However, when the situation becomes untenable, he accompanies him on his last expedition to the village, demonstrating unwavering courage and devotion. His fate is even more tragic than Charles’s, as he is murdered in the church at the climax of the story.
James Boon, the leader of the sect that lived in Jerusalem’s Lot, is one of the most enigmatic characters. He appears in historical accounts and, finally, as a spectral and evil figure. Boon is described as a decrepit older man, but with a strange magnetism, who represents the direct connection between the Boone family and the cult of The Worm. His presence in the story is ominous, symbolizing the corruption and curse that have affected entire generations. His reappearance at the end of the story confirms that his influence is still strong and that his pact with the entity still keeps him in the form of unlife, waiting for the Boone lineage to open the way for him again.
Charles’s past also features his ancestor, Philip Boone, who fell under the influence of James Boon and the book De Vermis Mysteriis. Philip is Charles’s dark reflection: a man who, centuries earlier, was also consumed by obsession and ended up serving the entity. His story warns of what awaits his descendants, reinforcing the idea that there is an inevitable destiny for the Boones.
Other secondary characters contribute to creating an atmosphere of mystery in the story. Mrs. Cloris, the housekeeper, is one of the few people who try to warn Charles of the dangers of Chapelwaite. Her knowledge of the hidden history of the place and her genuine fear makes her a key character in conveying the extent of the curse to the reader. There are also the inhabitants of Preacher’s Corners, who, although they hardly interact with Charles, reflect the superstition and terror that the name Chapelwaite inspires in the community. Among them, Thompson, the woodcutter, stands out, reacting with hostility to Charles’ arrival, showing that the fear of the Boone lineage is still alive among the locals.
Finally, the very entity Boon and his followers serve, Yogsoggoth, “The Worm,” becomes a kind of character. Although he is never described in detail, his presence is overwhelming. It manifests through the cursed book, the noises in the walls, and the corrupting influence that affects those near Jerusalem’s Lot. Its appearance at the story’s climax confirms that this is not just a ghost story but a tale of cosmic horror in which ancient and incomprehensible forces stalk the protagonists.
Analysis of Jerusalem’s Lot, by Stephen King.
Jerusalem’s Lot is a story that plays with gothic and cosmic horror elements, combining influences from authors such as H. P. Lovecraft with the classic narrative of 19th-century epistolary novels. Stephen King creates a story in which fear comes as much from the supernatural as from the inescapable destiny of the characters. Through a series of letters and diaries, the story immerses us in the decay of a cursed house, the mystery of an abandoned village, and the perverse influence of an ancient book that seems to contain forbidden knowledge.
The key to understanding the story is its epistolary structure. The story is not narrated traditionally but through letters and diary entries written by Charles Boone and his servant, Calvin McCann. This format is important because it allows us to see events from the character’s perspective, which increases the sense of uncertainty and subjectivity. There is no omniscient narrator to clarify what is real and what is the product of madness or fear. This creates a disturbing atmosphere in which the reader, like Charles, constantly doubts what is happening.
Another central aspect is the gothic setting, a fundamental element in the story. Chapelwaite is an imposing but decaying mansion surrounded by dark woods and located near an abandoned village. From the beginning, the place conveys a sense of desolation and menace, with dusty corridors, disturbing portraits, and strange noises in the walls. The terror does not come from sudden scares but from the accumulation of small disturbing details: the hostility of the locals, the warnings of Mrs. Cloris, the sounds in the house, and the constant presence of rats in the walls. The atmosphere is key to the story, as it establishes that something evil is present even before the characters discover it.
One of the most critical themes in the story is the power of inheritance and tragic destiny. From the beginning, we are told that the Boone family has been marked by misfortune. On moving to Chapelwaite, Charles tries to rationalize his family history and distance himself from superstition. Still, he gradually becomes trapped in the same patterns as his ancestors. The revelation that his great-uncle Philip Boone was involved with the Jerusalem’s Lot cult reinforces the idea that the past is still alive and that the Boone lineage is doomed. Charles not only investigates the mysteries of the house and the village but also, without realizing it, becomes part of them. In this sense, the story poses a disturbing question: can we escape our destiny, or are we tied to it by our blood and history?
In addition, the story incorporates elements of cosmic horror, a subgenre of horror popularized by Lovecraft. This type of horror is based on the idea that humanity is insignificant in the face of much older and more powerful cosmic forces. In Jerusalem’s Lot, this idea manifests itself in the presence of Yogsoggoth, “The Worm,” an ancient creature inhabiting the earth’s depths and has been worshipped for generations. Unlike traditional horror, in which a ghost or demon can be vanquished with courage or ingenuity, the enemy is too great to be destroyed in cosmic horror. The burning of the book De Vermis Mysteriis seems to halt the threat, but Charles knows that he has only delayed the inevitable. His suicide is his only way of preventing the curse from continuing, but the final revelation of the story — that there are still descendants of the Boones and that the rats are still in the walls — suggests that the cycle is not over.
Finally, the story resorts to the figure of the forbidden book, which is a recurring element in horror literature. De Vermis Mysteriis is a grimoire, that is to say, a book of occult knowledge that contains secrets about supernatural entities. Its name refers to the “worm” in both a literal and a symbolic sense: it can refer to the being that dwells under Jerusalem’s Lot and the corruption and decadence that infiltrate the Boone family. In many horror stories, forbidden knowledge is a trap: once someone acquires it, they cannot get rid of it and end up being destroyed. In this story, Charles seeks to understand the mystery of his family, but his curiosity leads him to share the same fate as his ancestors.
