Hi all,
Salem's Lot is my favorite King book, and one of my favorite novels, period. There is one part of it that has confused me for the longest time, and I'm hoping it can be answered here: Who attacks Ralphie Glick and when?
The Glick boys never make it to Mark's house. Ralphie vanishes (taken by Straker). Danny Glick stumbles back to his parents some time after that. Now, was he bitten by Barlow in the woods shortly after Ralphie was grabbed?
Here's why I'm confused: At that point in the novel, those two workmen had yet to pick up that large crate from the dock. I'm assuming that Barlow was in there.
If that's the case, how can Barlow have attacked Danny when he's in that Crate?
The only explanation I can think of is it was Barlow's coffin (among other evil possessions) in that crate, and Barlow was already holed up in the Marsten House, allowing him to roam and bite.
Or, Danny wasn't bitten in the woods. Maybe Straker clocked him and confused him, and he was later visited by Barlow in his room after the crate was delivered. (The movies indicate that Ralphie visited his brother, but there's no indication of that happening in the book.)
So, can anyone clear this up for me? Including the Head Honcho?
Thanks!
Matt
Hi! I've been very interested in this question myself and I joined this board specifically so I could write this reply.
I disagree with the explanation that many people on this thread have accepted for this problem - i.e., that Barlow was somehow in 'Salem's Lot to attack Danny. I have an alternative explanation that, I think, fits more neatly with the evidence, though it also is an explanation that leaves a great deal unexplained.
The first point is that I don't believe that Danny was bitten at all, by any vampire In the version of the book that I have (copyright 1975) there is absolutely no mention of Danny having puncture marks anywhere on his body. This is pretty clear because, when Danny returns home in confusion after being attacked in the woods, he quickly becomes very ill. The doctors are looking for an explanation for his anemia but none is found. If Danny came back home with fang marks somewhere on his body that certainly would have been spotted and pursued as an explanation for his sickness. For example, someone would have suggested a snake bite or some other external source for this illness caused by the bite. The fact that puncture wounds are never mentioned clearly means, I think, that there were none.
So, if that is the case, how did Danny become a vampire? I think that his is the one example in the book of the vampirism infection spreading through supernatural means other than directly from vampire to victim. I think that the ritual that Straker used to make Salem's Lot an acceptable hunting ground for Barlow had two components: one was to use Ralphie as a human sacrifice. Ralphie is eviscerated and offered up to Barlow's master, if we go by the book that Susan and Mark found in the Marsten house. But something was also done to Danny as part of the same ritual, though at an earlier stage. He was infected with the vampire virus and left to begin Barlow's work. Throughout the book there is the comparison of vampirism to an infection (most notably when Cody disinfects his wound and uses the tetanus shot to protect him from turning) and it is quite possible that there were other ways to spread it besides direct vampire-human conduct. The book suggests that the vampires are a form of demon and that vampirism is demonic possession. Perhaps the ritual partly involved summoning a minor vampire demon and putting it in Danny.
The second part of the argument is that I think it is clear that Barlow was in that box that the men picked up at the dock. The effect that the box has on the movers is proof enough of that. The overwhelming fear etc. is something only associated with Barlow's presence. Remember that, throughout the book, people feel very differently when Barlow is present vs. when he is absent - the obvious example being that Mark immediately knows that Barlow is gone when the men first go to the Marsten House to attack Barlow and find Susan instead. So, Barlow is in the box and, given what we know of the need for the ritual, I think that is the first time that he enters the Lot, even though Hubie Marsten had begun preparing the Lot for him many years before. (As an aside, I think it is really interesting that Marsten commits a murder and suicide in his house with the specific goal of making it unhallowed ground and, therefore, safe for Barlow).
Again, the ritual here is important. I think that the book implies strongly that vampires cannot travel freely. Barlow cannot enter Salem's Lot at all until Straker performs the ritual. Another example of this tie to a geographically specific area is, I think, the answer to the question of why vampires have not overrun all of southern Maine. The other vampires of Salem's Lot cannot, apparently, leave the vicinity of the Lot. That is their "ancestral earth" if you will and they cannot travel freely without that earth being with them. In the King story "The Night Flyer" there is an allusion to this - the NF uses his plane as a coffin and has the hold filled with his ancestral earth. Of course, one could argue (as some have) that this story suggests Barlow could have entered the Lot, bitten Danny, then returned to his coffin in some nearby location. But I think that for him to function anywhere, he needed that ritual to make it possible. The ritual is an indication that he had to get the permission/acquiescence of a higher (lower?) power if he was going to enter a new area. Maybe only vampires of Barlow's status needed such permission, but I think that the ritual here is key. And, again, the evidence is that Danny was not bitten.
I have not read King's "Dark Tower" series where, I understand, he lays out a lot more information about the nature of vampires in his universe. I am basing my comments entirely on what is in "Salem's Lot." So, it is possible that a clearer explanation of the ritual and what it means/how it works is found elsewhere. It is also possible (likely?) that Stephen modified the rules of his universe as it developed. For example, I understand that Type One vampires like Barlow are supposed to be hideously deformed. Barlow was not deformed and I have not read an explanation of that discrepancy. Did he hypnotize everyone into seeing him as very human looking when he really was not? That seems a waste of energy and something that he surely would not have continued when he was struggling with Ben in his coffin.
Anyway, that's my answer to the question. Hope it makes sense to people.