Inspiration for Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary”

Stephen King wrote his horror novel Pet Sematary in 1983. Most fans know King was inspired to write his novel The Shining after staying at one of America’s most haunted “The Stanley Hotel” located in Estes Park, Colorado. He wrote The Shining while he lived in Boulder, Colorado not far from Estes Park. 

But what many people do not know is his visit also inspired him to write Pet Sematary. The Stanley has a very discrete Pet Cemetery on its’ grounds.

The Stanley Hotel is made up of several large buildings. The Main hotel is the one most often photographed. All of the buildings on the property are considered haunted. 

One building to the west of the main hotel has served as a resident for many of the past managers and their families. The little pet cemetery that can be found just down the hill from the main hotel was established when these managers started to bury their beloved pets in this area.

There are twelve markers in this little graveyard for: Casey, Comanche 1974-86, Elsie, Holmes 1984-86, Jeavens 1974-76, Maynard 1984-86, Blue Stanley l 1977-79, Blue Stanley ll and Blue Stanley lll. There are also two RIP’s and one unmarked grave.

Stephen King while staying at the hotel in the 1970’s discovered this little cemetery--hence his book.

In November of this year, 2013 a limited 30^th Anniversary edition of Pet Sematary is being released.

My Group and I have investigated The Stanley Hotel several times, in future posts I will write about our experiences.

The following video is Jeff Belanger at the Pet Cemetery at The Stanley. I have done an investigation with him at The Stanley. He has a great sense of humor.