It was a dark and stormy November night back in the year of 1979. November 17th, to be exact. It was the night that the mini series ‘Salem’s Lot’ was unleashed upon an unsuspecting North American television viewing audience. It was based on a novel written in 1975 by none other than the one and only Stephen King. It left an indelible mark on the collective memories of those old enough to remember the bone chilling tale which sprang from the creative pen of one of the most prolific writers of our age.
The story takes place in the fictitious town of Salem’s Lot, in the state of Maine. In many ways Salem’s Lot was a postcard perfect little village that would be the ideal backdrop for a Norman Rockwell print. It was the perfect setting for a dark and malevolent force to creep in and prey upon the local community like a wolf amongst the sheep.
The chief villain was a mysterious figure by the name of ‘Mr. Kurt Barlow’. No one had ever met or seen this man, but his representative, a Mr. Richard Straker, ominously reassured the townsfolk that they would all meet Mr. Barlow ‘soon enough’.
It was not long after that mysterious happenings began to occur. Disappearances of pets and people marked the arrival of Mr. Barlow, who showed up in a large wooden shipping crate that was unloaded into the basement of a very spooky old mansion named ‘Marsten House’ which was located high atop a hill. This trend continued throughout the story, until several of the missing folks returned, usually in the middle of the night, as Vampires! Aaaah!!!
Of course, there are heroes in this story as well. A man by the name of Ben Mears, a writer, embarks on trying to get to the bottom of what the hell was happening in the picturesque little town. Ben is also accompanied by a young ‘sidekick’ named Mark Petrie, who just happened to be a ‘horror junkie’ in his spare time. Who would have thunk it! That was where the first half of the story ended for the evening, leaving us hanging by our freshly bitten fingernails.
November 24th, 1979. One week later.
The second half of Salem’s Lot aired on the ABC television network. The story picks up in what appears to be the inside of the county jailhouse. As the camera quietly and slowly skims past the bars of a jail cell , it comes to rest on a solitary prisoner asleep on a cot. Slowly the man wakens and wipes the sleep from his weary eyes. Shadows begin to dance across his face indicating there is someone, or something in the room outside his cell with him. Suddenly, a bony clawed hand waves across the lock, causing the cell door to open on its own. All this in dead silence. The camera, focused on the man’s puzzled expression, suddenly jumps to a terrifying closeup of the most terrifyingly hideous vampire you’ve ever seen, snarling like a rabid dog and bearing its long, pointed rat like teeth in a menacing manner. The man’s utterly horrified expression fills the screen momentarily, mouth gaping wide in a silent scream. Again, back to the withered face of the pale skinned, yellow eyed monster, snarling even more viciously, followed by it lunging at the petrified inmate in a vicious attack, abruptly ending a scene that was just too horrible to watch. Man, what ’s that disgusting smell? Yes, it was THAT scary!
Things go from bad to worse in Salem’s Lot. More and more people vanish and return as vampires. In one especially chilling sequence, the hero Ben Mears finds himself alone in a hospital morgue with the sheet covered body of a seemingly dead woman lying on a gurney. Mears senses he is in danger and begins to recite the 23rd psalm (As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death) very earnestly while hastily fashioning a makeshift crucifix out of two wooden tongue depressors and masking tape. Suddenly, on cue, the corpse begins to twitch and return to life, rising on the gurney and staring at Ben with a very pissed off expression. Ben and a second man confront the loudly hissing ‘undead’ woman and repel her by pressing the sizzling ‘popsicle stick’ crucifix to her forehead, causing the ghastly creature to vanish into thin air! It was truly a INAFUP moment! (I Need Another Fresh Underwear, Please)
I’m almost too terrified to go on. Ok. Here we go.
In perhaps the most terrifying scene of all, young Mark Petrie the horror buff was visiting with his parents and a Catholic Priest when suddenly the lights start flickering and the whole room begins to violently shake as though a freight train were passing through it. At this point ’Something’ crashes through the kitchen window and lands on the floor in a black heap. Slowly the heap begins to move and rise, revealing non other than ’The master vampire’ Mr. Barlow, who promptly kills Mark’s parents with a double ’Noggin Knocker’. After Mark realizes they are dead, he vows to kill Barlow if it is the last thing he does. Barlow then turns on Mark, but lo and behold, the Catholic Priest, armed with a tiny crucifix, comes to his aid and valiantly saves him from certain death. At this point Barlow’s trusty assistant ‘Mr.Straker’ enters the room and challenges the Priest to a ’Showdown of Faiths’, so to speak. Straker mocks the priest by saying that he is nothing but a glorified ’Shaman’, and that ’The Master’ Mr. Barlow wants him, kinda like Uncle Sam ‘wants you!’ The priest, obviously terrified, reminds Straker that he is a priest, but no one seems to be impressed. Barlow simply rips the crucifix from ‘Father Chicken’s’ hand, crushing it and dropping it on the floor. Yikes! There goes another perfectly good pair of underwear!
All kidding aside, do you know that when we become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and gets added to his flock, we become members of a ‘Royal Priesthood’? Yes, it’s true! Not just some hokey, crucifix waving charlatan in a weird monkey suit, but a Bona Fide priest of the highest order. When we believe in Jesus, soften our hearts and repent of our sinful ways, and allow ourselves to be baptized according to the commands of Christ himself, we automatically become one of an elite group of soul winning warriors, armed to the teeth to go out there into the world looking for lost sheep ‘bleating’ in the darkness, trying to find their way home. In a manner of speaking, all of us have been ‘bitten’ by the ‘master vampire’, Satan himself, and the effect of that is the loss of our souls. This is were the ‘highest priest of all’ Jesus Christ came into the world and paid the ultimate price to release us from the curse that we were all under, by becoming ‘accursed’ himself, and being nailed to an ‘Old Wooden Cross’ in order to undo the damage the devil has done.
1st Peter chapter 2 verse 9
“9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Galatians chapter 3 verse 13
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”
These are just two tiny, but extremely powerful passages that give you an idea of that of which I speak. Trust me, there is a whole lot more. A WHOLE LOT!
So remember, priest, you don’t need a little toy in your hand to wave in the face of the devil when he says ‘I want you’. He once had you, but thanks to Jesus and the redemption that came because of his death on the REAL cross, satan no longer has us, and if you stay faithful, he never will again!
Satan and Mr. Barlow have a few things in common. They are both nasty. They are both ‘ugly as sin’. And they are both ‘TOAST’. In the end, Barlow had a wooden stake driven through his cold, miserable heart in an unforgettable and climactic scene. As soon as he croaked, a powerful wind came along and blew the remains of his rapidly decomposing body away as though it were nothing but ‘Dust in the Wind’. On that note, let’s give praise to our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, the three greatest ‘Vampire Slayers’ of all time! Amen!!
Sunday October 19th, 2025
By Lucien Alexander Delean aka ‘Looch’
“You’ll meet him soon enough”