The Werewolf Chase on Neibolt Street

The Werewolf Chase on Neibolt Street marks the Losers' Club's first armed assault on the entity haunting Derry, a confrontation that transforms the boys' vague fears into a concrete, life-or-death struggle. Bill Denbrough, driven by the murder of his brother George, and Richie Tozier, his loyal but terrified friend, enter the cellar of the abandoned house at 29 Neibolt Street, the site where Eddie Kaspbrak had earlier encountered a leprous apparition. The creature they face takes the form of the Teenage Werewolf from the horror movie Richie had watched at the Aladdin Theater, a shape drawn directly from his own recent fears. The chase that follows—through the cellar, across the overgrown lawn, and down Neibolt Street on Bill's bicycle Silver—demonstrates that It can be wounded by both a father's pistol and a child's novelty gag, and that the Losers' shared courage, however fragile, is their only defense.

The Descent into the Cellar

Bill and Richie arrive at 29 Neibolt Street on a gray morning, having stashed Richie's bike under a bridge in the Barrens and retrieved Silver. Bill carries his father's Walther PPK, a souvenir from the Occupation, loaded with four bullets; Richie brings a packet of Dr. Wacky's sneezing powder, a joke-shop item he had bought for laughs. They crawl under the porch, past the broken cellar window Eddie had described, and drop into the damp, coal-littered basement. The air is thick with the smell of decay and cheap wine. As they explore, the cellar door at the head of the stairs crashes open, spilling thin daylight down the steps. A snarling, hairy creature descends—not a man in a costume but a genuine werewolf, its paws tipped with jagged nails, its face a mask of fur and foam. Richie, frozen, recognizes it as the monster from the movie he had seen with Ben and Beverly: the Teenage Werewolf, complete with a Derry High School jacket.

The Fight and the Escape

Bill fires the Walther three times, the shots deafening in the enclosed space. One bullet tears a chunk from the werewolf's skull, but the creature does not fall. It seizes Bill's ankles and begins to drag him backward into the darkness. Richie, scrambling up a mountain of coal toward a high window, reaches down and grabs Bill's hands. In a moment of desperate inspiration, he shouts in the Voice of the Irish Cop—a persona he had adopted after their encounter with Officer Nell—and the creature hesitates. Richie then tears open the sneezing powder and squeezes it into the werewolf's face. The monster sneezes violently, releasing its grip. Bill fires a fourth shot, and the two boys tumble out the window onto the grass. They run for Silver, Bill pedaling furiously as the werewolf gives chase, its paws scraping the pavement. Richie, clinging to the package carrier, sees the name "RICHIE TOZIER" stitched on the creature's jacket—a mocking detail that confirms It knows them personally. Silver reaches the intersection of Neibolt Street and Route 2, and the werewolf vanishes, leaving only a bright flick of orange near a stormdrain.

Consequences and Significance

The chase establishes several crucial facts. It can be physically hurt: Bill's bullets draw blood, and Richie's sneezing powder causes genuine distress. It reads its victims' minds, taking the shape of whatever frightens them most—for Richie, the Teenage Werewolf from the Aladdin matinee. It leaves taunting signatures, like the name on the jacket, that personalize the horror. Most importantly, the boys survive. They escape not through adult intervention or supernatural aid, but through their own resourcefulness: Bill's marksmanship, Richie's quick thinking, and the speed of Silver. The experience forges a deeper bond between them and proves that the Losers' Club, however outmatched, can fight back. The chase also cements the house on Neibolt Street as one of It's primary access points to the surface world, a place the Losers will return to later that summer with silver slugs and a slingshot.