Aroostook County

Aroostook County is the vast, sparsely populated northernmost county of Maine, a region of deep forests and harsh winters that in Stephen King's Pet Sematary represents the outermost reach of the wilderness surrounding the Creed family's home in Ludlow. It is a place where the ordinary rules of civilization and even death itself seem to fray, serving as the ultimate geographical and symbolic frontier of the novel's supernatural horror. The county is not a setting for the main action but a distant, ominous reference point that underscores the raw, untamed power of the land and the terrible consequences of tampering with forces beyond human understanding.

Geography and Wilderness

The North Ludlow Woods, which begin just beyond the Creed property, eventually extend into Aroostook County, a fact that Jud Crandall uses to impress upon Ellie the danger of getting lost. He describes the woods as "nothing but woods for fifty miles or more" that "ends up going onto those state lands I told you about, the ones the Indians want back." This places Aroostook County at the far end of a continuum of wildness, from the tamed lawn of the Creed house, through the Pet Sematary, the Micmac burying ground, and finally into a trackless expanse where human influence is minimal. The county's association with the Micmac Indian tribe's land claims further links it to the ancient, pre-colonial history of the region and the potent, dangerous magic that Jud believes still lingers there.

The Wendigo and Supernatural Power

Aroostook County is the domain of the Wendigo, a cannibalistic spirit of the north country that is the ultimate source of the evil power in the Micmac burying ground. Jud Crandall recounts the legend of the Wendigo, explaining that it was a story the Indians "had to have" to explain the horror of cannibalism during times of starvation. The Wendigo is said to "touch" its victims, giving them a taste for human flesh. This spirit is not confined to Aroostook County but is most strongly associated with its deep, cold woods. When Louis Creed makes his final, desperate journey to the Micmac burying ground with his son's body, he encounters a massive, unseen presence in Little God Swamp that he believes is the Wendigo, a creature whose passage is marked by the sound of breaking trees and a sickening, spoiled smell. This encounter confirms that the power of the place is not merely local but is connected to a much older, more primal force that roams the northern wilderness.

A Place of Grisly Anecdote

The only direct narrative reference to Aroostook County is a grim, darkly comic story told by a pathology clerk at the Eastern Maine Medical Center. He describes a man who died on a fishing trip in a remote part of the county, "in one of those little towns that just have a couple of map coordinates for a name." The man's body, improperly embalmed, was shipped home but was mistakenly routed through Miami, Des Moines, and Fargo before finally arriving in Minnesota, by which time it had completely decomposed, becoming "totally black" and smelling "like a spoiled pork roast." This anecdote, while seemingly a digression, reinforces the novel's central theme of death's physical reality and the grotesque failures that can occur when the rituals of handling the dead break down. It also paints Aroostook County as a place so remote and wild that death there can become a logistical nightmare, a fitting prelude to the far more terrible violations of the natural order that Louis Creed will attempt.

Narrative Significance

Aroostook County functions as a geographical and symbolic terminus for the novel's exploration of death and the wilderness. It is the place where the Wendigo, the ultimate embodiment of the land's corrupting power, is said to roam. The county's vast, untamed nature stands in stark contrast to the ordered, domestic world of the Creed home, and its mention serves to remind the reader that the evil Louis has unleashed is not a contained phenomenon but part of a much larger, ancient, and indifferent force. The story of the mishandled corpse from Aroostook County, while macabre, is a mundane horror compared to the supernatural resurrection Louis attempts, yet it shares the same underlying theme: the failure to properly manage the dead leads to chaos and disgust. The county thus represents the outer limit of the known world, beyond which lie only the darkest secrets and the most terrible consequences.