Deadfall

The Deadfall is a massive, treacherous pile of fallen trees and branches that forms a crucial physical and supernatural barrier in the woods behind the Creed home in Ludlow. Located at the far edge of the Pet Sematary, it separates the children's graveyard for pets from the deeper, forbidden woods that contain the ancient Micmac burying ground. More than a mere obstacle, the Deadfall is a boundary that tests those who would cross it, and its very existence seems too artful and convenient to be a work of nature alone, as Louis Creed himself suspects when he first sees it.

Physical Description and Location

The Deadfall is a "jackstraw jumble of fallen trees" that looks "both sinister and dangerous" to anyone who approaches it. It is situated at the back of the Pet Sematary, a circular clearing of mown grass bounded by thick underbrush on three sides and this pile of dead wood on the fourth. The trees are piled up like straws, and the pile is so unstable that climbing it carelessly could cause an avalanche of logs, breaking an ankle or worse. The Deadfall's very randomness seems too artful, too perfect for a work of nature, suggesting an intentional design to block passage into the woods beyond.

The Secret of Crossing

The Deadfall cannot be crossed by ordinary means. It requires a specific technique and a state of mind that Jud Crandall imparts to Louis Creed: "Follow me and don't look down. Don't hesitate and don't look down. I know the way through, but it has to be done quick and sure." When Jud first leads Louis across it on the night they bury Church, Louis finds that if he follows this instruction, his feet find secure holds automatically, and the exhilaration of the crossing is tremendous. The same principle applies when Louis later carries Gage's body to the Micmac burying ground alone; he is able to mount the Deadfall "quickly and surely, as he had on the night Jud had shown him the way." Steve Masterton, attempting to follow Louis, also experiences a "crazy daredevil exhilaration" and successfully reaches the top before fear and a breaking branch cause him to fall back.

The Barrier's Significance

The Deadfall is explicitly recognized as a barrier. In Louis's dream-vision, Victor Pascow warns him, "The barrier was not made to be broken." Jud Crandall also refers to it as such, and Louis himself thinks, "the barrier. Yes, that's what it was—why try to pretend it wasn't?" The Deadfall is the physical manifestation of the boundary between the relatively safe, known world of the Pet Sematary and the dangerous, unknown power of the Micmac burying ground. It is a threshold that, once crossed, changes a person, binding them to the secret and the power of the place beyond.

The Deadfall in the Narrative

The Deadfall is a recurring site of pivotal action. It is where Jud first demonstrates the secret of crossing to Louis. It is where Louis, after his sleepwalking episode, returns to the Pet Sematary and attempts to climb the Deadfall alone, only to feel it shift under his feet and retreat. It is the obstacle that Louis must overcome twice more: once carrying Church's body and again carrying Gage's body to the Micmac burying ground. Finally, it is the point beyond which Steve Masterton cannot follow, marking the limit of his involvement in the horror. The Deadfall thus serves as a recurring test of will and a symbol of the irreversible journey into the supernatural.