State of Maine

The State of Maine is the sovereign entity within whose jurisdiction the town of Ludlow and the contested lands of the Micmac Indian tribe lie. Its legal and political framework forms the mundane, rational counterpoint to the ancient, irrational power of the Micmac burying ground, and its institutions are repeatedly invoked in the narrative as the ultimate, if ineffective, arbiters of the land's fate and the consequences of the horrors that occur upon it.

Legal and Political Entanglement with the Micmac Lands

The State of Maine is directly involved in a complex legal dispute with the Micmac Indian tribe, the federal government, and various private claimants over the ownership of nearly eight thousand acres of land in Ludlow and the towns to its east. This litigation, which the realtor describes to Louis Creed as potentially stretching into the next century, directly encompasses the woods where the Pet Sematary and the more powerful Micmac burying ground are located. The state's claim to this land is historically tangled, with Jud Crandall recounting that the original colonial grants from "Good King Georgie" were so vaguely worded—referencing landmarks like a "great old maple" that fell in 1882 and an "Orrington Stream" that later silted up—that ownership became a "nice mess" of cross-claims and unrecorded deeds. Jud expresses a belief that the Indians will likely get the land back in the end, suggesting a fatalistic view of the state's ability to ultimately control this place of power.

The State as a Source of External Authority and Investigation

The State of Maine, through its various agencies, is the authority that would investigate the deaths and crimes that occur in the novel. When Victor Pascow is killed, the Penobscot County coroner is the official who will announce the cause of death, and the driver, Tremont Withers, is held pending state charges of reckless driving and vehicular manslaughter. Similarly, after Gage's death, the driver is reported to have attempted suicide, and the legal system is expected to handle his case with a slap-on-the-wrist fine. The state's legal apparatus is also the threat that deters Louis from his initial plan to exhume Gage's body, as he fears being charged with malicious mischief or vandalism, leading to the humiliation of a sanity test and the loss of his job. The state's power is thus a real, constraining force on the characters, even as they are drawn toward actions that defy its laws.

The State's Inability to Contain the Supernatural

Despite its legal authority, the State of Maine is utterly powerless against the supernatural force of the Micmac burying ground. The state's laws and courts are irrelevant to the ancient, malevolent power that Jud Crandall describes as having its own phases, like the moon. The state's investigation into the Timmy Baterman affair, prompted by anonymous letters to the War Department, is rendered moot by the fire that destroys the Baterman house and the bodies within. The state's legal system cannot prevent the resurrection of the dead, nor can it punish the force that drives a man to dig up his son's grave or that compels a resurrected child to murder. The narrative ultimately shows that the State of Maine, for all its bureaucratic and legal machinery, is a fragile human construct that cannot comprehend or control the dark, wild power that exists within its borders, a power that operates on a completely different, pre-legal plane of existence.