Castle Rock (Stephen King)

Appeared in the novel Cujo (1981) and portrayed by Ed Lauter in the film adaptation of the same name (1983). In the novel, Joe Camber has a wife named Charity whom he has a young son with, Brett. Joe is a controlling husband and has a strained relationship with Charity. Eventually Joe is mauled by his own dog, Cujo, when he goes rabid, becoming the second victim of the dog. He is also mentioned multiple times in the novel Needful Things (1991) which also takes place in Castle Rock.

Alan Pangborn is the sheriff of Castle Rock appearing in the novel The Dark Half (1989), the novella "The Sun Dog" (1990) and the novel Needful Things (1991), as well as being a primary character on the Castle Rock television series based on King's novels.[2][3] In The Dark Half, the novel in which Pangborn is first introduced, he is shown as husband to Annie and father to Toby ("Al") and Todd and shown to have a perchant for magic tricks.[4][5] Pangborn re-appears again as the main protagonist of Needful Things, by this time his wife Annie and son Todd have been killed in a car crash. In the television series Pangborn is mistakenly shot by Ruth Deaver whom he had romantic feelings for.[4] Pangborn has been portrayed by Ed Harris in the film Needful Things; Michael Rooker in The Dark Half; and by Scott Glenn and Jeffrey Pierce in the television series Castle Rock.[6][7][8][9][10]

John “Ace” Merrill is a psychopathic, cruel bully who appears in "The Body", "The Sun Dog", and Needful Things. In "The Body", Ace is the leader of a group of bullies who torments Gordie Lachance, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio. He later attempts to murder them after they find the body of Ray Browers so that Ace and his gang will get the credit. Gordie scares Ace and his gang off by threatening them with a handgun. As an adult, Gordie sees that Ace has become an alcoholic, overweight millworker and takes pleasure in seeing his tormentor so miserable. By the time of "The Sun Dog", Ace has been sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary and disowned by his only remaining family, his uncle Pop Merrill. In Needful Things, Ace returns to his hometown, on the run to avoid being murdered by a pair of drug dealers over unpaid debts. Ace now holds a grudge against Sheriff Alan Pangborn for being the one to arrest him. Ace becomes the right-hand man of Leland Gaunt, a demon who provides Ace with cocaine and the implications of buried treasure in exchange for procuring guns for him. In the climax of the novel, Ace and Buster Keeton team up at Gaunt's behest to wreak havoc. Merrill holds Pangborn's girlfriend Polly Chalmers at gunpoint when Gaunt and Pangborn confront each other, only to be shot in the head by Norris.

Merrill is played by Kiefer Sutherland in Stand by Me and Paul Sparks in the television series.

Sheriff George Bannerman is the sheriff of Castle Rock, appearing in The Dead Zone, Cujo, and "The Body". In The Dead Zone Bannerman, after months of failing to catch the local serial killer the Castle Rock Strangler, approaches Johnny Smith to help catch the Strangler. Bannerman is horrified to learn the Strangler is, in reality, Deputy Frank Dodd, who he viewed as a surrogate son. The two men corner Dodd in his house, where he commits suicide. Decades later, in Cujo, Bannerman helps organize the search for Donna and Tad Trenton, who are currently missing and, unbeknownst to anyone, trapped at the Camber house by the titular rabid Saint Bernard. Suspicious when there are no leads to their location and inspired by his previous investigation with Smith, Bannerman checks at the Camber house and discovers Donna and Tad. Before he can phone in this discovery, Cujo appears and viciously mauls and disembowels him.

Bannerman was portrayed by Tom Skerritt in The Dead Zone and Sandy Ward in Cujo. In the television adaptation of The Dead Zone, Bannerman is merged with the character of Walt Hazlett to form the character Sheriff Walt Bannerman, portrayed by Chris Bruno.

Reginald Marion “Pop” Merrill is a loan shark and the owner of the Emporium Galorium, a local junk store who appears in "The Sun Dog" and is mentioned in Needful Things. Pop is a greedy, cruel, and miserly man, who often scams his customers and is disliked by the rest of the town. In spite of this, Pop is extremely wealthy and well-connected and serves a variety of clients, from desperate people he takes advantage of to renowned billionaires. In "The Sun Dog", Kevin Delevan takes his haunted Sun 660 Polaroid camera (which only produces photos of a malevolent dog standing in front of a white picket fence that becomes increasingly monstrous the more photos are taken of it) to Pop, who is unable to uncover anything wrong with the camera. Kevin and his father John (who had previously been the victim of Pop's outrageous interest rates) resolve to destroy the camera, but Pop, sensing the opportunity for money, swaps the camera with another Sun 660 and keeps the haunted one. All of Pop's clients balk at it, either believing it to be a fraud or being overcome with dread when they see it. The dog also begins to gradually drive him mad, allowing it to take control of him and force him to take photos on the Sun 660, which Pop believes to be a broken cuckoo clock he is repairing. Kevin and John, who had caught on to Pop's scam, attempt to stop him from releasing the dog, but they are too late; the dog breaks free, causing molten plastic to slice Pop's throat open. The dog is trapped once again by Kevin, and the Emporium burns down. Needful Things shows that the reason for Pop's death is unknown to the general public, though everyone, even his nephew Ace Merrill, is happy that he is dead.

Kevin Delevan is a local teenager who appears in "The Sun Dog". On his 15th birthday, Kevin receives a Sun 660 Polaroid camera as a gift. The camera quickly proves to be supernatural in nature, as it only produces photographs of a malevolent dog in front of a white picket fence, that becomes closer to the photograph and increasingly monstrous the more photos are taken with the camera. For lack of a better option, Kevin takes the camera to Pop Merrill, and both quickly conclude that the camera is haunted. Kevin's father John learns about this as well, and the two decide to destroy the camera; however, Pop swaps the camera with another Sun 660. Kevin experiences psychic dreams where he enters “Polaroidville”, an odd dimension that exists within photographs; Kevin comes to the conclusion that the dog is a predator from Polaroidsville that sees the real world as a new hunting ground, and that he is receiving the messages from Polaroidsville's “dogcatcher”, who, through cryptic clues, reveals to Kevin that the only way to stop the dog is to take another photo of it and that Pop kept the camera. John and Kevin go to stop Pop from freeing the dog, but are too late; the dog breaks loose and kills Merrill, but Kevin is able to trap it within another Sun 660. A year later, on his 16th birthday, Kevin is given a computer as a gift. When he turns it on, he receives a message from the dog, which reveals that the dog is loose again and is eager to get revenge against Kevin.

Frank Dodd is a deputy serving under Sheriff George Bannerman, while also moonlighting as the Castle Rock Strangler, a serial killer who rapes and murders women, who appears in The Dead Zone and is referenced in almost all stories set in Castle Rock. Dodd uses his involvement in the investigation to keep track of its progress and avoid capture. After Dodd murders a nine-year-old girl, Bannerman brings in the psychic Johnny Smith to assist in the investigation. Smith discovers Dodd is the killer, and Bannerman and Smith corner Dodd in his home, where he commits suicide and writes “I CONFESS” in lipstick in his neck. By the time of Cujo, Frank has become a local boogeyman to the children of Castle Rock. Tad Trenton's closet is haunted by a malevolent spirit that claims to be Dodd's ghost and threatens to murder the boy. The ghost later appears before the boy's father Vic while he sits in Tad's room.

Dodd is portrayed by Nicholas Campbell in The Dead Zone and by Michael Rogers in The Dead Zone television series.

Cujo is a Saint Bernard owned by the Camber family and the titular character of Cujo and is referenced in several of King's other works. Cujo is initially a friendly, playful dog who is friendly to everyone he comes across, but one day is bitten by a rabid bat. Cujo does his best to hide the wound, fearing he would upset his owners, and the rabies slowly drives him mad, convincing him that humans are responsible for his pain and prompting him to go on a murderous rampage. After murdering Joe Camber and Gary Pervier, Cujo traps Donna and Tad Trenton inside their broken down car after they come for auto repairs. Cujo refuses to allow them to leave and continuously tries to break in and kill them. When Donna leaves the car to escape, Cujo bites her repeatedly, though she manages to evade death, and Cujo continues to keep a watchful eye over the car. Eventually, Sheriff George Bannerman arrives and attempts to phone in his discovery of the two, only for Cujo to viciously disembowel him. Donna snaps and grabs Bannerman's revolver and shoots Cujo, and then impales him in the eye with a broken baseball bat. In Needful Things, Polly Chalmers, while at the now-abandoned Camber home, encounters Cujo's malevolent and restless spirit, which chases her out of the farm.