Aftermath for the vampires (post-book questions)

[aeroplane]

Mostly some things I'd be curious to hear a theory on and obviously we'd need to consider the events of One for the Road from Night Shift.

Here goes.....


1. Even though Salem's Lot takes place in a different era than we live in today (for the timeline), is it unreasonable to wonder why the State Police or feds never came in and tore the town to pieces looking for clues?

In theory, sooner or later a search would turn up a few hiding places and eventually someone would start piecing things together. Seems like if this sort of widespread disappearance of people happened in real life, a massive search would take place. But I also like to believe it would have happened during the timeline Salem's Lot takes place in.


2. Just how far could you count on the vampires branching out? In SL and One For the Road (OFTR), we see a number of characters depicted as living and working just mere miles from Jerusalem's Lot. They carry crucifixes but don't seem to be overly worried, otherwise they'd move further away.

It would seem like such a large number of vampires would get tired of waiting for a few hitchhikers or drifters a year to accidentally wander into their town after dark. So eventually, you'd think some of them would start making headway into nearby towns. Wouldn't you? We see a little of this mentioned in the press clippings collected by Ben Mears, but not a whole lot more detail than that.

[wally wonder]

those questions surfaced for me, aeroplane, least the first one did. but really, what happens when the unexplained happens, today, yesterday, or tomorrow? the dallas police show up and "area 51" becomes part of the vocabulary. i thought there was a suggestion that some kind of investigation took place, albeit, in bits and pieces, and...this could be related to Q2, didn't the boys from mexico head back cause they'd (ben, anyway) been reading the papers and decided to do something?

besides, rupert murdoch wasn't around (unless he had more hair and was busy climbing the corporate ladder) at the time and walter was getting ready to retire...and that's the way it was?

[scarywriter]

I didn't grow up in Maine, but one of the other sparsely populated parts of the country. I know from experience that sometimes towns die. A factory or a mill shuts down, business that rely on those workers close up shop, some of the people move to find new jobs, old folks who don't move get older and pass away, no one new moves in and next thing you know, a drive down Highway 71 takes you through what is essentially a ghost town. It doesn't raise any alarms or red flags for troopers or politicians or even the next town over.

[michal]

And why would the police "tear it apart"? There is no proof that a crime has taken place, no bleeding bodies - just people that have left and moved on.

[aeroplane]

And why would the police "tear it apart"? There is no proof that a crime has taken place, no bleeding bodies - just people that have left and moved on.

There is no proof of a crime but there are a couple of good reasons that someone might show up to investigate.

1. When somebody as important as a County Sheriff (Homer McCaslin) vanishes, it usually makes news and finding him would seem like a priority.

2. The town contains what is described as a brand new school, which is now going unused. Heck of a lot of tax dollars were spent on that only for it to sit empty.


Point is, I'd picture feds or detectives crawling all over that town looking for something.

[aeroplane]

Does anyone care to venture what percentage of the vampires who were already in Salem's Lot survived the fire started by Ben Mears?

Where did some of the go afterwards?

Who would have been the "new" Master in Salem's Lot with Barlow out of the picture?

One can also imagine the number of possible vampires who may have attacked later visitors to Salem's Lot like the Daniel Holloway family at the end of the original book or the Lumley wife and daughter from One For the Road. Perhaps it was Mike Ryerson, Danny Glick, Charlie Rhodes, Dud Rogers. The possibilities are endless.

[Reactor]

The story of the vampires obviously didn't end with the book. According to the ending of Salem's Lot, it still continues as we speak.

I'm not that experienced in vampirology, but it CAN be possible for them to die in hunger. If they don't spread after finishing Salem's Lot, and don't have the possibility to attack bypassers, sooner or later they shall die. This time, for real. A vampire can't just starve endlessly, they also need to eat. As the book stated, as the time passes, they became cognizant of their new existence, thus realizing that the town they fed upon became deserted and derelict. If they wanna live, they have to move on. I'm pretty sure they're still spreading, and their numbers are growing, as they turn more and more people into vampires. If the novel would be real, they would feast on the entire planet for now, as it takes very specialized weapons to take out a vampire. By the time the police or the military realizes the grim situation, it goes out of control.

I better check the window. Something is knocking the glass.

[Rand]

I'm not that experienced in vampirology, but it CAN be possible for them to die in hunger.

That depends on the writer's take on the myths, and starvation isn't usually listed as one of the ways to kill a vampire.

You're not thinking of the vampire-like race in Stargate Atlantis, are you? I ask because any story I've encountered where the subject comes up, not feeding only weakens them, often to the point that they're immobilized and their bodies become dessicated. In some they go comatose, in others they stay conscious suffering. Once they get fed again, they regain their strength. But we're talking about traditional Western style vampires here.

[Reactor]

No, I was talking about "oridinary" vampires, at least the ones in Salem's Lot seems quite oridinary to me. I know many writers deviate from the original recipes, and they decide to modify vampires' properties. This is what I hate the most - someone figures out a very good creature of the night, then along comes some writer-wannabe, and simply modifies this creature with long past, just to be...heh...creative.
Hey, I even read a book where vampires was just as easy to kill as a normal human being (in my opinion, that was a pile of poo), though we all know that vampires are invulnerable for common way of attacks. Reggie Sawyer blasted one with a shotgun, and nothing happened. Mark also knew that common bullets won't even scratch a vampire.

The "traditional" vampires also need to eat. Their afterlife is just as real as their previous one was. They live - therefore they need to consume blood. If not, sooner or later, they could die of hunger. Sure they could stay alive for huge amount of years - 3-400 years - but eventually, the lack of blood will be victorious above immortality. The vampire dies without food.

[GNTLGNT]

I don't have anyhting to add to all opinions above-coz they're all pretty danged good-but being the wise-a** I am, I still to have to drop a comment(kinda like an air-biscuit in church and about as repellent)Vampires do exist and they work for the Government-coz they suck the soul out of every paycheck!....