10 Stephen King Facts We Bet You Don’t Know

Stephen King is one of the greatest horror writers of all time, providing us with some of the finest works of fiction on our book shelves. For a man that writes a hell of a lot, we know surprisingly little about the successful author – so, let’s learn a little more.

1. The Musical

Stephen King doesn’t seem like the type of man that would write a musical, does he? But he did write one with John Mellencamp – an American rock singer-songwriter – which was called The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County. It was based on Mellencamp’s Indiana home, which came with a ghost story about three siblings who were playing in the woods when one was shot. The surviving brother and sister jumped into their car to get help, but, due to their panic, they swerved off the road and were instantly killed. The three siblings are thought to haunt the woods by Mellencamp’s home.

2. The Rock Bottom Remainders

Stephen King plays rhythm guitar in a band with a bunch of other writers, who call themselves The Rock Bottom Remainders. The band members include Matt Groening (The Simpson’s creator), Mitch Albom (Tuesday’s with Morrie), Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club) and Ridley Pearson (Peter and the Starcatchers), among others.

3. Drug and Alcohol Addictions

King’s imagination is so crazy that it’s probably no surprise that he once had an alcohol and drug addiction in the 80s – as some of ideas are a little out there! He used to be so high that he can’t remember writing Cujo at all.

His family confronted him with the cocaine, beer, Valium and Xanax they found in his rubbish bin, and he has been sober ever since.

4. Misery

Following Stephen King’s near-fatal car accident back in 1999, his homecare workers were instructed that under no circumstances could they make a Misery joke.

5. The Minivan

Stephen King bought the minivan that hit him back in 1999 for $1,500, with many reporting he didn’t want it to be sold on eBay. While he wanted to personally take it apart with a pickaxe, he chose to have it crushed at a junkyard.

6. Spot the Stephen

Stephen King has appeared in many of the movie adaptations of his novels. He was the cemetery caretaker in Sleepwalkers, Teddy Weizak in The Stand, Tom Holby in The Langoliers, Dr Bangor in Thinner, the Man at the ATM in Maximum Overdrive and the pizza delivery guy in Rose Red.

7. Personal Tragedy

Stephen King has wrote about his fair share of horrific tragedies over the years – but he unfortunately experienced one when he was a child, as his friend was struck and killed by a passing train. The event was so traumatic that Stephen has no memory of the tragedy.

8. Carrie

Stephen King was so frustrated with the novel Carrie that he threw it into the bin. However, his wife, Tabbie, scooped it out and convinced him to finish it. As a result, it was picked up by Doubleday, who gave him an initial advance of $2,500 – and it went on to become one of the most acclaimed horror novels in history. Thanks, Tabbie!

9. Ghosts

Stephen King once teamed up with Michael Jackson to create the King of Pop’s music video Ghosts. The 40-minute video features angry villagers who believe Jackson is corrupting their children, but they get a little more than they bargained for!

10. One Buck

Do you want to adapt one of King’s short stories? Well, you can for just $1 – as that’s how much he charges for the rights to one of his stories. He also requests that the filmmaker sends him a copy of the completed piece so he can add to the shelf of his “Dollar Babies”.

Do you want to read more stories about some respected writers? Read 10 Jaw-Dropping Stories about World Famous Authors.