In Pet Sematary, Louis Creed and his family live in the town of Ludlow, Maine.
Louis moves there from Chicago after accepting a position connected with the University of Maine. He arrives with his wife Rachel, their daughter Ellie, their young son Gage, and Ellie’s cat, Winston Churchill, usually called Church. Their new home seems peaceful, but it lies near a children’s pet cemetery and an older burial ground with a terrifying supernatural history.
Ludlow becomes the setting where Louis learns that the land beyond the pet cemetery can return the dead to life, although what comes back is changed and dangerous. The town’s name is sometimes confused with Stephen King’s other fictional Maine locations, including Castle Rock, Derry, and Jerusalem’s Lot. Salem’s Lot is especially easy to mix up because it is the setting of another major King novel.
Pet Sematary was published in 1983. The fictional Ludlow is distinct from the real Ludlow, Maine, although King uses recognizable Maine geography and atmosphere throughout the story.