Stephen King's Evil Librarian

Chicopee Public Library figures prominently in new short story by horror writer Stephen King. (Springfield Republican, 3/8/2011)

Excerpt:     Contois’s laughter, however. is for an even more personal reason. (mild spoiler to follow). One of the story’s nastiest villains is none other than the “head librarian” at the Chicopee Public Library.

“Isn’t that a hoot?” Contois said, laughing.

Rest assured, Contois is nothing like her fictional doppelganger, Ramona Norville, described by King as a “jovial woman of about 60 or so,” with a “Marine haircut and a take no prisoners handshake.”

“She is the salt of the earth, one of the sweetest persons you could ever meet,” Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said of Contois.

In the story, the protagonist, an author named Tess, is invited to speak at the library’s book club. Tess, who lives in Connecticut, accepts and drives to Chicopee for the event.

Although her talk goes without a hitch, Tess’s trip to Western Massachusetts turns into a nightmare after the evil librarian recommends that she take a shortcut home that will allow her to avoid getting on Interstate 84.

That shortcut, which involves the intersection of the very real Route 47 and the seemingly made-up Stagg Road, leads Tess to an abandoned store. What happens next is not for the squeamish.

“We don’t even do that to people who bring their books back late,” joked Bissonnette.