It has doubtless been said that fame and fortune will always have a downside. One of these may be the number of somewhat less than stable individuals who seem to ooze out of the woodwork with bizarre notions concerning the famous. Best selling author Stephen King seems to have had his fair share of run-ins with the lunatic fringe, the most recent incident we know of taking place in October of 2013. In this instance a Bangor man was charged with criminal trespass after being arrested by Bangor police.
The news story from the Bangor Daily News, reprinted below, recounts not only this incident but several others which have taken place at the King house in Bangor in recent years.
Local man charged after trespassing on
Stephen King’s property
By Dawn Gagnon, BDN Staff
Posted Oct. 30, 2013, at 11:21 p.m.
BANGOR, Maine — A local man is facing criminal charges in connection with a trespassing incident at the home of internationally renowned horror writer Stephen King and his novelist wife, Tabitha King, Bangor police have confirmed.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, when a local man showed up at the Kings’ residence on West Broadway, Bangor police Lt. Bob Bishop said Wednesday night. An employee of the Kings who is taking care of the property ordered the man to leave the property, which is posted with “No Trespassing” signs, Bishop said.
The man — whose name is being withheld because he was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center for an evaluation — eventually did leave after he was strongly encouraged to do so, Bishop said. Despite that, police wanted to identify him so they could warn or cite him for criminal trespass, Bishop said.
According to police reports, the man was behaving strangely, Bishop said.
“He wouldn’t show his hands,” Bishop said. The intruder also was uncooperative with police, getting into a physical struggle with Officer Taylor Bagley, who located him a short time later. The man continued to struggle even after Bagley “grounded” him, Bishop said.
Officer Steve Pelletier and Officer James Dearing assisted in subduing the man, Bishop said.
In addition to criminal trespass, the man was charged with refusing to submit to arrest or detention, Bishop said. He said that the man has a significant history with local law enforcement.
This week’s incident — which happened within days of Halloween — was not the first time intruders have bothered the Kings.
According to the Bangor Daily News archives, security at the authors’ Victorian mansion was increased in 1991 after a Texas man, who claimed he had a bomb, broke into the house while Tabitha King was home alone. She ran to a neighbor’s house and called police.
Erik Keene, then 26, of San Antonio, Texas, told reporters that he broke into the house because Stephen King allegedly stole the plot for his best-seller “Misery” from Keene’s aunt. He was sentenced to two years with all but 127 days suspended after pleading guilty to burglary. After serving his sentence, he was extradited to Texas on a parole violation.
The next year, police served a California man with a protection-from-harassment order when he arrived in Bangor. Steven Lightfoot, then 28, of San Francisco claimed to have discerned through coded messages that Stephen King killed John Lennon.
Lightfoot parked his van plastered with what he called evidence that King killed the former member of the Beatles in downtown Bangor. He drew curious spectators for a few weeks, but Bangor residents weren’t persuaded by his thesis.
In 2003, a then-38-year-old Czech man was arrested for stalking after leaving notes on the authors’ mailbox and approaching Tabitha King while she was walking her dog.
From the Bangor Daily News