# What happened after the end of Pet Sematary?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 10, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836 "2006-07-10T07:31:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Feces\_Of\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feces_Of_Death)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/1 "2006-07-10T07:31:35Z")
The book leaves it unclear though the movie seems to indicate that Louis Creed was killed by his resurrected wife. Is this in fact what happened, and if so, what happend to his zombie-wife after that? Did it go around killing more people?
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/2 "2006-07-10T08:00:26Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** Moving from GD to Cafe Society.
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### Author:  [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/3 "2006-07-10T09:28:03Z")
Short answer: We don’t know 'cause King don’t tell us.
Personally, I think the wife kills him, then hangs around the house until her parents and daughter show up, worrying because they haven’t heard from her, and then she kills her parents, but the daughter escapes with the help of the ghost zombie dude, and while the daughter’s fleeing down the road pursued by the evil animated corpus of her mother, mom gets hit by a truck. Daughter then spends the next 20 years in therapy, which doesn’t help, and eventually moves back into her childhood home with a pellet gun and demented plans to create her own Evil Undead Squirrel Army that she will mobilize to exact revenge on the trucking company that ran over her cat and started the whole mess.
There was a Pet Sematary II movie made, as I recall, but it sucked so badly it actually came full circle and blew.
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### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/4 "2006-07-10T09:59:00Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#):
>
> There was a Pet Sematary II movie made, as I recall, but it sucked so badly it actually came full circle and blew.
It made two laps. Pity, the short trailer I saw made it seem really promising.
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### Author:  [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/5 "2006-07-10T10:41:09Z")
Yeah, I think he was killed by her. What happened after that?
Nothing. It was the end of the novel and movie.
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### Author:  [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/6 "2006-07-10T12:04:31Z")
Creed’s wife gets drawn into the world of _The Dark Tower_ and a minion of the Crimson King. (Why not - all his other books tie into that series.)
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### Author:  [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/7 "2006-07-10T12:55:23Z")
> [@Dijon Warlock](#):
>
> Yeah, I think he was killed by her. What happened after that?
>
> Nothing. It was the end of the novel and movie.
You’re the second person to inform the OP that the book ended there. I think he knows that, since he’s referencing the end. I assume that he’s looking for creative speculation which follows from the plot as it does exist on what might have happened if the book hadn’t ended there.
Hope that clears that up for you.
She kills him, which I’m sure poor Mr. Creed would have found a sweet mercy by that point. I don’t think she would go out looking for more victims, but lie in wait at the house, and eventually be taken out by cops after the first cop (who went to find out why Ellie and her grandparents hadn’t heard anything in a few days) got the cleaver treatment. Not very exciting, so the story ends at a good spot, I think.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/8 "2006-07-10T13:06:46Z")
I think Louis and Rachel lived together for a while (a short while), like that mad old man who lived with his resurrected son who had come back from the war. Timmy Baterman, I believe. Then Louis killed Rachel, set fire to the house, and shot himself.
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### Author:  [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/9 "2006-07-10T13:12:03Z")
PS: I’ve never seen the movies. Is the first one any good?
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### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/10 "2006-07-10T13:13:54Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#):
>
> PS: I’ve never seen the movies. Is the first one any good?
Meh. It’s decent, but nothing extraordinary. If you’re easily scared and like being scared, you’ll probably enjoy it.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/11 "2006-07-10T14:11:53Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#):
>
> PS: I’ve never seen the movies. Is the first one any good?
It’s fair enough. I can’t watch it myself because of \*that scene \* with Gage. ☹
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### Author:  [@internetslacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/internetslacker)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/12 "2006-07-10T14:42:19Z")
Here’s what really happened:
Creed was bitten by his wife and he turned into a zombie. The couple then travelled to Washington and became very successful Republicans.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/13 "2006-07-10T15:24:49Z")
But is Mrs. Creed a zombie? Technically, she’s actually resurrected, is she not?
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### Author:  [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/14 "2006-07-10T20:35:24Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#):
>
> You’re the second person to inform the OP that the book ended there. I think he knows that, since he’s referencing the end. I assume that he’s looking for creative speculation which follows from the plot as it does exist on what might have happened if the book hadn’t ended there.
>
> Hope that clears that up for you.
>
> She kills him, which I’m sure poor Mr. Creed would have found a sweet mercy by that point. I don’t think she would go out looking for more victims, but lie in wait at the house, and eventually be taken out by cops after the first cop (who went to find out why Ellie and her grandparents hadn’t heard anything in a few days) got the cleaver treatment. Not very exciting, so the story ends at a good spot, I think.
Wow.
Well, you certainly put me in _my_ place. :rolleyes:
It didn’t need cleared up for me, which is why I didn’t ask the question. But to clear it up for YOU, she _doesn’t_ kill him to my recollection (although as stated in the OP, the movie implies it). I can’t find my copy at the moment (and it’s been about 20 years since I read it), but I don’t believe that she does kill him at the end of the book _or_ the movie.
Your _assumption_ that the OP is asking what happened after the end is just that. My answer is to the question in the OP:
> [@Feces of Death](#):
>
> The book leaves it unclear though the movie seems to indicate that Louis Creed was killed by his resurrected wife. Is this in fact what happened, and if so, what happend to his zombie-wife after that? Did it go around killing more people?
…and not your interpretation of same. What happened to his “zombie-wife” after she killed her husband (if she did)?
Nothing. It ain’t real life that goes on after you quit watching it. When it ends, it stops.
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### Author:  [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/15 "2006-07-10T20:53:04Z")
> [@Dijon Warlock](#):
>
> Wow.
>
> Well, you certainly put me in _my_ place. :rolleyes:
>
> It didn’t need cleared up for me, which is why I didn’t ask the question. But to clear it up for YOU, she _doesn’t_ kill him to my recollection (although as stated in the OP, the movie implies it). I can’t find my copy at the moment (and it’s been about 20 years since I read it), but I don’t believe that she does kill him at the end of the book _or_ the movie.
>
> Your _assumption_ that the OP is asking what happened after the end is just that. My answer is to the question in the OP: …and not your interpretation of same. What happened to his “zombie-wife” after she killed her husband (if she did)?
>
> Nothing. It ain’t real life that goes on after you quit watching it. When it ends, it stops.
No one in this thread is psychotic. The very idea that I might somehow be wrong and the OP is not, in fact, asking for speculation, but actually demanding to know what happens because he is unfamiliar with fiction and doesn’t realize that there’s no more after the author finishes writing…I mean, are you for real?
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/16 "2006-07-10T21:14:21Z")
> [@Dijon Warlock](#):
>
> What happened to his “zombie-wife” after she killed her husband (if she did)?
>
> Nothing. It ain’t real life that goes on after you quit watching it. When it ends, it stops.
Do you also go into Star Trek threads and say “It’s just a TV show!”?
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/17 "2006-07-10T21:36:41Z")
I was going to make a joke about a great Ramones tune playing…all the fun of that has been sucked out. \>\_\<
As to what happened in the story… It seems pretty inescapable that she killed him. What happened after that is harder to figure out. I figure she did one of two things. Either she stayed in the house, terrorising the local area until her undeath was violently ended. Or she wandered off to somewhere else familiar to her, and followed the same chain of events there.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/18 "2006-07-10T21:48:18Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#):
>
> It’s fair enough. I can’t watch it myself because of \*that scene \* with Gage. ☹
I couldn’t watch it because of that Zelda chick. _shudder_ I did eventually end up seeing the whole thing and it almost made me piss my pants.
I think in the second one, someone mentioned that Rachel killed Louis, then the cops took her out, and Ellie ended up in mental institution.
I do like the zombie squirrels theory, though.
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### Author:  [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/19 "2006-07-10T22:18:39Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#):
>
> No one in this thread is psychotic.
No-one has accused anyone of being psychotic in this thread, to my knowlege.
> [@](#):
>
> The very idea that I might somehow be wrong and the OP is not, in fact, asking for speculation, but actually demanding to know what happens because he is unfamiliar with fiction and doesn’t realize that there’s no more after the author finishes writing…I mean, are you for real?
Sir or Madam, _you_ are the one who parsed the question as the OP insisting on knowing what happened _after nothing happened._ Perhaps they _were_ asking for speculation after the fact, but the fact is that they didn’t. “What do you think the dead/resurrected wife might have done next?” would be a question easily answered by your post, but it was not the question that was asked.
The question that was ASKED was: what happened next? Not what might have, or could have, but what DID.
The answer is as I said: NOTHING. _PERHAPS_ the wife killed the husband in the movie, but **that** wasn’t even shown; and it wasn’t depicted in the book. What did the zombie-wife do afterwards? NOTHING.
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> Do you also go into Star Trek threads and say “It’s just a TV show!”?
Not so far, but if someone came into a thread (or started one) and asked “Whatever happened to Dr. McCoy?” I would probably say something similar to “Nothing.” Because that’s what happened. I haven’t seen all of the Star Trek movies, but I don’t remember hearing about one where he died. So “Nothing” is probably the right answer.
I was just trying to answer the question, here, folks. 'Scuse the hell outta me.
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### Author:  [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-after-the-end-of-pet-sematary/363836/20 "2006-07-10T22:54:16Z")
Warlock, he asked if the wife went around killing more people afterwards. While the text does leave it unclear as to whether she kills him, certainly there’s no way it indicates what happens after his hypothetical death.
Either way, how is “Nothing happens” a useful answer to “what happens **after the end** ” (my bolding)? I don’t see how you got the impression that the OP didn’t realize the book ended there and needed to be informed, is all. It looked more like you were being a random wiseass. But if you were just trying to help out and misunderstood, my bad.
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