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Official Site: Stephen King

Kurt Barlow is a fictional character in Stephen King's 1975 horror novel, 'Salem's Lot. The character is a master vampire, who terrorizes the small Maine town of Jerusalem's Lot. Although his true age is unknown, he claims to be ancient, so old that he predates the founding of Christianity by centuries.

In the original novel, Barlow comes to the town of Jerusalem's Lot in a box shipped overseas by his assistant, Richard Straker. The two then take residence in the Marsten House, an abandoned house considered haunted by the townsfolk. Posing as an antique dealer, Straker kidnaps a local boy, Ralphie Glick, and makes a human sacrifice of the child in an appeasement ritual. Ralphie's brother, Danny, becomes a vampire and begins to infect others, including his mother, Marjorie Glick. Late at night Barlow comes upon unhappy and frustrated Dud Rogers, a hunchbacked dump custodian, laughed at by the young woman he craves, Ruthie Crockett, daughter of businessman and real estate broker Larry Crockett, who signed the real estate contracts with Straker to purchase the Marsten House and the site which will become the antique store front used by Straker. Barlow also comes upon Corey Bryant, a young telephone worker who has been tortured and ordered to leave town by Reggie Sawyer, the man Bryant was cuckolding. Knowing everything that happened Barlow lures Bryant under his hypnotic spell, promising them the spoils, i.e. Ruthie Crockett and Bonnie Sawyer, and drains both men of their blood on the spot.

Danny Glick later pays a night-time visit to one of his schoolmates, Mark Petrie. However, Mark, an intelligent and resourceful child, identifies Glick as a vampire and drives him off with a plastic cross. Mark sneaks into the Marsten House the next day with Susan Norton, intending to kill Barlow. However, they are both captured by Straker; Susan is bitten by Barlow and becomes a vampire, but Mark manages to escape, mortally wounding Straker in the process. Straker is later found hanging upside down, having been drained of his blood by Barlow, who could not resist punishing him. Petrie informs Susan's boyfriend, writer Ben Mears, of Susan's fate, and becomes part of the effort to kill the town's vampires, together with Ben, the Catholic priest Father Callahan, doctor Jimmy Cody and the Lot's high school English teacher, Matt Burke. Susan visits Mark at night, entreating him to let her in as "there are lots more of us now" and promising to "kiss him all over." Mark drives her away, as he had Danny Glick, using the same plastic cross.

When Father Callahan and Mark head over to Mark's parents to explain the danger the family is in, the power is suddenly cut and Barlow appears. He kills Mark's parents by smashing their heads together, but does not infect them. Barlow then takes Mark hostage briefly. Callahan pulls out his cross in an attempt to drive him off, and for a time it works, until Barlow challenges him to throw away the cross. Callahan, not having faith enough to do so, is soon overwhelmed by Barlow, who takes the now-useless cross and snaps it in two, and Callahan is forced by Barlow to drink the vampire's blood.

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