Real-life 'Pet Sematary'? Frozen cat comes back to life

LINCOLN, Maine -- When you live in the home state of horror and supernatural writer Stephen King, stories about dead cats coming back to life might not seem that unusual.

"When these guys brought the cat into me the cat was frozen almost solid. It was stiff," said David Lloyd, public works director in Lincoln, Maine.

"He was completely unresponsive," animal control officer Mary Ann Curtis said.

Just like the feline in Stephen King's 1983 novel "Pet Sematary" who was killed by a big rig, a cat found frozen this week by Lincoln public works employees came back to life, WVII/WFVX reported.

"I didn't think the cat had a chance to make it. I wrapped him up in my coat and we set him in the sun," Lloyd said. "He sat there about two hours on my desk in the sun till the humane society opened up and then we took him over. I don't know how long he'd been out here. Sometime that night he must have frozen to the ground."

He was not in good shape when he arrived at the Penobscot Valley Humane Society.

"His mouth looked very dry, which is why Meg had started giving him some fluids. Just through a syringe, trying to get some fluid back into him and she noticed that his tongue was moving. He was trying to drink involuntarily. That's a really good sign," Curtis said.

Devon Ireland and Chuck Briggs went to see the cat for the first time since rescuing it on Thursday.

"Awesome. The cat looked 10 times better. Ten times better," Ireland said.

"Yeah. It don't even look like the same cat. It's a lot bigger than the one we dug out of the ice," Briggs said.

The Lincoln cat is recovering well, but currently is in isolation. Numerous people have already offered to adopt him and others have paid for his medical care.

Stephen King wrote "Pet Sematary" while living in a house located close to the road in Orrington that claimed the life of his daughter's cat.

The second film adaptation of King's book opens in theaters on April 5.

WVII/WFVX reached out to Maine's favorite horror writer about the frozen cat story and he responded by saying a line from his book that is now a tag line for the upcoming movie.

"Sometimes dead is better," King said, then added, "But not in this case. We hope."