The Mangler
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| Author | Stephen King |
|---|---|
| Country |  USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Horror, Fantasy short story |
| Released in | Cavalier (1st edition), Night Shift |
| Publisher | DuGent Publishing (first release) |
| Media Type | Magazine (first release) |
| Released | 1972 (first release) |
The Mangler is a short horror story by Stephen King. It was first published in Cavalier magazine in 1972, and later included in King's Night Shift collection.
[edit] Plot summary
The story is a fairly straightforward horror yarn about a police detective investigating a sudden rash of grisly deaths caused by an industrial laundry press machine, which through a series of unfortunate coincidences has become possessed by a demon. The story ends with the demon ripping itself free of its moorings and going forth to rampage across the land....and the town's priest finding out too late that a medication, in the pockets of one the machine's victims, contained an extract of belladonna and therefore made the machine immune to exorcism.
This story was adapted for the screenplay of a 1995 film (directed by Tobe Hooper) of the same title, though the brevity of the source material required significant additions not present in the original tale.
[edit] Trivia
- The mangler, as a type of industrial laundry machine similar to that in the story, is mentioned in two other King stories, Roadwork and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. In neither story is there any suggestion that the machine is demonically possessed, although in both stories it is noted that working with the machine is a dangerous proposition.
