<h2><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Blockade_Battlefront" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Kekkai Sensen</em></a>'s Intended Association: Evil Living Among Humans</h2>
<p><strong>Both the fictional town 'Salem's Lot and the real city of Salem, Massachusetts are associated with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials" rel="nofollow noreferrer">witchcraft</a> and evil living among regular humans.</strong> This fits the ethos of <em>Kekkai Sensen</em>'s 「ヘルサレムズ・ロット」, which is the <a href="http://kekkai-sensen.wikia.com/wiki/Volume_7" rel="nofollow noreferrer">mystically transmogrified</a> version of New York City after a gateway between Earth and the Beyond opened, so that extra-dimensional creatures and humans dwell in the same <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Blockade_Battlefront" rel="nofollow noreferrer">paranormal melting pot</a>.</p>
<h2>Origin of the Phrase <em>'Salem's Lot</em></h2>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem%27s_Lot,_Maine" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Jerusalem's Lot, Maine</a> is a fictional town created by Stephen King which he has used as the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. Within his worldbuilding, the town is nicknamed <em>'Salem's Lot</em> (including the apostrophe) and <em>the Lot</em>.</p>
<p>The town called 'Salem's Lot first appeared in his 1975 novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Salem%27s_Lot" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>'Salem's Lot</em></a>, but has reappeared as recently as in his 2014 novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revival_(novel)" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Revival</em></a>.</p>
<p>According to Wikipedia, the description of the fictional town is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The town that would become Jerusalem's Lot was founded in 1710 by a preacher named James Boon, the leader of a cult of schismatic Puritans. The cult became <strong>notorious in the region for its open embrace of witchcraft and for its amoral sexual practices</strong>, including inbreeding. Jerusalem's Lot became an incorporated town in 1765, but was abandoned in 1789 after Boon and his followers mysteriously vanished [...]</p>
<p>When Jerusalem's Lot was incorporated in 1765, Maine was still part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. <strong>The town got its name from</strong> a myth about one of the earliest residents, Charles Belknap Tanner, who raised pigs; <strong>one of these pigs was named Jerusalem</strong>. One day, <strong>Jerusalem escaped from her confines into a nearby forest, and became aggressive and wild</strong>. Tanner began warning young children who trespassed on his property to &quot;Keep 'ee out o' Jerusalem's wood lot,&quot; lest the pig devour them. Eventually, the phrase &quot;Jerusalem's Lot&quot; was adopted as the town name.</p>
<p>[...] Jerusalem's Lot has been identified as <strong>a residence for great and mysterious evil, particularly vampires</strong>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Other Derivative Uses</strong></p>
<p>The fictional town is also mentioned in Alan Moore's 2002-2003 comic book series <em>The New Traveller's Almanac</em>, in the 2002 Eminem song <em>Lose Yourself</em>, and in the 1993 Nirvana song <em>Serve the Servants</em>.</p>
<h2>Katakana and Pronunciation</h2>
<p><em>Kekkai Sensen</em>'s 「ヘルサレムズ・ロット」 (<em>Herusaremuzu Rotto</em>) sounds similar to both the fictional town 'Salem's Lot (<a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%91%AA%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%9F%E7%94%BA#.E3.81.82.E3.82.89.E3.81.99.E3.81.98" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「セイラムズ・ロット」</a> [<em>Seiramuzu Rotto</em>]) and the Japanese word for &quot;Jerusalem&quot; (「エルサレム」 [<em>Erusaremu</em>]).</p>
<p>The Japanese title for the novel <em>'Salem's Lot</em> is <a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%91%AA%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%9F%E7%94%BA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">『呪われた町』</a> (<em>Norowareta Machi</em>, meaning &quot;cursed town&quot;). In the Japanese translation, the name of the town is katakana-ized as <a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%91%AA%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%9F%E7%94%BA#.E3.81.82.E3.82.89.E3.81.99.E3.81.98" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「セイラムズ・ロット」</a> (<em>Seiramuzu Rotto</em>), using the <strong>spelling of <a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%BB%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A9%E3%83%A0_(%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B5%E3%83%81%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BB%E3%83%83%E3%83%84%E5%B7%9E)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Salem, Massachusetts</a> (「セイラム」= <em>Seiramu</em>), infamous for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials" rel="nofollow noreferrer">witch trials</a>, not the Japanese spelling of Jerusalem</strong> (「エルサレム」= <em>Erusaremu</em>). The place name Salem (perhaps ironically) is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem,_Massachusetts#History" rel="nofollow noreferrer">hellenized form of the Hebrew word for &quot;peace&quot;</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalom" rel="nofollow noreferrer">שָׁלוֹם</a> = <em>shalom</em>).</p>
<p>In Hebrew, the pronunciation for &quot;Jerusalem&quot; is <em><a href="http://www.dictionary.co.il/israel_jerusalem.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Yerushalayim</a></em>:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/2GKA5.gif" alt="Jerusalem in Hebrew" /></p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p><strong>「ヘルサレムズ・ロット」 is not a reference to the city of Jerusalem, but rather to a fictional town known for housing monsters and named after a pig.</strong></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-24T07:46:39.427Z
+1, this is a good answer, but would you please reorganize the content here? It's quite confusing to read. The points you want to make are all over the place.
nhahtdh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-24T08:11:58.983Z
Okay, I changed the formatting.
seijitsu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-24T08:54:00.640Z
The connection between Salem's Lot and Salem, Massachusetts is probably a coincidence, due to the fact that the pronunciation of Salem changes when stand alone. I don't see Wikipedia citing the connection between Salem's Lot and Salem, Massachusetts. Only [the connection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem%27s_Lot,_Maine#Origin_and_Inspiration) between Jerusalem's Lot, Maine and Durham, Maine.
nhahtdh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-24T09:09:57.350Z
@nhahtdh Correct, I'm not at all claiming that there was any connection in Steven King's mind whatsoever between his fictional town and the real city of Salem, MA, but rather that **the Japanese translator of his novel** liked that the nickname of his fictional town can be written in the katakana that matches Salem, MA. This could well have been an intentional choice to create associations for the Japanese readership on the theme of witchcraft (which the fictional town and the real city both share), since, in the novel, the name of the town was supposed to be Jerusalem's Lot, so a . . .
seijitsu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-24T09:10:03.923Z
. . . direct, loyal translation would have been サレムズ instead of セイラムズ, which cannot be a shortening of Jerusalem, the pig’s name = エルサレム. The creator of _Kekkai Sensen_ most likely read the novel in Japanese translation, which contains the seeming association with Salem, MA’s witchcraft invented by the translator.
seijitsu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-24T09:46:52.467Z
That sounds feasible, though I don't know if a loyal translation would use サレムズ instead of セイラムズ. [Reference.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/salem) says that the pronunciation of Salem is /ˈseɪləm/, which transliterates into katakana as セイラム. I think the translator probably sticks to how Salem's Lot is pronounced in original work, rather than the fact that it is a contraction of Jerusalem's lot.
nhahtdh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-24T10:22:12.337Z
Salem's Lot being a contraction of Jerusalem's Lot is likely explained within the novel (or that backstory would have to come from 1 of the short stories). サレムズ is the most natural way for a translator to make the contraction since it wouldn't occur to the average Japanese reader looking at the town/pig name エルサレム to abbreviate that as セイラム. Many long A sounds don't become エイ by Japanese who katakana-ize them (even though that's what a native English speaker would generally advise) so it's unlikely that the translator looked just at the novel text & came away with セイラム for the abbreviation ;-)
seijitsu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-24T07:24:52.153Z
2015-06-24T08:46:49.507Z
2020-06-17T09:17:53.303Z
seijitsu
<p><em>Hellsalem's Lot</em>, the current name of formerly New York City, immediately strikes me as a reference to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem">Jerusalem</a>, since they sound extremely close.</p>

<p>In fact, in Japanese, they only differ by one <em>mora</em>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A1%80%E7%95%8C%E6%88%A6%E7%B7%9A#.E7.94.A8.E8.AA.9E"><strong>ヘルサレム</strong>ズ・ロット</a> (Hellsalem's Lot) vs. <a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B5%E3%83%AC%E3%83%A0"><strong>エルサレム</strong></a> (Jerusalem).</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Is <em>Hellsalem's Lot</em> a reference to Jerusalem? If that is the case, what are the aspects in <em>Hellsalem's Lot</em> that make reference to Jerusalem?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-22T19:50:31.247Z
I don't know anything about this series, but it could be the Stephen King Novel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Salem%27s_Lot + Hell
Toshinou Kyouko
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-22T19:54:47.343Z
@ToshinouKyouko: That sounds feasible, though I don't know much about the novel to tell how it is similar to the anime.
nhahtdh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-22T19:56:51.643Z
either do I ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
Toshinou Kyouko
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-19T03:20:12.960Z
In Christianity, Heaven is a city named the New Jerusalem (see the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation). The author of this manga did a twisted parody and made NYC a living hellscape, so in mockery of the heavenly Jerusalem, he named it "Hellsalem's Lot". It's more than a little sacrilegious.
CosmicGenis
<kekkai-sensen>
Is Hellsalem's Lot a reference to Jerusalem?
# Is Hellsalem's Lot a reference to Jerusalem?
Posted by: username_0 on 2015-04-22
*Hellsalem's Lot*, the current name of formerly New York City, immediately strikes me as a reference to [Jerusalem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem), since they sound extremely close.

In fact, in Japanese, they only differ by one *mora*:

> [**ヘルサレム**ズ・ロット](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A1%80%E7%95%8C%E6%88%A6%E7%B7%9A#.E7.94.A8.E8.AA.9E) (Hellsalem's Lot) vs. [**エルサレム**](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B5%E3%83%AC%E3%83%A0) (Jerusalem).

Is *Hellsalem's Lot* a reference to Jerusalem? If that is the case, what are the aspects in *Hellsalem's Lot* that make reference to Jerusalem?
**Tags:** kekkai-sensen
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I don't know anything about this series, but it could be the Stephen King Novel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Salem%27s_Lot + Hell  
> **username_0**: @ToshinouKyouko: That sounds feasible, though I don't know much about the novel to tell how it is similar to the anime.  
> **username_1**: either do I ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> **username_2**: In Christianity, Heaven is a city named the New Jerusalem (see the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation). The author of this manga did a twisted parody and made NYC a living hellscape, so in mockery of the heavenly Jerusalem, he named it "Hellsalem's Lot". It's more than a little sacrilegious.  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_3 on 2015-06-24. Score: 3
## [*Kekkai Sensen*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Blockade_Battlefront)'s Intended Association: Evil Living Among Humans

**Both the fictional town 'Salem's Lot and the real city of Salem, Massachusetts are associated with [witchcraft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials) and evil living among regular humans.** This fits the ethos of *Kekkai Sensen*'s 「ヘルサレムズ・ロット」, which is the [mystically transmogrified](http://kekkai-sensen.wikia.com/wiki/Volume_7) version of New York City after a gateway between Earth and the Beyond opened, so that extra-dimensional creatures and humans dwell in the same [paranormal melting pot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Blockade_Battlefront).

## Origin of the Phrase *'Salem's Lot*

[Jerusalem's Lot, Maine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem%27s_Lot,_Maine) is a fictional town created by Stephen King which he has used as the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. Within his worldbuilding, the town is nicknamed *'Salem's Lot* (including the apostrophe) and *the Lot*.

The town called 'Salem's Lot first appeared in his 1975 novel [*'Salem's Lot*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Salem%27s_Lot), but has reappeared as recently as in his 2014 novel [*Revival*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revival_(novel)).

According to Wikipedia, the description of the fictional town is:

> The town that would become Jerusalem's Lot was founded in 1710 by a preacher named James Boon, the leader of a cult of schismatic Puritans. The cult became **notorious in the region for its open embrace of witchcraft and for its amoral sexual practices**, including inbreeding. Jerusalem's Lot became an incorporated town in 1765, but was abandoned in 1789 after Boon and his followers mysteriously vanished [...]
>
> When Jerusalem's Lot was incorporated in 1765, Maine was still part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. **The town got its name from** a myth about one of the earliest residents, Charles Belknap Tanner, who raised pigs; **one of these pigs was named Jerusalem**. One day, **Jerusalem escaped from her confines into a nearby forest, and became aggressive and wild**. Tanner began warning young children who trespassed on his property to "Keep 'ee out o' Jerusalem's wood lot," lest the pig devour them. Eventually, the phrase "Jerusalem's Lot" was adopted as the town name.
>
> [...] Jerusalem's Lot has been identified as **a residence for great and mysterious evil, particularly vampires**.

**Other Derivative Uses**

The fictional town is also mentioned in Alan Moore's 2002-2003 comic book series *The New Traveller's Almanac*, in the 2002 Eminem song *Lose Yourself*, and in the 1993 Nirvana song *Serve the Servants*.

## Katakana and Pronunciation

*Kekkai Sensen*'s 「ヘルサレムズ・ロット」 (*Herusaremuzu Rotto*) sounds similar to both the fictional town 'Salem's Lot ([「セイラムズ・ロット」](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%91%AA%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%9F%E7%94%BA#.E3.81.82.E3.82.89.E3.81.99.E3.81.98) [*Seiramuzu Rotto*]) and the Japanese word for "Jerusalem" (「エルサレム」 [*Erusaremu*]).

The Japanese title for the novel *'Salem's Lot* is [『呪われた町』](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%91%AA%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%9F%E7%94%BA) (*Norowareta Machi*, meaning "cursed town"). In the Japanese translation, the name of the town is katakana-ized as [「セイラムズ・ロット」](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%91%AA%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%9F%E7%94%BA#.E3.81.82.E3.82.89.E3.81.99.E3.81.98) (*Seiramuzu Rotto*), using the **spelling of [Salem, Massachusetts](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%BB%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A9%E3%83%A0_(%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B5%E3%83%81%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BB%E3%83%83%E3%83%84%E5%B7%9E)) (「セイラム」= *Seiramu*), infamous for [witch trials](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials), not the Japanese spelling of Jerusalem** (「エルサレム」= *Erusaremu*). The place name Salem (perhaps ironically) is a [hellenized form of the Hebrew word for "peace"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem,_Massachusetts#History) ([שָׁלוֹם](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalom) = *shalom*).

In Hebrew, the pronunciation for "Jerusalem" is *[Yerushalayim](http://www.dictionary.co.il/israel_jerusalem.htm)*:

![Jerusalem in Hebrew](https://i.sstatic.net/2GKA5.gif)

## Conclusion

**「ヘルサレムズ・ロット」 is not a reference to the city of Jerusalem, but rather to a fictional town known for housing monsters and named after a pig.**
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2015-06-24): +1, this is a good answer, but would you please reorganize the content here? It's quite confusing to read. The points you want to make are all over the place.  
> **username_3** (2015-06-24): Okay, I changed the formatting.  
> **username_0** (2015-06-24): The connection between Salem's Lot and Salem, Massachusetts is probably a coincidence, due to the fact that the pronunciation of Salem changes when stand alone. I don't see Wikipedia citing the connection between Salem's Lot and Salem, Massachusetts. Only [the connection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem%27s_Lot,_Maine#Origin_and_Inspiration) between Jerusalem's Lot, Maine and Durham, Maine.  
> **username_3** (2015-06-24): @nhahtdh Correct, I'm not at all claiming that there was any connection in Steven King's mind whatsoever between his fictional town and the real city of Salem, MA, but rather that **the Japanese translator of his novel** liked that the nickname of his fictional town can be written in the katakana that matches Salem, MA. This could well have been an intentional choice to create associations for the Japanese readership on the theme of witchcraft (which the fictional town and the real city both share), since, in the novel, the name of the town was supposed to be Jerusalem's Lot, so a . . .  
> **username_3** (2015-06-24): . . . direct, loyal translation would have been サレムズ instead of セイラムズ, which cannot be a shortening of Jerusalem, the pig’s name = エルサレム. The creator of _Kekkai Sensen_ most likely read the novel in Japanese translation, which contains the seeming association with Salem, MA’s witchcraft invented by the translator.  
> **username_0** (2015-06-24): That sounds feasible, though I don't know if a loyal translation would use サレムズ instead of セイラムズ. [Reference.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/salem) says that the pronunciation of Salem is /ˈseɪləm/, which transliterates into katakana as セイラム. I think the translator probably sticks to how Salem's Lot is pronounced in original work, rather than the fact that it is a contraction of Jerusalem's lot.  
> **username_3** (2015-06-24): Salem's Lot being a contraction of Jerusalem's Lot is likely explained within the novel (or that backstory would have to come from 1 of the short stories). サレムズ is the most natural way for a translator to make the contraction since it wouldn't occur to the average Japanese reader looking at the town/pig name エルサレム to abbreviate that as セイラム. Many long A sounds don't become エイ by Japanese who katakana-ize them (even though that's what a native English speaker would generally advise) so it's unlikely that the translator looked just at the novel text & came away with セイラム for the abbreviation ;-)  
---
