How Stephen King watching a train hit a kid led to Kiefer Sutherland making his videogame horse crap on command: A PC Gamer Causality Chain™

In 1982, Stephen King's collection Different Seasons was published by Viking Press. The third story within this collection, titled "The Body," features a scene where a group of childhood friends confronts a gang of greasers over the discovery of a dead neighbor boy who had been struck by a train. King himself recounts this event in his narration of the story.

Fourteen years after the publication of Different Seasons, Stand by Me was released in Japanese theaters on April 18, 1987. Over the years, this film has become a beloved classic in Japan and has been referenced in various video games, including Mother (known as Earthbound Beginnings in the US) and the Gen 1 Pokémon games. The film has also been released on VHS to aid English learners and has been rebroadcast on Japanese television numerous times to accommodate the growing demand from viewers.

The film's popularity in Japan has led to a significant number of Japanese tourists visiting the Oregon town where it was filmed. This tourism trend has created a unique connection between a tragic event in King's early life and the participation of an internationally renowned actor in an unconventional form of simulated equine combat.