What if Pennywise *doesn’t* actually go into hiding for 27 years, as the characters in IT believe? What if he just spends that time… in places other than Derry, Maine?
It’s no secret that most of Stephen King’s horror stories are connected in some way, shape or form, sometimes very directly and other times only tangentially. Two of those tales that are connected to one another are IT and The Shining, most notably through the character of Dick Hallorann appearing in both stories.
Hallorann is a main character in The Shining, the cook at the Overlook, while he’s mentioned in IT as the survivor of a night club fire; he saved the life of Mike Hanlon’s dad!
This new theory from Film Theory convincingly connects IT and The Shining to an even greater extent, suggesting that maybe the members of the Losers’ Club have the ability to shine. After all, Hallorann appearing in both stories suggests that “shining” exists in the IT universe… and most of the kids do seem to have that ability themselves.
So then, could that mean that the interdimensional being known as “IT” is actually the force behind the events of The Shining? If nothing more, it’s fun to imagine!