Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, which John Lee Hancock both directed and adapted, is a traditional ghost story with a contemporary spin. As his eyesight begins to deteriorate with age, a reclusive billionaire named Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland) hires a young boy named Craig (Jaeden Martell) to read to him. The two develop an odd bond that is extremely important to them both.
Before he eventually passes away, Harrigan introduces the man to the world of smartphones. Mr. Harrigan even bought his first iPhone after witnessing Craig’s joy at obtaining one for Christmas, demonstrating how much the two are continually learning from one another. Craig discovers that he can contact Mr. Harrigan from the hereafter even though he is buried with his phone still in his pocket. These signals are fairly obscure, as anyone who has read King’s novella or seen the film will attest, and neither the book nor the film fully explicate their true meaning.
King requested best guesses on Twitter on Wednesday. It’s important to note that after asking My Harrigan to take care of anything for him in the world of the living, Craig in the story at least assumed the final message, “CCC sT,” meant “Craig, stop.” However, the first two messages are left up for interpretation, and King’s tweet led to a variety of speculation from followers.
As promised, the author came back the following day to offer his version. Mr. Harrigan is showing his affection for Craig from beyond the grave, but he also seems uneasy about the effort it will take to reply to Craig’s messages, deal with Craig’s real-world issues, or both. Finally, he is telling him to stop because both of them are being severely harmed by Craig’s demands. And why are the messages in code, exactly? King also outlined that.
