Stephen King—author of dozens of novels and short stories under the horror, supernatural fiction, fantasy, science-fiction, and crime genres—has created many characters that possess psychic powers. Usually, the powers are portrayed as forms of telekinesis or telepathy, and are often referred to as "TK," "the shine," or "the touch".
King has been creating characters with psychic abilities since his early novels, like Carrie, and continues to do so in more recent works, like The Outsider. Over the years, King's writing has suggested that every person actually has some small psychic capability, though not everyone is able to tap into it. As Mother Abigail in The Stand says to the character Nick Andros: “Prophecy is the gift of God and everyone has a smidge of it."
Sometimes, King outright states that a character has "the shine" or another telepathic or telekinetic ability. Danny Torrance and Dick Hallorann from The Shining, for example, discuss their shine powers, and the friends in Dreamcatcher discuss their capabilities, too. And sometimes King's works are completely focused on a character's powers, as in Carrie and Firestarter. Other times, though, King simply hints that a character might possess powers, as with minor characters in The Dark Tower, or lets fans think about the possibility for themselves. Altogether, several of King's characters have some form of psychic powers.
Carrie White
In King's 1974 epistolary horror novel Carrie—which was adapted into a movie starring Sissy Spacek in 1976 and another starring Chloë Grace Moretz in 2013—the titular character has telekinetic powers. The book revolves around Carrie—who is an unpopular, bullied high school student living in an abusive home—as she discovers her abilities and later uses them to get revenge on her instigators.
In the book, King explains that telekinesis is genetic in Carrie's family, though it's only dominant in women. Margaret White's grandmother had the ability, and that's how Carrie got it in her genes. As is evident in the book, Carrie's powers are mostly revealed only in moments of stress or anger.
Danny Torrance
King's The Shining, a 1977 supernatural horror novel famously adapted into a movie in 1980, also features characters with psychic abilities. In this book, those abilities are referred to as "the shine" or "the shining". Danny Torrance, the five-year-old son of Jack and Wendy Torrance, possesses the shining. Danny can read minds and experience premonitions along with clairvoyance. He sees ghosts and scary visions, though he keeps these occurrences a secret from his parents. Danny's story and his powers are further explored in the 2013 book sequel Doctor Sleep, which was adapted to a movie by director Mike Flanagan in 2019.
Dick Hallorann
Another character in 1977's The Shining who has psychic powers is Dick Hallorann, the chef at the Overlook Hotel. In fact, he's the one who teaches Danny Torrance about what "the shine" is. Dick and Danny ultimately form a special psychic connection, and near the climax—during a moment of danger—Danny uses his gift to send Dick a telepathic plea for help.
Abra Stone
Doctor Sleep, the 2013 sequel to The Shining, features characters other than Danny Torrance who possess psychic abilities. Abra Stone—a girl born in 2001, who apparently predicted the 9/11 attacks—also has the shine. She ends up establishing a psychic connection with Danny, and as she grows up, her powers become even more powerful than his. In addition to Abra, many members of the True Knot cult in Doctor Sleep possess their own psychic abilities.
Bill Denbrough
Bill Denbrough, one of the protagonists of the 1986 horror novel IT—which was adapted into a miniseries in 1990 and a movie in 2017—also has a psychic ability, though it is only mentioned and used briefly. Bill, who leads the "Losers' Club" in their attempt to kill the monster "IT," communicates telepathically with Beverly, Richie, and Mike, other members of the club who are integral to defeating IT. He also communicates with IT as he is thrust toward the Macroverse (while his physical self stays put). All of this happens during the Ritual of Chüd.
Jonesy, Pete, Beaver, and Henry
King's 2001 sci-fi horror book Dreamcatcher, which was made into a movie in 2003, centers on a group of friends who share a telepathic bond. The four friends—Jonesy, Pete, Beaver, and Henry—are given this telepathic bond by Duddits, a boy with Down syndrome who the friends rescued from a group of bullies. In addition to telepathy, the four friends have shared dreams and can see "the line," which is a psychic trace left behind by human movement.
The McGee Family
In King's 1980 sci-fi horror novel Firestarter—which was adapted into a movie starring Drew Barrymore four years later—the McGee family members have psychic powers. The characters Andy and Victoria take part in an experiment when they are in college, and that's how they get their abilities.
Victoria is able to read minds, while Andy has what he calls "the push," a telepathic form of mind control (though using his power gives him horrible migraines). Later, Andy and Victoria's nine-year-old daughter, Charlie, is found to have pyrokinetic abilities and can see into the near future.
Louis Creed
In King's 1983 horror novel Pet Sematary, first adapted into a movie in 1989 and again in 2019, Louis Creed possesses a psychic ability. He can see and speak to a student of his—Victor Pascow—who was fatally injured in a car accident. At first, Louis believes his interactions with Victor are dreams, but later learns they were real.
John Coffey
King's 1996 novel The Green Mile—adapted into a critically acclaimed movie in 1999—also features a character with psychic abilities. John Coffey is a man convicted of the rape and murder of two girls and sentenced to death. He has amazing healing abilities, discovered by the protagonist Paul Edgecombe when John cures his urinary tract infection. Later, John cures Paul's wife Melinda's brain tumor. John also has heightened empathy, and is extremely sensitive to other people's thoughts and feelings.
Mother Abigail
Mother Abigail is another King character who possesses psychic powers. In the 1978 post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel The Stand, Mother Abigail is a psychic beacon who draws survivors of the plague to her. The Stand was adapted as a miniseries in 1994, and in another upcoming miniseries adaptation, Mother Abigail will be played by Whoopi Goldberg. Mother Abigail is convinced that God has chosen her, and she tells the deaf-mute character Nick Andros: "My own grandmother used to call it the shining lamp of God, sometimes just the shine.” As aforementioned, Mother Abigail believes everyone has a touch of the shine.
Johnny Smith
In his 1979 sci-fi thriller The Dead Zone—which was given a film adaptation starring Christopher Walken in 1983 and a TV series adaptation in 2002—King gave the character Johnny Smith psychic powers. Johnny awakens from a nearly five-year coma to find he has clairvoyance. He also experiences precognitive visions, triggered by touch. The "dead zone" term is a reference to the part of Jonny's brain that is completely damaged, where information beyond his perception is stored.
Jake Chambers
The Dark Tower, a King series of eight books and two short stories, features a character with a psychic ability. The character, Jake Chambers, is a gunslinger and refers to his power as "the touch." Alain, another gunslinger who Jake strongly resembles, also has "the touch."
Mike Noonan
In his 1998 horror novel Bag of Bones, which was adapted as a miniseries starring Pierce Brosnan in 2011, King created the character Mike Noonan, another possessor of psychic powers. Early in the story, Mike—a widowed writer—meets Kyra, a three-year-old girl whose grandfather is fighting for her custody. Mike hires Mattie, Kyra's mother, a custody lawyer to help their situation. Soon, Mike starts having disturbing dreams and visions, and realizes he shares a psychic connection with the three-year-old Kyra.
Holly Gibney
In 2018's The Outsider, the character Holly Gibney is a psychically gifted private detective who King has cited as one of his favorite characters. In the book, Ralph’s team hires Holly help solve an unsolvable case. In the book's 2020 HBO miniseries adaptation, Holly is played by Cynthia Erivo.
The Institute
Stephen King's 2019 sci-fi horror thriller The Institute, which is set to be adapted into a TV series by the makers of Mr. Mercedes, centers on a group of kidnapped children. Each of them has telepathic or telekinetic powers. The children are knows as "TPs" if they are telepaths and "TKs" if they are telekinetics. At The Institute, experiments are performed on the children to enhance their talents.