Horror writer Stephen King has confirmed that he obtained a macabre souvenir from the accident that left him seriously injured: He bought the mini-van that struck him.

"Yes, we've got the van, and I'm going to take a sledgehammer and beat it!" King told the Bridgton News of Bridgton, Maine.

The driver, Bryan Smith, 42, said earlier that King's lawyer and two other men paid $1,500 for the 1985 Dodge Caravan he was driving when he hit King. Smith said he was distracted by his Rottweiler when he hit King, who was walking on the shoulder of a road in North Lovell, Maine.

King, 52, has kept his sense of humor throughout the ordeal. He joked that he must wear wide-bottomed skateboard pants to cover a metal device that surrounds his injured leg. If he still has the contraption on his leg at Halloween, he said he plans to decorate it with jack o' lanterns.