Original subtitles

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: You unlock this door with the key of imagination.

Beyond it is another dimension.

A dimension of sound.

A dimension of sight. A dimension of mind.

You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance,

of things and ideas.

You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.

Evening, ma'am. Are you Miss Scott?

That's right.

Well, I'm Trooper Franklin, Miss Scott.

May I come in for a moment?

Thank you.

Attractive place.

That's gracious of you to say so. What else is new?

You came into town this morning?

It's, um, an unhappy pilgrimage

that I'm forced to make every week.

Unfortunately, no one will deliver my supplies, so I have to get them myself.

Oh, was there anything else, Trooper Franklin?

Uh, Mr. Barth down at the general store

said something about you telling him

you'd seen some kind of lights in the sky last night.

So?

Well, I just thought I'd, uh,

come up here and ask you a few questions about it.

That's intrepid of you, Trooper.

I did see something last night.

And I did mention it to that pickle barrel wheeler-dealer in the village.

I did mention it because, well, the general run of dialogue is so dull

it makes me want to retire from the human race.

I'm up to here in rainfall, wind velocity,

snowfalls and gripping bingo games.

So I thought I'd inject something new into the dialogue.

I see.

Well, uh,

what kind of lights would you say they were?

If you're looking for a red-hot gun-'em-down battle against evil,

you can saddle up and head north because you won't find it here.

You're here from New York, Miss Scott?

Is that a misdemeanor?

No, no, not at all, I… I was just interested.

We heard you'd taken a place up here. A cabin, you living alone.

You were some sort of a fashion editor, weren't you?

Yes.

I was some sort of a fashion editor.

My yearly salary would have bought the main street

of that rinky-dink whistle-stop down there.

And I had what is euphemistically known as a nervous breakdown.

So, I came up here to be alone.

Said journey being the biggest rock I ever pulled

'cause you can't be alone here.

You have to share your private life with country bumpkins.

And, um, Gilbert and Sullivan state troopers.

Repeating, Trooper, since your ears seem to flap.

There is nothing for you here, so why don't you, uh, run along?

You know, Miss Scott, I think you're quite right.

I don't think there is much here for me.

Or, for that matter, anyone else.

What's that supposed to mean?

That's supposed to mean that in your book

I'm sure that anyone who hasn't bought their clothes on Fifth Avenue

is considered a bumpkin.

And that everybody who doesn't broaden their as, is considered provincial.

And that elusive thing called culture

is really only an inheritable legacy

available only to insufferable snobs

of which, Miss Scott, I'm afraid you are a charter member.

[LOUD, HIGH-PITCHED WHIRRING LIKE AN AIRPLANE LANDING]

[WHIRRING ABRUPTLY STOPS]

What's happened?

[LATCHES CHAIN LOCK]

You're not frightened, are you, Miss Scott?

I'm afraid you put me in the wrong sorority, Mr. Franklin.

I'm a charter member, but not of snobs.

I'm the founder and the chairman of the board

of the society of frightened people.

So frightened that they can't face the world

and they go away to little mountain retreats.

They act superior because they think it hides their tensions and neuroses.

Thank you for an honest answer.

Why don't you rustle up some hot coffee for the two of us?

I'll go out and check around,

and I'll stay with you an hour or so to see if it comes back.

And I'll drive you back into town if you'd like.

What was it?

The noise and the lights?

A meteor or maybe an aircraft off its course.

Those would be the rational explanations.

Give me an irrational one.

Maybe something from outer space.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

That's Shakespeare, Miss Scott.

That's Shakespeare, but what is that?

NARRATOR: The major ingredient of any recipe for fear

is the unknown.

And here are two characters about to partake of the meal.

Miss Charlotte Scott, a fashion editor,

and Mr. Robert Franklin, a state trooper.

And the third member of the party, the unknown,

that has just landed a few hundred yards away.

This person or thing is soon to be met.

This is a mountain cabin

but it is also a clearing in the shadows

known as the Twilight Zone.

[FOOTSTEPS RUSTLING IN BRUSH]

Mr. Franklin, did you see anything?

Not much. You better go back inside.

I'll be right back.

[CRASHING]

Haven't you ever heard of an emergency brake?

Yup, heard and used. But this emergency brake was on.

There's only two of us and neither of us were near the car. So, who pushed it?

Maybe nobody. Maybe the brake just gave out.

You believe that?

For the time being. That's the only explanation I can conjure up.

[GROANING]

The radio's dead. No power at all.

You got a phone inside?

That's one concession to privacy that I didn't make.

I've got a telephone and some coffee.

At this given moment, both are luxury items in my book.

Oh, uh, better lock it.

You've just applied for membership, hm?

My club for frightened people.

Lady, I've been in two wars,

and I've been a policeman between and after. And I'm not ashamed to say

that I've racked up more scared hours than most rabbits.

Thank you for an honest answer.

Miss Scott, maybe you can learn this, maybe it'll help you.

But being frightened it's a, it's a normal, natural human function

like, well, just like breathing.

It's how you react to fright. That's what really counts.

You can get the shakes and crawl under a bed

or you can clench your fists and go about your business.

Well, you can clench your fists, but if you want, I'll be happy under the bed.

Being frightened sure hasn't hurt your sense of humor, has it?

You got two beds?

I might like to do a little crawling under one of them myself.

Your phone is dead.

I'll tell you this much, Miss Scott.

Despite all you may have heard about officers of the law,

we react like normal human beings.

A roaring fire, a mountain cabin,

hot coffee.

You know, if I live long enough to retire,

it doesn't sound like a bad later life, does it?

[CREAKING]

[CRIES OUT]

What's the matter?

Listen, don't you hear it?

It's up there.

Where?

Oh. It's on the roof.

Is there an attic or something?

No.

Is there some way to get up on the roof?

Not from inside.

Oh, please, please don't go out there, please.

Now, lady, you may have been a hot fashion editor,

but when it comes to greeting intruders you're something else again.

Now, you lock this after me. And don't open it until I tell you to.

No, you bet your life I won't.

[DOG BARKING, BAYING]

[CREAKING]

[DOG BARKING]

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

Who is it?

It's me.

Well?

Did you see anything? I didn't imagine it, did I?

There was something up on the roof.

It sounded like footsteps.

Did you find anything?

There's nothing on the roof. Nothing at all.

Not on the roof, anyway.

Maybe it's just, uh, maybe it's just a little imagination

seeping into the both of us. I don't know.

Maybe it's the night. Maybe it's the loneliness up here.

If there was something on the roof,

it would have crushed this house flat.

Why?

Because the thing, or whatever it is,

moved the car back to where it was.

And I think I know how it was done.

It was carried in somebody's hand.

There are fingerprints on the car. Big fingerprints.

And if they are fingerprints,

then we shouldn't have any trouble finding our invader.

Because he must stand better than 500 feet high.

[ROOSTER CROWING]

[YAWNING]

Good morning.

What time do you make it?

Uh, it's six o'clock.

Ooh.

You get much sleep?

Couple of hours, off and on. How about you?

About the same, I guess.

I, uh, I didn't hear anything.

I didn't, either.

Well, let's greet the morning.

And whoever else happens to be in it.

[BIRDS TWITTERING]

[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE]

You got any, uh, friends, a little bent upstairs?

Somebody who'd go to these kind of extremes?

If I did have, they'd have been committed a long time before this.

What is it?

Take a look at this.

It's a footprint.

Yeah, that's what it is, all right. It's a footprint. Look at the size of it.

Let's get out of here, let's run.

Where to?

To the village, down the road. Who cares? Somewhere away from here.

Use your head, will you?

It's 30 miles to the village.

No matter what direction we turn,

there's somebody out here as high as a mountain

who could just reach down and crush us with his little finger.

Block our way with his big toe.

Then what can we do?

I can try and fix that car radio and phone in for some help.

You can do whatever you like,

but I'm not staying here. I'm getting out.

Miss Scott! Miss Scott!

[GROANING]

[SHRIEKS]

I can't believe it.

All right, Miss Scott, take off.

I'll try and keep this nightmare occupied.

Maybe you can reach the village and get some help.

You think they'd ever hear the end of my story before they locked me up?

Honey, that's only one of the risks we have to take.

Why doesn't it do something?

Now, that's a good question.

Because if it wanted to destroy us, it could have done it a long time ago.

Us, the village down below and the whole state.

Go on, Miss Scott, take off, will you?

No. No, as scared as I am, I want to stay.

Yes, I… I want to stay with you.

All right. But I think I better fill you in on something.

I've got to fight that with this.

That's like trying to bring down a bomber with a peashooter.

But it's all we've got.

[HISSING]

[STRONG WIND BLOWING]

Oh.

Oh!

[SHOUTING]

Oh. Oh.

It's a balloon.

Fantastic.

It's unbelievable.

But that's what it is. It's a balloon.

That's it? Is this what we've been frightened of?

A fugitive from a Thanksgiving Day parade?

Not quite.

[SPACESHIP BEEPING]

This is what we've been frightened of.

Take a look at it, Miss Scott.

Look at the source of our nightmare.

TINY MAN'S VOICE: Great Leader, this is Earth Explorer One.

Must report failure. Repeat, must report failure.

Burned trees as ordered, dug up shoe print,

sprayed fingerprint on Earth vehicle.

Moved it by magnet, inflated giant figure.

Entire operation ended by Earth man's failure to be frightened.

Repeat, failure to be frightened.

Request permission to depart Earth.

Repeat, request permission to depart Earth.

Please, oh, please, great leader, let us depart before they crush us.

[SPACESHIP TAKING OFF]

You know something? I wish them luck.

Maybe the next place they land, they can be the giants.

What of our next visitors?

What if they are giants?

Well, I think you'd spit in their eye. That's what I think.

NARRATOR: Fear, of course, is extremely relative.

It depends on who can look down and who must look up.

It depends on other vagaries like the time, the mood, the darkness.

But it's been said before with great validity

that the worst thing there is to fear is fear itself.

Tonight's tale of terror and tiny people

on The Twilight Zone.

PRESENTER: And now, Mr. Serling.

Next time on The Twilight Zone, "The Bewitchin' Pool."

Some children find imaginary playmates

when their travail becomes to much to bear.

Others retire to bedrooms.

But the children on next week's Twilight Zone

find escape in a much more unusual fashion.

They disappear in a swimming pool.

This one is well worth to watching.

Mary Badham stars in Earl Hamner's "The Bewitchin' Pool."

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]