All language subtitles for One.Step.Beyond.S03E12.Where.Are.They.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor

There's thousands of odd and

unexplained disappearances.

But in the literature
of psychic phenomenon

there are two sudden appearances

that are perhaps as
strange and as plexing

as anything that ever
happened on this earth.

One of them occurred
in the town of Chico,

in California's
Sacramento Valley.

The date was March 17th, 1922.

It began with something
as commonplace

and as ordinary as these
pieces of granite, sandstone

and marble, shale,
quartz, ordinary pieces

of rock and stone.

Or are they?

Yes sir that will be
in this weeks paper.

We're printing it up tonight.

Nothing sooner,

Just a minute sir..

Harry,

You be sure to stay
under the porch roof.

Here they come again!

Frank!

Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank.

I guess that's it for today.

Is he all right?

I think he's just knocked out.

Like the others, they're warm.

Right on schedule, 3 o'clock.

We'd better get him
over to Doc Stanley.

My goodness, Mr.
Straud, please forgive me,

Mr. Straud?

How's Frank?

He'll be all right.

Harry,

Have you told the Marshall yet?

About what you did?

Well there's no sense getting
him riled ahead of time.

You know when all those
people start arriving in town

you're gonna go sky-high Harry.

Joe Tomlinson's just
worried about looking foolish

in front of outsiders about
not being able to stop this.

Or not being able to
find out who or what's

been doing it.

All those big city newspaper
people writing it up,

we're gonna look pretty foolish.

Whole world's gonna have a
great big horse laugh at us.

Maybe, maybe this is
something important that

the whole world
oughta know about.

Jenny our business is news.

Now however it turns
out, it'll still be news.

Are you gonna meet them?

Two thirty tomorrow.

Joe Tomlinson won't like it.

Joe Tomlinson
doesn't like anything.

Is this the place
they come down Mr. Comb?

For the last three days yes.

But you still don't
believe me, do you?

Why I imagine
there's some stones coming

from somewhere.

I just don't think you're
foolish enough to believe

there's anything
strange about it.

You think this is a hoax too?

Well let's say I,
I'll have to be shown.

Folks in Los Angeles
like to read about

this sort thing so whatever
happens I'll write about it

but I'll write the
truth Mr. Call.

Very good Mr. Call,
you've got a fine sense

of theater.

All the props in the right
places at the right times.

Listen to this Bradley,

Harry Call, Editor, Chico
Chronicle, dear sir,

this is to inform you that
I am the one whose been

causing the stones and
rocks to fall on Chico.

To prove it I will make
them fall again tomorrow

at exactly three o'clock
and exactly where they fell

today and since I have
repealed the law of gravity,

I will have some of them
float down from the sky.

And signed, the ghost.

It's rather amateur theatricals
I'm afraid Mr. Call,

the ghost.

In the past ten months
many people have come forward

claiming to know who or
what was responsible.

Well now many of
them were anonymous.

Well now you've got
your answer, it's a ghost.

I assume there are
cranks all over the world,

Mr. Towers, even
in San Francisco.

I merely thought as a
newspaper man, gathering

information on a story,
you would be interested

in seeing that note.

I'm interested, I'm
very interested Mr. Call,

to see just how far you'll
go to try to sell us

this bill of goods.

I'm not sure how they
do things in the big city.

But here while I try to
approach gathering news

with a healthy skepticism,
I hope I do it without

arrogance or a smart-alecky,
know-it-all attitude.

Very well put Mr. Call,
don't you think so Towers?

See you got visitors Harry?

Hi Joe, is town Marshall
gentlemen, Mr. Joe Tomlinson,

this is Mr. Towers
of the San Francisco

Yeah, I know who they are.

You don't seem
very happy to see us here,

Marshall.

No I'm not, I think this
is strictly a local affair,

it's nobody else's business.

How do you know that Marshall?

What?

Well I mean unless you know
who or what is responsible

how do you know it is local?

What else could it be?

Well I'm sure you've
been trying to find out

for the past ten months.

Sure, naturally.

Well Chico isn't
a very large town.

If somebody is launching
stones with some sort

of catapult, I'm sure you'd
have discovered him by now.

If it's really happening.

Don't you see Bradley, it
couldn't be anything else.

There no hills around here.

Those stones come
straight down from nowhere.

Sure they do.

Where's the highest
spot in town, Marshall?

The roof of Tory's
warehouse up on High Street.

Can we go up there?

Certainly.

Well that's where I
wanna be at three o'clock.

With field glasses.

That's Harry Call's place

Yep.

And the stones have fallen there

for the last three days right?

Right in there.

Well they, they could easily
have been thrown from here

with some sort of machine?

Couldn't they?

Mr. Bradley?

Let me tell you something.

For the last ten months
those rocks have fallen

just about every
place in this town.

At all sorts of different
hours, day and night.

And plenty of those times
I have been right here

with those glasses.

Well like Call said, they
always fall straight down.

It's almost 3
o'clock Mr. Towers.

Just a minute or so by my watch.

Well at least come in
under the porch roof!

No sir, this I wanna
see from beginning to end.

There, there Mr. Bradley,
a little more to your left.

Up there.

They are, they're
falling from an empty sky.

They're floating.

The man who wrote this note,

who signed himself the ghost,

was never heard from again.

However a young man
who had come to Chico

ten months before and
who had been the subject

of much conversation
because of his odd behavior,

disappeared, suddenly
on the same day.

A nationwide search
was made for him.

But no trace of him or his
invention was ever found.

Who was he or
perhaps, what was he?

Because from the New York Times,

printed in 1878,

44 years before the barrage
of rocks began over Chico.

On the 29th of August, a
great number of small fish

fell from the sky on the
town of Chico, California.

Covering the roof of a store,
and falling in the streets

over an area of several acres,

they fell from a cloudless
sky and were both freshwater

and ocean varieties.

And from the Monthly Weather
Review of March, 1885,

a large object of very hard
material weighing several tons

but defying analysis
fell from the sky

on the town of
Chico, California.

Now was the ghost, whoever
or whatever he was or is,

responsible for all
the strange goings on

in the sky over Chico?

It certainly would be
fascinating to find out.

Just as it would be
fascinating to find out more

about a man named Charles Elton.

The year was 1917.

The place, just outside
the private residence

of a cabinet member of the
United States government

in Washington, D.C.

Charles Elton, if that
really was his name,

chose to make an
appearance here in a most

unorthodox manner but then
he proved to be a most

unorthodox individual.

Your office Mr. Secretary?

No there's a meeting at
the State department 8:45

and it's nearly that now
but let's not break any

cross-town speed records.

No sir.

I'm afraid you won't be
able to leave just yet,

Mr. Secretary.

Who are you and
what do you want?

Just to show the
Secretary something

of great importance.

You better get outta here fast.

Sir you have a reputation
for being a reasonable man.

I'm sure you can see if
you will notice this car

is in no condition
to take you anywhere,

so you might as
well let me fix it.

Fix it? There isn't a
gasoline station around

for at least a mile.

Which is precisely
why I chose to empty

your gasoline tank here.

Mr. Secretary, please
forgive my methods, but after

waiting in your outer
office four days in vain.

There may be enough
gasoline in the lines

to get to a gas station.

Carter you'd best go and
telephone for a taxicab.

Maybe I better call the police?

No I'll be all right.

Yes sir.

I thought your
face was familiar.

Excuse me sir.

Where are you going?

Just to get your garden hose.

Hose?

Here, what are you doing?

Fixing it so you can drive
to the State department.

Great Scott man you'll
ruin the motor with water.

Just water yes.

Well do you think I sprinkle
my lawn with gasoline?

Mr. Secretary, please
relax, I assure you

I'm not harming your
high-powered engine in any way.

There, that oughta do it.

There's the little beauty.

So, now for a moment to
allow for the effervescence

to distribute the chemical
throughout the water

and then you'll wanna
watch this Mr. Secretary.

I pump it to get
some of my mixture up

into the carburetor.

Get in Mr. Secretary.

I'll have you at the State
department in three minutes.

Final Day, careful driver sir.

Where did you get the
gasoline Mr. Secretary?

From the garden hose, naturally.

Pardon sir.

Cancel the taxicab.

Yes sir.

Good evening Mr. Secretary

Good evening Commander.

Good evening gentlemen.

Mr. Secretary.

Nice to see you.

Gentlemen, this is
Mr. Charles Elton.

Commander Phillips,

How do you do?

Colonel Willis, Mr. Garner.

Hello.

Each an expert in his own field.

Mr. Elton, gentlemen, may
very possibly have made

the most important discovery
since the development

of the internal
combustion engine.

If he has what he appears
to have, it would,

to say the very least,
accelerate the growth

of world economy at
an unprecedented rate.

And aid greatly in giving
the Allied war machine

complete and
overwhelming superiority.

Where is this miracle sir?

Right here.

I'm not surprised
that you wondered.

I could very well have been
duped but that's why we're here

to find out.

Is that the engine Commander?

Yes sir.

Now you're absolutely
certain that the tank,

the tank is empty and that
it has never, at any time,

contained any fuel whatsoever?

Absolutely sir.

Good.

Colonel, did you get the water?

Yes, Mr. Secretary.

Where did you get it?

I picked it up at
the corner grocery store sir.

Fine.

Now is there a
clean glass handy?

yes sir, right here.

Good, thank you, would
you pour some water

in here please Colonel?

Colonel, have a drink.

What'd it taste like?

Like water sir.

Just plain, ordinary
water, nothing added?

I'm sorry to say not,
as far as I can tell.

Mr. Garner.

Just water.

Commander, how long to
run an analysis on this?

Half a minute.

Good.

Mr. Garner, is there
anything at all unusual

about this engine?

No, it's just a plain
automobile engine.

Commander.

I can tell better after
they sit awhile sir.

But so far it's just
good, ol' H 2 O.

Fine.

Well Mr. Elton,
the stage is yours.

Thank you sir.

What are you doing?

Just protecting
myself Mr. Secretary.

Just enough to prime
it and run the engine

for about a minute.

One provision, Mr. Secretary.

Yes.

You must permit me to
consume every drop of the fuel.

Well sir, all the elements
I use can be found

on this planet.

And perhaps some very
clever chemist, after some

hard work, might succeed
in making an analysis.

Then I would no longer
have a secret, would I?

And therefore nothing to sell.

Yes, I, see what you mean.

Very well, you have my word.

Very well, gentlemen,
someone can start the engine.

Mr. Garner?

But Mr. Secretary,
if you'll forgive me,

there can only be
one possible result.

Water vapor and an
internal combustion engine

are incompatible.

You'll simply ruin a
perfectly good engine.

That is a risk, I
feel, we can afford.

Very well.

Well gentlemen, what do you say?

There's only one
thing you can say,

it's impossible.

It completely defies
the whole theory

of internal combustion.

Well unless I'm dreaming,
this will do everything

you said it would.

Unless we're all
dreaming the same dream.

Well, how much do you
want for your formula?

Ten million dollars.

Mr. Garner, you're
employed in private industry,

how much do you think
he could get for this

on the open market?

Well if it's, what it
seems to be, and can be

produced cheaply,

I guess there is no ceiling.

That's a very good point.

How much would it
cost to produce this,

this marvelous pill of yours?

For a pill that will
convert ten gallons of water

into ten gallons
of high grade fuel,

less than two cents.

You guarantee that?

Make the deal
contingent upon it.

That's fair enough.

I, of course, can't
commit our government

to a project of this magnitude
on my own responsibility

but well I feel certain that
we'll have no difficulty

in getting what you want.

Now if you wouldn't mind just
waiting in the other room

for a moment, we, there's
some things I'd like

to discuss with these gentlemen.

Not at all.

I'll be with
you in a very few moments.

Take your time Mr. Secretary.

Well gentlemen, I am not
an expert on these matters,

I leave that to you,
but, I know I'd hate

to present this matter
to the President

and have it explode in my face.

Nobody's an expert
on that stuff,

except your Mr. Elton.

You took every
possible precaution sir.

I know one thing.

There was no drop
of fuel of any kind

in that engine until he
poured his mixture in.

Mr. Garner? You're
a very caution man,

would you care to
express an opinion?

A man would have
to be a complete fool

to believe what we just saw.

But I believe it.

There's no other choice.

Well gentlemen, that's
good enough for me.

Mr. Elton I'm glad to,
Mr. Elton, Mr. Elton?

He's gone.

And he was gone.

He'd completely vanished.

The FBI and the Secret
Service for many, many months

searched for Charles Elton.

They checked every
hotel and rooming house

in Washington.

They interviewed every
Charles Elton in America.

They took his fingerprints
from the laboratory.

And they checked them
and compared them

against every
conceivable source.

But not one shred of
evidence was ever found

to prove that such
a man even existed.

And of course, to this day,
no one can even imagine

how he managed to make
gasoline from water.

His secret, like the
secret of the ghost

who worked his magic
in Chico, California,

continues to elude our
best scientific minds.

We may never discover
who these men were.

Where are they?