[Eerie music]
(Male narrator) There is a fifth dimension
beyond tha t which is known to man.
It is a dimension as vastas space
and as timeless as infinity.
It is the middle ground between lightand shadow,
between science and s upers ti tion,
and it lies between the pit of man's fears
and the summit of his knowledge.
This is the dimension of ima Gina tion.
It is anarea which we call the twilightzone.
[Metal clinks]
(Male narrator) Her name is nan Adams.
She's 27 years old.
Her occupa tion, buyer ata New York department store.
A t present on va ca tion, driving cross-countr y
to Los Angeles, California, from manha ttan.
How fast were you going, miss?
Oh, 60, 65. Something like that.
Blowout, skid marks, shoulders like pudding
and going 65 miles an hour.
Lady, you're on the side of the angels,
byrights, you shouldn't ha ve called for a mechanic.
Somebody should ha ve called for a hearse.
Just follow me into town, miss.
I'll see if I can fix you up with a new tire.
Thank you.
(Male narrator) Minor inc/den t on highwa y 11 in penns yl va Nia.
Perhaps to be filed a way
under ”a cciden ts you'd walka way from."
But from this moment on,
nan Adams' companion on a trip to California will be terror.
Her route, fear.
Her des Tina tion, quite unknown.
[Suspense music]
That's five bucks for the call,
$22.10 for the tire. The tax, $2.60.
Whole thing comes to $29.70.
It's cheaper than a funeral, isn't it?
You can say that again.
[ Ch uckles]
[Suspense music]
(Mechanic) Here you are, miss.
Change from your two 208.
Checked the other tires for you. They look okay.
Anything wrong?
No, nothing's wrong.
I was just looking at that, uh,
that hitchhiker. [Suspense music]
(Mechanic) Wha t hi tohhik e r?
He's gone now.
Guess he got picked up.
Probably.
It's funny, though. I saw him a little while ago
while you were changing the tire.
Yeah, he probably got a lift right after we passed him.
Probably.
Thank you very much for all your help.
It's okay, miss.
Have a nice, safe trip.
Thank you.
[Suspense music]
(Adams, off) I sa w him again 50 miles further on,
and thenagain on the long,
straight stretch through Virginia.
Just standing there. Not mena cing, reall y.
If anything, drab, a little mousy.
Justa shabby, sill y-I ooking, scarecrow man.
I shouldn't even think about him a tall, but,
it's the coincidence of the thing.
The fact tha t wherever I go, there he is.
Wherever I stop, I see him.
No ma tter how far I tra vel or how fasti go,
he's ahead of me.
I'm on a turnpike noi/I/.
I don't know why it is, but I'm frightened.
A fear justaboutas vague as its object.
Ma ybe it isn't reall ya fear.
It's more just a sense of disouiet,
a feeling tha t things area little wrong.
I t's va g ue be ca use tha t's what? t tha t hitchhiker is.
He's va gue.
I wonder why it is he's al wa ys there.
I wonder why I can't shake him.
Do you get many hitchhikers around here?
Hitchikers, here? Ooh!
Rare, huh?
It couldn't be no rare.
The guy would be a fool hitching a ride on a turnpike.
Look at it. Miles and miles straight away,
and practically no speed limit.
Now, what car is gonna stop and pick up a guy under those conditions?
Would you?
No. I woudln't.
Now a guy might get a ride before the turnpike starts.
You know, maybe by the toll house or something.
But even then it would be a mighty long ride.
Most cars wouldn't wanna pick up a guy for that long a ride.
And then, you know, it's kind of lonely country around here.
Flat land, hills, that sort of thing.
You didn't see anyone hitching, did you?
No! No, I didn't see anyone like that
I was just wondering, that's all.
Is something wrong, miss?
I don't know, I... [Soft suspense music]
I was... I was just thinking...
I was just thinking how good it's gonna be to be able to stop driving.
It's getting so...
I hate that car.
You'll have to wait a minute, miss.
Construction ahead.
All right.
[Suspense music]
Heading west?
No!
No, I'm not heading west, I'm sorry.
I'm not heading west, I'm just going up the road a little way!
[Sharp acceleration]
Miss, where are you going?
[Suspense music]
[Warning bell clanging]
[Clanging continues]
[Suspense music]
[Tires squealing]
[Train horn blowing]
[Warning bell clanging]
[Engine grinding]
[Train horn blaring]
[Engine grinding while train horn blaring]
[Bell clanging]
[Horn blaring]
[Engine turns over]
[Horn blaring and bell clanging]
[Horn blaring closer]
[Bells clanging]
[Horn blaring]
[Engine starts]
[Horn blaring very loud]
(Adams, off) Now the fear is no longer va gue.
The terror isn't formless.
It has a form.
He was beckoning me.
Tha t thin, gra y man in the cheap, shabby suit.
He was beckoning me.
He wanted me to start to cross.
He wanted me to die. [Suspense music]
I know tha t noi/I/.
I don't know what? t to do noi/I/.
I don't know if I should turn around and go ba ck to New York
or go on ahead.
Stabbing little thoughts gouge my bra in.
Ugly, frightened thoughts.
Projections of tomorrow and the next da y
driving through plains, driving through the desert,
unspeakabl y, nightma rishl y al one.
And I know I'll see him.
I'll see him a t detours, a t railroad crossings.
He'll be looking a t me a t stoplights.
I don't know what? t to do noi/I/.
I don't know what? t to do.
I just don't know what? t to do.
[Suspense music]
(Adams, off) Three da ys and three nights now of driving
past Tennessee into Arkansas.
Three da ys and three nights.
Stop for food and then drive.
Stop for food and then drive, stop for food...
And the routine goes on.
Towns go by without names, landscapes without form.
Now it isn't even a trip, it's flight.
Route 80 isn'ta highwa y anymore, it's an escape route.
So I keep going, conscious of onl y one thing,
I've got to get where I'm going
and I can't let tha t hi tchhik er close in on me.
(Adams, off) On the fourth da y, half way a oross new Mexico
I tooka side road, hoping to lose the hitchhiker.
[Crickets chirping]
A t 11:00 a t night, the engine s topped,
and I sit there in the front sea t
refrigera Ted b y fear, out of gas!
[Soft suspense music]
[Gasps]
[Knocking frantically]
Please, somebody!
Plea se, somebod y help me!
Yeah?
Wha t is it?
Wha t do you want?
I'm out of gas.
My car's down the road
just a quarter of a mile or so.
Well, come back in the morning, and we'll fix you up.
Please! I can't stay here all night.
I have to have some gas.
Lady, it must be past midnight.
It's only a little bit after 11:00.
Well, we close up here at 9:00.
Please!
I've got to have a can of gas.
I just can't stay there by myself.
There's a very suspicious-looking man there.
What about this man?
What was he doing?
Well,
oh, nothing, I...
He... he just stands there
and I've,
I've been seeing this man all the time.
But he just stands there,
and he doesn't do anything.
That's nothing to wake a man up
in the middle of his sleep about.
Well, I think he's trying to Rob me, I...
[Sobs]
Well, if he does, then you come back here
and I'll call the sheriff.
No, please help me, please.
[Crying]
[Suspense music]
[Gasps]
Lady?
Yes.
That's what I am.
I'm a lady.
What are you doing out so late?
You work here? This your place?
Iran out of gas.
I'm just a little bit ways down the road,
but he won't give me any gas.
I saw your car.
You know, you left your keys in it.
Do you live around here?
No, no, I'm on my way back from leave.
Where you headed?
Back to my ship.
San Diego, that's where she is.
That's where I'm heading. San Diego.
Do you want a ride?
Are you kidding me?
No, I'm not kidding, I mean it.
I'll take you all the way to San Diego.
Will you drive with me?
Lady, you don't have to ask twice.
You got yourself a rider, honest.
I don't have any gas, though.
We'll fix that up.
You try the people here?
The man's in bed.
Let's get him out of bed.
Hey, pop, you got some customers out here!
Say, do you mind if I take off my shoes?
My feet feel like two hot bricks.
No, go right ahead.
Thanks.
[Grunts]
You know, I keep thinking
I'll wake up or something.
Middle of the night, no cars, no nothing.
Who do I meet?
Lady who looks like a movie star.
When I tell the guys on the ship,
do you know what the odds are for even one guy believing me?
I said, "do you know what the odds are
for one guy to believe me?"
I'll write an affidavit.
We can get a notary to sign it.
You hitchhike much?
Well, back and forth on leave mostly.
It's kind of tough in this open country.
Trucks are all right, they'll pick you up.
But you have trouble with cars.
You know, most people in cars
won't pick up hitchhikers at night.
Oh, I suppose not.
I bet if you got a,
good pickup and a fast car
you could go places faster than,
than, say, another person in another car.
I suppose.
Well, take me, for instance.
Suppose I'm driving across the country
at a nice steady clip
of about, oh, 45 miles an hour.
Couldn't a fellow like you
standing beside the road waiting for a lift
beat me to town after town,
provided he got picked up every time
in a car going about 65 to 70 miles an hour?
Couldn't he?
Well, I suppose.
Maybe he could, and maybe he couldn't.
What difference does it make?
No difference, really, I,
just a silly kind of idea I had here
sitting in the car.
[Uaughs] Yeah.
I guess it's a good way
to spend your time, though, huh?
[Chuckles softly]
[Tires squealing]
What's going on? What's the matter?
Did you see that man?
Who?
You must have seen him.
The one standing beside the road.
Honey, I didn't see anybody. There was nothing there.
You trying to run us off the road or something?
The thin, kind of gray-looking man?
I didn't see anybody.
Lady, you must be overtired or something.
I didn't see nobody... nothing.
I saw him.
[Tires screeching]
[Tires squealing]
Look, lady, maybe you'd better let me drive, huh?
You must have seen him that time.
Uh-uh, I didn't see anybody.
What were you trying to do?
I was trying to hit him.
What?
That's right, I was trying to hit him.
I thought maybe if I could kill him,
I could make him stop.
Where you going?
No place in particular. Just out of sight.
I'm going to go anyplace that puts distance
between me and this automobile.
Please don't go, I just...
I don't know what came over me...
Don't go.
Look, baby, I'd like to get back to my ship in one piece.
And driving with you... that is a lousy guarantee I'll ever make it.
Please don't go. I promise I'll drive more carefully now. I promise.
I'm sorry, lady, I'm sorry. But you'll have to excuse me.
You can't go, you understand that? You just can't go.
I'll take you all the way into San Diego.
I'll drive you right to the docks, I promise.
Thanks,
but no thanks.
Look, I like you.
I really like you very much, as a matter of fact
that's why I picked you up... because I liked you.
I thought that we could be friends,
and I'd kind of like for you to take me out.
Really.
Please?
I'm sorry, ma'am.
No, please. Please! Look, I know you think I'm out of my mind,
but I've been seeing this man.
He's been following me all the way across the country.
Help me and just stay with me till I reach the coast.
Please don't go!
Please?
Just give me my shoes.
Now, you listen, honey.
What you need is a good night's sleep.
You don't need a boyfriend, just a good night's sleep.
I'll see you around.
No!
Don't go!
[Sobs]
(Adams, off) Now I'm outside of a diner near Tucson.
There's a pa yphone outside, and I'm going to call home,
ba ck to New York.
Put ina call to my mother,
so I can speak to someone familiar, someone I love,
someone to bring ba ck reality to me.
Just a voice
a warm, familiar voice so I won't lose my mind.
Operator, I'd like to make a call to my home
in New York City.
My name is nan Adams.
The telephone number is trafalgar 41098.
[Rings]
[Click]
Hello, mother?
(Woman) This is Mrs. Adams' residence,
whom do you wish to speak to, please?
Who's this?
This is Mrs. Whitney.
Mrs. Whitney? I don't know any Mrs. Whitney.
Is this trafalgar 41098?
Yes, it is.
Where's my mother? Where's Mrs. Adams?
She's still in the hospital. A nervous breakdown.
A nervous breakdown? But there's nothing the matter with my mother.
What do you mean, a nervous breakdown?
Well, it's all taken place since the DEA th of her daughter.
The death of her daughter?
What do you... what do you mean, the death of her daughter?
Who's this?
What number is this?
It's all been very sudden.
Nan was killed just six da ys ago
in an automobile accident in penns yl va Nia.
A tire blew out and her car turned over.
(Adams, off) Ver y odd.
The fear has left me now
I'm numb, I have no feeling.
It's as if someone had pulled out some kind of a plug in me
and everything, emo tion, feeling, fear, has drained out.
And now I'ma cold shell.
I'm conscious of things around me now...
The vast night of Arizona,
the stars thatlook down from the darkness.
Ahead of me stretch a thousand miles of empty mesa...
Mounta ins, pra iries, deser t.
Somewhere among them, he's waiting for me.
Somewhere I'll find out who he is.
I'll find out.
I'll find out what? the wants.
But just noi/I/, for the first time
looking outa t the night
I think! Knoi/I/.
I believe you're going
my way?
(Male narrator) Nan Adams, age 27.
She was driving to California, to Los Angeles.
She didn't make it.
There was a de tour
through the twil ight zone.
(Male presenter, off) Rod serl ing, the orea Tor oftwilight zone
will tell you about next week's storyafter this word from our al terna te sponsor.
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