You unlock this door with the k e y of ima Gina t/on.
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 shadowand substance,
of things and ideas.
You've just crossed over into the twilight zone.
Charlie?
Go back to sleep, Ella, it's early.
What time is it?
My watch stopped.
It's pitch black out.
It must be 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning.
Look how black it is out there.
It's the middle of the night.
Oh, I think you're crazy to get up now.
What's so special
about hanging a little...
Go back to sleep, Ella!
Well, why don't you?
You'll have all that excitement today.
You're the one that needs the sleep.
Bring his breakfast over about 8:30.
What time they string him up?
Well, you know what I mean.
What time does he get hung?
He gets executed at 9:30.
And I hope the whole town
doesn't turn out.
When I see a bunch of coldblooded gawkers
getting their jollies from seeing a man die,
I just...
Just bring his breakfast over at 8:30.
Oh, Charlie?
How does he like his eggs?
Edible.
They're the last ones he's going to eat
so make them edible.
I don't get it.
What don't you get, deputy?
Sheriff, it's 7:30 in the morning,
and it's pitch black outside.
I've never seen it any blacker,
but it's 7:30 in the morning.
Now, what's going on?
I don't know, deputy.
It's 7:30 in the morning and it's pitch black outside.
To tell you the truth...
I don't know why.
I don't know why at all.
Sheriff Charlie koch
on the morning of an execution.
Asa matter of fact, it's 7:30 /n the morning.
Logic and natural laws dictate that at this hour
there should be daylight.
It is a simple rule of physical science
that the sun should rise at a certain moment
and supersede the darkness.
But at this given moment sheriff Charlie koch,
a deputy named Pierce, a condemned man named Jagger,
and a small, inconsequential village
will shortly find out that there are causes and effects
that have no precedent.
Such is usually the case in the twilight zone.
How about that?
You see it outside?
You better run an extra
in that paper of yours.
I've been answering the phone
since 6:00 this morning.
One fellow called, said the electricity had gone off...
It was tomorrow night.
Another godly woman,
who professes to read her good book with admirable regularity,
tells me it's the end of the world
and she can quote the chapter and verse to support her thesis.
Now, you're well-versed in all things
regarding law and order, sheriff koch.
What's your thesis?
It's a quarter to eight.
It's a quarter to eight in the morning
and it doesn't make any sense.
Daylight should have come two hours ago.
Well, in between reassuring people
that this was not an interplanetary invasion,
nor the end of the world,
I placed a call to the state capital.
Is it black there?
It appears that across the face
of the entire earth
we are the only ones groping in darkness.
So it seems the phenomenon
is quite localized
and we'll just have to seek elsewhere
for company to share our misery.
Have you seen Jagger this morning?
Iseen him.
I brought him in a cup of coffee.
I also reminded him about what day it was.
I'll bet you did.
How did you occupy yourself as a lad, deputy?
Torturing small animals
or just pulling wings off flies?
What do you mean by that, Mr. Colbey?
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Can I talk to Jagger?
Go right on in.
As a point of interest, sheriff,
is Jagger innocent?
That is a matter for a jury, public opinion and god,
and that, thank the lord, has nothing to do with me.
So let us all praise god for the morning's impartiality.
And for justice being served deluxe style.
Deputy...
Why don't you shut your mouth.
I got a right to an opinion.
Indeed you have, deputy.
Indeed you have.
But there's just a few disturbing facets
about this case.
One...
The murdered man was not a decent man.
He was a cross-burning, psychopathic bully
who attacked the man in there.
And two, deputy Pierce here saw it happen
and then perjured himself.
Now, wait a minute!
Perjured is the word, deputy.
Now, you said Jagger shot him
from across the room.
No such thing.
The murdered man had powder burns all over him.
This might not have proven self-defense
but it would've pointed to it and maybe helped it.
And you, sheriff koch, you saw the body.
But I didn't hear any comments
on those powder burns
when you gave your testimony.
And your courageous editor here in covering the trial
didn't see fit to include this insignificant addendum
though he also knew at the time he was being very selective
about what truths he was writing about, what truths he wasn't.
You're right, deputy.
Just/ce is being served...
On a platter with its tongue cut out
just like the carcass of any dead animal.
Let me know when you're ready.
It's pitch black outside.
Almost 8:00 in the morning.
Not a speck of daylight.
This place doesn't have any windows
so it could be Christmas Eve
or the fourth of July
and I would not know the difference.
You got any religious affiliation, Jagger?
None.
Anyone you want to see?
Nobody.
Anything to say?
Nothing.
No priest, no friends, no comment.
Just what have you got, Jagger?
I got the blues, Mr. Colbey!
I got the blues.
I'm just about an hour away from a hanging
and I've been lying there
and I have been thinking that I would like
to rip these bars apart and get out of here.
Or I'd like to save everybody else the trouble
and hang myself right here.
But I don't have the strength for one
or the guts for the other
so I'm just lying there, and I am just waiting.
Well, in that case, would you care to make a statement
about guilt or innocence?
Guilt or innocence, and you want me to make a statement?
I'd apprec/a te one.
I don't think anybody should leave this earth
without making a comment... you, me, anybody.
Well, that's a reasonable request, Mr. Colbey.
Considering the fact that you're not leaving this morning
it's reasonable.
I'm guilty, Mr. Colbey.
That take you off the hook?
And that's supposed to mean what?
That's supposed to mean
you're on the popular side.
There are good guys and bad guys...
That's the nature of man.
Well, I'm worse than a bad guy.
I'm a town kook, I'm a neurotic.
I'm the one with the causes and the banners.
I'm the village idiot who tries to be his brother's keeper.
Do you understand, Mr. Colbey?
The man I killed was the white knight.
He d/d what h/s other pals in this town
wanted to do and d/dn't ha ve the guts.
Hewas the cross burner, the bomb thrower.
He handled the whipping of some poor, scared colored guy.
The man you killed was no Saint
but we don't dispense life or death
just because somebody offends us.
That's the distinction between men and animals.
Oh, well, that's very well said.
That's very well said, Mr. Colbey.
You tell that to the man
who's gonna f/x my rope.
You tell it to the sheriff and his deputy
to the townspeople who are going to stand around
and watch my eyes bulge out and enjoy my agony.
You tell them.
You tell them about the difference
between men and animal s.
But you better be ready to draw pictures
because this language they just don't dig!
9:00 in the morning.
But why is it so dark?
Is it an eclipse?
Can't be.
I'm listening to the radio.
Ain't no eclipse.
It's weird.
It's just plain weird.
But scientists can offer no explana t/on
for the strange phenomenon of darkness
tha t has suddenl y and inexplicabl y
covered the remote little midwestern village.
It is now 9:00 A.M. eastern standard time
but last reports ind/ca te darkness there is total.
There is no remote hint of any kind of da ylight.
Looks pretty good.
That ought to tend to him.
But who's gonna tend to us?
Who or what is gonna tend to us?
Ten more minutes.
You, uh, going to go through
with this, sheriff?
Why not?
The law says may 25, at 9:30 in the morning.
Well, it's may 25,
and it'll be 9:30 in the morning.
Quite apart from the fact, Mr. Pierce,
that you're not the most sensitive of men,
did it ever occur to you
there's something odd going on here
and we better dispense with business as usual
until we find out exactly what is going on?
You know something?
I take an awful lot of dirt from you.
And just who are you, anyway?
A little-shot editor of a crummy little paper.
That's right, a crummy little paper
that crawls along on its hands and knees
from one edition to the other.
You got more creditors than you got readers.
That'll do it, Pierce.
No, that won't do it by a long shot!
Now, maybe you feel like turning
your cheek to this crumb
but there ain't no rule book
that says I got to.
He sa ys I perjured myself;
sa ys I lied.
And boy, he wasn't throwing no bouquets
at you, neither.
Maybe I don't deserve any.
You were right, you know.
I saw the victim.
He did have powder burns.
But when a committee of townspeople came to me
and said there'd be no autopsy,
I just bent my head and I nodded.
We all got little axes to grind, don't we?
I want to be reelected sheriff.
You want to keep selling newspapers.
And deputy Pierce here...
He likes to feel important;
he likes to be popular,
likes to stay on the good side of people.
Here we are, gentlemen, treading water in a sewer.
I don't take it from him
and I don't take it from you!
You better unravel it, Pierce,
or I'll spread you all over this yard.
Let's go get the prisoner.
At last, Mr. Pierce.
A labor of love, huh?
Do you suppose, reverend,
there might be some theological explanation?
Theological explanation?
For the death, or the darkness, or both.
You know, reverend,
maybe if we thought it was some divine act,
we could sort of live with it.
This is not the first gallows, reverend, nor the last.
Or he won't be the first unhappy man died an early age.
We won't be the last mourners on earth either.
Did you see him?
Did you get to talk to him?
Briefly.
He wouldn't see me.
Wouldn't even let me inside.
It's a pity.
He's a very lonely man.
But he won't be lonely very long.
He's gota few minutes, hasn't he?
He used 'em up already.
We're four minutes behind.
Talk to him, take your time.
It's mytime.
I got nothing to say.
Then let's go.
Let's get on with it!
Yeah!
You don't want to waste
your last minutes, Jagger.
Now, you and I are a different faith,
and obviously a different color,
but you stood up for me and mine.
You spoke for us,
and god help us, you killed for us.
And I feel you deserve
some mea sure of pea ce.
I want to give you some.
That'll give me some peace.
I don't need any words, reverend.
No quotations in or out of the Bible.
Come on, let's get it over with!
Yeah!
Patience.
Patience!
I promise you, iwill please you all,
believe me.
I'll choke and suffer and dance.
Oh, you'll get your money's worth.
Believe me.
Quiet! But I tell you
what I won't give you, you muckers!
I won't give you the satisfaction of saying
that I'm sorry!
Yeah!
Yeah, yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah, yeah!
Don't return their hate.
Don't dishonor yourself.
Why don't you get out of here.
I got too much hate in me
to keep plugged up anymore.
When he came at you, Jagger...
Did it feel good to you then?
What difference?
When you aimed that gun at his head,
that wasn't such a bad moment, was it?
Good, bad, who cares?
When you killed him, Jagger,
when you blew his head off,
there were no regrets then, were there?
You enjoyed that, didn't you?
You know it!
Yes, yes, I...
I know it now.
Now I know it too well.
You're guilty.
This man is guilty.
It's important to get with the majority, isn't it?
That's...
That's a big thing nowadays, isn't it, reverend?
That's all there is, is the majority.
The minority must have died on the cross 2,000 years ago.
You seen the light, reverend.
You really seen the light.
Have you?
Have any of you?
In all this darkness,
is there anybody who can make out the truth?
He hated and he killed and now he dies.
And you hated, you killed,
and now there's not one of you...
Not one of you who isn't doomed.
Do you know why it's dark?
Do you know why it is night all around us?
Do you know what the blackness is?
It's the hate he felt, the hate you felt,
the hate all of us feel, and there's too much of it.
There's just too much.
And so we had to vom/t it out.
And now it's coming up all around us
and chok/ng us.
So much hate, so much miserable hate.
Look.
Look what's happening.
It's getting even darker now.
I can't...
I can't hardl y see anything now.
That's crazy, ain't it?
I mean, what he said.
Ain't that crazy?
You know what's going to happen?
Believe me, you know what's gonna happen?
This here stuff's gonna lift.
It'll all of a sudden just plain lift.
Why it's just... Just fog is all it is.
No more than a fog.
And it'll lift.
And there'll be the old sun,
high up and bright.
You wait and see.
There'll be the old sun shining to beat the band.
Well, it could happen, couldn't it?
Couldn't that happen, koch?
Colbey?
There'll be sun again.
There'll be daylight.
I don't know.
I don't know if there'll ever be daylight again.
Only god knows.
I'm sure only god knows.
And still the phenomenon remains unexpla/ned
except for the reports coming in of similar occurrences
here in the united sta tes and elsewhere.
A t 2:00 this afternoon, a dark cloud appeared
over a street in Dallas, Texas.
The ma yor of west Berlin verified that a rectangular area
over the Berlin wall has suddenl y gone dark.
In Budapest, European newspapermen
passed over censorsh/p an article
about several square blocks including a political prison
which was suddenl y thro wn into darkness Earl y this morning.
In Birmingham, ala ba ma,
an area in Shanghai, the entire northern section of Vietnam,
a section of Chicago, Illinois,
the darkness continues to make itself known.
A sickness known as ha te;
nota virus, nota microbe, nota germ...
Buta sickness nonetheless,
highl y contag/ous, deadl y in its effects.
Don't look for it in the twilight zone...
Look for it in a mirror.
Look for it before the light goes out al together.
And now, Mr. Serl/ng.
Next time out we bring you a few decibels of sound
in a bizarre opus about a man
who breaks eardrums for a living.
We welcome to the program two fine talents,
Mr. John mcgiver and miss penny singleton,
who will prove the following point:
Namely that too much of a good thing
can have nightmarish results and that all things
are not necessarily as they meet the eye or the ear.
On the twilightzone next "sounds and silences."