The Hitch-Hiker - Twilight-Tober Zone

[@ChannelAwesome]

Everyone wish a Happy Birthday to Walter! Watch more Twilight-Tober Zone here - bit.ly/TwilightToberZone Follow Walter on Twitter - twitter.com/Awesome_Walter Follow us on Twitch - www.twitch.tv/channelawesome

[@RedRiddingHood25]

Happy birthday

[@Thrakus]

Happy B-Day

[@petros6013]

Happy Birthday Walter Banasiak!

[@ajanidorsett68]

Channel Awesome happy birthday Walter

[@trinaq]

Wishing you a Wonderful Birthday, Walter, and thanks for bringing us another brilliant critique! 🎂🎊😻

[@guppybill]

The hitchhiker, Leonard Strong, was my grandpa. He was also a KAOS agent on Get Smart. I'm way older now than he was in this episode. So cool seeing and hearing him. Also cool that so many people know of him through his work.

[@mikehaas7]

"NO, not the 'Craw' - the 'Craw!!'" Strong's Claw delivered one of the funniest lines in Get Smart history, IMHO.

[@starkman78]

He did absolutely fantastic work in this episode! Look how many decades later it is and his performance still leaves such an impression? I hope he was able to appreciate how much of a joy (and terror!) it was for so many people to watch him in this. ❤️

[@johnspinelli9396]

Wow thats cool

[@ritacal557]

I absolutely love this episode. Every time I watch it gives me the chills. So good.

[@errolpletcher9186]

Did he have Asian ancestry? His Wikipedia says he specialized in playing Asians and he looks like he either was or could pass.

[@TheGoodWario]

He's just standing there... MENACINGLY! Jokes aside, this is a definite favorite and classic.

[@RockySamson]

Hahaha!! Yes!!

[@hereticsaint100]

The Hash Slinging Slasher!

[@moealbert7339]

Great chemistry acting between Nan and the sailor.Really convincing that he thought she was really crazy and had no idea of what she saw was real to her.It has to be one of my favorites.

[@LindaMerchant-bq2hp]

He looks eerie

[@CaptainRiterraSmith]

Chills man. Chills. A person frightened of being pursued or attacked, that's easy. An already dead soul frightened of being delivered because she doesn't know she's dead, that's a masterful twist.

[@farmerboy916]

Ah, having not seen it, here's a better question; does she start seeing the hitchhiker in Pennsylvania, or before?

[@LordVader1094]

@@farmerboy916 In Pennsylvania

[@asnrobert]

@@farmerboy916 She doesn't start seeing him until after the blowout in Pennsylvania.

[@BillGraper]

How come she was able to communicate with the living? Several people communicated with her. That's what doesn't make sense.

[@Gulag00]

Sixth Sense vibes

[@alexhrycaj8429]

It’s bone chilling for the dead to not know they are dead.

[@francisfatta]

Sixth sense: tell me about it

[@taminogerwin8089]

you should know hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[@foxymetroid]

Speaking from experience?

[@mcshatly1576]

How did you come to this conclusion?

[@Center-For-I.E.D.Mismanagement]

How can it be bone chilling for the dead to not know they are dead? Ghosts don't have bones.

[@Brenda-cg1px]

"I believe you're going my way?" Ugh, that gives me chills every time. I think Serling made the right call by changing the protagonist's gender to female. It just adds that extra layer of fear. Incidentally, it always struck me that Nan tells the gas station clerk she thinks the man's going to rob her. I think the implication was that he could do a LOT worse to her, but that's probably all they could get away with saying back in 1960.

[@Brenda-cg1px]

@crazy silly um... OK?

[@Brenda-cg1px]

​@crazy silly Well, I was thinking along the lines of rape/murder so... sure. Of course the censors wouldn't have allowed that at the time, but I think the subtext was certainly implied (especially since "rob me" could be read as robbing her of her life or consent.)

[@CrypticCharm]

this is such a great episode, especially in comparison to others where death is depicted as more jovial and friendly. it's unintentional on some level, but the idea from Nan's perspective, she's being stalked and terrorized and no one understands. and from his perspective, he's just bringing her "home"

[@trinaq]

Precisely, I love how we're placed in the same mindset as Nan, and desperately want her to escape from the Hitch Hiker's seemingly sinister intentions. That's what makes the twist work wonders, especially to this very day! ☺️❤️

[@SeraphSeph]

@@trinaq yup, nothing sinister. He's just inevitable.

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

@@SeraphSeph Not if you are a jelly-fish, or another one of the dozen other immortal animations we have on Earth.

[@twofacetoo75]

Interesting little casting note: the voice on the phone in the twist is actually the voice of Maleficent and Lady Tremaine from the animated versions of 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Cinderella'.

[@rogue7723]

Eleanor Audley, cool :)

[@Ironheade712]

also the voice of Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion

[@HououMinamino]

Oh my goodness, I hear it. Maybe that's part of the reason I was creeped out by this episode!

[@starkman78]

Legendary! ❤️

[@TheAllSeeingEye2468]

there's only one animated version of sleeping beauty

[@thoughtfuldevil6069]

Think about how horrifying this is for that poor sailor guy. He hitched a ride with a ghost. Can you imagine his reaction if he heard about her death on the news or in a paper or something?

[@jerraldwest2935]

Imagine if they did a Twilight Zone episode from his character's POV. The entire episode is their car ride, then at the end after he leaves her, he's sitting in a bar and sees her picture and obituary in the newspaper.

[@hippienerd166]

Perhaps he was also a ghost... a sailor who never came home from the war!

[@JENDALL714]

I think the Sailor is already dead also, why the heck would he be out in the middle of no where hitching a ride? Also, the mechanic probably dead also. Also, the old man at the house, says she will wake the dead. That's a clue, he is already dead.

[@purplelemons6277]

@@JENDALL714 that what i was thinking too because if the girl was dead then how could the other people talk to her

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

Ironically Inge Stevens died mysteriously in 1970 at 35. It was ruled a suicide, but she had an unexplained cut on her chin.

[@Potterphile731]

Something that caught my attention is the hitchhiker's destination: "West" I was taking a course on Slavic folklore, and I learned that the Slavs believed that when people met untimely demises, their souls were considered "bad", and would travel west towards the Devil. I don't know if this is intentional, but it's an awesome detail

[@JV571]

Also consider that the sun sets in the west, as if the sun is setting on her life

[@ThreadBomb]

The ancient Egyptians believed the land of the dead was in the west.

[@Lucef]

I think it could be a combination of two things: 1. The sun sets in the west, so it's a metaphor for her life ending. 2. The American west was for a long time the final frontier, where new and unexpected things/places loomed. So it's a sort of indicator for a journey into the unknown.

[@UlshaRS]

It's a universal symbolism since we are on the same planet. A nice wink and nod to those who already figured out he was a reaper come to ferry her ghost.

[@TheWrongHands18]

Stairway to Heaven...."there's a feeling I get when I look to the west and my spirit is crying for leaving."

[@francisfatta]

We’ve seen the show get emotional, get complex, and now creepy. The twilight zone is quite a show that knows how to do a lot

[@Hromovlad1]

He's just standing there. MENACINGLY!

[@jerraldwest2935]

I remember being 13 and telling my dad that no black and white movie or show could scare me. I didn't sleep for two nights after he showed me this episode of The Twilight Zone. Of course I never let him know that, lol. but today this is definitely my number one favorite episode of The Twilight Zone.

[@tykamen5588]

I like how the hitchhiker creepily Smiles into the camera almost like he's aware of your presence

[@chloel.8007]

If you listen to her monologue in the end she's describing a dead body. The mechanic is also saying hints about death

[@rainyfeathers9148]

That twist isn't entertainment scary, it's the real kind of scary.

[@drumdad54sdl47]

This series & this episode in particular are proof positive that this era of television produced some of the finest shows that have aged like fine wine. There's nothing today that can match them.

[@Mildnumber4444]

The fact that Eleanor Audley (the voice of Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty and Madame Leota from the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland) was the voice on the other end of the phone call makes it even creepier to me, like she knew who she was talking to but just played dumb.

[@jamesmoyner7499]

This is a really good episode and one you can figure out the twist rather early on, but that doesn’t take away from the enjoyability.

[@stephonmanny7555]

One of my favorite.

[@Ilovegrunge123]

At first I thought the twist was going to be that she was in a hit and run and the guy was her conscious or the guy she ran over always reminding her.

[@jamesmoyner7499]

@@Ilovegrunge123 That was something I thought as well on first viewing.

[@garopolisNE]

Walter's comment at 2:06 that this episode "feels like a movie" captures why Twilight Zone is so great. The best episodes really do feel like a movie, because there's so much going on that the stories feel longer than they really are. Episodes like this one, "Third From The Sun",' "The Four Of Us Are Dying", "Monsters Are Due On Maple Street", and "Time Enough At Last" are so densely packed with ideas and themes that they could be 90 minutes without any loss of quality.

[@gregorytyson995]

Says a lot about movies three times as long as a classic TZ but nowhere near as thematically rich.

[@toshirodragon]

As a woman who travels alone, usually by car, this one creeped me the HELL out! It was scary!

[@gregorytyson995]

While I dig the radio version I think I prefer this version more. And that has a lot to do with the hitch hiker's deeply unsettling final line -- "I believe you're going .. my way" -- which was not in Lucille Fletcher's original script.

[@bespectacledheroine7292]

Warning: Popping in after the fact to say this is kinda lengthy, I had much to say. Okay, so I’ll start off by saying that this is 100% my favorite episode of the entire series. It has been ever since I first watched it. When all is said and done, I think I can chalk this up simply to how the episode makes me feel whenever I see it. I just feel this undiluted sense of unshakable dread. I feel like I could just as easily be in Nan’s frightful situation. I’ve watched this episode a number of times now and I still feel queasy whenever the Hitchhiker comes into view. Impossible as it is, it genuinely feels like he’s watching the audience. This character just has this ever-present, all-seeing quality about him that freaks me out, but in the best way possible of course. Nan’s inner monologue contributes a great deal to my love of the episode. The way she speaks and the words she uses convey her rapidly increasing paranoia flawlessly, and it’s impossible not to feel immense sympathy for what she’s contending with. The wide open landscapes she's driving against are beautiful, but she can't enjoy them due to the cramped quarters of her car, which speaks to how trapped she really is. Speaking of which, those scenes of her driving along remind me quite a bit of Marion Crane driving in her car in Psycho. I’ve noticed some parallels between the two characters. They’re both young women taking an extended, solitary trip and they’re running away from something extremely troubling. They both end up dead, and they die exceptionally violent deaths. This episode predates Psycho by several months. I just thought I'd point this out because I think it's an interesting comparison. I'll try to wrap up with a few closing thoughts: Nan trying to contact her mother is one of the most tragic scenes in the show, I think. You can feel the desperation in her voice when she's told all this difficult to process information, especially the part about Mrs. Adams daughter having died in an accident. And then the episode takes on a disturbing tone again. Nan goes into this trance of sorts, and this is where she has presumably accepted her own passing. This is a big contrast from an episode with similar subject matter, Nothing in the Dark, where the recently deceased person in question starts to feel almost elated when she accepts her own death. We can safely conclude that this is due to the mode of death. Wanda died peacefully and Nan died tragically, so I think that accounts for their wildly different experiences. So with all that said, 10/10 of course. My personal favorite episode.

[@walktheparth]

Very well written! Thanks for sharing.

[@josejuanandrade4439]

That's all great but the episode seems to have a HUGE plot hole. If she is the one dead.... How can all the other people she meets on the road see her and talk to her? Wouldn't make more sense if people acted like she wasn't there? Imo this plot twist doesn't work as well because at any moment they give you any hint that she was dead, or a ghost, or anything. Is like those bad plot twists where they reveal at the end that there were aliens that did everything!!!

[@bespectacledheroine7292]

@@josejuanandrade4439 They don’t have to spoon feed you everything. Nan was a ghost because ghosts are beings caught between life and death and she falls under that criteria. End of. Also, people acting as if she’s not there would put your suspicions on her more quickly, as if she’s the source of the problem and not the Hitchhiker. I dare say this isn’t a plot hole, just a choice you didn’t like.

[@josejuanandrade4439]

@@bespectacledheroine7292 Plot hole: an inconsistency in the narrative or character development of a book, film, television show, etc So dosen't matter if we do like it or not. The fact the narrative is inconsistent and misguiding, to then never be addresed, and there ain't hints either that can actualy explain or suggest why, makes it a plot hole. I didn't even say i don't like the episode. I just question the obvious plot hole, because they purpousedly did that to misguide you, so you don't suspect she is dead. I know if they had given any subtle hint, it may have ruined the "twist", but is it even a twist if it realy comes from nowhere? Like i said in my example of the "aliens did it" cliche, the "twist" for me felt very unsatisfying, because there was no hints about it at all... Maybe if i say this: if they had added some very subtle hints like a road that repeated, or signs on the road that appeared twice. Something that you could miss if you didn't pay attention, but it was there! Because the way she interacts with all the other characters tru the episode totaly turns you into the wrong direction: that either the guy is an aparition, or the devil, or is all in her head. But no... she was dead... and she happened to be driving and be able to interact with the living like is not even a big deal at all... In short. I like the episode. I think the idea is great. It was just executed a bit too poorly.

[@josejuanandrade4439]

@@bespectacledheroine7292 BTW. A good example of how to execute this idea, is, in my opinion, the movie The Sixth Sense. Tru the movie there were hints that HE was a ghost. The clues are there, and you can go back after the end and look at them and say "oh!" and still the final twist came as a suprise to most people!

[@philipportelli7700]

Death appears to have fallen on some tough times since "One For the Angels"! A young woman endangered by a mysterious man/woman/situation is a hallmark of TZ!

[@jerraldwest2935]

I guess death is a Hobo since that perfect pitch made him give away all his money. Lol

[@boxman7044]

I own the entire original black and white twighlight zone series on vhs and DVD I used to watch it with my grandpa and it's a big part of my childhood so thanks for taking a look my favorite ones have to be the one where he gets in trouble for reading then hides in the bank vault and survives a nuclear bomb and has all the books he could ever want but his glasses break because he rushes to put them on and the one about the red scare where they think aliens are in their village and attack eachother but at the end the real aliens are outside watching,and finally the one called terror at 20000 feet

[@UlshaRS]

You saw something on the wing too! 20k was such an iconic episode not only was it remade almost verbatim but when the actors were both on Third Rock From The Sun they mentioned seeing something on the wing of their ship. Gotta love how long and deep the influence of this series has been.

[@christopheralthouse6378]

Your first two would be "Time Enough At Last", which Twilight-tober Zone already reviewed and "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" which is a universal classic! 😅😁

[@boxman7044]

@@christopheralthouse6378 I haven't watched the channel in months so I didn't know XD

[@R.J.Godzilla81]

This was my first episode of the Twilight Zone, and really scared me. Don't watch it at 3:00 am.

[@Mibbitmaker]

Mine, too! Saw it around 1979-80, after watching the SNL sketches and desperately wanting to watch the real show. Finally, it was being rerun on a channel we got. A perfect introduction to the actual show for me.

[@R.J.Godzilla81]

@@Mibbitmaker you got that right

[@bonesf200]

This is the first one I saw as a kid when it was re-run in the UK in the 1980s. The Twilight Zone was on at 1am and since my bed time was 9pm I had to keep myself secretly awake and nip downstairs to watch it in the pitch black with the sound really low so not to wake the folks up (which really added to the atmosphere). Whenever I rewatch an episode I still get a really strange and earie feeling inside. It has stood the test of time and I really don't think it can be surpassed.

[@humps678]

Whoever played the Hitchhiker/Grim Reaper killed it!! (No pun intended). I like how they made him so ominous yet so friendly and inviting.

[@4megapete]

Its amazing what the twilight zone was able to convey for it's time. As a kid I thought they went with black and white for some detail I never knew, then I realized it was made in the 50's-60's and that blew my mind, it always seemed it was made in 70's or something

[@strawberrylime33]

I first saw this episode in my early 20s, alone, in the DAYTIME. It still creeped me out.

[@McPhee4ever]

“The Hitchhiker’s” a famous episode.

[@Omar-wq9dz]

One of the best twists and episodes in the entire series

[@Tactical_Therapist]

“ I believe you’re going my way.”

[@chasehedges6775]

CHILLS.

[@David-dz3ig]

I remember watching this episode on a twilight zone marathon on channel 11 WPIX in syndication when I was 13 years old and it really gave me the creeps but it was an episode that I just could not turn away from. Inger Stevens was such a talented actress it’s just so tragic that she died the way she did.

[@Merit2397]

I believe you're going... my way. This was one the exact quotes I would hear on the DVD menu on each and every one of the Twilight Zone discs that I would and still do watch from time to time. It just goes to show just how iconic "The Hich-Hiker" is. That and it's easily the most suspenseful.

[@pyronuke4768]

Another Twilight Zone episode that had me on the edge of my seat

[@darkknight5541]

This was the first Twilight Zone episode I saw. My eight grade english teacher showed it to us after reading a transcript of the radio play, and MAN! What an introduction to an amazing series.

[@crayonmythos]

When I was a baby (or I think toddler?) my mom got in to a VERY bad car acvident with me and my brother in the car. The firefighters that got us all out said that normally someone would have died in that situation so were were really lucky to have survived the accident. My mom told me this story a few years ago and when I saw this episode, the beginning struck REALLY hard...

[@CrypticCharm]

thank god you were all ok, your mum must have been terrified. of course, you were too young to remember, but I bet it's something she could never forget

[@barrysmith4610]

One of the Best episodes ever. Classics like this is why this OG Twilight Zone series is waaaayyyy better than the latest Jordan peele reboot

[@zesty2023]

man the woman in this episode is fricken GORGEOUS!

[@OdileOdile19]

Classic beauty

[@kevinpalmquist6020]

Inger Stevens. She died in 1970, possibly suicide. She played opposite Clint Eastwood in the film Hang 'em High.

[@princesskaylafaulkner]

I've never seen the Twilight Zone, but I'm familiar with the Hitchhiker radio play. I first listened to it in a literature class during middle school, and it made me unable to sleep that night, yet part of me still admired it. I recently revisited this play, and I like it a lot more than I used to. I also admire Fletcher's other radio plays, like "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "The Thing in the Window."

[@DaveRofulowitz]

For me, this episode was quite chilling, and the actor who played the hitchhiker was appropriately creepy. It kind of reminded me of the movie Carnival of Souls, which I enjoyed thoroughly.

[@neonnwave1]

"Heading... west?" "No, I'm going south." "Oh, so you're going to Hell. Nevermind then. Have a nice trip."

[@trysten9198]

This is probably my favorite episode of the Twilight Zone

[@gregcampwriter]

Shyamalan gets shyamalaned before he was born.

[@justsomeokami8867]

This one’s my mom’s favorite episode and I can see why. The twist is perfect and the hints are subtle enough to make it work 👍🏾

[@johnschultz8906]

It's amazing this show holds up to this day a true classic

[@SeraphSeph]

This is actually one of my favorite episodes. I'm not creeped out by the ending, uts a clear message. We're all going the same way eventually.

[@judahheckman1253]

This episode is actually my personal favorite

[@revacohen]

I didn't remember the hitchhiker speaking until the very end. I never remembered him asking her if she was heading west. The scene with her going to the payphone always baffled me. How could she be sure he wasn't there ready to attack her? The strange thing about her being dead was everyone could see her. How could that be possible?

[@PhoenixHealing]

Was she encountering other souls trapped on Earth or were they seeing her ghost?

[@otterzrkuhl]

This episode scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it and I haven't been able to watch it sense. The image of a young woman being alone and followed by a creepy man is just so unsetteling.

[@cassyblack3346]

This remains one of my all time favorite episodes, and is such a chiller.

[@insaneinfinite8150]

Please do “To Serve Man”

[@chrisazylum6624]

Happy birthday Walter Banasiak! Remember watching this one when I was younger! Next time The Fever!

[@iamtriston666]

I remember reading the original play for english class in middle school.

[@Sulufy]

It always freaks me out when one of the characters suddenly stares directly at the camera.

[@zairewasson103]

Favorite Episode hands down. Read the screenplay in middleschool, one of the first Twilight zones stories I read, along with "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street".

[@christianmulligan9719]

Hey Walter, thanks to you I have now watched like 20 episodes and went from never seeing this series to being a HUGE fan of it, thank you for this series and dropping off a new fan to that place on the border of.... the Twilight Zone

[@cianparkinson9605]

This episode is great. The concept, twist and scares are all so well done.

[@vizard_ichigo_3893]

I never thought of the Twilight zone a scary but more thought provoking and interesting

[@blakeswinney2197]

Holy sh*t I was just watching this in school today!!!

[@lonewolfjedi493osswfan]

Classic episode, the twist is so good

[@nataliegray8019]

Another one of my absolute favorites. I love that you never see the twist coming, and it is a doozy.

[@dougferguson9113]

This is my favorite episode of the series! I was so hyped for this entry!

[@slytherinlannister942]

I've been really enjoying these videos. Everyday, I get excited to see which episode he's going to cover. I hope he does my favorite, " Eye of the Beholder".

[@noahlogue3807]

I loved this one really creepy and i didn't see the twist coming at all. I think one of the stories from the Creepshow movies did a version of this.

[@starkman78]

Different hitchhiker premise. In Creepshow 2, the hitchhiker had been a pedestrian. The woman was driving recklessly, ran him over, and left him for dead. He was stalking her for revenge.

[@jabbarmuhammad7529]

This episode is one of my favorites

[@dislikes2724]

I doubt you’ll have time to do “Changing Of The Guard” but Donald Pleasance did an amazing job in that episode and it was an episode that always touched me.

[@lordsubziro2824]

Creepy and surprisingly familiar. I've heard on one of the KZbin's channels about paranormal sightings about a man who gave a hitchhiker a ride home and even gave her his jacket for warmth only to discover when he returns to her home to pick up his jacket that the woman died in an auto accident years ago and her mother found the driver's jacket on her daughter's tombstone. This TZ story is similar but seen though the eyes of a ghost who, like Bruce Willis's character in The Sixth Sense and Nicole Kidman's character in The Others, wasn't aware that they're themselves a ghost. It was strange that the woman driver could interact with others like that sailor as if she was a living being, but that happens when you in... The Twilight Zone!!!

[@brianfuller757]

This was one of the best episodes. Both of the principals killed it

[@ChannelAwesome]

It's a fantastic episode

[@progmetalkd]

I started to watch the episodes of TZ because of this series, i'm now in ep 40. You can see the hitchiker episode being the source of lots of urban leyends in several countries. You are in the highway, hitch hiking, a beautiful woman picks you up, drops you and gives you her number, later you find out she was dead. I'm from south america and i remebebr hearing this scary stories when i was young, 10 years before the internet. Great series Walter!! i hope you do more of them up to the 150 episodes, cheers

[@juliewedam9826]

My husband and I watch the new Twilight-Tober-Zone first thing every evening! Thanks Walter and crew for this awesome serial :D

[@claytonrios1]

This does feel Hitchcock like come to think of it

[@ThreadBomb]

Feels a bit like Psycho. It may also have influenced the Matheson story that Spielberg eventually filmed as Duel.

[@wedge4hire]

I was 9 when this episode aired, and it scared the hell out of me!!!! Great TV!!!

[@MikeJea]

Its a top ten episode for sure

[@Bulbasaur617]

I actually read the original story on this and watch the episode in middle school. This was the episode that introduced me properly to the Twilight Zone series. Besides commercials and videos on the Tower of Terror ride.

[@Oxossis]

I have the Orson Welles radio play on cd. I play it in the car sometimes. It’s creepy as hell.

[@YuniorGamboa]

Beautiful actress This is one of my favorite episodes

[@michaelharrington7656]

Thank you. You are right about the Hitchcock touch. Early on, Inger Stevens reminds me of Janet Leigh's road trip in Psycho. And the actor playing the sailor was one of the bad guys in Hitchcock's North By Northwest

[@chasehedges6775]

Such a terrifying situation: A young women being stalked by a stranger.

[@trinaq]

Precisely, the worst part is that he's actually warning her about her demise! 😱

[@chasehedges6775]

@@trinaq He's Death.

[@chs9999]

For a scary hitchhiker story I prefer the hitchhiker from creepshow 2

[@Hinatachan360]

Been through that myself, but in my case it was a crazy lesbian. Anyway, this is one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes. 👍

[@chs9999]

@@Hinatachan360 I need to hear your story

[@LittleFireflyDeanna]

Yeees, It's one of my favorite eps; acting, directing, atmosphere, and plot-pacing are just all soooo good ^0^ Even though I've never felt chills from the hitch-hiker necessarily (sorry, he never looked threatening or unnerving to me, even with the sudden close-ups and spooky music, he just didn't, even if I can sympathize with Nan's fear of a stranger man following her) he's still an interesting figure in this story; I couldn't see him as frightening or dull-faced (he has soft eyes and kind smile, to me, so I remember when watching for a first time my first guess was that Nan probably killed an innocent man on her road trip and now her guilty conscience is following her with his image) but there's no denying that a lone driver (especially a female one in our world) totally could see his appearance and unnatural persistence as dangerous and chilling.

[@robie1129]

One of the best episodes.

[@agentofentertainment1361]

Interesting thought I had about this episode. What if the people Nan encounters throughout her drive are dead too. Think about it,the mechanic is with her at the beginning of the episode where she supposedly died,she finds the sailor out in the middle of nowhere by himself,and the store owner lives alone and is quite old. What if,like Nan,they’re dead too and don’t know it yet. I guess the phone call Nan makes at the end could ruin this theory,but it’s still an interesting thought to have.

[@HououMinamino]

This episode always scared me. Oddly enough, I have come to like the movie "Carnival of Souls," which is pretty much the same story. Maybe I should try watching this episode again. I think what made this episode scarier was because the main character was all alone late at night and didn't have much interaction with other people, while the main character in the movie did ? I'm not sure.

[@stdominicspreviewca7188]

So great to see this classic episode a couple of nights ago on Syfy. It really sets a mood and resonates on a deep level.

[@pattijay718]

This is the entire plot of the movie Carnival of Souls.

[@reginaroadie]

And The Sixth Sense. Which is why I never bought the hype for that movie.

[@antoniojeandenis7681]

This man always scared the shit outta me as a child

[@lakelurker08]

Happy birthday Walter!

[@sleepytabledog]

The radio version of this is chilling, especially listening to it when you’re driving.

[@ThenewTchannel]

This is such an awesome and creepy episode. Also, happy birthday Walter

[@joecoolchicago]

Well done

[@ashleypenn7845]

This is one episode I have a very personal fondness for. My high school drama class would do performances of table readings of old radio plays in between our major productions. The Suspense Radio Theater version of this story is one of the ones we did. I played several bit parts and also compiled all the sound effects for it. It was a heck of a lot of fun to put on.

[@graciegj63]

Did your school ever post anything on social media? That'd be really interesting. :)

[@ashleypenn7845]

@@graciegj63 Nah, this was before social media. Facebook didn't even start till I was in college myself. And we were a small school that has since shut down. I graduated as the only girl in a class of 4 seniors. :P

[@graciegj63]

@@ashleypenn7845 That's too bad. It sounds very interesting.

[@Galantski]

Sadly, in this case, I believe the final destination is Hell, so she has every right to be terrified. The hitcher is so objectively creepy that it's he means her no good will. I've heard some say he was just a neutral collector of souls, but there's one scene that cements his bad intent for me, and that's when he tries to have her suffer a truly horrific death (within a death) with a train crushing her in her car. It's at that point in Nan's narration that she comes to the realization that he wants to harm her.

[@Quandry1]

He doesn't want to harm her. She's running herself so ragged that she's actually putting herself in harms way. he is actually very neutral in this episode and very calm. All of the emotion and most of the situations are actually created by her and not death. people make him sinister because he is less emotional than they think that he should be for various situations including almost being run down. For me personally this is a very boring episode that involves death as a character and I have more curious questions about the world that she is running through. personally I've come to the conclusion that she's not running away in the real world but she's actually entered a purgatory type world and he's just trying to calmly get her accept what happened to her own fate and not run aimlessly forever. Al the people that she interacts with are also in that purgatory for their own reasons is the conclusion that I've come to.

[@Galantski]

@@Quandry1 We don't know what happens after Nan gets back in her car, and sees his creepy visage in her rearview mirror, so to that extent the episode is open-ended. _The Twilight Zone_ is generally broken down into three genres with occasional overlapping: fantasy, horror and science fiction. The personification of Death makes three appearances in the original _TZ,_ the others being "One for the Angels" and "Nothing in the Dark". In the first of these, the mood is mostly light, and the only real tension is when Death, dressed in a business suit and coming across like an insurance man, decides to pressure a salesman who tricked him by choosing a little neighbor girl as a alternate victim. It's a happy ending, as the salesman finally relents, saving the girl, and he and Death leave for Heaven. The other is horror for most of its run time, as an elderly lady is frightened that Death is stalking her in disguise, and she makes every attempt to keep any visitor from entering her apartment. Finally, she relents and allows a young wounded policemen to recover his health with her, and it turns out _he_ is Death. But he takes her hand, calling her "Mother", and leads her peacefully into the afterlife. So, another happy ending. But the ending to the "The Hitch-Hiker" is anything but reassuring. The reveal of the creep in the back seat is more of a "gotcha" moment, and she's trapped with him to go where _he_ wants her to go, not where she would go by her own choosing. Just before that, she said the fear had left her, but she is not in the slightest bit happy, as were the characters from the other two episodes. Meanwhile, in the final shot the smile on the hitcher's face has a slightly sinister edge to it. Maybe he doesn't carry a scythe and isn't dressed in a black robe, but there is something distinctly _grim_ about him, and Nan's about to find out what that is. Again, there is nothing to tell us precisely who he was or what would be following, but that's my feel for it. I've seen this episode numerous times, and it's never been anything other than a straight-out horror episode to me..

[@Quandry1]

@@Galantski I'm aware of all this and didn't need your long breakdown. And that sinsiter edge your putting on the smile in the end is you turning it sinister. he gives the same basic smile all throughout. And none of them actually get to pick where they are going with him. She is just far more resistant to going with death than the other two are. The other two are more accepting. She's not afraid because she realizes her fate but she's not necessarily happy. the other two lived full lives that ended in their due time. But in this episode hers is cut short and you could argue easily that much of her less than happy attitude in the end is because she's had issues that her life did end before it's time rather than actually anything negative or sinister about the character of death.

[@Galantski]

@@Quandry1 I said before it's an open question, and you're entitled to your opinion. Feel free to put a benign spin on the outcome if you like, but I stand by mine that this was a horror episode.

[@stevenrais9360]

I feel like this was an episode on the suspense radio show as well Ha, yes, Suspense Sept 2nd, 1942

[@justanotherchannelonyoutub126]

This episode definitely hinges more on the creepy factor

[@km_1911]

These are so awesome. Thanks for this series.

[@DragonKazooie89]

I remember reading a version of this story for English in 8th grade and it had stuck with me since

[@meschelllaroche2990]

My absoulute FAVORITE episode. Inger Stevens played the part of Nan Adams perfectly!

[@AdventureMan07]

This is my absolute favorite episode