History Recap / TheWildWildWestS2E12TheNightOfTheManEatingHouse

* MinimalistCast: The show's smallest ever cast - the only performers in the episode are Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, Hurd Hatfield (Liston Day), William Talman ([[NoNameGiven the sheriff]]) and the uncredited actress who supplies the sounds Caroline's ghost makes.

* AllForNothing: Liston claims to be the one who betrayed the US Army to General Santa Ana so that his father could be free to do great works. Not long after, his father died in a freak hunting accident.

While West and Gordon are escorting Liston Lawrence Day, a convicted traitor, back to the prison he escaped from, Gordon has a very realistic and unsettling dream. In it the group stumbles upon an old, deserted house where they decide to spend the night. They soon realize that they're trapped, the house has a will of its own which seems to be on Day's side - murderously so - and that Day's health and sanity are fading fast.

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Near the beginning of the episode Artemus Gordon has a dream that lasts almost the entire episode. Near the end of the episode he wakes up, and events start to follow what happened in his dream.

* ClearTheirName: [[spoiler:Caroline guides Jim and Artie to where she hid her diary in the hopes that they will use it to establish Liston's innocence.]]

* OrWasItADream: The body of the episode takes place inside Artie's head while he's asleep. [[spoiler:At the end he wakes up, they continue on their way... and come across the Day mansion, whose door opens for them of its own accord...]]
* ParanormalEpisode: Jim and Artie must deal with a haunted house. [[spoiler:The end makes it possible that it was AllJustADream... [[TheEndOrIsIt or was it?]]]]

* TakingTheHeat: [[spoiler:Caroline's diary reveals that Liston is innocent of the crime for which he spent 30 years in jail. The culprit was actually Caroline's husband, Charles; Liston confessed to save his father from prison.]]

* ActorAllusion: Hurd Hatfield famously played the unaging [[Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray Dorian Gray]] in the 1945 film version of the story.

* FakeNationality: [[spoiler:Liston Day [[BerserkButton prefers to be referred to as "Diaz,"]] since his grandfather - who came from Mexico - wanted to belong among Americans but his son/Liston's dad saw himself as Spanish, and so does Liston.]]

* ActorAllusion: Hurd Hatfield famously played the unaging Literature/DorianGray in the 1945 film version of the story.

* MinimalistCast: The smallest to be used by the show - the only performers in the episode are Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, Hurd Hatfield (Liston Day), William Talman ([[NoNameGiven the sheriff]]) and the uncredited actress who supplies the sounds Caroline's ghost makes.

* FakeNationality: [[spoiler:Liston Day [[BerserkButton prefers to be referred to as "Diaz,"]] since his grandfather - who came from Mexico - wanted to belong among Americans but his son/Liston's dad saw himself as Mexican, and so does Liston]].

* HauntedHouse: Caroline Day has become part of the house. When they damage it, she's hurt as well.

* TakingTheHeat: [[spoiler:Caroline's diary reveals that Liston is innocent of the crime for which he spent so many years in jail. The culprit was actually Caroline's husband, Charles; Liston confessed to save his father from prison.]]

Jim, Artie, and a local sheriff are accompanying a convict back to prison. While resting for the night, Artie has a strange dream where he, Jim, and the sheriff chase their prisoner to an old abandoned mansion which is haunted by the spirit of a dead woman – with a twist ending.

* CobwebJungle: Inside the Day manor.

* FountainOfYouth
* HauntedHouse
* OldDarkHouse
* OrWasItADream
* ParanormalEpisode: Jim and Artie must deal with a haunted house. Again, the end makes it possible that it was AllJustADream... [[TheEndOrIsIt or was it?]]