Shortly after midnight, Tony lies awake. An ethereal mist seeps from beneath the door, which opens to admit a towering, black-cloaked, hooded spectre. With a deep, discordant groan, it glides over to the bed. Tony wakes, glad to be free of his recurring nightmare. However, the spectre is still there, groaning away. Tony screams in fright... Storyteller Eric, however, hasn’t yet figured out what happens next. Fortunately, David has a full story. Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, he calls it "The Tale of the Twisted Claw".
On the night before Halloween, known to some as Mischief Night, best friends Kevin and Dougie, armed with shaving foam and rolls of toilet paper, roam the neighbourhood. At the house of reputed witch Miss Clove, Kevin squirts shaving foam in her face. She stumbles backward into a displayed vase, which falls and smashes. As they flee, Miss Clove looks on, and laughs ominously.
The next night, Halloween, Dougie and Kevin go trick-or-treating. Kevin urges them back to Miss Clove's house. Delighted to have visitors, the elderly Halloween enthusiast presents them with a wooden vulture claw, said to have the power to grant any wish to its respective owners.
On the way home, Dougie offhandedly wishes to get home and lose this stupid trick-or-treating... and the claw moves! They pass the local park. Around a drum-held fire loiter five older kids in blank white masks. The ringleader snatches the trick-or-trear bag, staggers back, and falls over. Dougie and Kevin run for it, and hide behind a bench as the punks give chase. Dougie's wish has been granted.
At school, by Dougie's locker, Kevin takes the claw, and wishes to beat Bostick in the six hundred metre race. With a flash of green, the Claw moves. On the field, a grinning Bostick high-fives several of his admirers. As Dougie watches the race, he hears the nearby growl of a dog. With Kevin close behind, Bostick nears the finish line. From behind a dog runs towards his path. With a pained yell, Bostick falls. The Gym Teacher pats his shoulder, and pronounces Bostick's leg to be broken.
At Dougie's, while Kevin admires his gold medal, Dougie stresses the Claw's increasingly apparent sinister power. He urges a return of the Claw and an apology to Miss Clove, so he can tell his parents he did the right thing. Kevin takes the Claw - and offhandedly wishes for Dougie to just lose his folks. He drops the Claw. They stare down at it. By telephone, Lieutenant Carruthers from the Cooper City Police announces Dougie's parents to have been in a car accident.
Dougie runs to the Claw, and picks it up. He could wish for his parents safety - but any wish asked of the Claw makes bad things happen. Dougie offhandedly wishes his deceased Grandpa to be here. The Claw twitches and glows - what will its magic make of this? From outside sounds the horn of a car. Through the mist, a familiar car pulls to a stop. Over the Claw, Kevin and Dougie struggle. Outside, through the mist, a shadow falls across the yard. The doorbell rings. Dougie seizes the Claw. He apologises for breaking the vase, and wishes for it never to have happened. The Claw glows orange, and fades away. The doorbell rings again. In the doorway, completely unharmed, are Dougie's parents. In relief, Dougie hugs them both.
Dougie and Kevin look outside for the spectral car - but it's gone. Kevin's gold medal has vanished from his pockets. Once more, the doorbell rings. The night holds one last surprise - on the doorstep sits Miss Clove's unbroken vase. Inside is a note: "Trick or Treat?"
David closes with a note of the wind whistling through the trees - which may have carried the laughter of a sly old witch.
This episode provides examples of:
- The Bully: A gang of masked delinquents steal Kevin and Dougie’s candy.
- Came Back Wrong: Dougie wishes his deceased grandfather were here. Both boys quickly realise the horrifying potential of this request.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Miss Clove responds to Dougie and Kevin’s act of accidental vandalism and minor assault by giving them a potentially lethal magic claw.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This was actually the first episode filmed, but placed fourth in the order (presumably to account for Frank's presence after "The Phantom Cab" was about his initiation). The Midnight Society look noticeably younger, indicating it was shot some time before the series was put up. There are references to "lights out", implying the concept was originally meant to take a place at a summer camp. Most obviously however, it opens with the end of Eric's story that he admits he hasn't thought of an ending for - whereas each episode would later open with a Midnight Society member already appointed as the week's storyteller.
- Evil Laugh: Miss Clove’s prolonged, delirious cackle.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Assuming it is evil, the spectre from Eric’s unfinished story emits a deep, yawning groan.
- The Grim Reaper: The cloaked, hooded spectre which arrives in Tony's bedroom evokes both this and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Its groaning is reheard on arrival of Dougie’s deceased grandfather.
- Homage: The titular Twisted Claw alludes to The Monkey's Paw.
- Honking Arriving Car: After Dougie offhandedly wishes for his deceased grandfather to be at his house, the sound of a car horn is heard outside, and Dougie and Kevin look out the window to see the eerie sight of his grandfather's old car pulling into the driveway.
- Innocent Bystander: Kevin’s wish to win the six hundred metres is granted by champion runner Bostick tripping over a dog which suddenly runs across the track.
- Jackass Genie: The Claw grants wishes by malicious augmentation of circumstances.
- Lighter and Softer: The story is an adaptation of The Monkey's Paw. In that, one wish was for money that only came as the result of the couple's only son dying in a workplace accident; here Kevin just wishes to beat The Ace in a race, which just results in a broken leg. The wish resulting in death does happen later, but it only says Dougie's parents have been in an accident (and he hangs up before he's told they're dead). And when Dougie makes a wish that nothing ever happened, he gets a Reset Button that restores his parents to life and heals Bostick's injury. The original story had the dead son stay dead, and a Bittersweet Ending that the paw couldn't cause any more harm.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Whereas Kiki and Kristen scream in fright at Eric's unfinished tale, Betty Anne's response is a gleeful "Oh, yeah!"
- Nothing Is Scarier: All we see of Dougie's grandfather is a slowly advancing shadow, accompanied by a deep, yawning groan.
- The Prankster:
- Dougie and Kevin keenly observe Mischief Night. They end up startling an oldster and breaking a vase.
- Miss Clove, in return, gives them a wooden vulture’s claw whose apparent power to grant wishes brings mishap, a fatal instance of which they closely evade. She finds it a right laugh.
- Reality Warper: The vulture’s claw rearranges circumstances at the behest of its holder.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Impulsive, ambitious Kevin and cautious, mellow Dougie.
- Voice of the Legion: A gang of masked delinquents, having been drawn by the magic of the Claw to Dougie and Kevin, have eerily deepened, echoing voices.
- Wicked Witch: Downplayed with Miss Clove, who has a reputation as 'the witch', and is a rather malevolent trickster. But on the other hand, she only wants to punish the children for assaulting her and ensure they learn a lesson.
