Rod Serling: You're most welcome in this particular museum. There's no admission, no requirement of membership, only a strong and abiding belief in the dark at the top of the stairs, or things that go bump in the night.
The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes
Original story by: Margaret St. Clair
Teleplay by: Rod Serling
Directed by: John Bedham
Rod Serling: Example: tonight's first painting; small boy encased in a crystal ball. Born with a very special gift: he can prophecy. But you'll wonder, as we look behind that picture, if a prophecy is always a gift, or can, on occasion, take the form of a nightmare. The painting's title is: The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes, and this is the Night Gallery.
Herbie Bittman (Clint Howard) and his grandfather come to a TV station, his grandfather claiming to the crew that Herbie can see the future. Herbie is allowed to appear on camera and make some predictions as a test of his abilities, but station manager Mr. Wellman (Michael Constantine), outraged that all this is happening without his approval, has the broadcast wiped. A news bulletin reports the discovery of a missing girl and an earthquake striking Los Angeles, exactly as Herbie predicted. Within a year, Herbie becomes a celebrity as he continues to deliver psychic commentaries on the news. One day, however, Herbie sees a vision that greatly troubles him and refuses to go on the air.
Tropes
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: Herbie's mother and father are never seen nor mentioned. Whether or not they just aren't able to see him or if Herbie's an orphan who was taken in by his grandfather is never stated.
- Blessed with Suck: Herbie's grandfather has this view of his grandson's gift, noting the immense burden of being able to foretell disasters while being powerless to stop them, and how unfair it is that an innocent 11-year-old boy has to carry such weight.
- Bookworm: Herbie is an avid reader, largely of classic literature and scientific textbooks. He tells a doctor from the local university that he can't predict a disaster like an earthquake if he doesn't already know what an earthquake is, or the discovery of a missing person if he didn't already know they were missing, so he reads all those books to know as much as he can.
- Cheerful Child: Herbie's a polite and well-mannered young man, and whenever he sees visions of great disaster (aside from the sun going nova), he apologizes for having to give his viewers such news.
- Downer Ending: Herbie predicts that the sun will soon go nova and explode, engulfing the Earth. In spite of this, he convinces his viewers that tomorrow will be the start of an age of peace for the world to let them go out happily, and assures both the university doctor and his grandfather that the actual event will be quick and painless.
- The End of the World as We Know It: Herbie's final prediction is that the sun will go nova and explode, destroying the Earth in the process.
- Foreshadowing:
- In his very first broadcast, Herbie tells his viewing audience that he's been reading a book on astronomy and is considering buying a telescope. Come the end of the segment, we learn that Herbie has read far enough in the book to know what a nova is, and has since foreseen the sun exploding and destroying the Earth in a wave of fire.
- Herbie's grandfather muses on Herbie's visions, imagining what a terrible burden it must be to be able to foresee catastrophes and not be able to do anything about it. His claim comes to fruition on a planet wide scale at the end of the segment.
- It's established that Herbie can't predict further than a day into the future. This provides an early clue that he's lying when he predicts on his final broadcast that things will improve from here on out.
- It Will Never Catch On: Mr. Wellman, the station manager, finds the idea of letting a 10-year-old boy predict the future on a news broadcast utterly absurd, so he erases Herbie's appearance from the broadcast tape. When Herbie's predictions come true, he quickly changes his stance on the young man's abilities.
- Let Them Die Happy: Herbie decides to tell his viewers that the next day will be the start of a newer and better world. In actuality, the sun will go nova and engulf the Earth in flames.
- Seers: Herbie has psychic clairvoyance, allowing him to see the future, but only as far as one day.
- Shout-Out: Before Mr. Wellman discovers Herbie's predictions of the missing girl and the earthquake came true, he watches Island of Lost Souls in the station's screening room.
- Time Skip: After Herbie's initial predictions come true, the segment moves forward a year into the future, where Herbie has since made 106 correct predictions.
Miss Lovecraft Sent Me
Written by: Jack Larid
Directed by: Gene R. Kearney
In the first of Night Gallery's blackout sketches, the teenage, gum-smacking, portable-radio-blaring Betsy (Sue Lyon) arrives at a morbid-looking mansion to babysit a child. Noting the vampiric father's lack of reflection, the reading material on the shelves, and the growls of the "child" upstairs, Betsy realizes that she may have bitten off more than she can chew.
Tropes
- Badly Battered Babysitter: Given what her employer says to his son, Betsy would have presumably ended up dead. However, she wisely decides to run before the "child" can come to greet her.
- Everyone Lives: Nobody gets worse than a scare in this segment because Betsy thankfully hears the father's ominous words to her charge and decides to leave before they come back into the room.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Betsy smartens up and escapes the house after hearing what the vampire father says to his child.
- Nothing Is Scarier: We never see whatever Betsy is supposed to be babysitting, but judging by the growls coming from upstairs, it can be assumed that it's not an ordinary child. The signs, such as the growls, the mention of a full moon, and the book "Men Into Wolf" implies the child is a werewolf.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the father goes upstairs to get his son ready to see her, Betsy eavesdrops and hears him urging the boy to put on his slippers... all four of them. That proves more than enough for her, as she rushes off into the night as fast as possible.
- Title Drop: Betsy says the title in her greeting to the father.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Downplayed. Betsy isn't fazed by the obviously-vampiric father she chats with, nor the haunted house motif of his mansion. However, when she notices that his reflection is missing, she becomes unnerved, and the thought of having to face the monstrous thing that she's expected to take care of is enough to send her running.
The Hand of Borgus Weems
Based on the short story "The Other Hand" by George Langelaan.
Teleplay by: Alvin Sapinsley
Directed by: John Meredyth Lucas
Rod Serling: The concept of medical transplants is exciting, indeed. But the story behind this painting takes the concept a step further. Or, if you will, a step over, into a different kind of world. One in which a gentleman named "Lacland" finds a hand that is not his own, and he finds it at the end of his wrist. Our painting: The Hand of Borgus Weems.
Peter Lacland (George Maharis) comes to the office of Dr. Archibald Ravadon (Ray Milland) demanding to have his hand amputated, claiming that it has been writing in Latin and it almost made Peter commit murder three times. Dr. Ravadon dismisses this and recommends that Peter see a psychiatrist, but Peter furiously smashes his hand with a statue, forcing the doctor to bring Peter to the operating room for emergency surgery. While recovering in a hospital bed, Peter recounts how his hand, his foot, and even his brain have recently been making him do things against his will. His claims are soon reinforced by a police investigation regarding the death of Borgus Weems, a man who was said to have dabbled in the occult, who cast a spell on the hand to avenge himself against his killers.
Tropes
- Calling Card: Borgus' hand can write in Latin (which Peter doesn't know how to write) on its own accord in its own handwriting, often writing incantations invoking retribution against his killers. Dr. Ravadon's hand begins writing in the language after Peter's hand is cut off, indicating that Borgus' hand has switched hosts.
- Evil All Along: Peter's client Brock and his fiancee Susan are revealed to have been Borgus Weems' killers, hence why his hand attached itself to him and made him try to kill them.
- Evil Hand: Peter learns that his hand is apparently acting of its own accord and trying to force him to commit murder. The condition begins to spread to other parts of his body before he wrecks the hand and has it amputated. It's eventually stated that the hand is sentient and formerly belonged to Borgus Weems, and the three people it tried to make Peter kill were Borgus' killers and their lawyer.
- Fiery Cover-Up: Borgus' hand forces Peter to call up one of the sorcerer's killers and identify himself, writing the name on a piece of paper to assist. When the job is done, the hand burns the paper to get rid of the evidence.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: As we see Borgus' hand ring the doorbell of the lovely Susan and Peter meets her, Peter tells the doctor that they were engaged only three days later.
- Grand Theft Me: Peter undergoes a partial case when Borgus' hand replaces his own, and the condition slowly spreads to his foot and brain as well. When Peter has the hand cut off, it switches hosts to Dr. Ravadon.
- Here We Go Again!: Once Peter forces Ravadon to cut Borgus' hand off to prevent the sorcerer from using his body to commit murder, the doctor finds that the hand has replaced his own, writing in Latin just as it did when it was attached to Peter.
- How We Got Here: Barring the opening car crash (which is later repeated), the bulk of the segment consists of exposition about Borgus' origins and the attempted misdeeds of his hand while it was attached to Peter's wrist, accompanied with flashbacks.
- Karma Houdini: Susan and Brock, as well as Mr. Winterreich, still get off scot-free for Borgus' murder by the end of the segment, but since Borgus' hand can jump between hosts, that may not stay true for long. Peter, not knowing the truth, even convinced Susan to get far away from him so the hand wouldn't kill who he thought was the love of his life, unknowingly aiding and abetting her in the process.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: Peter demands that Dr. Ravadon amputate Borgus' hand before it can make him try and kill again. When Ravadon refuses, Peter furiously smashes the hand with a statuette, forcing the doctor to remove it out of medical necessity. Before that, it's said that the hand was lopped off by Borgus' killers in the struggle to finish him.
- Real After All: After spending the whole segment disbelieving Peter's claims about Borgus' hand, Dr. Ravadon finds at the end that the hand has replaced his own, proving Peter was right all along.
Phantom of What Opera?
Written by: Gene R. Kearney
Directed by: Gene R. Kearney
The Phantom of the Opera (Leslie Nielsen) has kidnapped a beautiful young woman (Mary Ann Beck) and brought her to his underground lair. When she tries to fight back, the Phantom gets a massive surprise at the true nature of his prisoner.
Tropes
- Latex Perfection: The Phantom discovers that the woman was wearing a mask, too, albeit a much better one.
- Masking the Deformity: Parodied. The Phantom drags a young lady to his lair, and as he plays the organ, she rips off his mask, revealing his deformed visage. He angrily tries to strangle her, only to remove her own mask, revealing an equally disfigured face he recoils at. After the shock wears off, the two fall into each other's arms in a warm embrace.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: The Phantom initially finds his captive's equally-hideous visage horrific, but after a moment, the two of them enter a passionate embrace, finally having found someone who's understood the years of misery that the other had to endure.
