Iconic ‘The Twilight Zone’ Show Once Featured an Episode Set in Maine
We all know the intro said by Rod Serling: "You unlock this door with the key of imagination. 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 shadow and substance, of things and ideas; you've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone."
"The Twilight Zone" had episodes that made you question just about everything. Are aliens real? Are ghosts/spirits real? Is mind control real? Episodes had us all on the edge of our chairs wondering how could this happen. I cannot tell you the number of times that I have looked outside of a plane window expecting to see some sort of creature standing on the wing of the plane.
However, this article calls for a "different type of introduction" (see what I did there). Instead of crossing over into the Twilight Zone, we are going to dig into an episode.
Maine is believed to be home to many supernatural creatures (no thanks to Maine author, Stephen King) and it's not that surprising that "The Twilight Zone" was not afraid of setting one of its episodes in Maine.
Let's go back in time to February 7, 1964, when season 5 episode 9 of "The Twilight Zone" aired an episode that was set in the outskirts of London Flats, a tiny rural community in Maine.
In the episode called "Night Call" dear old Elva Keene receives two phone calls in the middle of the night (around 2 am), waking her up. She answers the phone to find no one on the other line. Was this a prank call? She would soon realize that it was not a prank and that she has in fact entered the Twilight Zone.
Opening Narration
"Miss Elva Keene lives alone on the outskirts of London Flats, a tiny rural community in Maine. Up until now, the pattern of Miss Keene's existence has been that of lying in her bed or sitting in her wheelchair, reading books, listening to a radio, eating, napping, taking medication - and waiting for something different to happen. Miss Keene doesn't know it yet, but her period of waiting has just ended, for something different is about to happen to her, has in fact already begun to happen, via two most unaccountable telephone calls in the middle of a stormy night, telephone calls routed directly through - the Twilight Zone."
Episode Summary
An elderly woman, Elva Keene, receives strange anonymous phone calls. During the first calls, she hears only static. Later she hears a man moaning and she repeatedly demands to know who is calling. Finally, he says "Hello? Where are you? I want to talk to you." Elva, terrified, screams at the man to leave her alone.
The phone company traces the calls to a phone line that is located in a cemetery. Elva and her housekeeper go visit the cemetery and Elva discovers that the line is resting on the grave of her long-deceased fiancé, Brian Douglas.
Elva was honestly pretty much alone after losing control when driving a car and ended up in an accident that killed Brian and injured her. Finding out that her fiancé was on the other line of the phone was one of the best things to happen to her.
Elva went back home to talk to Brian and after pleading with him to answer the phone she finally got a response. It, however, was not the response that she was hoping for. Brian did respond to Elva's call but told her that she had told him to leave her alone and he has always done what she says. After that, the line goes dead, which left Elva alone once again and crying in bed.
So what does this episode of "The Twilight Zone" teach us? Maybe it's that we should always be nice when talking to others on the phone.