The last visit the original Twilight Zone made to the Wild West was another comedy episode. "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" aired on May 8, 1964, near the end of the show's final season.
As far as I can remember, it's the only original TZ story that is (kinda-sort of) based on a true story.
Apparently, in 1873, a guy convinced the citizens of the mining town of Alta, Utah convinced the citizens that he could raise the dead. But those citizens, though initially enthusiastic, began to think about problems such as re-marriages and inherited properties, they ended up paying the guy $2500 NOT to resurrect anyone.
Rod Serling read about this in an article by a sports writer named Mike Korologos and turned the idea into a script. John Dehner (perhaps my favorite character actor) plays Mr. Garrity, a peddler who comes to the town of Happiness, Arizona and announces he plans to raise the dead. He brings back a dog who had been hit by a wagon as proof of his ability.
Well, this seems like a good thing at first. But after a little reflection... well, Mr. Gooberman's wife Zelda wasn't really that pleasant. The bartender's dead brother used to steal from the till. In fact, there aren't many of the deceased that their loved ones necessarily want to see again.
So Mr. Garrity begins to get inquires about how much it would cost to prevent a particular person from climbing out of his or her grave.
It's a fun episode. The script is not one of Serling's strongest, but the cast (especially Dehner) play their parts to perfection and bring the story to... um.. life. "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" is yet another example of the high quality of character actors that used to populate TV during the 1950s and 1960s.
But wait! If Mr. Garrity is a con artist, then what makes this episode fodder for The Twilight Zone?
Well, perhaps Mr. Garrity is a slightly better Resurrectionist than he thought he was.
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