No movie tonight, just more TV episodes. High quality stuff of course : "Rawhide" and "One Step Beyond", which I highly recommend for fans of the supernatural. Every episode is introduced by Your Host, John Newland, who gives you the background info on the true stories each episode is based on. The one I watched tonight took place during the Civil War. A young Confederate soldier is lost from his troop and wandering in the woods with only his dog for company. The soldier is hungry, and thinks he has lucked out when he comes across an unattended campfire in which a rabbit is roasting on a spit.
He steals the meat, but soon finds out he has been set up. Union soldiers appear out of the woods to arrest and detain him. The campfire food was a deception, a lure set out by the Army to trap the Rebel soldier. They think he is a spy who has tried to infiltrate their base.
The poor Confederate kid (just a teenager) is only a rube, way too unsophisticated to be a spy, but the heavy drinking, belligerent US Army Colonel in charge of the Union depot, decides to frame him, to make himself look good in the eyes of his superior General. All of the soldiers know that the Confederate kid is not a spy, but they are forced to go along with the tribunal that is set up for him. The conclusion is forgone, and he is found guilty, even though he did nothing.
Meanwhile, his beloved dog has been tied to a tree this whole time. He howls mournfully every night because he misses his master. The belligerent Colonel soon tires of the howling, and - while drunk one night - he goes outside and shoots the dog dead. The young Confederate soldier is unaware of this.
A day later, he is scheduled to be executed. The Union soldiers know this is a bogus order and are loathe to carry it out, but they proceed anyway, out of fear of the consequences. But as they are getting ready for the order to "Fire"!, a mournful howling is heard. The young Confederate soldier, blindfolded, tied to the stake and ready to be shot, suddenly recognises the sound and presence of his loyal dog. He can't see him because he is blindfolded, but he knows the dog is there by his side.
Meanwhile, the Union soldiers and their belligerent Colonel are freaking out, because they can hear the dog but cannot see him. The Colonel is especially freaked out. He presumably shot the dog stone dead the previous night, and we the viewers witnessed him do it. But now, we cannot see the dog either. We can only hear him as his mournful howls turn to snarls of rage. Within moments the Colonel is backing away, terrified, yelling for his soldiers to get the dog away from him. They think he's gone mad, and yet they can hear the growling too. A minute after that, their tyrannical Colonel is dead on the ground with his throat torn open. The Union soldiers are stunned. They allow the young Confederate soldier to go free; they knew all along he was innocent of the charges against him.
The young kid leaves the area, by himself. His dog is not with him. As far as we know, it was shot and killed earlier by the now deceased Colonel.
The story ends here, but as always on "One Step Beyond", there is a postscript by Our Host John Newland, in which he muses on the mysterious happenings of each episode. Here, he proposes that the loyalty of a dog extends beyond death, and he is not wrong because we have just seen what has taken place : the evil Colonel has been killed by the ghost dog.
And every episode of "One Step Beyond" is based on a true story, so there you have it.
I know you have goosebumps right now. I do too, just in the re-telling of it. ////
The Civil War is the source of many ghost stories. One more that I will mention was written by a popular horror and fantasy author named Dan Simmons. He wrote a short story many years ago called "Iverson's Pits" that I read in a horror anthology book. The story had such an effect on me that I have never forgotten it, and it turns out that "Iverson's Pits" - a mass grave - is an actual battlefield site, where visitors have reported seeing ghosts, and other supernatural activity.
Certain things stick with me and make a deep impression.
Read "Iverson's Pits" if you like goosebumps.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment