Kolchak: The Night Stalker/Legacy of Terror

Legacy of Terror
Season 1, Episode 17
Airdate	February 14, 1975
Written by	Arthur Rowe
Directed by	Don McDougall
Produced by	Cy Chermak
Stream
← 1x16 Demon in Lace	1x18 → The Knightly Murders
Kolchak: The Night Stalker — Season One

Legacy of Terror is the seventeenth episode of the first season of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

Starring: Darren McGavin (Carl Kolchak)

Also Starring: Simon Oakland (Tony Vincenzo)

Guest Stars: Ramon Bieri (Captain Webster), Pippa Scott (Tillie Jones), Sorrell Booke (Mr. Eddy), Victor Campos (Professor Jamie Rodriguez),

Co-Starring: Jack Grinnage (Ron Updyke)

Co-Starring (end credits): Erik Estrada (Pepe Torres), Carlos Romero (George Andrews), Udana Power (Captain Madge Timmins), Sondra Currie (Vicky), Cal Bartlett (Officer Lyons)

with Ernesto Macias (Andrew Gomez), Robert Casper (Prof. Jones), Mina Vasquez (Rita Torres), Dorrie Thomson (Lona), Merrie Lynn Ross (Nina), Scott Douglas (Major Taylor)

Uncredited: Craig R. Baxley (Staff Sgt. Rolf Anderson), Alma Beltran (Mrs. Torres), Mickey Gilbert (Nanautzin, the Mummy), Pitt Herbert (Medical Examiner), Gene LeBell (Officer Tim Olson), Ron Stein (Officer Smith)

Plot Overview

Staff Sgt. Anderson is attacked just outside his recruiting office. Dressed in ornate, feathered costumes and wearing bird masks, his attackers cut out his heart. One of them plays a flute nearby throughout the killing frenzy, totally unconcerned.

Kolchak arrivates late for a publishers convention at the Sherwood Hotel, where he is expected to mingle with prospective subscribers. Tony and Ron greet him in front of the hotel, but just as he is about to enter, the police radio in his car reports a homicide. He turns, and despite Tony's strenouous objections, he leaves to report on the murder.

At the murder scene, he surreptitiously records investigators discussing the case. The victim had his heart cut out with a dull knife ... "just like the other one," the investigators say. The police catch Kolchak spying, confiscate his recording, and eject him from the scene.

With nothing better to do Kolchak lives up to his obligation and returns to the hotel. At 12:30AM he looks into a disturbance at a nearby park. A young woman, an Air Force officer whom he had met earlier at the hotel, has been killed in the same grizzly fashion as the others. He gets a picture of the body and one of the bird men. The bird man apparantly didn't like having his picture taken, and returns for Kolchak, knocking him unconscious.

Hoping to be the first to search the unfortunate, young woman's room, Kolchak poses as room service, but the police are already there. They chase him into the basement, where he is forced to hide in a storage room. There he discovers a painting of a bird man and a large, wooden crate with an Aztec mask inside. He is horrified to discover that beneath the very heavy mask is the very shriveled face of a genuine, Aztec mummy! He panics and calls for help. The police escort him to the hotel manager's office.

Luckily for him, the hotel manager is very understanding and declines to press charges. Kolchak visits Pepe Torrez, another hotel official. Mr. Torrez is living the good life with beautiful women at his beck and call. He sits in his office doing nothing at all except practicing his flute. He answers questions, but eventually Kolchak gets too nosey and is asked to leave.

Next stop: a taxidermist. Kolchak wants to identify a red feather he found in the hotel's storage room. The taxidermist believes that it came from a common variety of parrot, native only to Mexico.

This leads Kolchak to the Mexican consulate in Chicago. After pestering the trade secretary about Aztec history for some time, he is referred to Professor Rodriguez at the university. The professor tells him that Nanauatzin will arise every 52 years and claim five victims: four unwilling victims and a final, willing victim. The last victim must be sacrificed before Venus comes out from behind the Moon at 12:10AM.

Reasoning that the Aztecs -- builders of massive ziggurats -- would seek the longest & highest staircase in the city, Kolchak rushes to the stadium, where he does in fact find the Aztec bird men preparing to sacrifice Pepe Torres. Kolchak sneaks over and tries to talk him out of it, but Torres will not be swayed.

Torres made a deal with the Aztec god Nanauatzin. In exchange for offering himself as a willing sacrifice, he gets a year of being treated like a king. Before he can say more, Kolchak is captured by the bird men. But it is Pepe's wish that he not be harmed, so Kolchak is safe ... for the time being.

It is now 12:05AM. In the seats of the stadium a sacrificial altar has been set up. Torres climbs onto the table and lies down, ready to be sacrificed; but at the last second, he changes his mind and makes a run for it.

While the bird men chase after Torres, the mummy of Nanauatzin rises looking for its final victim, but instead it finds Kolchak. It draws a massive knife and moves threateningly toward him. Kolchak stumbles and falls. A sword stroke narrowly misses him, sending him scrambling frantically down the stairs.

Kolchak looks around, but the mummy is nowhere to be seen. Kolchak's watch reads 12:09. Maybe it's actually 12:10, and the mummy is gone. Suddenly the mummy appears from nowhere and renews its attack. But just as suddenly, the mummy disappears ... for good this time.

Trivia

The Show

• Kolchak is forced to buy a stuffed bird from the taxidermist in exchange for information. Back at the office Kolchak tries to give it away. When Tony rejects the offering, Kolchak leaves the stuffed bird on Ron's desk.

Allusions and References

• Kolchak notes that Staff Sgt. Anderson PFC proved himself against the Viet Cong.
• When Kolchak is late for the publishers conference, Ron waxes pedantic about the precise time (9:15, 9:17, or 9:18). A frustrated Tony suggests that Ron should call the Greenwich Observatory just to be sure.
• Kolchak discovers an Aztec mummy in the basement of the hotel.
• The taxidermist mentions the Incans and the Maya.
• When Kolchak reveals his line of reasoning to his boss, Tony sarcastically invents his own explanation involving Ponce de León and the fountain of youth.
• The Aztec god, Nanauatzin requires five sacrifices every 52 years.