The Twilight Zone/The Howling Man

The Howling Man
Season 2, Episode 5
Airdate	November 4, 1960
Production Number	173-3642
Written by	Charles Beaumont
Directed by	Douglas Heyes
Produced by	Buck Houghton
← 2x04 A Thing About Machines	2x06 → Eye of the Beholder
The Twilight Zone — Season Two

This article about an episode needs to be expanded with more information. Please help out by editing it.

The Howling Man is the fifth episode of the second season of The Twilight Zone, and the forty-first episode overall.

Starring: John Carradine (Brother Jerome)

and H.M. Wynant (David Ellington)

with Robin Hughes (The Howling Man), Frederic Ledebur (Brother Christophorus), Ezelle Poule (Housekeeper)

Uncredited: Rod Serling (Host)

Plot Overview

Opening Narration

The prostrate form of Mr. David Ellington, scholar, seeker of truth and, regrettably, finder of truth. A man who will shortly arise from his exhaustion to confront a problem that has tormented mankind since the beginning of time. A man who knocked on a door seeking sanctuary and found instead the outer edges of the Twilight Zone.

Synopsis

David Ellington is an American traveling through central Europe following the first World War. During a rainstorm, he stumbles onto a monestary, lost and drenched from the downpour. In the sanctuary, he is stopped by one of the monks, who tells him that no visitors are allowed. When he leaves to speak with Brother Jerome, a ghastly howl echoes through the house. Ellington asks what the noise was, but Brother Christophorus dismisses it as the wind.

Ellington is allowed to meet with Brother Jerome, who also denies food and shelter to the traveler. Ellington stumbles through the hall and collapses out of exhaustion, forcing the monks to take him in for the night. When he wakes, Ellington comes across the source of the howl—a man in tattered clothing locked in a prison cell. The man claims that he was locked up for kissing a girl who spurned Jerome, whom he classifies as a religious zealot. Jerome ends the two's conversation and takes him away from the cell to explain that they have no facilities to care for him. Jerome tells Ellington that he is delirious and that there was no man locked in that cell, but Ellington doesn't buy it.

Jerome finally admits the identity of the man locked away—he is no man but rather the devil himself. Brother Jerome's revelation doesn't convince Ellington, who thinks him mad. Jerome tells him a story about how, five years ago, the devil came to the nearby happy village to corrupt it. Jerome recognized the devil for what he was and imprisoned him in the cell using the Staff of Truth, the one barrier that the devil cannot break. Ellington still isn't convinced. In fact, the story has enforced his belief that the religious order is mad.

Ellington waits until Christophorus falls asleep and sneaks down to the howling man's cell. He finds the staff holding the door shut and sees that it is easily within reach of the man. At the man's urging, Ellington pulls the staff from the door and allows the man to escape. When the prisoner exits his cell, he pins Ellington to the ground and begins to change. Before disappearing in a plume of smoke, he fully takes on the appearance of the devil.

Jerome discovers Ellington and comments that man's greatest weakness has been the inability to recognize the devil. At this point, the flashback ends. Ellington has been relating this story to a hotel maid and tells her that his mistake caused World War II, the Korean War and nuclear warfare. But, finally, after many years, he has captured the devil and is holding him in a hotel room. He intends to bring the monster back to the hermitage and Brother Jerome's watchful eye.

Ellington warns the skeptical housekeeper not to remove the staff barricading the door while he makes his final preparations. Of course, after Ellington leaves, the maid removes the Staff of Truth from the door and release the devil.

Closing Narration

Ancient folk saying: "You can catch the devil, but you can't hold him long." Ask Brother Jerome. Ask David Ellington. They know, and they'll go on knowing to the end of their days and beyond... in the Twilight Zone.