Our tale begins with “The Hunt,” episode 84 of “The Twilight Zone,” and the first written by Earl Hamner, Jr., who would go on to write seven more episodes of the hit series. “The Hunt” stars Oscar-nominee Arthur Hunnicutt (“The Big Sky”) as Hyder Simpson, an old man living in the mountains with his beloved wife Rachel (Jeanette Nolan, who also provided the voice of Norma Bates in “Psycho”), and his beloved dog, Rip.
Rachel tells Hyder that she’s seen bad omens lately, but Hyder ignores her warnings and goes out hunting with Rip in the middle of the night. They chase a raccoon into a river, and they never come out again. But their souls wake up on dry land, completely unaware that they’ve died, and begin wandering back home, oblivious to the obvious telltale signs of their fate, like their neighbors digging a grave on their land. It’s only when Hyder finds Rachel wearing black, watching as his coffin is removed from their cabin, that he finally puts two-and-two together.
Hyder and Rip begin wandering a lonely road and run across a man guarding a gate, who says Hyder is welcome to come in and join the crowd in heaven. There’s just one catch: Rip isn’t invited. Hyder says that heaven just wouldn’t be heaven without dogs so he decides to live in purgatory forever instead. Eventually, another traveler finds him and says Hyder was nearly tricked by the devil: “You see, Mr. Simpson, a man, well he’ll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can’t fool a dog!”
Isn’t that nice? That’s a sweet little story. Some people hate this episode. I think they’re jerks.
