CBS airs the 16th episode of Rod Serling’s anthology series The Twilight Zone. Serling adapts a radio play of the same name by Lucille Fletcher, even going so far as to reuse Bernard Hermann’s music from the radio production.
A highway blowout at high speed, which could be a fatal accident in the making, merely proves to be a good scare for young Nan Adams during her cross-country drive. As she waits for a new tire to be put on her car, she first spots him: a nondescript hitchhiker, beckoning to her from the highway. Even when she resumes her trip, she keeps seeing him, and fears losing her sanity. She’s afraid to stop for him, and yet he’s everywhere. Where does he want to go…or, more precisely, where does he want her to go?
teleplay by Rod Serling
based on the radio play by Lucille Fletcher
directed by Alvin Ganzer
music not creditedCast: Inger Stevens (Nan Adams), Adam Williams (Sailor), Lew Gallo (Mechanic), Leonard Strong (The Hitch-Hiker), Russ Bender (Counterman), George Mitchell (Gas Station Man)
LogBook entry by Earl Green