NIGHT GALLERY / "Big Surprise" - 1971

Here's a big surprise for a Friday, the story and teleplay was written by Richard Matheson, it stars our pal John Carradine as Mr. Hawkins, Vincent Van Patten as Chris, Marc Vahanian as Jason and Eric Chase as Dan.

Here are Chris, Dan and Jason, they are walking home after school, makes me wonder where the heck they live!

The boys have to pass by creepy old Mr. Hawkins place, he comes out to greet them and tells them to come closer, he has something to tell them.

Chris is the only one that dares to go up and see what the old man wants. Mr. Hawkins ask Chris if he knows where to find an old oak tree near there, he says he does. Then he tells Chris to take ten paces from the tree and dig four feet down, and...

He'll get a Big Surprise!

When the Mr. Hawkins starts laughing, Chris splits and runs back to his friends where he tells them what the old man said. 

Jason and Dan think that Mr. Hawkins is playing a trick on them but they finally agree to join in on the quest, Chris says there might be a treasure. So, they start digging away.

They dig and dig and dig and dig, but they find nothing...

Then, Jason says that, lookit, we've dug down four feet and haven't found anything. Chris says that it's not four feet yet, let's just keep digging!

Jason's not buying it and tells Dan to go with him and get something to eat at his house, Jason and Dan take off running, they've had enough..

Chris notices that the weather's changing, a wind has come up and things seem to be getting a little creepy.

Undaunted, Chris keeps digging for the imagined pay off, a treasure.

And he finally uncovers a big wooden box with a lock on it, he takes the shovel and knocks the lock off and starts to open the lid, when...

It begins opening on its own!

The box is now fully opened and Chris is completely horrified by what he sees!

SURPRISE!!

Well, there you have it, kinda corny episode, but we love John to pieces, here at The Dungeon! Eegah is up tomorrow with more who knows what, just for you.