Not Rated | 30min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, TV Series | Episode aired 13 December 1960
In 1922 the town of Chico, California was pelted by rocks falling from an empty sky. A writer who called himself The Ghost took credit for the phenomena, but was never identified. Similarly, in 1917 a stranger appeared to government officials in Washington, D. C. and demonstrated a new fuel made from water that could power an auto engine. After his successful exhibition, the stranger vanished as quickly as he had appeared. The FBI and Secret Service searched for months and could never find him.
Director: John Newland
Writers: Merwin Gerard, Gabrielle Upton
Stars: Phillip Pine, Richard Devon, Addison Richards
In 1922 the town of Chico, California was pelted by rocks falling from an empty sky. A writer who called himself The Ghost took credit for the phenomena, but was never identified. Similarly, in 1917 a stranger appeared to government officials in Washington, D. C. and demonstrated a new fuel made from water that could power an auto engine. After his successful exhibition, the stranger vanished as quickly as he had appeared. The FBI and Secret Service searched for months and could never find him.
Director: John Newland
Writers: Merwin Gerard, Gabrielle Upton
Stars: Phillip Pine, Richard Devon, Addison Richards
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Bureaus of missing persons in every city in the world list thousands of odd and unexplained
00:16disappearances. But in the literature of psychic phenomena, there are two sudden appearances
00:24that are perhaps as strange and as perplexing as anything that ever happened on this earth.
00:31One of them occurred in the town of Chico in California's Sacramento Valley. The date
00:37was March 17th, 1922. It began with something as commonplace and as ordinary as these pieces
00:46of granite, sandstone, marble, shale, quartz. Ordinary pieces of rock and stone. Or are
00:58they? Yes sir, that'll be in this week's paper. We're printing it up tonight. Just as soon
01:03as... Just a minute, Mr. Sharp. Harry! You'll be sure to stay under the porch roof. Can
01:20they come again? Frank! Frank! Frank! Frank! Frank! Guess that's it for today. Is he alright?
01:47I think he's just knocked out. Like the others, they're warm. Right on schedule, 3 o'clock. We'd
01:59better get him over to Doc Stanley. Yeah, Mr. Stroud, please forgive me. Mr. Stroud?
02:09How's Frank? He'll be alright. Harry, have you told the marshal yet about what you did?
02:23Well, there's no sense getting him riled ahead of time. You know, when all those people start
02:27arriving in town, he's gonna go sky high, Harry. Joe Tomlinson's just worried about looking foolish
02:32in front of outsiders about not being able to stop this. Or not being able to find out who or
02:37what's been doing. All those big city newspaper people writing it up, we're gonna look pretty
02:43foolish. The whole world's gonna have a great big horse laugh at us. Maybe. Maybe this is
02:49something important that the whole world ought to know about. Jenny, our business is news. However
02:56it turns out, it'll still be news. Are you going to meet them? 2.30 tomorrow. Joe Tomlinson won't
03:06like it. Joe Tomlinson doesn't like anything. Is this the place they come down, Mr. Call?
03:34The last three days, yes. But you still don't believe me, do you? Oh, I imagine there's some
03:40stones coming from somewhere. I just don't think you're foolish enough to believe there's anything
03:45strange about it. You think this is a hoax, too? Well, let's say I'll have to be shown. Folks in
03:53Los Angeles like to read about this sort of thing, so whatever happens, I'll write about it. But I'll
03:58write the truth, Mr. Call.
04:28Very good, Mr. Call. You've got a fine sense of theater. All the props in the right places at the
04:37right time. Listen to this, Bradley. Harry Call, editor. Chico Chronicle. Dear sir, this is to
04:43inform you that I am the one who's been causing the stones and rocks to fall on Chico. To prove
04:49it, I will make them fall again tomorrow at exactly three o'clock and exactly where they
04:52fell today. And since I have repealed the law of gravity, I will have some of them float down
04:59from the sky and sign the ghost. It's rather amateur theatricals, I'm afraid, Mr. Call. The
05:09ghost. In the past ten months, many people have come forward claiming to know who or what was
05:14responsible. Now many of them were anonymous. Well, now you've got your answer. It's a ghost.
05:17I assume there are cranks all over the world, Mr. Towers, even in San Francisco. I merely thought
05:24as a newspaper man gathering information on a story, you would be interested in seeing that
05:29note. Oh, I'm interested. I'm very interested, Mr. Call, to see just how far you'll go to try
05:34to sell us this bill of goods. I'm not sure how they do things in the big city. But here, while
05:41I try to approach gathering news with a healthy skepticism, I hope I do it without arrogance or
05:49a smart-alecky know-it-all attitude. Very well put, Mr. Call. Don't you think so, Towers? See,
05:56you got visitors, Harry. Hi, Joe. It's the town marshal, gentlemen. Mr. Joseph Tomlinson. This
06:02is Mr. Towers of the San Francisco... Yeah, I know who they are. You don't seem very happy
06:07to see us here, marshal. No, I'm not. I think this is strictly a local affair. It's nobody else's
06:12business. How do you know that, marshal? What? Well, I mean, unless you know who or what is
06:18responsible, how do you know it is local? What else can it be? Well, I'm sure you've been trying
06:23to find out for the past ten months. Sure, naturally. Chico isn't a very large town. If
06:27somebody is launching stones with some sort of catapult, I'm sure you'd have discovered him by
06:31now. If it's really happening. Don't you see, Bradley, it couldn't be anything else. There are
06:36no hills around here. Those stones come straight down from nowhere. Sure they do. Where's the
06:43highest spot in town, marshal? The roof of Torrey's Warehouse up on High Street. Can we go up there?
06:48Certainly. Well, that's where I want to be at three o'clock. With field glasses. That's Harry
06:55Cole's place, huh? Yep. And the stones have fallen there for the last three days, huh? Right in it.
07:07Well, they could easily have been thrown from here with some sort of machine, couldn't they?
07:29Bradley, let me tell you something. The last ten months, those rocks have fallen just about
07:44every place in this town at all sorts of different hours, day and night. And plenty of those times,
07:51I've been right here with those glasses. But like Cole said, they always fall straight down.
07:58It's almost three o'clock, Mr. Towers. Uh-huh, just a minute or so by my watch. Well,
08:09they at least come in under the porch roof. No, sir. This I want to see from beginning to end.
08:14There. There, Mr. Bradley, a little more to your left. Up there.
08:28They are. They're falling from an empty sky. They're floating.
08:58The man who wrote this note and signed himself the ghost was never heard from again. However,
09:15a young man who had come to Chico ten months before and who had been the subject of much
09:21conversation because of his odd behavior disappeared suddenly on the same day. A
09:29nationwide search was made for him, but no trace of him or his invention was ever found. Who was
09:40he? Or perhaps what was he? Because from the New York Times, printed in 1878, 44 years before the
09:55barrage of rocks began over Chico. On the 29th of August, a great number of small fish fell from
10:01the sky on the town of Chico, California, covering the roof of a store and falling in the streets
10:07over an area of several acres. They fell from a cloud to sky and were both freshwater and ocean
10:16varieties. And from the monthly weather review of March 1885, a large object of very hard material
10:29weighing several tons, but defying analysis, fell from the sky in the town of Chico, California.
10:37Now was the ghost, whoever or whatever he was or is, responsible for all the strange goings on in
10:48the sky over Chico? It certainly would be fascinating to find out, just as it would be
10:53fascinating to find out more about a man named Charles Elton. The year was 1917. The place,
11:02just outside the private residence of a cabinet member of the United States government in Washington,
11:08D.C. Charles Elton, if that really was his name, chose to make an appearance here in a most
11:23unorthodox manner. But then he proved to be a most unorthodox individual.
11:29Your office, Mr. Secretary? No, there's a meeting at the State Department, 845. It's nearly that now,
11:46but let's not break any crosstown speed records. No, sir. I'm afraid you won't be able to leave
11:51just yet, Mr. Secretary. Who are you and what do you want? Just to show the Secretary something of
11:56great importance. You better get out of here fast. Sir, you have a reputation for being a reasonable
12:02man. I'm sure you can see if you will notice this car is in no condition to take you anywhere. So
12:08you might as well let me fix it. Fix it? There isn't a gasoline station around for at least a mile. Which
12:13is precisely why I chose to empty your gasoline tank here. Mr. Secretary, please forgive my methods,
12:19but after waiting in your outer office four days in vain... There may be enough gasoline in the lines
12:24to get to a gas station. Carter! You'd best go and telephone for a taxi cab. Maybe I better call the
12:43police. No, I'll be all right. Yes, sir. I thought your face was familiar. Excuse me, sir. Where are you
12:51going? Just to get your garden hose. Hose? Yeah, what are you doing? Fixing it so you can drive to
13:11the State Department. Grease! Scud man, you'll ruin the motor with water. Just water, yes. Well,
13:18do you think I sprinkled my lawn with gasoline? Mr. Secretary, please relax. I assure you I'm
13:24not harming your high-powered engine in any way. There. That ought to do it. There's the little
13:35beauty. So, now for a moment to allow for the effervescence to distribute the chemical
13:43throughout the water, and then you'll want to watch this, Mr. Secretary. I pump it to get
13:55some of it, some of my mixture up into the carburetor. Get in, Mr. Secretary. I'll have
14:20you at the State Department in three minutes. I'm a very careful driver, sir. Where did you
14:25get the gasoline, Mr. Secretary? Oh, from the garden hose, naturally. Pardon, sir? Cancel the
14:35taxi cab. Yes, sir. Good evening, Mr. Secretary. Good evening, Commander. Good evening, gentlemen.
14:48Nice to see you. Gentlemen, this is Mr. Charles Elton, Commander Phillips, Colonel Willis,
14:55Mr. Garner, each an expert in his own field. Mr. Elton, gentlemen, may very possibly have made
15:03the most important discovery since the development of the internal combustion engine. If he has what
15:09he appears to have, it would, to say the very least, accelerate the growth of world economy
15:15at an unprecedented rate, and aid greatly in giving the Allied war machine complete and
15:20overwhelming superiority. Where is this miracle, sir? Right here. I'm not surprised that you
15:30wondered, gentlemen. I could very well have been duped, but that's why we're here, to find out.
15:35Is that the engine, Commander? Yes, sir. Now, you're absolutely certain that the tank, the tank
15:43is empty, and that it has never, at any time, contained any fuel whatsoever? Absolutely, sir.
15:49Good. Colonel, did you get the water? Oh, yes, Mr. Secretary. Where did you get it? I picked it up
15:54at the corner grocery store, sir. Oh, fine. Now, is there a clean glass handy? Oh, yes, right here.
16:01Good, thank you. Would you pour some water in here, please, Colonel? Colonel, have a drink.
16:16What's it taste like? Like water, sir. Just plain, ordinary water, nothing added? I'm sorry to say
16:29not, as far as I can tell. Mr. Garner. Just water? Commander, how long to run an analysis on this?
16:48Half a minute. Good. Mr. Garner, is there anything at all unusual about this engine? No,
16:59it's just a plain automobile engine. Commander, I can tell better after they sit a while, sir,
17:09but so far it's just good old H2O. Fine. Well, Mr. Elgin, the stage is yours. Thank you, sir.
17:29What are you doing? Just protecting myself, Mr. Secretary.
17:59Just enough to prime it and run the engine for about a minute. One provision, Mr. Secretary.
18:09Yes? You must permit me to consume every drop of the fuel. Well, sir, all the elements I use
18:17can be found on this planet, and perhaps some very clever chemist, after some hard work,
18:22might succeed in making an analysis. Then I would no longer have a secret, would I,
18:27and therefore nothing to sell. Yes, I see what you mean. Very well, you have my word.
18:57Thank you, Mr. Garner, Mr. Garner, Mr. Garner, Mr. Garner, Mr. Garner, Mr. Garner, Mr. Garner,
19:25Very well, gentlemen, someone can start the engine. Mr. Garner? But, Mr. Secretary,
19:38if you'll forgive me, there can only be one possible result. Water vapor and internal
19:44combustion engine are incompatible. You'll simply ruin a perfectly good engine. That
19:49is a risk that I feel we can afford. Very well.
20:19Well, gentlemen, what do you say?
20:45There's only one thing you can say. It's impossible. It completely defies the whole
20:53theory of internal combustion. Well, unless I'm dreaming, this will do everything you said it
20:58would. Unless we're all dreaming the same dream. Well, how much do you want for your formula?
21:05Ten million dollars. But, Mr. Garner, you're employed in private industry. How much do you
21:15think he could get for this on the open market? Well, if it's what it seems to be and can be
21:23produced cheaply, I guess there is no ceiling. That's a very good point. How much would it cost
21:30to produce this marvelous pill of yours? For a pill that will convert ten gallons of water
21:38into ten gallons of high-grade fuel? Less than two cents. You guarantee that? Make the deal
21:48contingent upon it. That's fair enough. I, of course, can't commit our government to a project
21:55of this magnitude on my own responsibility, but, well, I feel certain that we'll have no
22:00difficulty in getting what you want. Now, if you wouldn't mind just waiting in the other room
22:08for a moment. There are some things I'd like to discuss with these gentlemen. Now, look. I'll be
22:15with you in a very few moments. Take your time, Mr. Secretary. Well, gentlemen, I'm not an expert
22:26on these matters. I leave that to you, but I know I'd hate to present this matter to the President
22:32and have it explode in my face. Nobody's an expert on that stuff except your Mr. Elton. You took
22:39every possible precaution, sir. I know one thing. There was no drop of fuel of any kind in that
22:45engine until he poured his mixture in. Mr. Garner, you're a very cautious man. Would you care to
22:53express an opinion? I ended up to be a complete fool to believe what we just saw, but I believe it.
23:00There's no other choice. Well, gentlemen, that's good enough for me.
23:04Mr. Elton, I'm glad to... Mr. Elton? Mr. Elton? He's gone.
23:21And he was gone. He had completely vanished. The FBI and the Secret Service for many, many months
23:28searched for Charles Elton. They checked every hotel and rooming house in Washington. They
23:34interviewed every Charles Elton in America. They took his fingerprints from the laboratory, and
23:39they checked them and compared them against every conceivable source. But not one shred of evidence
23:46was ever found to prove that such a man even existed. And of course, to this day, no one can
23:54even imagine how he managed to make gasoline from water. His secret, like the secret of the ghost
24:03who worked his magic in Chico, California, continues to elude our best scientific minds. We may never
24:12discover who these men were. Where are they?
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