The Chilling Incident That Inspired A Season 5 Episode Of The Twilight Zone

This post contains spoilers for the "Twilight Zone" episode "Mr. Garrity and the Graves."

By the time the fifth season of "The Twilight Zone" rolled out, series creator and host Rod Serling was already dealing with all kinds of roadblocks. For starters, season 4 had contained what are now widely considered some of the worst episodes of "The Twilight Zone" thanks to various behind-the-scenes hurdles and constant network interference. Season 4 also suffered from having episodes that ran for an hour (as opposed to the half-hour format used for the first three seasons), which demanded stories with wider scopes and stronger creative hooks. Unfortunately, the otherworldly sheen emitted by the titular Twilight Zone had started to fade by then, and fresh, compelling ideas were becoming few and far between.

When creative inspiration failed, Serling began increasingly turning to the real world for inspiration. During a visit to Utah where he stayed at the Alta Lodge, Serling stumbled upon a news report about a mysterious man who had arrived in the town in 1873 and caused quite the commotion. Enamored by the strange nature of this true story, Serling used it as the basis for season 5's "Mr. Garrity and the Graves." The episode in question starts with a man named Jared Garrity (John Dehner) arriving in Happiness, Arizona, claiming that he has the power to resurrect the dead. Aspects of the real-life report that gave rise to the story (which was published by reporter Mike Korologos in 1963) were, of course, altered for the sake of dramatic stakes. On the show, Garrity initially appears to be a swindler, yet his claims are inadvertently rendered true courtesy of the Twilight Zone.

So, what exactly happened in Utah back in 1873, and how does "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" dramatize the incident? Let's dive deeper.

Korologos, a specialist in ski journalism, spoke to ABC4 in 2022 about both the history of Utah and the nature of the incident that inspired "Mr. Garrity and the Graves." He began by charting Alta's roots before it became a ski resort, explaining that it used to be a silver mining town with a population of roughly 5,000 and that there was "a murder every night." The tense and unpredictable environment was exacerbated after a man walked into town while holding a staff and wearing robes, claiming that he could help folks reunite with loved ones by resurrecting the dead. It is important to keep in mind that there is no documented proof that this actually happened, but the alleged nature of the incident was bizarre enough to have morphed into a local tale that eventually became a part of Utah's history.

The most absurd aspect of this tale is that the people of Alta chose to err on the side of caution even without proof of this man's self-professed necromancy powers. They were, it seems, worried that any attempts made to resurrect the dead would only cause more trouble if they somehow worked, potentially stirring up old grudges and unresolved debts in the process. As such, the superstitious townsfolk collected $2,500 to convince the man to leave. Years later, Korologos read a version of the tale in the "American Guide Series," after which he decided to write a news report for The Salt Lake Tribune (which was later picked up by the Alta Powder Newspaper).

Korologos also mentioned that Serling paid him some money in exchange for the story, which he then used as the inspiration for "Mr. Garrity and the Graves." In his own words:

"I had no problem with the story ending up in the Alta news. Rod Serling, the producer and host of 'The Twilight Zone' happened to be staying at the Alta Lodge and read the piece [...] He offered me $500 for the story, which I was ecstatic about back then."

Well, good for Mr. Korologos. As for the episode, it was a middling affair that underlined the mysterious pull of the Twilight Zone — a most perplexing realm that could turn a charlatan into a necromancer overnight.