"The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" is episode 130 of the American television

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

''. It originally aired on December 6, 1963 on CBS. In this episode, a group of soldiers travel back in time to take part in the

Battle of the Little Bighorn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, No ...

Opening narration

Plot

The show's teaser, set June 25, 1876, depicts an army scout, a sergeant and a trooper finding evidence of Indians. An arrow strikes the scout in the back while the regular soldiers fire their carbines at an unseen foe. The time jumps ahead to the present, June 25, 1964, the 88th anniversary of the

. Three

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

soldiers (Connors, McCluskey and Langsford) are in a M3 Stuart tank participating in a

war game A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

near the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where General

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

made his last stand. Their orders coincide with the route of Custer and his men. As they follow the route, they hear strange things such as

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

battle cries and horses running when nobody is there. Connors wonders if they have somehow gone back in time. When they return, Connors reports to his Captain Dennet what occurred and is reprimanded. The following day the trio go out and again experience strange phenomena. The captain contacts them via radio and orders them to return to base when Connors tries to explain what is happening. Connors breaks contact and the captain sends his lieutenant and two men to bring them in. However, the tank crew abandon their tank and continue on foot with their modern weapons. They find a group of

teepee A tipi , often called a lodge in English, is a conical tent, historically made of animal hides or pelts, and in more recent generations of canvas, stretched on a framework of wooden poles. The word is Siouan, and in use in Dakhótiyapi, Lakȟó ...

s and McCluskey investigates. He soon returns with an arrow protruding from his back. The three men climb a ridge, where below they see a battle taking place. Together they move forward to join the conflict and are never seen again. Later, Captain Dennet enters the " Custer Battlefield National Monument". Lieutenant Woodard, the officer sent to find the tank and the three soldiers, reports that all he found was the abandoned tank. The captain and lieutenant soon walk past the battlefield's large stone

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

carved with the names of Custer and all the soldiers who died with the general at the Little Big Horn. Dennet and Woodard are suddenly startled to see the names of their missing men also carved into the memorial. Initially, Woodard proposes that it might be an extraordinary coincidence that the names are identical to those of their own soldiers. Dennet, however, seems unable or unwilling to accept that possibility and simply states that it is "too bad" his missing National Guardsmen could not have taken their tank into the 1876 battle.

Closing narration

Cast

* Ron Foster as Sgt. William Connors *

Randy Boone Clyde Randy Boone (born January 17, 1942) is an American actor and singer best known for his role in the series ''The Virginian'' as Randy Benton, a young ranch hand who played guitar and sang. Early years Boone was born in Fayetteville, No ...

as Pvt. Michael McCluskey *

Warren Oates Warren Mercer Oates (July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982) was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah, including ''The Wild Bunch'' (1969) and ''Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'' (1974). A ...

as Cpl. Richard Langsford * Greg Morris as Lieutenant Woodard * Jeffrey Morris as Finnigan * Wayne Mallory as Scout * Robert Bray as Captain Dennet * Lew Brown as Sergeant * Jacques Shelton as Corporal

References

* DeVoe, Bill. (2008). ''Trivia from The Twilight Zone''. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. * Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. * Zicree, Marc Scott: ''The Twilight Zone Companion''. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:7th Is Made Up Of Phantoms, The 1963 American television episodes The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series season 5) episodes Television episodes about time travel Television episodes written by Rod Serling Fiction set in 1876 Fiction set in 1964 Television episodes set in the 19th century Television episodes set in the 1960s