"Execution" is episode 26 of the

American television Television is one of the Mass media in the United States, major mass media outlets in the United States. In 2011, 96.7% of households owned television sets; about 114,200,000 American households owned at least one television set each in August ...

anthology series ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

''. It features

Albert Salmi Albert Salmi (March 11, 1928 – April 22, 1990) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Best known for his work as a character actor, he appeared in over 150 film and television productions. Early life Salmi was born and raised ...

, who also plays the lead character in the Season 4 episode " Of Late I Think of Cliffordville".

Opening narration

Plot

In 1880, an outlaw cowboy named Joe Caswell is about to be hanged for murder. But as the noose tightens around his neck, he suddenly disappears and finds himself in 1960, in the laboratory of Professor Manion. Manion explains that he used a

time machine A time machine is a fictional or hypothetical device that allows time travel. Concept A time machine is a device that makes time travel possible. The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' distinguishes between two different types of time ma ...

to pluck Caswell from the past. But when Manion sees the rope burns around Caswell's neck, and hears his admission that in his life he had murdered over twenty men, he knows he must try to send Caswell back. The discussion leads to an argument. Caswell attacks Manion, killing him with a desk lamp. He then flees from the laboratory into a busy street, but is overwhelmed by the lights and the noise: He has manic reactions to a public phone booth, to jukebox and television set at a local bar, and he returns to the lab, distraught and desperate. He breaks down, pleading for the dead scientist to help him. A thief named Paul Johnson enters the lab. Caswell fights with Johnson, but Johnson gets the upper hand and strangles Caswell with the cord from the window curtains. As Johnson tries to find Manion's safe, he accidentally activates the time machine and is sent back to 1880, appearing in the noose intended for Caswell, just in time to be hanged. The witnesses to the hanging are shocked to see a stranger's body, in strange clothes, in place of Caswell. They question whether this was the Devil's work or some other power's, and whether they have just executed an innocent man.

Closing narration

External links

* {{The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes 1960 American television episodes The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) season 1 episodes Television episodes about death Television episodes about time travel Television episodes written by Rod Serling Fiction set in 1880 Fiction set in 1960 Television episodes written by George Clayton Johnson Television episodes set in the 1880s Television episodes set in the 1960s

Opening narration

Plot

Closing narration

Further reading

External links