Original subtitles

("Alfred Hitchcock" theme music)

- Good evening.

Welcome to the Hitchcock Hillbillies.

We had planned a series based on a family

of simple mountain folk who discover oil on their land

and move to the Murray Hill section of New York.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out.

None of the family knew what the oil was.

And so instead of going to the big city,

they simply sold their farm and moved down the road

where the land wasn't so slippery.

My sponsor requested that I dress appropriately

for the series, and I agree.

I'm wearing long underwear.

Actually, it isn't as long as it is wide,

but I did my best to cooperate.

There's another item I wish was shorter, the next minute.

For that is what separates us from a story of a small town

terrorized by an unknown assailant.

(dramatic music)

- See what I mean, Will?

Nobody's been here for weeks.

- Place does look deserted all right.

- Nothing's been done in the fields either.

Tommy knew that his father was depending on him

to run this farm while he was gone.

He's not the kind just to let things go like this.

- [Will] There could be a simple explanation.

- [Susan] Like what?

- Like maybe Tommy went with his father.

- He told me--

- People change their plans.

We'll take a look around anyway though.

Tom!

Hey, Tom Cooley!

(metal rattling)

- Listen.

(metal rattling)

Tommy?

Tommy?

Oh.

- My son ain't here.

- When did you get back, Mr. Cooley?

- Late yesterday.

Tommy was gone then.

Been gone a long time looks like.

Don't you know about that, Miss Susan Marsh?

- Well, no, I don't, Mr. Cooley.

- What do you mean by that, Mr. Cooley?

- Thought he might've talked to her.

She's been mighty thick with him.

Filling up his head with notions.

- Mr. Cooley--

- There's a stack of books in the parlor belongs to you.

Better take 'em back now if you want 'em back.

- Just get the books, Susan.

Mr. Cooley, Tommy hasn't been in town

since the beginning of October.

It was over a month ago.

That's why Susan got to worrying about him.

Did he leave any message for you?

- Nope.

- When did you see him last?

- Second of October when I went off to look for a new place.

Found one too.

North in High Valley where a man can have some peace.

Have to let it go now.

- Well, did Tommy take anything with him, belongings, money?

- Just the clothes he stood in is all.

Boy's no thief.

- Did he ever threaten to run away?

- Nope.

- Well then what makes you so sure he has?

- I got my reasons.

- Do you want me to put out a missing persons on him?

- I raised the boy right, taught him right.

It's between him and the Lord now.

Tommy wants to come back to me, he'll come back.

If he don't want to come back, then I don't want him.

- Doesn't it occur to you

something may have happened to the boy?

- The Lord wouldn't take my son from me without a sign,

and I ain't had a sign.

There's nothin' to do now but wait,

wait and believe the Lord will bring him back to me.

- Did he know anything about Tommy?

- No, he just seems positive for some reason or other

that the boy's run away.

- I can tell you why.

It's Tommy's mother.

- Well, she's dead, isn't she?

- That's what I always thought.

But one day Tommy was in the library, and we got to talking.

He's a very honest boy,

and he'd never say a word about his parents.

But somehow it came out that his mother has just simply

gone off and left them when Tommy was very small.

It was a long time before they ever came to Northfield.

I gather she just had all she could take of John Cooley.

- So that's what's been eating on the old man.

- Stern and rigid as he is, Tommy seems to love him.

He's an honest boy, he wouldn't just sneak off.

- Susan, how can you be so sure?

Now there is a grain of truth in what the old man said.

You have been encouraging Tom to go to school.

- Well, he's a bright boy, he ought to go to school.

- And you know darn well that old John isn't gonna let him.

So it doesn't strike me as being too strange

that maybe this boy would go out into the world

and decide to make some breaks on his own.

- And it would be my fault.

Is that what you're trying to say?

- No, what I'm trying to say is I'll be very happy

when you stop minding everybody else's business

and just stick to minding mine.

(dramatic music)

All right, Susan, I'll do what I can to trace the boy,

but I doubt if that'll be much

without old John's cooperation.

He'll probably turn up on his own anyway.

- I hope so.

- Oh, here are your books.

- Thank you.

(engine sputtering)

Thank you.

(engine sputtering)

- When are you gonna get that headlight fixed?

- Soon as I get the fender fixed.

I'll get the fender fixed as soon as I save some more money.

- Why don't you save up a little extra money

and buy another car?

- What's the matter with this one?

- It looks like John Wilkes Booth's getaway car.

You know, that heap has taken quite a beating.

- Well, it happens to be my heap now,

and I'm very happy with it.

(engine rumbling)

So long.

- Good luck.

- [Susan] Morning, Flora.

- Morning, Susan, how's the car running?

- [Susan] Fine, how's yours?

- Solid, steady, dependable, dull.

Have to admit I do miss those duals.

- Flora, you shouldn't have sold me this car

if you miss it so much.

If you want to drive a convertible, that's your business.

- I wanted to drive one for 30 years.

And let's face it Susan, 30 years ago was the time to do it.

She has such a lovely pickup.

You go out to the Cooley place this morning?

- Yeah, Mr. Cooley's back.

He all but threw these at me.

They're the ones Tommy took out last month.

There's one missing, but I wasn't about to ask him for it.

- What about Tommy?

- Well, Mr. Cooley is certain that he's run away.

- I suppose he's the best judge of that.

But of all the boys in Northfield, I'd have said he...

Well, you just never know, do you?

(dramatic music)

- Oh, now please stand back.

Please let the police do their work now.

Come on now, that's not something to look at, folks.

Please stand back.

- Can you make any guesses to when he was killed, Doc?

- It's pretty hard when the body's been exposed like this.

I may know better after the autopsy, but don't count on it.

- You don't have to wait, Mr. Cooley.

Why don't you go on home?

John, what did you find?

- Button from my boy's jacket.

- Let me see it.

- No, it belonged to my son, I'm gonna keep it.

- Okay, John.

- Oh Lord, thou has sent me a sign.

He didn't leave me, he didn't run away.

- No, he didn't run away,

and we're going to catch the man who killed him.

- He didn't leave me.

Let go of me.

- John. - Let him be, Will.

That's a man nobody can help.

- All I can tell you right now is that Tommy

could've been killed any time after his father left

and before he came back three weeks ago.

- No weapon, no motive.

Any sign the killer may have left at the ravine

were wiped out by the last heavy rain.

- But you must have some kind of theory you're working on.

Not only as the mayor but as a father, I'm very concerned.

- Mr. Mayor, we're all very concerned.

Now we know Tommy started out with this book,

presumably to hitchhike into town.

Now on the way, he met someone who gave him a lift.

Now that someone turned out to be a psychotic killer who

clubbed him to death and then hid his body in the ravine.

- What are the chances of catching him?

- I don't know.

(dog barking)

(dramatic music)

(engine rumbling)

- [John] Howdy.

- John.

- [John] Thought you weren't interested.

Change your mind?

- Well, when you called this morning,

I didn't think I was interested.

But well, I thought it over and I guess I'm always

in the market for a good buy.

- Yeah, I know three or four farms you bought around here.

- Yeah, well, I lost money on a couple of 'em.

That's why I hesitated, but--

- [John] Make you a good price.

- John, you sure you want to sell?

- Nothing to stay around here for now.

Drive on in, I'll show you around.

Pull over there by the house, we'll look at that first.

Come on.

Buildings need paint, but they're in good repair.

Especially the barn.

Barn's important.

No farm's any good without a sound barn.

- Well, if you do sell, John, where will you go?

- I don't know yet.

With my boy gone, I can't stay here.

- Well, you've lived in Northfield a long time.

The people here, they'd like to help you, John.

They'd like to be your friend.

- People have never done anything but take from me.

My wife, my son.

The Lord's the only friend I want.

I took some of the stances out,

but they can be put back easy.

There's water and there's a good calf pen.

I haven't kept stock much these past few years.

A man can keep almost anything he wants to here.

There's a good loft and I put a new roof on three years ago.

(dramatic music)

Oh Lord, I thank thee that thou has placed in my hands

thy vengeance and thy wrath.

- The back of the skull is crushed, practically splintered.

Same kind of blow that killed the Cooley boy.

- When?

- Well this one I can narrow down for you, roughly 24 hours.

- [Bib] Hey, Miss Marsh.

Hey, how about that, huh?

Somebody's sure havin' himself a time.

- What do you mean, Bib?

What's happened here?

I was just driving back from Ventura.

- It's Frenchy, Frenchy La Font.

He's laying right down there in the ditch

just like that Cooley boy with his head all cavin' in.

- Well, that makes my theory a little bit off, doesn't it?

- I'm afraid so.

- There were bloodstains in the backseat of Frenchy's car,

and there were none in the front.

Now that means he was killed outside,

probably while he was talking to somebody.

Somebody he knew.

- No sign of the weapon?

- No.

- Who found the body?

- Old Gus from the Northfield Garage.

- Oh. - He lives around here.

He spotted Frenchy's car with the door open,

so he called me.

You can see where the body was pushed over the side.

The ground's too hard to hold prints,

but you can see where the brush is broken off.

- What'd you find out, Will?

You know who did it?

- Look, until we can get the lab report on the car,

there's not much I can tell you.

- He was killed the same way as the Cooley boy, wasn't he?

- Well, it looks like it, yes.

- Will, the murderer, it isn't a stranger, is it?

It's somebody right here in Northfield.

- It looks like it.

- Well, what are you gonna do about it?

- There's no reason to get panicky.

- What do you mean there's no reason to get panicky, Will?

There's been two murders.

- And it could be any one of us next.

- There's no reason to suppose that there'll be any more.

- There wasn't after the Cooley boy was killed either.

- Well, I'm not going to have a moment's peace

until you find that man, especially now that I know

that it could be my own next-door neighbor.

- [Man] She's right, Will.

There's never been anything like this before.

- Now look, we're just as anxious to catch this man

as you are to have him caught.

- You can't blame us for gettin' edgy.

Two killings in a little town like Northfield?

- There is one thing you could all do to help us.

Now if we could only trace

Frenchy's movements yesterday afternoon.

Now did anybody here see him or talk to him?

- I saw that new car of his

go tearin' around the square about say one o'clock,

but well I guess that doesn't help much.

- Any information helps.

- Will.

- It's a rough one.

- Just horrible.

- Yeah.

Look, honey, until this thing is cleared up,

I don't want you to go anywhere with anybody at all

for any reason, do you understand?

- But this is Friday, I have to go to work.

- Yes, I know you have to go to work.

I'll pick you up at your house and I'll take you there.

Then I'll come to the library and pick you up

and take you home.

You just wait for me.

Honey, anybody in this town could be the killer.

- All right, Will.

- If I could only figure out the connection

between Frenchy La Font and Tom Cooley.

- Maybe there isn't any connection.

- There's got to be.

I'll see you tonight.

Hello, John.

- Howdy.

Just like my son?

- Yeah.

John, did Tom ever have anything to do with Frenchy La Font?

- No, we're all in the hands of the Lord.

- I don't, Will.

I don't have the least idea where he went yesterday.

I was away all day myself visiting my other son

and my daughter-in-law.

They have a new baby.

- I'm sorry, Mrs. La Font.

I wish I didn't have to ask you these things.

- I want to help.

I'm all right now.

- You didn't worry when Frenchy didn't come home

at all last night?

- Will, Frenchy was 37 years old.

He came and went as he pleased.

There were girls and--

- Well, do you know anything about them?

Could there be a motive there?

A jealous husband, a boyfriend.

- Frenchy was too careful for that.

He hated trouble.

He always managed to stay out of it until now.

- And you can't think of any connection at all

between Frenchy and Tom Cooley?

- None.

We knew who he was, and that's about all.

- Mrs. La Font, before you answer this,

I'd like you to think very carefully and very honestly.

You can't think of anybody at all

who might have had a grudge against Frenchy?

- Only one person, Will.

Myself.

He was my son and I loved him.

There was no harm in him, he never hurt anyone,

but he was lazy and he would not accept responsibility.

That's why he wanted me at the restaurant,

so I could do all the work of running it

while he played Frenchy La Font for the public.

I used to get so angry with him, so angry.

(dramatic music)

- Deadest Friday night I've ever seen.

People afraid to be out I guess.

- Fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

- Well, I better lock up and go home.

Good night, John.

- Good night.

(bell chiming)

- Who would do a thing like that?

Who in this town would do a thing like that?

- Look, Flora, nobody's gonna come in here tonight.

Why don't we just close up?

It's creepy just waiting around here.

You'll be much better off at home.

- I am a little upset, I'll admit.

But you have to wait for Will.

I don't want to leave you here alone.

- I'll be perfectly safe with the doors locked.

Now come on.

- [Flora] I don't think I should, Susan.

- Now look.

Nobody's gonna come in there.

And I'll lock the side door after you when you go.

- I still don't feel right about this, Susan.

Will you tell Will about it?

- Will's got enough on his mind.

He'll be along in a little while.

Nobody out there.

I'll watch you to your car.

You only have two blocks to drive.

It's a lighted street all the way.

- What a strange thing it is to be afraid like this.

Good night, Susan dear.

(dramatic music)

(keys rattling)

- Those who are paying attention to our story

need not be told there is more to come.

It will follow this calculated but confusing interruption.

(dramatic music)

- Who's there?

(books clattering)

Who is it?

- What's the matter, Miss Marsh?

You ain't afraid of me, are you?

- Bib?

What are you doing here?

You're not supposed to sweep out in here

until tomorrow morning.

- Well, I'm supposed to sweep out

Frenchy's place on Friday nights, but it's closed.

Old Frenchy, they got him laying out on a slab.

So I just thought I'd come over here

and get a start on things.

- Drunk.

You're not gonna work here tonight.

Now you go on home.

- [Bib] Well, I don't care about the work.

- I told you.

- [Bib] You're a nice girl, Miss Marsh, you talk to me.

- Yeah, well not now. - You talk to me,

Miss Marsh. - I'm going home.

- I just gotta talk, I gotta.

I can't sit still and think no longer.

I saw both the Cooley boy and Frenchy real close up.

Somebody's havin' himself a time.

Just stood there and swung that big hammer.

I used to do that, Miss Marsh.

I used to work for the farmers butcherin'.

I used to work in the slaughterhouses all over,

but it was just animals, Miss Marsh, just animals.

Now there's nothing wrong

with likin' to kill animals is there?

- I don't--

- The other guys, they said I was wrong because I liked it.

They used to get me fired everywhere I went

just because I liked it.

I just like killin' animals.

I like swingin' that big hammer and feelin' 'em go down.

Now what's wrong with that?

(dramatic music)

(Susan screams)

- Susan, Susan, it's all right, it's me.

It's me, it's Will, look.

It's me, it's Will.

It's all right, now what happened?

- I forgot that Bib had a key.

He wasn't supposed to come tonight.

- Bib?

- He's inside now and he's talking crazy about killing!

- It's all right, it's all right.

It's all right, you're all right.

I'm gonna put you in the car.

Come on.

You lock it.

(dramatic music)

- But aw, now Will don't get sore.

I didn't mean to scare her like that.

We just got to talkin'.

Come on now, Will, put that thing away.

- What were you talking about, Bib?

To Miss Marsh I mean.

- Aw, I shoulda knowed better.

Why is it, Will, everybody gets sore at me

just because I say I like to kill things?

- What kind of things, Bib?

- Just animals, there ain't nothin' wrong with that.

- Did you ever kill anything else, Bib?

Did you ever kill a man?

- No, I swear I didn't.

But I saw that Cooley boy and Frenchy real close up,

and I couldn't help but thinkin' what it'd be like.

I used to kill beef that way, Will,

workin' in a slaughterhouse.

- All right, Bib, you better come along with me.

- Oh now, Will.

- Let's go, Bib.

- I was just gettin' ready to mop up.

- Well, I don't know, Myra.

It doesn't seem possible in our little town.

Hm?

Oh yes, I have everything locked up tight.

Even so, I don't expect I'll get much sleep.

Well, now you let me know if there's anything I can do.

And be sure and give my love to Susan.

Oh, I'm glad you're there with her, Myra.

Yeah, well, good night.

(dramatic music)

(knocking)

Please go away, whoever it is.

- [John] It's John Cooley, Miss Sloan.

- John Cooley?

- [John] I want to talk to you about Tom.

Something you might remember.

- [Flora] Just a minute.

- Mam.

- Yes.

You're the only man in Northfield,

outside of Will Pearce of course, that I'd let in tonight.

Anyone else might've.

Oh, that's a terrible thought, isn't it?

Anyone else might've killed poor Tom and now Frenchy.

Oh, it's a madman, Mr. Cooley.

It must be a madman.

Oh, well here, please sit down.

- [John] No, thank you, mam.

- Oh, well what'd you want to ask me about Tommy?

- Did you kill him?

- What?

What are you talking about?

- Well, you could've done it.

You're a grown woman and Tom wasn't a man yet.

You could've done it.

You could've drug his body to that ravine

and let it fall down the slope.

- Well, you must be insane.

You must be insane.

Why would I--

- How am I gonna know the truth

if the Lord don't give me a sign?

He didn't give me a sign with Frenchy La Font.

(dramatic music)

- Will was sure on the wrong track with Bib Hadley.

- Yeah, he sure was.

But I don't know what else he could've done.

- Something had better be done, and pretty quick too.

- I think at least I would safe inside my own house

with the doors locked, but that didn't save poor Flora.

- Well, she must've let someone in,

least that's what the sheriff said.

- I suppose she did let someone in.

You just can't tell nowadays.

That's all there is to it.

I tell you, when I'm home and I don't lock the doors,

I get so scared alone.

(people chattering)

(gavel banging)

- I now call this meeting to order.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mayor Brown.

Looks like it might be a bit stormy.

- Yeah.

- Is your girl here?

- No, Flora's death hit her pretty hard.

I told her to stay home.

- I called this meeting because of the extreme concern

that we all feel in connection with the tragedies

that have occurred in Northfield.

Now perhaps through an open discussion of the situation

we can get a better understanding of just what's involved.

- It isn't understanding we're worried about, Sanford.

It's this killer.

- All right Sam, we're getting to that in just a minute now.

But first I think we should pause and pay a little tribute

to Flora Sloan, our librarian for more than 30 years

and known to all of us a find and gentle woman.

So please one moment of silence.

Now I'm going to throw this meeting open

to questions and answers as long as it remains orderly.

Sam Hughes, you spoke up a moment ago.

Do you have a question?

- Yep, I do.

I'd like to ask the sheriff, now do you people know anything

more than you did when the body of Tom Cooley was found?

- I'll be honest with you, not much.

- [Man] Yeah, sure.

- In the meantime, Sheriff, what about protection?

We're worried about our wives and families.

Wonderin' who's gonna be next.

- That's right. - Yeah.

- You're right. - He's right.

(gavel banging)

- Order, order.

Fred has the floor.

- Well, now how about it?

Can't you get more men in here?

- [Woman] You should patrol the streets.

- [Man] Set up roadblocks.

- [Man] Maybe the Sheriff Department is doing all they can,

but maybe it's not either.

You know what I think we need in Northfield?

A vigilance committee.

- Yeah, a vigilance committee. (crowd chattering)

(gavel banging)

- Order, all right, order.

Take your seat, take your seat.

- [Man] Turn out every man that owns a gun

and patrol our own streets.

We're sitting here helpless, Will.

- Now look, this isn't a job for amateurs.

You're gonna get a lot of other people killed by accident.

- Will. - Please, Mrs. La Font.

Please take your seat.

- Will, my son, Frenchy, he killed Tom Cooley.

(dramatic music)

(gavel banging)

- This meeting is adjourned, please clear the room.

- [Mrs. La Font] It's all in this letter.

- When did you get this, Mrs. La Font?

- I found it this morning

when I opened Walter, Frenchy's will.

It was in there.

I was so shocked when I read it, I didn't know what to do.

I didn't want to tell you.

He was my son.

But then I came to his meeting and I began to realize

I didn't have any right to keep silent.

- It says to whom it may concern, I, Walter La Font,

killed a boy on October the 8th.

I was driving home.

I'd been drinking.

I was driving too fast.

Suddenly the boy was there in front of me,

and I couldn't stop.

I saw the boy was dead.

It was John Cooley's son Tom.

I knew what I ought to do, but I couldn't face it.

I dragged the boy's body off the road

and hid it in a ravine.

I'd wrecked my convertible before, so no one

thought anything of the damage done when I hit the boy.

But I couldn't stand to drive the car any longer.

I sold it to Flora Sloan.

May God give her better luck than I had.

My mother, who knows me better than anyone,

will understand the ways of a coward.

I hope she never has to know.

- Will, wait a minute. - Not now.

(busy signal buzzing)

The line's busy, let's go right now.

- [Mayor] Where are you going?

- I'll tell you later.

- This is Miss Susan Marsh.

- [John] John Cooley.

- Yes, Mr. Cooley?

- [John] I'm leaving, Miss Marsh.

I'm going down to meet my boy, to be with him.

(phone clicks)

- Mr. Cooley, hello?

(phone ringing)

- Yeah.

(phone ringing)

Come on, come on.

Oh, where is she?

Let's get out to the Cooley place.

(dramatic music)

You take the house, I'll take the barn.

Susan!

Anything?

Let's go.

(dramatic music)

- [Susan] Mr. Cooley?

- There's a car back there.

- Good evening, Miss Marsh.

(Susan shouting)

The Lord's will.

I asked the Lord for a sign, a final sign.

He delivered you unto me.

- I didn't do anything! - Pray for forgiveness.

Cleanse your soul before I send you to him.

(Susan screams) Pray, girl!

- John, it was Frenchy killed your boy!

It was Frenchy!

- Frenchy.

- Susan, Susan, why'd you come down here?

- He was gonna kill himself.

I went to the meeting, and you weren't there.

I called your office, there wasn't any answer.

- I know, I know.

He almost killed you.

You see, Susan, Frenchy killed Tom Cooley

accidentally in your car.

Then he passed the car onto Flora, and she sold it to you.

You all right now?

You found out that the car changed hands three times,

didn't you John?

- The Lord gave me a sign, but he didn't tell me

when my boy died so as I'd know who had the car then.

I couldn't be sure unless I did the Lord's will

with all of you.

Can I keep the button from my boy's jacket?

(dramatic music)

- Although the Hitchcock Hillbillies has been abandoned

as a project, I have retained this weapon which they tell me

is excellent for feuds.

Which leads me to say our dear sponsor should be along soon.

Next week, those of who remain will be back

with another story.

Now a final word from our sponsor.