The Howling Man

 

Description: Season 2, Episode 5

Air Date: November 4, 1960

Plot Summary: A stranded traveler stumbles upon a monastery with a suspicious individual being locked away.

Review: I don't know what it is about this episode, but I've always found it interesting. Maybe it's the grand scope of the story despite the episode only involving a handful of characters discussing the world. It makes you want to know more about the back story, and what's going on, while maintaining accessibility to audiences in light of the setting taking place nearly a century ago. There were also a few, subtle themes to consider that aren't explicitly mentioned.

The story starts off in, I guess, 1960 as we see the main character, Ellington, as an old man telling his story to someone off screen. In the years following WWI, Ellington was wandering around Europe as he became lost and sickly; I'm really not sure what's wrong with the guy since he can't be thirsty and he shouldn't be that hungry after one day. Ellington seeks shelter at a hidden monastery, of sorts, but the brothers there want to turn him away. When Ellington's request to stay is rejected, he passes out and is taken care of by these monks against their better judgement. Although Ellington believed he was hallucinating, he realizes that he keeps hearing a man howling from within the monastery. For no particular reason, this howling man is being locked in a cell right out in the open; you'd think they would lock this dude up as far from human sight as possible but contrivances, right? This howling man looks like some kind of POW and tells Ellington that the brotherhood is full of crazy people, and he needs help escaping. Somewhat skeptical of the howling man's story, Ellington is approached by the leader of the monastery who decides to disclose the bizarre truth.

It would appear the howling man is, in fact, the devil in the flesh. Oh shit! During the height of WWI, the leader of the monastery happened across a peaceful village amidst the turmoil where the devil was attempting to wreak havoc. The devil is presented as an active force of evil that roams around causing trouble wherever he can, but this guy saw through the human appearance. Although it's severely glossed over, this leader managed to capture the devil with a magic staff. Yeah...umm, if you want to convince someone you caught the devil you might want to give a little more than you used your magic staff. Anyway, with the devil contained, WWI ended and the world was given a reprieve from the horrors of the devil. Certainly not believing this ridiculous tale, Ellington once again talks with the howling man who emphasizes the madness of the monks to believe he's the devil. However, Ellington is interrupted and locked in a room while he is asked to sleep. Of course Ellington lets the curiosity get the better of him as he escapes his confines and talks with the howling man one last time. Ellington resolves to free the man but is hesitant upon realizing that the only thing blocking the howling man's escape is this so-called magic staff. Shrugging this off, Ellington removes the staff and plans to escape with the howling man only to realize he really was the devil! There is a pretty cool transformation effect as the howling man goes from prisoner to cliched devil attire. I really liked that there was a subtle look of relief on the leader of the monastery's face; it was as if to emphasize that looking after the devil was no longer his problem. Ellington comes to terms with the fact he was deceived and decides to hunt down the devil over the years. It is explained that this release of the devil is what caused WWII as we cut back to old man Ellington. Somehow Ellington managed to capture the devil himself and was explaining this story to his maid who we can infer was questioning the howling. Big shock, when Ellington leaves, the maid releases the devil yet again. Mr. Serling closes the tale out by mentioning an old saying about how you can catch the devil but you can't hold him for long.

Besides the usual morality tale about curiosity, I think we could throw in the notion that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. Furthermore, the ending is bleak as we could assume the episode is saying the devil is released once more to create a WWIII; this may have been a nuanced jab at the growing Cold War sentiments. I wish we could have been given more back story about where this magic staff came from and how the hell one goes about capturing the devil. As it stands, this is a cool episode that leaves the imagination swimming with ideas. It also addresses the feeling that the world wars were so horrific that, surely, they were the work of the devil--a far cry from the glamorization we see in modern society. Finally, if a tale such as this were even halfway realistic, then the devil must be on the loose again, because this world is a nightmare!