["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 k*lled, 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 k*lled 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 k*lled any
time after his father left
and before he came back three
weeks ago.
- No weapon, no motive.
Any sign the k*ller 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 k*ller 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
k*lled 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 k*lled
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 k*lled the same way
as the Cooley boy, wasn't he?
- Well, it looks like it, yes.
- Will, the m*rder*r, 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 k*lled 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 k*ller.
- 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 k*ll 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 k*lling!
- 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
k*ll things?
- What kind of things, Bib?
- Just animals, there ain't
nothin' wrong with that.
- Did you ever k*ll anything
else, Bib?
Did you ever k*ll 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 k*ll 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 k*lled
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 k*ll 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 k*ller.
- 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 g*n
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 k*lled by accident.
- Will.
- Please, Mrs. La Font.
Please take your seat.
- Will, my son, Frenchy,
he k*lled 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,
k*lled 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 k*lled
your boy!
It was Frenchy!
- Frenchy.
- Susan, Susan, why'd you come
down here?
- He was gonna k*ll 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 k*lled you.
You see, Susan, Frenchy k*lled
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.
[dramatic music]
[upbeat music]
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