Today’s televised horror is an episode of The Twilight Zone called The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank. It examines what happens when, in the middle of his funeral, Jeff Myrtlebank (played by James Best) suddenly sits up in his coffin and asks what’s going on. Jeff’s friends and family are now torn between being happy to have Jeff back and being worried as they try to figure out what exactly Jeff has come back as. I like this episode, largely because it’s a good example of country gothic and, in many ways, I’m a gothic country girl. Plus, it has a really great ending!
This episode was directed and written by Montgomery Pittman and originally aired on February 23rd, 1962.
Through the Shattered Lens 
Last rites was another good, compelling twilight episode. Just think, if you had just lost a loved one, and then suddenly in the middle of the funeral, that dead person just suddenly popped right up out of the casket. Wouldn’t you initially be spooked, before the expected feelings of relief and joy came to you at witnessing such a thing? Think about it. That’s exactly how Jeffrey’s family and fiancee act at first when he suddenly springs back to life. Ultimately, the happiness and joy follows, but there are still feelings of uneasiness, confusion, and even creepiness amongst the townsfolk, with some people more than others. After all, a recently deceased person coming back alive is hardly the norm. Jeff’s parents and little sister notice changes in his behavior, his girlfriend notices how roses he just picked suddenly turn black and die in just a few seconds, and some members of the town literally believe that Jeff is really the devil that just took over his dead body. Remember, this is old fashioned, uneducated, small town people from the 1920s. The townsfolks try to chase him out of town, but the way Jeff handles it is terrific. Another good twilight episode.
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Note: I would like to replace the word uneducated with the word gothic. Even though it was the 1920s, some of those townsfolk were probably quite educated.
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