It was 63 years ago today that America watched as William Shatner played a nervous man on an airplane who looked out the window and saw something on the wing!

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet was the fifth episode of the fifth season of The Twilight Zone.  Written by Richard Matheson and directed by Richard Donner, it starred William Shatner as Robert Wilson, a man who had just been released from sanitarium and who was taking a flight with his wife (Christine White).  When he spotted a gremlin (Nick Cravat) on the wing, he couldn’t get anyone to believe him until, finally, he was forced to take an extreme action to save all of the other passengers.  I remember the first time I saw this, as a kid, I was actually relieved when Rod Serling told me that, even though everyone on the plane thought Robert was crazy, they would eventually find evidence that there had been a gremlin.  That’s how good a job Matheson, Donner, and Shatner did with this show.  If Robert hadn’t been exonerated, viewers would never have never recovered.

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet was one of television’s best scary programs and it aired 63 years ago tonight, on October 11th, 1963.

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1. Planet of the Apes The TV Series
2. Lonely Water
3. Ghostwatch Traumatizes The UK
4. Frasier Meets The Candidate
5. The Autons Terrify The UK
6. Freedom’s Last Stand
7. Bing Crosby and David Bowie Share A Duet
8. Apaches Traumatizes the UK
9. Doctor Who Begins Its 100th Serial
10. First Night 2013 With Jamie Kennedy
11. Elvis Sings With Sinatra
12. NBC Airs Their First Football Game
13. The A-Team Premieres
14. The Birth of Dr. Johnny Fever
15. The Second NFL Pro Bowl Is Broadcast
16. Maude Flanders Gets Hit By A T-Shirt Cannon
17. Charles Rocket Nearly Ends SNL
18. Frank Sinatra Wins An Oscar
19. CHiPs Skates With The Stars
20. Eisenhower In Color
21. The Origin of Spider-Man
22. Steve Martin’s Saturday Night Live Holiday Wish List
23. Barnabas Collins Is Freed From His Coffin
24. Siskel and Ebert Recommend Horror Films
25. Vincent Price Meets The Muppets
26. Siskel and Ebert Discuss Horror
27. The Final Scene of Dark Shadows
28. The WKRP Turkey Drop
29. Barney Pops On National TV
30. The Greatest American Hero Premieres
31. Rodney Dangerfield On The Tonight Show
32. The Doors Are Open
33. The Thighmaster Commercial Premieres
34. The Hosts of Real People Say “Get High On Yourself”
35. The 33rd NFL Championship Game Is Broadcast In Color
36. The Sopranos Premieres on HBO
37. Eisenhower Hosts The First Televised Press Conference
38. The Twilight Zone Premieres On CBS
39. The Wolverines
40. Johnny Carson Talks To Vincent Price
41. Christopher Lee Introduced Meat Loaf
42. The 1983 Macy’s Fireworks Show
43. The Premiere of Alfred Hitchcock Presents