Season 3
37 episodes · 1961
The third season of The Twilight Zone aired Fridays at 10:00–10:30 pm on CBS from September 15, 1961 to June 1, 1962. There are 37 episodes. Continuing with Marius Constant's theme music, a different set of graphics was used for the opening, consisting of a rotating cone with concentric circles suggesting a spiral, receding into a star field. Rod Serling's narration from the second season was used, with the verse "That's the signpost up ahead" taken out: "You're traveling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Your next stop—The Twilight Zone." Some subtle changes in the opening's acoustics were made beginning with Person or Persons Unknown.
1Two
A man and a woman, on opposite sides of a future war, encounter each other in a deserted town.
2The Arrival
A plane lands safely, but all its passengers, pilot and crew are missing.
3The Shelter
When a nuclear attack appears imminent, several suburban friends and neighbors fight over control of a single bomb shelter.
4The Passersby
On the road home from the Civil War, a Confederate soldier stops at a burned-out house and gets to know the owner, a recent widow.
5A Game of Pool
Championship pool player Fats Brown returns from the grave for one last game.
6The Mirror
After a poor but ambitious Central American farm worker overthrows his country's tyrannical leader, he believes he sees assassins everywhere. A look in the mirror reveals his most dangerous enemy.
7The Grave
Before he died, notorious gunslinger Pinto Sykes put a curse on hired-gun Conny Miller. Miller returns to town and is challenged to visit the grave of Sykes, despite the curse.
8It's a Good Life
On an isolated family farm in Peakesville, Ohio, young Anthony Fremont, who has vast mental powers but lacks emotional development, holds his terrified family and neighbors in thrall to his every juvenile wish.
9Deaths-Head Revisited
A former Nazi SS Captain returns to the ruins of a concentration camp to reminisce, and is met by one of his victims.
10The Midnight Sun
The Earth's orbit has been changed, drawing ever closer to the sun and promising imminent destruction.
11Still Valley
Confederacy scout Sgt. Joseph Paradine finds a town full of Union soldiers, and an old man who claims he used witchcraft to paralyze them.
12The Jungle
Alan Richards plans to build a dam in Africa on a tribe's ancestral land. The tribe's voodoo doctor puts a curse on him.
13Once Upon a Time
Woodrow, a janitor living in the year 1890, accidentally activates a time travelling helmet which transports him to 1962.
14Five Characters in Search of an Exit
A hobo, clown, bagpipe player, ballerina and military officer are trapped in a huge cylinder.
15A Quality of Mercy
A gung ho young soldier gets a new viewpoint on war when he inexplicably changes places with a Japanese officer trying to stop his superior from leading a charge against American forces.
16Nothing in the Dark
A lonely old woman refuses to leave her apartment for fear of meeting "Mr. Death."
17One More Pallbearer
Paul Radin has invited three people to join him in his bomb shelter.
18Dead Man's Shoes
A vagrant steps into a murdered gangster's expensive shoes and is taken over by the dead man's ghost, who vows to remain on Earth to seek revenge against his killer.
19The Hunt
On a hunting trip, Hyder Simpson and his dog Rip dive into a lake after a raccoon. When he gets home he finds that no one can see or hear him.
20Showdown with Rance McGrew
The star of a Western TV series suddenly finds himself transported back in time to the real Wild West, and face-to-face with the real Jesse James.
21Kick the Can
A retiree living in a rest home thinks he has discovered the secret of youth — acting young, and in particular playing a children's game called "kick-the-can".
22A Piano in the House
Fortune discovers that a piano he bought his wife for her birthday has magical properties - the music that it plays makes people reveal their true essence.
23The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank
Jeff Myrtlebank comes back to life at his own funeral and soon begins to act very strangely...
24To Serve Man
An alien race comes to Earth, promising peace and sharing technology. A team of linguists sets out to translate the aliens' language, using a book whose title they deduce to be "To Serve Man."
25The Fugitive
Old Ben, who is able to transform himself into anything, tries to help a crippled little girl.
26Little Girl Lost
Awakened by the cries of their daughter Bettina, Chris and Ruth Miller enter her room to find that she has vanished, even though they still hear her crying for help. Chris' physicist friend Bill thinks she moved into another dimension.
27Person or Persons Unknown
David Gurney wakes up to find that no one - his wife, his co-workers, his best friend, not even his own mother knows him.
28The Little People
An astronaut declares himself a god when his ship lands on a planet populated by people smaller than ants.
29Four O'Clock
Oliver Crangle is a bitter, prejudiced man. Through unknown means he intends to shrink every evil person in the world at four o'clock.
30Hocus-Pocus and Frisby
A loud-mouthed braggart's boasts attract the attention of some aliens.
31The Trade-Ins
An elderly couple visit the New Life Corporation, hoping to transport their personalities into youthful artificial bodies.
32The Gift
An alien who crash-lands into a remote mountain village stirs up the villagers' fears and animosity, but he befriends a little boy and gives him a mysterious present.
33The Dummy
A ventriloquist is convinced that his dummy, Willie, is alive and evil. He makes plans for a new act with a new dummy: plans that Willie doesn't support!
34Young Man's Fancy
When a newlywed couple briefly return to the groom's childhood home, the ties of the past prove too strong to resist.
35I Sing the Body Electric
A widower buys a robot grandmother for his three children.
36Cavender is Coming
Cavender, an angel trying to win his wings, tries to help down-on-her-luck Agnes, who has just been fired.
37The Changing of the Guard
An elderly private school teacher wonders if his life has meant anything as he contemplates suicide on Christmas Eve and is reminded by former students that he has, indeed, made an effect on the lives of his students over the years.