The Thirty-Fathom Grave

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Thirty-Fathom Grave
Series = The Twilight Zone


Caption = Scene from "The Thirty-Fathom Grave"
Season = 4
Episode = 104
Airdate =January 10, 1963
Production =4857
Writer = Rod Serling
Director =Perry Lafferty
Guests = Mike Kellin : Chief Bell
Simon Oakland : Captain Beecham
David Sheiner : Doc
John Considine : McClure
Bill Bixby : OOD
Conlan Carter : Ensign
Vincent Baggetta : Crewman
Music =
Episode list = List of Twilight Zone episodes
Prev = In His Image
Next = Valley of the Shadow

"The Thirty-Fathom Grave" is an episode of the American television anthology series "The Twilight Zone".

Opening Narration

ynopsis

In 1963, a U.S. Navy destroyer is on a routine patrol just off Guadalcanal when sonar picks up the sound of metallic clanging beneath the waves. The crew speculates that it sounds like a hammer.

It's soon discovered that a submarine is on the ocean floor, where it's probably been since the great naval battles of World War II. The joking suggestion that the sub may be haunted sends fearful Chief Bell into a frenzy of bizarre behavior, including fainting spells. The destroyer's commander, Captain Beecham, orders a diver to investigate the sub below. They find out that it is an American submarine from WWII, and there is definite hammering coming from inside! "Who could be inside that sub?" wonders a crewman. Beecham replies, "Somebody who dies damn hard!"

The discovery that the sub is a U.S. relic sends Chief Bell into even greater neurosis. Bell once served aboard that sunken submarine, and was the only survivor when it was shelled. Now he feels that the spirits of his former crew mates are calling for him to join them. They appear to him as ghosts in the hospital, soaking wet and beckoning. Feeling horrible and guilty, Bell hurls himself into the ocean. Later, the diver from the destroyer explores the abandoned wreckage, and reports back to Beecham, saying that a metal device was repeatedly swinging against the hull. However, he also found eight corpses inside, one of which was holding a hammer.

Closing Narration

Preview for Next Week's Story

Trivia

* The ship's hull number in the opening, exterior shot is different from the one shown immediately thereafter in the opening scene. The opening shot is stock footage of the U.S.S. "Mullinnix", but in the very next shot, the ship number on the wall-mounted life preserver designates the ship as the U.S.S. "Edson". Both ships were "Forrest Sherman"-class destroyers.

References

*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). "Trivia from The Twilight Zone". Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
*Grams, Martin. (2008). "The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic". Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090

"Twilight Zone" links

* The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
* Episode list

External links

*imdb title|id=0734678|title=The Thirty-Fathom Grave