Today on October 2, 1959...

...Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone television series makes its debut on CBS-TV with an episode called "Where Is Everybody?"

Today we take a trip down memory lane, and explore the history of a little known story from the Walt Disney World attraction, Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror.

Imagine if you will…

Sixty-two years ago today, Rod Serling’s iconic television series, The Twilight Zone, debuted to the American public on CBS-TV, the first episode being “Where is Everybody?” Orson Welles’ 1938 radio play War of the Worlds was beginning to fade from memory, and Rod Serling’s iconic series is credited with bringing the genres of science fiction and fantasy back into homes across America.

Fun Fact: Rod Serling invited Orson Welles to be the Narrator of the Twilight Zone series, but Wells wanted too much money for the role, so Serling recorded the narration featured in “Where is Everybody?”, and ended up narrating the entire first run of the series.

Fast forward another 50 years and the series would later become the cornerstone for one of Walt Disney World Resort’s most popular attractions. The attraction, Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror, is now prominently featured in several Disney parks, and is a must-see for thrill-seekers.

While researching the story line for the Tower of Terror attraction, Disney Imagineers spent countless hours watching and re-watching episodes of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone for inspiration. The Imagineers compiled their favorite parts of the original Twilight Zone series, and used the information they collected as inspiration to create an attraction with its own original Twilight Zone story line.

Small references to several of these Twilight Zone episodes can be found in the Tower of Terror queue and the attraction gift shop. These references are waiting to be discovered by those willing to do their research.

The Disclaimer

In the interest of time and clarity, this article focuses on the pilot episode of The Twilight Zone and on its impact on the development of the overall attraction. Rest assured we will bring you more stories of The Twilight Zone in future articles.

Picture if you will…

Throughout The Hollywood Tower Hotel, the Imagineers paid homage to several episodes of the Twilight Zone in the hotel lobby, the library, the boiler room, in the elevator shaft at the end of the attraction and the gift shop.

The Twilight Zone episode “Where is Everybody” has its own Easter egg hiding near the elevator doors.

“Where is Everybody?”

“Up there, up there in the vastness of space, in the void that is sky, up there is an enemy known as isolation. It sits there in the stars waiting, waiting with the patience of eons, forever waiting... in The Twilight Zone.” -Rod Serling, opening monologue from “Where is Everybody?”

The Twilight Zone series debuted on October 2, 1959 with the series pilot, “Where is Everybody?” The episode stars Earl Holliman as protagonist Mike Ferris, James Gregory as the Air Force General, and Rod Serling as the Narrator. The episode was written by Rod Serling, and directed by well-known anthology series director Robert Stevens.

Rod Serling’s pulp anthology series captured America’s attention during its weekly teleplays, and the series is often credited with introducing everyday Americans to the genres of fantasy tropes and science fiction. The teleplays often played with themes of absurdism, dystopia, horror and suspense, and often included an unexpected — and occasionally macabre — plot twist.

At the time the episode was filmed, director Robert Stevens was a very talented and capable director who was no stranger to the horror genre and the style of anthology television which would later characterize The Twilight Zone. Along with The Twilight Zone series, Robert Stevens also directed episodes for both of Alfred Hitchcock’s television series: Alfred Hitchcock Presents from 1955-1961 — where he directed an impressive 44 episodes during the series run and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour from 1963-65 — in which he directed five episodes.

Robert Stevens would go on to direct a second episode of the The Twilight Zone, “Walking Distance”, which was also released in 1959. Robert Stevens would go on to win a Prime Time Emmy Award for his work on Alfred Hitchcock Presents for an episode he directed titled “The Glass Eye”.

“Where is Everybody?”, which was later used and featured in the development of Disney’s Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror, was the inaugural episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, and laid a successful groundwork for the future of the series’ five-season run.

Eagle-eyed viewers may recognize the main street store front and courthouse featured in the abandoned town anti-hero Mike Ferris walks through searching for signs of humanity. Fans of the Back to the Future (1985) franchise may recognize the town square and courthouse as the same location where lightning fatefully struck the clock tower. The courthouse was also used in other classic films such as Bye Bye Birdie (1963) and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) with Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. Among the film community, the town square set was known as Mockingbird Square before becoming associated with Back to the Future.

The Twilight Zone series has since enjoyed three series reboots — the most recent featured on Paramount+ hosted by Jordan Peele, a made for TV movie titled Rod Serling’s Lost Classics, a feature film titled Twilight Zone: The Movie released in 1983 and produced by Steven Spielberg, and most notably, the Walt Disney World attraction.

“The next time you check into a deserted hotel on the dark side of Hollywood, make sure you know what type of vacancy you’re filling, or you may find yourself a permanent resident of…The Twilight Zone.” -Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror

Observant individuals will notice a Permit to Operate certificate on the right hand side of the inside of the elevator doors after boarding the attraction.

There are a few key pieces of information included on the permit which are worth mentioning. The State ID Number on the permit reads ‘10259’. This is a nod to the premiere date of the series, which was October 2, 1959, which is also the date “Where is Everybody?” premiered on CBS-TV.

Additionally, you’ll see the date of the inspection is October 31, 1939, which is the date the Hollywood Tower Hotel was struck by lightning, according to the attraction story line; more to come in a future article.

Finally the elevator was inspected by someone named Cadwallader, who was a character in the episode “Escape Clause”, which is the sixth episode in the series. During the episode it is revealed that Cadwallader is, in reality, the Devil.

To bring everything together, guests are boarding elevators to The Twilight Zone which were inspected by the Devil on Halloween in 1939, the same day the elevator shaft was struck by lightning and five hotel patrons were whisked away to The Twilight Zone.

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In the comments below, please feel free to share your experiences finding these Easter eggs in the attraction, as well as any hidden mickeys you’ve stumbled upon.

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Stay optimistic, and we’ll see you real soon!

Sincerely,

Harper