Thanks to STZWS Encore Westerns and DVR's I finally had an opportunity to see an episode of Wagon Train that scared me when I was a kid. I believe it was the thought of being trapped alone in a cave in the dark waiting for some sort of saber toothed cat to kill me. And even today that's still a frightening thought.
The episode itself starts off mundane enough. The Major is worried about being snowed in for the winter, and Flint heads off to see if he can find a pass through the mountain range. He meets two Englishmen, Lord Steve Campden, and his son Steve Campden II. The two men have been abandoned by their guides and hired men. Lord Campden is a bit of a braggadocio adventurer. He has served in HRH's army, climbed every peak, and hunted and shot every animal. Now he is adventuring through the American West.
His son holds his father in awe and fear. Steve Jr. is not the MAN his father would prefer as a son; that was the older brother who died a war hero winning the Victoria Cross. Lord Campden suggests they join forces and scale the peak in front of them. They should be able to get up by noon and return before evening; and Flint should be able to spot any possible pass from the height.
Just forget how ridiculous this sounds. It's a TV show, not reality. Half way up the mountain a storm forces them to take shelter in a cave. A cave right out of Tarzan and his Mate: gurgling steam pools, dangerous, ledges, hidden and frightening animals, and only one-one, one candle lamp to guide them.
I will forgo the incidents in the cave. The result is that Flint and Young Steve must leave/abandon Lord Campden in the cave, in the dark, in the aloneness, and with the animals (including a sort of saber-toothed cat)—until they can return with help.
As they manage to get down off the mountain, the Major and some of the boys are riding up the trail. It seems there is a thaw and they will be able to get through after all. At first, the Major believes Flint is telling a tall tale right out of a dime novel, but they do send help to return with Flint back up the mountain to rescue Lord Campden.
When they arrive, they find Lord Campden alive, but his hair has turned completely white; he is now a fearful gibbering idiot who backs away from his rescuers and falls over a ledge to his death in a bottomless pit. I get why this episode scared me as a kid—bad enough most of us were afraid of the dark, why do you think we all had nightlights and slept with the covers pulled over our heads.
There is a lot of talk between Flint and young Steve about real courage and being afraid and such. It probably resonated with the post WWII generation as this episode aired 13 years after the war, and many of our fathers had been just boys when they went off to war. I know my dad went from being a high school senior to being a navigator/bombardier at 18. But to me, just the thought of being in that cave, in the dark, all by myself was terrifying enough. As an adult looking at the final adventure, the episode no longer has that impact, and I'm sure modern kids would find it laughable; but then it was scary.
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