A fan favorite and a personal one as well. From all the episodes, this one is remembered more than any other. Due in part because this is a ghost story that takes place in a deserted, haunted house. A house still furnished but draped in cobwebs and layers of dust. A house that cries and shrieks when injured and can keep everyone inside as prisoners by closing shutters and locking the doors. The "aging" prisoner who once lived in the house, whose mother is the one crying for her son. Of course there has to be a laboratory for nefarious purposes and a jail cell that has a small hatch built in to hold thousands of rats who will carry out their mission once released. This has a "dream-like" quality but it's much more a nightmare. A top notch episode worthy of its legion of fans.
The Wild Wild West (TV Series)
The Night of the Man-Eating House (1966)
User Reviews
Review this title11 Reviews
No Objections To A Cast That Acts Out A Great Script
DKosty12320 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I just recently saw this episode for the first time. It was sheer delight for me from the start to the finish. The story of this episode is one of the better ones, with an ending of the type that was a redone theme years later on an episode of Star Trek -The Next Generation. Considering this show in season 2 was whipping most progams in the Neilson ratings, this one is a cut above the average West spisode. An understated William Talman (Hamilton Burger on Perry Mason) is a sheriff in this limited cast).
The 2 man guest cast, along with Conrad and Gordon only help create a really spooky episode which was broadcast in December, though the atmosphere and script have a Gothic feeling that makes Halloween seem pale. The only woman in this cast is a voice, and a wall portait. She moans and groans and seems to be an uncontrollable force, though the story is framed with only her spirit being in this episode.
While this season has a lot of memorable episodes, this one is a bit of a sleeper that proves beyond a doubt that Jim & Artie do not need any actual physical women present to bring this shows good scripts over Rather than spoiling this one anymore, this episode relies more on drama , emotion, and action than the usual West.
The 2 man guest cast, along with Conrad and Gordon only help create a really spooky episode which was broadcast in December, though the atmosphere and script have a Gothic feeling that makes Halloween seem pale. The only woman in this cast is a voice, and a wall portait. She moans and groans and seems to be an uncontrollable force, though the story is framed with only her spirit being in this episode.
While this season has a lot of memorable episodes, this one is a bit of a sleeper that proves beyond a doubt that Jim & Artie do not need any actual physical women present to bring this shows good scripts over Rather than spoiling this one anymore, this episode relies more on drama , emotion, and action than the usual West.
Just onr more little thing...
searchanddestroy-123 February 2019
As I have always told, this series is very close to THE AVENGERS from UK, but not in the same period, that's all. For the rest, both TV shows are some kind of cousins. And this very episode is a sort of duplicate of THE AVENGERS episode: THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT; remember this episode where Mrs Peel is prisonner of a "breathing" and living old mansion. One of the best topic in both series.
Great Gothic atmosphere, truly surreal
dgabbard17 December 2007
Warning: Spoilers
A friend who is a fan of the show once described this episode and I finally had a chance to see it. Very odd, but engrossing. Great atmosphere, and sensational acting basically by a ensemble of 4. I didn't even realize Perry Mason stalwart William Talman played the Sheriff, and then in a bit of reverse casting Dorian Gray star Hurd Hatfield does a de-aging as Liston Lawrence Day. Conrad and Martin show their acting chops in the early part when the chief antagonist is a living house. Mid-way the plot does a 180 from family tragedy to a classic Wild Wild West evil plot to wreck vengeance. No one would dare do this on primetime today. Hatfield's harangue on his crusade to rid Texas of the Gringos is a masterful bit of speechmaking--you believe this guy in unhinged and out for revenge. Fabulous set and production!
The house that bled a man to death
ShadeGrenade2 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This John Kneubuhl-scripted episode is different to your average 'W.W.W.' story. Jim and Arte are assigned to deliver a recaptured prisoner - 'Lawrence Liston Day' ( Hurd Hatfield ) - into custody. As important in his own way as Benedict Arnold, Day has served a 30 year jail sentence for treason. Finding an empty old house, they - along with a 'Sheriff' ( William Talman ) - venture inside. The front door opens all by itself. The sound of a woman weeping can be heard. They become trapped, and try to break a window. The weeping changes to wailing. Jim's bomb does not dent the wall. The house appears to be alive. A chandelier almost falls on Arte. The sheriff is found dead, completely drained of blood. Furthermore, Day appears to be growing younger...
A good old fashioned ghost story with an interesting final twist not unlike the final scene of 'An Inspector Calls' by J.B. Priestley. Caroline Day's spirit wants to clear Day's name by leading Jim and Arte to a long-lost diary, but the insane Day dreams of returning Texas to Spanish rule. He has a tank of bubonic plague-carrying rats ( which, thankfully, we only hear, not see ). Creepy by television standards, and with a good guest performance by Hatfield as the old and young versions of Day.
A good old fashioned ghost story with an interesting final twist not unlike the final scene of 'An Inspector Calls' by J.B. Priestley. Caroline Day's spirit wants to clear Day's name by leading Jim and Arte to a long-lost diary, but the insane Day dreams of returning Texas to Spanish rule. He has a tank of bubonic plague-carrying rats ( which, thankfully, we only hear, not see ). Creepy by television standards, and with a good guest performance by Hatfield as the old and young versions of Day.
One of the best WWW episodes
Rhoelxiel19 March 2007
This is one of the best episodes. And since The Wild, Wild, West is coming out at this writing {March 2007} with the second season on DVD, I will probably get the DVD set. Best for screen-write, storyline, James & Artemus chemistry (and good Ross Martin acting piece), with a surprise ending which added just another touch to the screenwriter's gem of a story. If you like a good ghost story, this is one of the few (if not only) Wild, Wild, West production done in the genre of spooky-type ghost story without being over-the-top at all. Good supporting cast and good art set. There is really no more to say, just enjoy it when you see it. Do bring the popcorn.
Enter at your own risk...
poe42625 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers
For me, this one was one of the two most memorable episodes of a very memorable series. Creepy to the nth degree, it features a moaning house and Hurd Hatfield (THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY) as an elderly prisoner who starts to grow younger the longer he's in the house. (The character Hatfield plays is one of the few characters in the entire series that Jim West seems to genuinely dislike: his animosity is practically palpable as he glares and snaps at the man. It's a very strange turn from a character normally so cool, calm, and collected.) The death trap scenario involving hundreds of unseen rats is guaranteed to shorten the breath and quicken the heart rate- and the final scene is the kind of thing that, once seen, can never be forgotten.
West and Gordon in the Haunted House
aramis-112-80488022 February 2023
A Sheriff (William Talman, from "Perry Mason") needs help escorting an elderly prisoner (Hurd Hatfield, "The Picture of Dorian Gray"). West and Gordon are enlisted and they find their way into a house that seems to have feelings.
Then the prisoner starts getting younger. And he has a plan to destroy a large part of the U. S. population. Shades of Doctor Loveless! And their weapons rust, and rust can't be accelerated.
Though it is framed like a dream, that's not certain. And it has a real "Twilight Zone"-like ending. It's certainly a supernatural "Wild Wild West." It's one reason we love this show.
Then the prisoner starts getting younger. And he has a plan to destroy a large part of the U. S. population. Shades of Doctor Loveless! And their weapons rust, and rust can't be accelerated.
Though it is framed like a dream, that's not certain. And it has a real "Twilight Zone"-like ending. It's certainly a supernatural "Wild Wild West." It's one reason we love this show.
WWW goes with a ghost story....or does it?
robert375021 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
West and Gordon have a prisoner in an old mansion that appears to be haunted. I kept thinking that things can't be as they seem, and I was right...sort of. I was a little annoyed that they used the same sort of gimmick that was used in the TV show Dallas. The show had veered so far into fantasy by this point that the ghost story seemed plausible at the very end. It's appropriate that I watched this in late October.
A great "ghost story" featuring James West and Artemus Gordon!
FloridaFred13 April 2022
This is way over the top, even for The Willd Wild West. It is supernatural and fantastic. The story stretches credibility, so the writers leave themselves a way out, a way to explain away this bizarre experience. There is a nifty segue between dream and reality in the closing scene. Did it really happen? Will it really happen?
Very interesting is that this show occurs almost entirely on just one set (the old mansion). And, there are only four total characters in the entire hour (including West and Gordon). I thought IMDb had a glitch when the cast list only had four people in it!
Hurd Hatfield, as character Liston Lawrence Day is outstanding. The makeup department did a great job portraying Day as both old and young, as both Anglo and Hispanic.
The suspense is good, the set is good. There is some great American history thrown in, including references to Simon Girty and Benedict Arnold, and the history of the Republic of Texas.
Very, very good. I rate "Night of the Man-Eating House" 10 Stars!
Very interesting is that this show occurs almost entirely on just one set (the old mansion). And, there are only four total characters in the entire hour (including West and Gordon). I thought IMDb had a glitch when the cast list only had four people in it!
Hurd Hatfield, as character Liston Lawrence Day is outstanding. The makeup department did a great job portraying Day as both old and young, as both Anglo and Hispanic.
The suspense is good, the set is good. There is some great American history thrown in, including references to Simon Girty and Benedict Arnold, and the history of the Republic of Texas.
Very, very good. I rate "Night of the Man-Eating House" 10 Stars!
Spookiest and most Twilight Zone episode of the series
lbowdls1 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This is the weirdest, silliest, and most fantasy filled horror of all the episodes of the Wild Wild West. I mean we know they come up against a lot of strange sci fi elements but even those have some basis in scientific probability, at least in the future. But in this episode they are up against a plot to rival any Twilight Zone or Hitchcock episode. A house which is more or less the ghost itself doing the haunting? Turning an outlaw young while inside it. I will say it's unique, I haven't seen such a premise anywhere else (but there is probably one or more stories somewhere) though it does have touches of Dorian Gray.
Because of this premise, despite the uniqueness it's hard to get excited about this episode ridiculous episode, even though it's great to see Jim and Artie together more than usual. That is until....... Thank goodness.... It all turns out to be a dream of Artie's. Or does it? Ends without really knowing but presumably nothing like the dream.
Because of this premise, despite the uniqueness it's hard to get excited about this episode ridiculous episode, even though it's great to see Jim and Artie together more than usual. That is until....... Thank goodness.... It all turns out to be a dream of Artie's. Or does it? Ends without really knowing but presumably nothing like the dream.
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