What comes afterlife when we die? Nobody knows. We would like to think there is something beyond our relatively short life, but chances are we will simply fade to black and hopefully, we left enough of an impression on this earth that we will be remember long after we are gone.
“The Hunt” originally aired on January 26, 1962, during the 3rd season as the 19th episode of The Twilight Zone. It was directed by Harold Schuster and written by Earl Hamner Jr., which Hamner had originally written it for a show called The Kate Smith Hour in 1953 titled “The Hound of Heaven”. It starred Arthur Hunnicutt as Hyder Simpson, who was 52 years old at the time but was made to look much older for the role.
Opening Narration: “An old man and a hound-dog named Rip, off for an evening’s pleasure in quest of a raccoon. Usually, these evenings end with one tired old man, one battle-scarred hound dog, and one or more extremely dead raccoons, but as you may suspect, that will not be the case tonight. These hunters won’t be coming home from the hill. They’re headed for the backwoods – of The Twilight Zone.”
The story is about a man and his dog. Hyder Simpson is an elderly mountain man who lives his loving wife, Rachel, and his hound dog named Rip. They live in the backwoods, almost in the middle of nowhere. Rachel does not like having the dog indoors but Rip saved Hyder’s life once and Hyder refuses to part with him. Rachel has been having some bad premonitions lately and begs her husband not to go out for his nightly hunt. While on the hunt, Rip dives into a pond after a raccoon, Hyder jumps in after him, but only the raccoon comes out. The next morning, they both wake up next to the pond. When they return home, Hyder finds Rachel, a Preacher and the neighbors cannot hear or see him, and they are tending to the burial of both him and Rip.
They leave upset and confused. Walking along the road, Hyder and Rip encounter an unfamiliar fence and follow it. They come to a gate tended by a man who explains that Hyder can enter the Elysian fields of the afterlife, but is told that Rip cannon enter and will be taken to a special afterlife just for dogs. Hyder angrily declines the offer of entry and decides to keep walking along the “Eternity Road”, saying, “Any place that’s too high-falutin’ for Rip is too fancy for me.”
Later on, Hyder and Rip stop to rest and are met by a young man, who introduces himself as an angel dispatched to find them and take them to heaven. Hyder then recounts his previous encounter, the angel informs him that the gate was actually the entrance to Hell. The gatekeeper had stopped Rip from entering because Rip would have smelled the brimstone inside. The Angel says, “You See, Mr. Simpson, a man, well, he’ll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can’t fool a dog!” As the angel leads Rip and Hyder along the Eternity Road toward Heaven, the Angel assures Hyder that Rachel, who will soon be coming along the road, will not be misled into entering Hell.
Closing Narration: “Travelers to unknown regions would be well advised to take along the family dog. He could just save you from entering the wrong gate. At least, it happened that way once – in a mountainous area of The Twilight Zone.”
Though a simple story about a man and his dog, it sends a strong message. That message is that it is easier to enter Hell then it is to find Heaven. Though Hyder lived a simple and quiet life, it was an honest life. Though he was destined for Heaven, his unwavering loyalty for his best friend is what saved him from an eternity in Hell. Though there may be no true Heaven or Hell, those places exist right here on Earth. The true Heaven and Hell are what we make of it and what we do with it. We should always strive to be like Hyder, and perhaps we too can find our way to Heaven.