Editing Still Valley

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox television episode
| series = [[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]
| image =
| caption =
| season = 3
| episode = 11
| airdate ={{Start date|1961|11|24}}
| production =4808
| teleplay = [[Rod Serling]]
| based_on = "The Valley Was Still" by [[Manly Wade Wellman]]
| director = [[James Sheldon]]
| guests =[[Gary Merrill]]<br /> [[Vaughn Taylor (actor)|Vaughn Taylor]] <br /> [[Ben Cooper]] <br /> Mark Tapscott <br /> Jack Mann  
| music = [[Wilbur Hatch]]
| season_article = The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) (season 3)
| episode_list = List of The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes
| prev = [[The Midnight Sun (The Twilight Zone)|The Midnight Sun]]
| next = [[The Jungle (The Twilight Zone)|The Jungle]]
}}

"'''Still Valley'''" is episode 76 of the [[American television]] anthology series ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''.

==Opening narration==
{{blockquote|The time is 1863, the place the state of [[Virginia]]. The event is a mass blood-letting known as the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], a tragic moment in time when a nation was split into two fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.}}

The narration continues after dialogue between Paradine and Dauger.

{{blockquote|This is Joseph Paradine, Confederate [[cavalry]], as he heads down toward a small town in the middle of a valley. But very shortly, Joseph Paradine will make contact with the enemy. He will also make contact with an outpost not found on a military map—an outpost called the Twilight Zone.}}

==Plot==
During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], two [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] soldiers have been assigned to scout on the [[Union Army]] troops that are advancing into the valley below. Sergeant Joseph Paradine hears the troops approaching, but suddenly the sound stops. He decides to descend into the valley to see the cause for himself. His companion refuses to accompany him.

When Paradine gets into town, he finds the troops there, but all of them are motionless, frozen in time. He tries unsuccessfully to wake them. Finally he comes across an old man named Teague, the sole remaining inhabitant of the town, who is unaffected by the strange phenomenon. Teague claims to be a [[warlock|"witch-man"]] and says he used a [[magic spell]] to freeze the soldiers. Paradine does not believe him, so Teague casts the spell on Paradine, freezing him.

When Teague lifts the spell on Paradine, he claims that he could stop the entire Union Army in this manner, ensuring the success of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. Paradine asks why he has not done so, and Teague replies that he is dying and will be dead by the day's end. He gives his [[grimoire|book of spells]] to Paradine, encouraging him to use it, but when Paradine looks in it, he realizes that using this magic would require him to [[deal with the devil|align himself with Satan]], which Teague acknowledges.

Teague dies, and Paradine returns to camp to tell his superior about what happened. The superior does not believe him and orders him to get some rest. When another scout returns to report that an entire company of Union troops is standing frozen near the camp, Paradine reveals that he cast a spell on them from the book. Once he describes his encounter with the old man, his superior urges him to continue reading from the book since Satan may be the only ally who can help the Confederacy win the war.

Paradine discovers that using the book's magic requires that not only must he praise the name of the Devil, but he must renounce the name of [[God]]. Rather than do either, Paradine throws the book into a campfire, saying that if the Confederacy is to die, it should be buried in [[sacredness|hallowed ground]]. The next day, Paradine receives orders that his unit is going to march to [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]].

==Closing narration==
{{blockquote|On the following morning, Sergeant Paradine and the rest of these men were moved up north to a little town in [[Pennsylvania]], an obscure little place where a [[battle of Gettysburg|battle was brewing]], a town called [[Gettysburg, Pennsylvania|Gettysburg]], and this one was fought without the help of the Devil. Small historical note not to be found in any known books, but part of the records in the Twilight Zone.}}

==Cast==
* [[Gary Merrill]] as Sergeant Joseph Paradine
* [[Vaughn Taylor (actor)|Vaughn Taylor]] as Teague
* [[Ben Cooper]] as Dauger
* Mark Tapscott as Lieutenant 
* Jack Mannas as Mallory

==Episode notes==
*The episode is based on a 1939 short story, "The Valley Was Still" by [[Manly Wade Wellman]].
*In the original story, Paradine kills Teague when he finds that to make the spell book work, he must sign his name in blood (making a contract with the Devil); later, when the spell on the soldiers is broken when the book is burned, both Union and Confederates have a big battle in the valley.

==References==
*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). ''Trivia from The Twilight Zone''. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. {{ISBN|978-1-59393-136-0}}
*Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-9703310-9-0}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb episode|id=0734624|episode=Still Valley}}

{{The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes}}

[[Category:1961 American television episodes]]
[[Category:Television episodes written by Rod Serling]]
[[Category:The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) season 3 episodes]]
[[Category:Television episodes about the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Television episodes about witchcraft]]
[[Category:Television episodes about Satanism]]
[[Category:Television shows based on short fiction]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1863]]
[[Category:Television episodes set in the 1860s]]