Kolchak: The Night Stalker/Fire Fall

Fire Fall
Season 1, Episode 6
Airdate	November 8, 1974
Written by	Bill S. Ballinger
Directed by	Don Weis
Stream
← 1x05 The Werewolf	1x07 → The Devil's Platform
Kolchak: The Night Stalker — Season One

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Fire Fall is the sixth episode of the first season of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

Starring:

Guest Starring: Jack Grinnage (Ron Updyke), Fred Beir (Ryder Bond), David Doyle (Cardinale), Madlyn Rhue (Maria), Phil Carey (Sgt. Mayer), Lenore Kasdorf (Doctor), Alice Backes (Dr. Shropell), Patricia Estrin (Felicia Porter), Joshua Shelley (George Mason), Marcus Smith (Young Man), Carol Veazie (Mrs. Sherman), Virginia Vincent (Mrs. Markoff), Carol Ann Susi (Monique Marmelstein)

Co-Starring:

Plot Overview

When friends and associates of the famous director and composer Ryder Bond begin to die, Kolchak is on the case. He arrives as police are questioning Mrs. Sherman, the only witness nearby at the time. Sergeant Mayer has him removed from the scene after he interrupts the interrogation, diverting Mrs. Sherman's attention to the regularity of her dog's bowel movements. Mrs. Sherman thought she saw a man that looked like Ryder Bond.

Kolchak questions Ryder Bond, telling him that someone saw him at the scene of the death. Mr. Bond informs him that he was in the orchestra pit at that time in plain view of dozens of people.

Felicia Porter is the next victim -- nothing but ashes remain, just like the first victim. Witnesses report seeing a man who matches Ryder's description.

Back at the office his boss, Tony, is upset that he is not doing his assigned story. Kolchak tries to relate just how compelling the story actually is by telling him about the victims. Tony wants him back on his assigned story; so to mollify Kolchak, he asks Updyke to write eulogies for each of the victims.

After visiting a fire testing lab, Kolchak tails Ryder Bond, who gets in his car with Phillip Rogers, the treasurer of the Great Lakes Symphony Association. Kolchak falls behind in his pursuit, and when he catches up, he discovers that the car has stopped and burst into flames. Ryder is nowhere to be found. Kolchak returns to the orchestra and to his surprise, Mr. Bond is directing. He has been there the entire time.

That night he goes to see Ryder at his home. Mr. Bond invites him in and asks him to sit down. Then he disappears, vanishing into thin air, while Kolchak is not looking. Perplexed, Kolchak begins to look around. A moment later, the curtains spontaneously catch fire as does everything else in the room. Kolchak makes a hasty exit.

On a hunch Kolchak pays a visit to Maria, a gypsy fortune teller. He asks her about dopplegangers. She tells him that the moment the person it is after goes to sleep, a doppleganger can kill them. However it cannot act on sanctified ground, such as a church.

He returns to Ryder Bond to tell him that he believes a doppleganger is stalking him. Ryder has been seeing a mysterious, ghostly man lately, so it is not too difficult to convince him, especially when the piano begins to move of its own accord. Kolchak takes him to a church, where he can sleep in safety.

Kolchak digs through the files (in the bathroom at INS) to find the obituary for a recently deceased man, whose funeral procession Mr Bond had cut off in traffic that day. The man, Frankie Markoff, was a convicted arsonist. Kolchak visits Markoff's widow and learns that Frankie was quiet, unremarkable, secretive, but did like music very much. Kolchak visits the pinball arcade where Frankie liked to spend his time. There he finds out precisely where Mr. Markoff died.

Back at the office, a disheveled Kolchak has stayed awake all night. He is broke. He needs $200 to pay Maria for her information, or her brother will "put a curse on him." So he takes the office's petty cash from a lock box in Tony's office. After the others arrive for work. Kolchak gets some caffiene pills from Ron's desk. The others, think Kolchak has gone nuts. Even more so when he asks for their help digging up a grave.

They almost have Kolchak asleep on Tony's couch, when he gets a call from the church. A policeman and Mr. Bond's doctor are trying to convince him to leave. Kolchak rushes over to the church and convinces him to stay. Ryder falls asleep in the church. but Kolchak is kept awake by the constant comings and goings of the doppleganger, which seems to be everywhere.

Kolchak leaves Ryder sleeping in the church, goes to the graveyard, and digs up Markoff's body. He takes the body to the arcade, placing it on the floor exactly where he died. Just as he does, the doppleganger appears. Things start to catch fire. Kolchak speaks commandingly to it, "You are not Ryder Bond. Return to your body and rest in peace forever more."

The doppleganger no longer looks like Ryder, but like Frankie Markoff instead. It slumps to the ground dead. Kolchak is caught by police as he flees the burning arcade. He tries to tell them he had nothing to do with it, but they arrest him anyway and charge him with arson.

Trivia

The Show

• The death of Mr. Mason (the first victim) occurred at exactly 6:45PM as he was taking a nap.
• Frankie Markoff died playing his favorite pinball game: Four Square (1971 Gottlieb).
• Frankie Markoff's kid is a firebug.

Allusions and References

• Ron Updyke compares Ryder Bond with the likes of Bach, Beethoven, and Bernstein.
• Tony asks Ron to write obituaries for the victims. He wants them short and sweet, but not like Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
• The plaque at the Parapsychology Department that Kolchak visits has a Bible verse:

... and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

Joel 2:28

• During a visit with Ryder Bond, Kolchak cites many instances of spontaneous human combustion.

Memorable Moments

• The scene at the end, where the doppleganer appears in the darkened arcade, is pretty scary.