Rod Serling: The Twilight Zone has existed in many lands in many times. It has its roots in history, in something that happened long, long ago and got told about and handed down from one generation of folk to the other. In the telling the story gets added to and embroidered on, so that what might have happened in the time of the Druids is told as if it took place yesterday in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Such stories are best told by an elderly grandfather on a cold winter's night by the fireside in the southern hills of the Twilight Zone.
Air date: February 14, 1963
In the Blue Ridge Mountains, young Billy-Ben Turner (James Best) is gearing up to marry his new sweetheart Ellwyn Glover (Laura Devon). A wrinkle in his plans soon reveals itself through Jess-Belle (Anne Francis), his dark-haired ex-girlfriend who firmly believes that he's marrying Elly for her looks and her father's money, but Billy-Ben tries to claim that it's because she offers a gentler kind of love that goes beyond mere passion. Refusing to accept this, the vindictive Jess-Belle visits Granny Hart (Jeanette Nolan), a kooky old woman suspected of being a witch, and strikes a bargain with her for a potion to win Billy-Ben's heart. As an unfortunate side effect of their bargain, Jess-Belle sells her soul to Granny Hart and becomes a witch herself, destined to turn into a leopard every night at midnight and keeping herself from actually getting close enough to Billy-Ben to spend any time with him.
Jess-Tropes:
- All for Nothing: Jess-Belle went to Granny Hart for a potion that would make Billy-Ben love her as she did him, but she ends up becoming a witch who is forced to lock herself up when she turns into a leopard and almost kills him. She also realizes that she lost the ability to actually love anyone when her soul is lost.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Jess-Belle wants to win back Billy-Ben's heart and soul, and thanks to Granny Hart's potion, she does. Unfortunately, not only does Billy-Ben become increasingly obsessed with her, she actually treats him pretty coldly when they're alone together.
- Bittersweet Ending: Billy-Ben and Elly live happily ever after, the former destroying Jess-Belle once and for all. On the other hand, Jess-Belle's mother Ossie loses her daughter and is left without a family, and Granny Hart remains free to swindle people out of their souls.
- Deal with the Devil: Anyone who tries to barter with Granny Hart and pays her with anything other than money will likely find their soul to be in the bargain as well.
- Demonic Possession: Jess-Belle's spirit, having completely succumbed to her newfound malevolence as a witch, possesses Elly on her wedding night in a last ditch attempt to get Billy-Ben back.
- Disappeared Dad: Jess-Belle's father is notably absent, so once the girl dies, Ossie will become completely alone.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After Jess-Belle's many attempts to get between the two lovers, the story ends with Billy-Ben rid of her and able to begin his life with his newly-wed bride Elly in peace.
- Everybody Has Standards: Although Jess-Belle wanted nothing more than to get back together with Billy-Ben, she's mortified at the idea of getting his love at the expense of becoming a witch, as well as the fact that changing into a leopard will lead her to potentially kill him. Even when Granny Hart insists she make the most of it, Jess-Belle weeps that she just can't risk it. Later, however, her resolve wanes when she gives in to the temptation to take up Granny Hart's advice, and she turns outright evil after death, her spirit taking over Elly's body and trying to force Billy-Ben to dance with her.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Even before she was turned into a witch, this is partly why Jess-Belle couldn't accept Billy-Ben's engagement to Elly. In her mind, she thinks Billy-Ben only loves Elly because of her "pretty clothes and her daddy's land", ignoring Billy-Ben's point-blank explanation that Elly offers a "gentler" love that goes beyond passion.
- Forced Transformation: Every night, in payment for her new love potion, Jess-Belle is turned into a witch, and turns into a leopard upon the stroke of midnight.
- Foreshadowing: When Jess-Belle offers Granny Hart a pearl pin with a silver stick in exchange for the love potion, Granny Hart winces from the object's presence and asks her to take it away. It's later revealed that witches are vulnerable to silver.
- Freudian Slip: During their conversation about how Elly seemed to be falling ill, Jess-Belle's mother Ossie decides that she'll bring her some of her home-brewed tonics to help her feel better. Bemused by her mother's tendency for whipping up said tonics, Jess-Belle remarks "You're worse than Granny Ha-" before she realizes she's saying too much. Sure enough, this leads her Ossie to discover that her daughter lost her soul and has become a witch.
- Genre Savvy:
- Ossie, Jess-Belle's mother, realizes that her daughter has lost her soul to Granny Hart, since she mentioned giving "her all" to win back Billy-Ben's heart.
- Billy-Ben goes to Granny Hart for information on how to stop Jess-Belle's vengeful spirit, and she requests a lock of his hair as payment. Billy-Ben immediately sees through her attempt to ensorcel him and insists on paying in coins.
- Hair-Contrast Duo: It's stated in the folk ballad that plays through the episode: "Fair was Elly Glover, dark was Jess-Belle."
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Elly is blonde, and has a pure heart to match.
- I Know You Know I Know: Elly knows that something "not-right" is what made Billy-Ben fall back in love with Jess-Belle. She practically accuses her of using witchcraft on him when they meet on the road.
- Karma Houdini: Granny Hart, who gave Jess-Belle the love potion in the first place, gets away with turning her into a witch and ultimately getting her killed. She does help Billy-Ben with getting rid of Jess-Belle's spirit, but it's very likely that she'll keep screwing over everyone who comes to her for something and pays without money.
- Love Potion: Jess-Belle bargains with Granny Hart for one. In exchange for doing this, her soul is snuffed out and she is turned into a witch, cursed to become a leopard at midnight every night.
- Meaningful Name:
- Jess-Belle, who sells her soul for a love potion, is named after Jezebel from the Books of Kings.
- The witch who Jess-Belle obtains her love potion from is named Granny Hart.
- Oddball in the Series: This is the only episode in the series not to feature closing narration from Rod Serling. The closing shot of the episode is instead underscored with the haunting folk ballad that had been playing throughout the episode.
- Our Witches Are Different: As demonstrated with Granny Hart, witches are vulnerable to silver, and they can turn mortal women into other witches, ususally by stealing their souls or through a cashless bargain.
- As Jess-Belle shows, a witch is also cursed to become a leopard every night, and they disappear in a puff of smoke when they're killed, but they soon come back from the grave.
- If a witch does indeed return from the dead, the only way to kill them permanently is to procure an article of clothing they previously wore and stab it where the heart would be with a silver blade. When this happens, a shooting star will fall to signify that the witch is truly dead.
- Running Gag: An eerie-sounding folk ballad plays throughout the episode, usually retelling the story from an outsider's perspective. The episode even ends with the last verse of the song instead of having Rod Serling give his usual narration.
- Silver Has Mystic Powers: Billy-Ben learns through Granny Hart that silver is fatal to witches, and that an article of clothing Jess-Belle wore has to be stabbed with a silver implement to kill her permanently.
- Stealth Insult: Jess-Belle finds Elly gathering flowers after she's won Billy-Ben's love back. She tells her that she saw a patch of old maid's fern up on the mountain, to which Elly replies that she noticed a lot of vixen wort around.
- Sympathetic Magic: Billy-Ben finally kills Jess-Belle by placing her wedding dress on a dummy and stabbing it through the heart with her silver pin.
- Time Skip: A year passes near the end of the episode, soon before Billy-Ben and Elly are due to be married.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Whenever the bewitched Jess-Belle becomes a leopard, she loses her sapience and becomes a bestial killer.
- Tragic Villain: The vindictive Jess-Belle sacrifices her humanity and soul for a potion that will let her win back Billy-Ben's love and happiness. In the process, she becomes a witch and is ultimately killed by the very man she went through her ordeal for, ending up with neither love nor happiness.
- Wham Line: Granny Hart gives one to Jess-Belle, concerning the nature of the bargain they made:Jess-Belle: I try to find pity for [Billy-Ben], but I can't. It's like my heart's been cut out, and stone put where the heart is.Granny Hart: Oh that ain't your heart, Honey.Jess-Belle: What then?Granny Hart: Oh there's lots of names for it. Some folks calls it "soul".
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: After becoming a witch, Jess-Belle turns into a leopard every night at midnight.
"Fair was Elly Glover,
Dark was Jess-Belle.
Both they loved the same man
And both they loved him well."
