For what was allegedly written to be a so-called "kids show" Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold! had some surprisingly dark and (dare I say it?) spooky as hell episodes.
Haunted Train (Season 1, Episode 8-b) written by Josie Nericcio and directed by Tuck Tucker & Juli Murphy-Hashiguchi was the earliest introduction into a list of several suspense-themed episodes written throughout the series. The episode premiered on Wednesday, November 6, 1996 along with the episode The List (Season 1, Episode 8-a). Run time about 12 minutes.
The story begins with a menacing glimpse of the haunted train emitting smoke over the title card for the episode and the shot dissolving to a boring autumn day for Arnold and Gerald as they sit on the stoop in front of the Sunset Arms Boarding House just chilling out and eating ice cream. When they complain to Arnold's grandfather, Phil, about being bored, a passing train on the nearby elevated railroad line inspires the old man to tell the boys of the time he worked for the railroad, and first heard the Legend of the Haunted Train.
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| These boys could do with a spoooooky story. |
As Grandpa Phil sits down with the two boys and begins his scary recounting of the events, his telling of the story would steadily gain a small audience of Arnold and Gerald's classmates and neighbor kids. Thus ending everyone's boredom.
According the Phil, the story began 40 years ago with old Train Engine #25 and a train conductor who went insane and drove his train off the railroad tracks to oblivion, never to be seen again. Legend has it he drove the drain all the way to (as Phil puts it) "All the way downtown....to the very-most southern point!" And he didn't mean to the South Pole neither.
Phil explains that, as the legend goes, every year on the anniversary of the disappearance old Engine #25 reappears at the old train station with the crazy engineer's terrible ghost at the controls to pick up unsuspecting passengers that are drawn aboard the passenger car on a blinding, hypnotic white light -- sorta like a moth to a flame, or some extraterrestrial beacon. Then the victims are overpowered by the terrible rotten egg smell of "fire and brimstone" and terrorized by a ghastly, inhuman-sounding music.
After this the train enters the dreaded "zone of darkness" and finally arriving at their final destination: the fiery underworld, where the door opens up and the doomed passengers are greeted by....
Okay maybe not quite the "red hot demon" Phil mentioned, but y'all get the idea.
After recounting this spooky and certainly not safe for nine-year-olds story, Phil leaves them with one final bit of important information: that tonight would be the 40th anniversary of Engine #25's disappearance and implied that he'd hate to be at the old train station tonight. He even gives out directions before leaving the curious and impressionable kids to their thoughts and overactive imaginations.
In the next scene Arnold and Gerald are discussing if the story Phil told them was true with Helga nearby skipping rope. Arnold says his grandpa is known for making stuff up. Helga plays the part of the skeptic and doesn’t believe the story at all, saying she wants physical evidence.
According the Phil, the story began 40 years ago with old Train Engine #25 and a train conductor who went insane and drove his train off the railroad tracks to oblivion, never to be seen again. Legend has it he drove the drain all the way to (as Phil puts it) "All the way downtown....to the very-most southern point!" And he didn't mean to the South Pole neither.
Phil explains that, as the legend goes, every year on the anniversary of the disappearance old Engine #25 reappears at the old train station with the crazy engineer's terrible ghost at the controls to pick up unsuspecting passengers that are drawn aboard the passenger car on a blinding, hypnotic white light -- sorta like a moth to a flame, or some extraterrestrial beacon. Then the victims are overpowered by the terrible rotten egg smell of "fire and brimstone" and terrorized by a ghastly, inhuman-sounding music.
After this the train enters the dreaded "zone of darkness" and finally arriving at their final destination: the fiery underworld, where the door opens up and the doomed passengers are greeted by....
Okay maybe not quite the "red hot demon" Phil mentioned, but y'all get the idea.
After recounting this spooky and certainly not safe for nine-year-olds story, Phil leaves them with one final bit of important information: that tonight would be the 40th anniversary of Engine #25's disappearance and implied that he'd hate to be at the old train station tonight. He even gives out directions before leaving the curious and impressionable kids to their thoughts and overactive imaginations.
In the next scene Arnold and Gerald are discussing if the story Phil told them was true with Helga nearby skipping rope. Arnold says his grandpa is known for making stuff up. Helga plays the part of the skeptic and doesn’t believe the story at all, saying she wants physical evidence.
Arnold says that some things can’t be proved that way, and maybe the best way to determine if the story’s true is to visit the old train station themselves that very night. Gerald's not really that big on the idea, proving he has at least some faith in the validity of the story. Helga continues to express doubt, but then Arnold tells her she doesn’t have to come, and he’d understand if she's too scared, goading her into agreeing to join them.
Later that night, the trio arrive at the Old Train Station. It's all dirty and boarded up, not to mention full of cobwebs, one of which Helga steps right into. Gerald throws a small rock into the train tunnel and a cloud of bats flies right at them.
So far, that's the only creepy things that happen to them as they wait and wait into the night for something to confirm Phil's story. The kids get bored so Arnold plays his harmonica while Gerald sings about the psychotic engineer and Helga just stands there with her arms folded growing more and more annoyed as the clock strikes midnight.
The short song is called "Haunted Train Blues" on the official Hey Arnold! music soundtrack and its set to the beat of David Bowie's 1972 song "The Jean Genie" (which Arnold preforms very well on the harmonica). The song itself goes like this:
They say he lost his mind,
Went crazy on that day,
Ran his train right off the tracks,
And drove it straight to....HEY!
Where's the engineer?
Been waitin' all night long,
Better show up soon,
Or I'mma hafta say so long.
A-woo-wooooooo!
Been waitin' on the haunted train.
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| Sing it again, Gerald. |
Helga, who is completely fed up and annoyed by the situation and the two boys respectively, declares that there's no ghost train and no crazy engineer and that she's ready to check out.
Just then the sound of a train whistle can be heard, then the station began to rumble as a bright light appears from the train tunnel. A large black train with blood-red trim and the number 25 on the front of the locomotive appears before them. When the doors of the passenger car open, the kids see bright light and enter. When they
realize the situation, they try to get back out but the doors close on them and
the train quickly pulls out of the station.
Then Helga catches the smell of
rotten eggs and an inhuman music plays as well. Helga screams, freaks
out and tries to exit the train again.
When the doors open the kids see bright light and enter. When they
realize the situation, they try to get back out but the doors close and
the train pulls out of the station.
A moment later the kids all catches the smell of rotten eggs and an inhuman-sounding creepy music begins to play as well. Helga screams, completely freaking out and tries to exit the train again, cursing her own inquisitive nature and stating that she completely believes the story now.
A moment later the kids all catches the smell of rotten eggs and an inhuman-sounding creepy music begins to play as well. Helga screams, completely freaking out and tries to exit the train again, cursing her own inquisitive nature and stating that she completely believes the story now.
As the train continues down the bumpy tracks, the lights inside the car begin to flicker until they eventually go out
completely. They are convinced that they've entered the "zone of darkness"
and the next stop is the fiery underworld.
Helga mentions she can feel "the flames of the dark underworld" breathing down the back of her neck. She turns to see a figure hovering over her and wheezing eerily. Helga screams again as Arnold and Gerald run over to help her. Just then the lights in the car turn back on and their classmate, Brainy, is standing there before them. When they ask why he's there, Brainy replies with a wheezy, "Uh... I don't know." Gerald then opens the door as a super-annoyed Helga tosses Brainy out of the train head first into a muddy lake.
Helga mentions she can feel "the flames of the dark underworld" breathing down the back of her neck. She turns to see a figure hovering over her and wheezing eerily. Helga screams again as Arnold and Gerald run over to help her. Just then the lights in the car turn back on and their classmate, Brainy, is standing there before them. When they ask why he's there, Brainy replies with a wheezy, "Uh... I don't know." Gerald then opens the door as a super-annoyed Helga tosses Brainy out of the train head first into a muddy lake.
Question: why didn't they jump off with him? Humm....anyhow moving on.
When they close the door, after ditching Helga's stalker, the train the lights again flicker and the three kids see the "fires of the underworld" and shadowy figures walking among the flames as the train comes to another stop. Arnold sees a nearby fire hose in the compartment and gets an idea. The kids retrieve the fire hose and point it at the door just as the "red hot demon" opens it. Arnold aims right for the demon....who turns out to be a now slightly angry and soaking wet steel mill worker.
When they close the door, after ditching Helga's stalker, the train the lights again flicker and the three kids see the "fires of the underworld" and shadowy figures walking among the flames as the train comes to another stop. Arnold sees a nearby fire hose in the compartment and gets an idea. The kids retrieve the fire hose and point it at the door just as the "red hot demon" opens it. Arnold aims right for the demon....who turns out to be a now slightly angry and soaking wet steel mill worker.
Then the decidedly not ghostly -- nor undead -- train engineer appears and tells the three kids they are at the local steel mill and only relief workers are allowed on the train.
When the kids ask about the train being haunted the engineer mutters "Oh no, not that story again" -- implying that this particular urban legend has caused him more than one headache over the years.
The engineer goes on to explain everything they experienced. The rotten egg smell is the sulfur, typical in a steel mill. He also explains that the lights in the train are always flickering and going out, likely due to faulty wiring in the old railroad car. And finally, the "inhuman music" they heard was the polka which the bored engineer had been playing on his accordion.
Now having cleared up the whole story and explained all of the alleged supernatural phenomenon, the engineer takes the three kids (and presumably the now off-duty second shift team from the steel mill) back to the city. No ghosts, no haunted train, no trip to the underworld....just the overactive imaginations of three 4th graders.
In the next scene, Phil is driving the kids home in his Packard, having picked the three up from the train station. After retelling their story, Phil complements Arnold on his plan to take on the fires of Hell with a fire hose. Arnold smiles and suggests that his grandpa set them up, to which Phil just smiles and says, "Well, at least you weren't bored."
So, there was no mad engineer, or haunted train, right?
Well, this leads us, the viewers, into the final scene of the episode
where Brainy sits on a wooden fence next to the railroad tracks, smiling
and wheezing (as always) as a similar train with an engine labeled #25
passes by, and a ghostly, transparent figure playing an accordion sings
another (and slightly eerie) ghostly song about the haunted train and
mad engineer into the episode's end credits -- my complements to series music writer and composer, Jim Lang.
My Thoughts
This was the first episode of the series that had an element of mystery and supernatural terror to it, though certainly not the last one.
I was already close to being a legal adult at age 20 when the episode first aired, and while I cannot say that the episode actually spooked me out in any way -- unlike the creepy-ass pirate ghosts from Garfield's Halloween Adventure (1985) which I saw for the first time at age 9 and actually gave me a couple of serious nightmares! -- the episode did feel like the sort of good time children's adventure story I enjoyed as a younger boy.
Even now the episode never fails to make me smile a little. Its one of those episodes of the Hey Arnold! series that I enjoy watching around the Halloween season, along with other classic spooky episodes of cartoon and animated series specials right up there with It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and other spooky themed episodes of classic animated series shows that I view every late October in a yearly tradition.
Be sure to check out the episode and let me know what y'all think about this blog post in the comments below.
My Thoughts
This was the first episode of the series that had an element of mystery and supernatural terror to it, though certainly not the last one.
I was already close to being a legal adult at age 20 when the episode first aired, and while I cannot say that the episode actually spooked me out in any way -- unlike the creepy-ass pirate ghosts from Garfield's Halloween Adventure (1985) which I saw for the first time at age 9 and actually gave me a couple of serious nightmares! -- the episode did feel like the sort of good time children's adventure story I enjoyed as a younger boy.
Even now the episode never fails to make me smile a little. Its one of those episodes of the Hey Arnold! series that I enjoy watching around the Halloween season, along with other classic spooky episodes of cartoon and animated series specials right up there with It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and other spooky themed episodes of classic animated series shows that I view every late October in a yearly tradition.
Be sure to check out the episode and let me know what y'all think about this blog post in the comments below.
