One Step Beyond
One Step Beyond (originally billed as Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond) is an American anthology series created by Merwin Gerard and broadcast on ABC from 1959 to 1961. Hosted and directed by John Newland, "your guide to the supernatural," each half-hour dramatizes a story ostensibly drawn from real reports of the paranormal — premonitions, ghosts, reincarnation, and unexplained coincidences. Unlike later twist-driven anthologies, the show plays its uncanny events straight, often closing with an invitation to decide for yourself what really happened. The first season's 22 episodes were never copyrighted and are in the public domain.
This series is:Anthology
Season 1
The Bride Possessed
A newlywed bride begins speaking in the voice of a dead woman and recalling a life she never lived.
Night of April 14th
A woman's recurring nightmare of a ship disaster proves to mirror a real tragedy unfolding at sea.
Emergency Only
A gambler's premonition of disaster at a dice game seems to come true in the emergency room.
The Dark Room
A photographer develops pictures that appear to capture events before they happen.
12 Hours to Live
A condemned man's execution is delayed by twelve hours that stretch into a strange ordeal.
Epilogue
A man receives messages that seem to come from beyond the grave, addressed to the living.
The Dream
Two strangers share the same recurring dream and set out to find one another.
Premonition
A scientist's visions of an impending catastrophe go unheeded by those around him.
The Dead Part of the House
A young woman senses a presence in the house where a death once occurred.
The Vision
A blind man experiences sights he cannot explain, pointing to a gift beyond the senses.
The Devil's Laughter
A skeptic confronts a series of accidents that suggest a darker design at work.
The Return of Mitchell Campion
A man returns to his old life claiming to be someone else, bearing knowledge he shouldn't have.
The Navigator
A ship's navigator is guided by an intuition that defies reason and instruments alike.
The Secret
A child's secret friend turns out to know things no living person could.
The Aerialist
A circus performer's fear of heights is tied to a memory that isn't his own.
The Burning Girl
A young woman appears to start fires with her mind, to the alarm of everyone around her.
The Haunted U-Boat
A wartime submarine is plagued by occurrences its crew cannot explain away.
The Image of Death
An artist paints a portrait that seems to foretell its subject's fate.
The Captain's Guests
A sea captain's guests begin to share a disturbing vision no one aboard can explain.
Echo
A sound from the past repeats itself, drawing the living into a story already finished.
Front Runner
A racehorse's owner receives a tip from a source that shouldn't exist.
The Riddle
A puzzling death leaves behind a riddle whose answer lies beyond ordinary explanation.
Season 2
Delusion
A man with a rare blood type is asked to save a young lady's life by donating blood. He refuses, claiming that each time he has given blood to someone in the past, he became psychically connected to them. After relenting and saving the young lady's life, he foresees her death and becomes obsessed with protecting her.
Ordeal on Locust Street
A turn-of-the-century English family hides a dark secret: a son who was born part human and part aquatic creature. A discredited doctor attempts to use his controversial ""mind force"" (a powerful hypnotic technique) to physically transform the unfortunate young man.
Brainwave
During WWII, a drunken pharmacist's mate must operate on the injured captain of his ship. The chief medical officer on a near-by ship assists the terrified young man perform the operation by providing instructions over the ship's radio. But at a crucial moment in the operation, the young man needs much more than this . . . and he receives it from an unearthly source . . .
Doomsday
A Scottish earl executes his son's lover for being a suspected witch, and with her last words the doomed young women places a curse on the earl's family. Hundreds of years later, the current earl of the family lives in fear of this curse – because every elder son in the past has been a victim of it . . . and his time is approaching . . .
Night of the Kill
Under cover of darkness.
The Inheritance
A wealthy but cruel woman torments her gigolo boyfriend and her timid maid. But a demoniacally possessed diamond necklace inflicts a horrible punishment on the women who try to wear it.
The Open Window
On a hot summer night, a disillusioned artist sits by the open window of his New York apartment and witnesses an attempted suicide by a young woman in the adjacent building. He rushes next door to save her . . . but he finds the apartment empty! Later, when the exact same vision is repeated, he begins to doubt his sanity.
Message from Clara
An English instructor teaching immigrants finds herself writing at the blackboard in a language she doesn't understand. It turns out to be a warning against one of her students.
Forked Lightning
Investigation of a double premonition: two strangers who knew death would find them at the end of the day.
Reunion
World War II fliers' gathering takes an unusual turn.
Dead Ringer
A turn-of-the-century newlywed claims that her evil twin sister is responsible for a series of fires set in orphanages. When her husband has the claim investigated, he learns that his wife's sister died years ago -- in a fire at the orphanage where the sisters lived . . .
The Stone Cutter
A tombstone carver has a very strange revelation.
Father Image
Daniel Gardner's father has left him some property, including an old boarded-up burlesque house. No-one can understand why he never sold the place, until an accident causes Dan to go back in time and discover the reason.
Make Me Not a Witch
A young girl living on a farm acquires the ability to read people's minds. Her gift proves instrumental in the rescue of two children.
The Hand
""These five kings."" (D. Thomas)
The Justice Tree
Matters of life and death.
Earthquake
The bellhop who foretold The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
The Forests of the Night
A Chinese fortune leads to an Ovidian transformation.
Call from Tomorrow
Don't call us, we'll call you.
Who Are You?
""I'm nobody."" (Dickinson)
The Day the World Wept - The Lincoln Story
In 1865 President Abraham Lincoln has a dream in which he foresees his own death. His wife Mary has a similarly fatalistic vision but other, ordinary Americans who have never met Lincoln, also experience psychic phenomena. The next evening the president goes to Ford's Theatre where his killer is waiting.
The Lovers
Ghosts are smitten with a smooch.
Vanishing Point
Mrs. Fred Graham entered her house one day and was never seen again. When her husband asks the police to help him find his missing wife, he's accused of murdering her.
The Mask
""It seemed as if an enormous giant, or a Titan, had sculptured his own likeness on the precipice.""
The Haunting
The bridegroom kills the best man.
The Explorer
An archaeological team becomes lost in the desert, but they encounter a young explorer who possesses life-saving knowledge of the region's ancient history. However, months later the leader of the expedition discovers that the young man he met in the dessert could not possibly be who he claimed to be . . . or could he?
The Clown
A mute carnival clown witnesses the abusive relationship between a beautiful young lady and her cruel husband. After fleeing from her husband, the young lady seeks refuge in the clown's trailer. The husband burst in, commits an act of violence, and then flees – only to find the spectral presence of the clown haunting his every step.
I Saw You Tomorrow
""There is no new thing under the sun.""
Encounter
Without a plane, a pilot appears.
The Peter Hurkos Story (1)
Peter Hurkos, a resistance fighter in Denmark during World War II, awakens from a coma and discovers that he not only has psychic powers, but that he can see the good or evil in someone simply by touching them. Soon he is using his powers to help track down a crazed killer.
The Peter Hurkos Story (2)
Following his experiences Hurkos begins to work with parapsychologist Dr Lindsteom and the police and is credited with assisting in the capture of real-life serial killers. Hurkos himself finally appears on screen.
Delia
While vacationing at a tropical resort, a cynical and unhappy young man meets a beautiful young lady who speaks cryptically about the many times they've met before. The two fall instantly in love -- but the next day he cannot find her . . . and the other resort guests claim he spent the evening alone.
The Visitor
A man returns to his past.
Gypsy
A prisoner's encounter with the supernatural is recounted.
Contact
A hands-on approach.
The Lonely Room
Young Henri Lamont, shy and desperate for a girlfriend, is staggered to find that when he goes into a certain room and looks out of the window he sees himself walking down the street with a beautiful young girl and decides to investigate how this could have come about.
House of the Dead
A British army officer stationed in Hong Kong frantically searches for his missing Oriental wife before his scheduled return to the US. In desperation he seeks the help of an old Chinese man . . . who writes a cryptic message on paper and tells him to look for his wife in the ""House of the Dead"" . . .
Goodbye Grandpa
An old railroad man keeps his promise.
The Storm
no sooner out the hermit-dorm I found the calm that follows storm
Season 3
Tidal Wave
As a tidal wave approaches the Hawaiian Islands, the wheelchair-bound wife of a Naval engineer desperately tries to find someone to help her evacuate the doomed area. Nothing can save the poor young women – accept perhaps the strange and illusive phenomenon known as . . . telepathy.
Anniversary of a Murder
In the midst of an adulterous relationship, a successful business man and his mistress are driving home one night when they accidentally cause the death of young bicyclists on a lonely road. They desperately try to cover up the tragedy . . . but the dead man has other ideas . . .
The Death Waltz
The Merry Widow?
The Return
These were the swift to harry...
If You See Sally
Her brother dies, and she is blamed, so she departs.
Moment of Hate
A woman believes she has the power to cause death by wishing it, and is placed under a psychiatrist's care.
To Know the End
...is to cure the suspense; a woman envisions her husband transformed.
The Trap
Just before he falls asleep, a man is suddenly aware that there is another life that seems to be in direct conflict with his own. He is astounded to discover that he has stumbled upon what seems to be a parallel universe--one in which he also exists. but in not quite the same way he does in this one.
The Voice
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter.
The Promise
But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep.
Tonight at 12:17
An expectant mother envisions a plane crash with startling clarity.
Where Are They?
Stones fall on Chico, California; a man goes to Washington, D.C with effervescent tablets that turn water into fuel for automobiles.
Legacy of Love
A romance of past and present.
Rendezvous
A wife is notified that her husband, a Marine, has been lost at sea. However, she refuses to believe that he is dead and knows that he will return to her. Soon afterwards she is walking alone through a park when a would-be mugger approaches her, but he is scared off by the sudden appearance of what looks to be some sort of spirit.
The Executioner
A Confederate soldier lost behind Union lines is framed for spying. His dog saves him even after death.
The Last Round
A former heavyweight champion appears to save a boxing match during the blitz.
Dead Man's Tale
A reporter makes a find in the Yukon.
The Sacred Mushroom
Andrija Puharich's expedition in search of the sacred mushroom, with the help of a brujo, and ESP tests before and after.
The Gift
Neither shadow of turning.
Person Unknown
In Mexico, an escaped convict hides out in a monastery. Unfortunately, it is on the night when the ghost of an Aztec warrior is said to roam the halls. When a murder is discovered later that night, he must prove that he not only didn't commit the murder, but that it was in fact committed by the ghostly warrior.
Night of Decision
General Washington doubts, but is saved.
The Stranger
In a disaster, he comforts the survivors, and afterward is found to have died in prison some time before.
Justice
Its long arm finally resolves an eyewitness and an alibi.
The Face
Persistence of evil vision.
The Room Upstairs
A Londoner hears a child crying for help.
Signal Received
On HMS Hood, ""England expects every man will do his duty.""
The Confession
The prosecution rests badly after an innocent man gets it.
The Avengers
How the past determines the future.
The Prisoner
The survivor of a concentration camp receives a visit from a German officer who is dead.
Blood Flower
Flores, flores para los muertos.
The Sorcerer
An army officer is acquitted of a murder he insists he committed.
The Villa
A room with a view.
Midnight
While walking across a fog-covered London Bridge one night, a struggling writer falls in love with a beautiful woman he meets there. Howewver, she isn't quite what she seems to be, and he stands a good chance of succumbing--literally--to her charms.
The Tiger
A stringent governess finds her charge cultivating an imaginary pet.
Nightmare
Paul Roland keeps painting the image of a woman from his nightmares to the dismay of his fiancee. Six days before their wedding he is compelled to drive with her to Cornwall for a vacation, at the encouragement of his friend Geoffrey, with him stopping abruptly at the door of one cottage within which a woman dwells, one who has grieved the loss of her own fiance lost in the World War of '16, two days before their wedding was to have been. Apparently, Paul is his reincarnation since he was born when her fiance died as Paul instantly understands when he spies his likeness in that photograph on the mantle, the engagement picture. Now closure seems to happen for them all.
Eye Witness
A reportorial account of a distant disaster. Assez vu, assez connu.
Details
- Years
- 1959–1961
- Seasons
- 3
- Episodes
- 97
- Genres
- Sci-Fi, Horror, Mystery
- TMDB Rating
- 5.7/10 (15 votes)
- Maturity Rating
- NR
- Quality
- HD
- Audio
- English
- Status
- Public Domain
- Director
- John Newland
