# Short story & tv show title help **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-tv-show-title-help/380825 "2006-11-17T13:58:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-tv-show-title-help/380825/1 "2006-11-17T13:58:25Z")
First story: Teens are sent to a dangerous amusement park, and forced to get on deadly rides as a form of population control. The narrator survives several rides, but is killed just as he’s confident that he’ll make it out of the park alive. Second story: A family moves into a haunted castle, that has a ghost who stains the carpet with blood. Instead of being scared off, the family just continues to clean up the blood and ignore the goast. In the end, I think the teenage daughter ends up falling in love with the ghost. TV show: Very little to go on here. Was probably from the early 90s. It had to have been a Twilight Zone type show where there are new characters each week. The only episode I remember was about a man living in NYC who was attacked by a gargoyle. He begged for his life, and the gargoyle agreed, as long as he never told anyone what happened. Awhile later, he meets a woman, and they get married and have children. Eventually, he decides to tell her about what happened that night several years ago (you see where this is going right?). When he tells her, she transforms into a gargoyle, and kills him for breaking his promise. The children also transform, and they fly off together. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-tv-show-title-help/380825/2 "2006-11-17T18:24:08Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] TV show: Very little to go on here. Was probably from the early 90s. It had to have been a Twilight Zone type show where there are new characters each week. The only episode I remember was about a man living in NYC who was attacked by a gargoyle. He begged for his life, and the gargoyle agreed, as long as he never told anyone what happened. Awhile later, he meets a woman, and they get married and have children. Eventually, he decides to tell her about what happened that night several years ago (you see where this is going right?). When he tells her, she transforms into a gargoyle, and kills him for breaking his promise. The children also transform, and they fly off together. [/QUOTE] I definitely remember this episode, though I don’t think it was a TZ. Perhaps an Outer Limits ep? ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-tv-show-title-help/380825/3 "2006-11-17T18:31:51Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] TV show: Very little to go on here. Was probably from the early 90s. It had to have been a Twilight Zone type show where there are new characters each week. The only episode I remember was about a man living in NYC who was attacked by a gargoyle. He begged for his life, and the gargoyle agreed, as long as he never told anyone what happened. Awhile later, he meets a woman, and they get married and have children. Eventually, he decides to tell her about what happened that night several years ago (you see where this is going right?). When he tells her, she transforms into a gargoyle, and kills him for breaking his promise. The children also transform, and they fly off together. [/QUOTE] This was the third section of _Tales From The Darkside: The Movie_. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-tv-show-title-help/380825/4 "2006-11-17T18:48:22Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] First story: Teens are sent to a dangerous amusement park, and forced to get on deadly rides as a form of population control. The narrator survives several rides, but is killed just as he’s confident that he’ll make it out of the park alive. [/QUOTE] Possibly \* Spending a day at the lottery fair\* by Frederick Pohl. Note that the attractions are not deadly themselves, but to go on them you have to pay an “entrance fee” which is a slight random chance of receiving a lethal injection. The place has high class restaurants, where you can dine for free, but take a 1 in 1000 chance of dying. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-tv-show-title-help/380825/5 "2006-11-17T19:12:39Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] Possibly \* Spending a day at the lottery fair\* by Frederick Pohl. Note that the attractions are not deadly themselves, but to go on them you have to pay an “entrance fee” which is a slight random chance of receiving a lethal injection. The place has high class restaurants, where you can dine for free, but take a 1 in 1000 chance of dying. [/QUOTE] I wonder how that economic model works: Step 1: Lethal highend amusements Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-tv-show-title-help/380825/6 "2006-11-17T19:30:39Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] I wonder how that economic model works: 😕 [/QUOTE] The point was to reduce population in an overcrowded world. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-tv-show-title-help/380825/7 "2006-11-17T22:22:12Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] TV show: Very little to go on here. Was probably from the early 90s. It had to have been a Twilight Zone type show where there are new characters each week. The only episode I remember was about a man living in NYC who was attacked by a gargoyle. He begged for his life, and the gargoyle agreed, as long as he never told anyone what happened. Awhile later, he meets a woman, and they get married and have children. Eventually, he decides to tell her about what happened that night several years ago (you see where this is going right?). When he tells her, she transforms into a gargoyle, and kills him for breaking his promise. The children also transform, and they fly off together. [/QUOTE] Although it’s definitely not the version you’re thinking of, this is an old story. It was one segment in the weirdly compelling Japanese film [Kwaidan](http://imdb.com/title/tt0058279/). In that version however, the ‘gargoyle’ is a snow woman (a type of vampire). ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-tv-show-title-help/380825/8 "2006-11-18T01:55:10Z")
Thanks everyone. [QUOTE=Peter Morris] Possibly \* Spending a day at the lottery fair\* by Frederick Pohl. Note that the attractions are not deadly themselves, but to go on them you have to pay an “entrance fee” which is a slight random chance of receiving a lethal injection. The place has high class restaurants, where you can dine for free, but take a 1 in 1000 chance of dying. [/QUOTE] Yes, this is probably the right story. It’s been a long time, so my memory’s a bit fuzzy. I didn’t know that there were several versions of the gargoyle story. Interesting.