When an overly possessive grandmother claims that her grandson (played by Bill Mumy, who was something of The Twilight Zone's go-to child actor with numerous appearances in the series) could 'come with her' on her deathbed the boy's parents think nothing of it. But when little Billy claims to talk to his grandmother on the toy telephone she got him things become a lot more sinister. Compared to others on this list, Long Distance Call is a very domestic episode, set around a grieving family, so it is all the more startling when the supernatural is introduced. It's also shockingly dark, as the voice on the end of the phone apparently tells Billy to kill himself. Not much television is brave enough to present a five-year old boy attempting suicide these days, let alone in 1961. Even the cost-cutting exercise of this episode being filmed on video tape (decreasing the quality of the picture) only adds to the feeling that we are watching something real. The lesson here, kids, is don't do everything your grandparents tell you.
