[meteorite-list] Meteorite and Death Valley Days TV episode

From: Robert Woolard <meteoritefinder_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 20:52:57 -0600
Message-ID: <96C9C02B-9429-4450-9DD2-758616CB02D5_at_yahoo.com>

List,

I recently ran a search on my DVR for any programs dealing with the word "meteorite". One of the hits I got was for an episode of the 1965 season of "Death Valley Days" entitled "Canary Harris vs. The Almighty", which I just watched. The episode was introduced by Ronald Reagan, the last acting job he had before moving into politics, btw. The storyline is that a meteorite destroys Mrs Harris's porch. And by "destroys" I mean ...DESTROYS!!! The object presented as a meteorite in the program was roughly hand-sized and was definitely NOT a meteorite ( no surprise there). Typical of Hollywood dramatics, the "meteorite " is heard "beeping" (???) as it is nearing, then blows up and knocks down her entire porch in a large explosion. Anyway, after prayerful consideration, she decides that she was singled out and therefore has the right to sue the Lord's representative, the local reverend there in "Amity" ( NV or CA ???). She loses the case, but has her lawyer appeal to a higher representative, the Bishop over in
"Beaver Springs" (NV or CA ???) The episode ends with the Bishop suddenly riding up in a buggy and announcing the he does agree with Mrs Harris and that her appeal is a just one. He reverses the decision against her, and he and the town folk rebuild her porch before sundown that day.

Now here is where I became intrigued. As Ronald Reagan returns to narrate the close of the episode, he talks of the events in a matter-of-fact sense, and then says that the show will be back next week with " another true story " of the great American West. Emphasis on the word "TRUE".

I did some searching on the net, trying to find some info on this to see if it really was connected to a real event, but the only references I could find were those concerning it as an episode of Death Valley Days. I then did some searching to see if the series' stories were actually supposed to be true. I was surprised to find numerous statements that the stories were,in fact, supposed to be based on true events. ( And as that commercial says on TV, " if it's on the Internet, it MUST be true! ;-) I also mention that I found one reference that said, that while the early shows were true, near the series' end, (about 1965, and this episode was shot in that year) some episodes were based on "legends" of the area.

So... has anyone ever heard of this???? Is this just an episode that was based merely on legend, as I highly suspect?

Best,
Robert Woolard
Received on Thu 29 Jan 2015 09:52:57 PM PST