Twilight Zone Accident | Night for Night | 3

Production on John Landis’ segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie reaches its dramatic finale. Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of American Scandal ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lindsay Graham?

  Hello, American Scandal listeners. The live show I've been telling you about for a few weeks has a new date, October 23rd at the Plaza Theater in Garland, Texas. This is my Days That Made America Tour, a thrilling evening of history, storytelling, and music with me and a band live onstage. So if you're in the North Texas area or anywhere close, be sure to come out and see me live. And more shows will be announced soon. For information on tickets and upcoming dates, go to AmericanHistoryLive.com. That's AmericanHistoryLive.com. Come see my Days That Made America Tour live onstage. Go to AmericanHistoryLive.com. American Scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events.

• 0:43Lindsay Graham?

  Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research.

• 1:05Lindsay Graham?

  It's around 9:00 PM on July 22, 1982, at Indian Dunes, a film location 30 miles north of Los Angeles, California. Actor Vic Moro stands at the edge of a shallow river and tugs at the sleeve of his costume. The business suit he's been wearing for weeks is wet, crumpled, and uncomfortable. Behind him, 11 rickety thatched huts have been built at the base of a tall cliff. Moro watches as a film crew moves between them, making final preparations for the first shot of the evening. Moro is playing the lead role of Bill Connor in director John Landis's segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. After three weeks of shooting, this is the last night of principal photography, and Moro is looking forward to its end.

• 1:49Lindsay Graham?

  It's been a physically demanding shoot, and Moro is not as young as he used to be, but that's not the only reason he's eager to be done with this job. Moro isn't happy with what he's seen on set. He's told friends he's witnessed drinking and drug use, and he's been rattled by the use of live ammunition in an effect shot. Still, he tells himself that he just has to get through tonight, because if this role revitalizes his career, it'll all be worth it. He looks up and forces a weary smile as director John Landis separates from the crew and joins him by the huts.

• 2:25Lindsay Graham?

  You all ready, Vic? Let's go through it one more time, can we? Yeah, sure, sure. I just wanna make sure I've got all the timings right with all these explosions, you know? I don't wanna lose my hair. Moro turns to the bamboo hut immediately behind him. He knows that buried in the ground beside it are two large explosive effects, packed with gunpowder and gasoline. So the kids are gonna be here, on the ground, yeah. You run inside the hut, grab them both, turn, and dash toward the river. Then boom, boom, these huge explosions take out the hut. It's gonna be spectacular. So I'm carrying the kids past the camera, down into the water, here. Moro traces out the path he'll be taking, and Landis follows. That's right, just as fast as you can. Really pound those legs, Vic, you know, as fast as you can,

• 3:10Lindsay Graham?

  because this is life or death, we wanna feel that. And then when exactly do they fire the mortars? This is our mark, this stick right here. Landis leans over and wiggles a small stick that's been thrust into the mud. Once you pass this, then that's the cue, we light up the night. And that's definitely far enough, right? Moro looks skeptically at the distance between the stick and the hut. I mean, it can't be more than, what, fifteen feet? And it'll look even closer on camera, but it's safe. Vic, the powder guys have worked it all out, they're professionals, they know what they're doing. Landis grins and slaps Moro on the shoulder. Trust me, we don't wanna harm a hair on your head, after all, this is a close-up.

• 3:52Lindsay Graham?

  Vic Moro can't shake his feeling of dread. He might have preferred it if a stuntman was handling the shot, but Landis wants to see his face on camera, so it has to be Moro himself. So he insists on walking through the shot several more times before he's willing to start. Then he drags himself over to the first position, tells himself again that it's just one more night, only a few more hours left, and then it's all over.

• 4:22Speaker 01

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• 4:54Speaker 02

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• 5:32Lindsay Graham?

  From Wondery, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is American Scandal.

• 5:56Lindsay Graham?

  The climax to John Landis's segment of Twilight Zone the Movie promised to be one of the most spectacular set pieces he had ever filmed. Involving a large helicopter and extensive pyrotechnic effects, this sequence was a challenging one that threatened both the budget and the schedule. But that wasn't the only reason for the tension on set on the night of July 22nd, 1982. Only a handful of the crew were aware of it, but the two child actors appearing in the finale had been hired illegally. If they were discovered, it wouldn't just be The Twilight Zone production that could be shut down. The studio backing the film, Warner Brothers, might lose its permits to work with children on any other projects.

• 6:35Lindsay Graham?

  So overnight, John Landis could go from one of the hottest directors in Hollywood to persona non grata. The threat was real. One of the fire safety officers on the movie had a second job as a studio teacher and child actor chaperone. If he even saw the children on set, he'd have to report it. So as the shoot entered its final hours, the senior production team was under pressure. They had to finish the film, and they had to keep the kids a secret. Their future careers might depend on it. This is episode 3, Night for Night.

• 7:10Lindsay Graham?

  It's just before 9:30 PM on July 22nd, 1982, at Indian Dunes, on the set of Twilight Zone the Movie. Six-year-old Renee Chen lies on the dirt floor in one of the Vietnamese village huts. She shivers slightly, although it's a warm enough night, the ground beneath her is cool, and her costume is little more than rags. But Renee isn't trembling just because she's cold. She's been worried all day that she might get sick tonight and let everyone down. And now that director, John Landis, has told her that there's gonna be some loud bangs in the shot there about the film, Renee doesn't want to show it, but she's frightened too. She glances over to her co-star, seven-year-old Mika Din Lee. Lying beside her in the mud, he doesn't look so nervous to Renee.

• 7:53Lindsay Graham?

  His eyes shine with excitement. But then there's a pulsing roar as the giant helicopter moves into position above them, and Mika reaches out and grips her hand. She holds it tight. The hut around them shakes violently, the straw flying off its stashed roof as the chopper blades churn the air. Above the roar of the helicopter, Renee can just hear the snap of the slate. She's learned by now that that means the scene is starting, but someone still shouts at them, "Be ready, you guys." Then Vic Morrow appears in the doorway. He doesn't say a word before roughly grabbing Renee. She winces slightly as he presses her hard against his side, then he picks up Mika in a similarly tight hold before turning and sprinting out of the hut as fast as he can.

• 8:37Lindsay Graham?

  With the helicopter hovering just sixty feet above them, Morrow runs across the narrow shore toward the river. He's barely taken five strides when two enormous explosions engulf the hut behind them. The noise of the blasts is deafening. Squeezed against Morrow's side, Renee screams in terror, but Morrow doesn't let her go, and he doesn't stop running until John Landis shouts "Cut." Then cheers and applause echo around the set. They got their shot. As the crew scrambles over to the village to put out the fires and make sure everything is safe, Vic Morrow gently lowers Renee and Mika to the ground. Renee is in tears, so Morrow tries to comfort her, but she just keeps sobbing.

• 9:19Lindsay Graham?

  Eventually, John Landis himself comes over and takes Renee in his arms. He bounces her up and down, trying to talk over her cries, pointing out that it's all just pretend. The fires are gone, everyone's okay, but Renee doesn't stop crying until her mother comes. Renee, Mika, and their parents are then quickly escorted back to their trailer about a quarter of a mile from the set. It'll be hours before they're needed again, and they have to be kept out of sight. So far, the production has managed to keep it secret. The fire safety officer, Jack Tice, has changed his position tonight and has stationed himself down by the river instead of on the cliff top. But he's still over a hundred yards from the village set. He hasn't seen the two children so far, and if he stays in the same place all night,

• 10:04Lindsay Graham?

  he won't see them later on either. Still, the senior production team keeps a close eye on him as the crew sets up for the second shot of the night. This is the one they call the rage scene. In the finished movie, it will come right before the shot where Morrow picks up the children and takes them from the hut. It's when his character, Bill Connor, first realizes that the American helicopter overhead is trying to kill him and not save him, and he vents his anger at the aircraft while it launches rockets at the village below. This shot will be even more spectacular than the one they just filmed. It involves several different types of explosive effects. Two mortars are submerged in the river, ready to blast plumes of spray high into the air. Another three are buried in the ground in the village.

• 10:49Lindsay Graham?

  Some of these are square, with a wide mouth that creates large fireballs. Some of the others are round, with a more gun barrel-like shape that will shoot flames directly upwards. Packed with gunpowder, sawdust, and gasoline, the mortars for the rage scene are some of the largest available in Hollywood. They promise to put on quite the show, but they are also potentially dangerous, especially for a helicopter. So before they start shooting, pilot Dorsey Wingo holds extensive talks with a special effects supervisor and with director John Landis. Landis explains that he wants the helicopter to hover around thirty-five feet above the village and be positioned as close to the cliff as possible. But Wingo tells him he won't go any nearer than ten feet.

• 11:32Lindsay Graham?

  It's too dangerous otherwise, and he warns Landis that no one should be directly below the chopper at any time. Once that's all cleared up, Wingo returns to the helipad downriver and gets ready for the scene. With him in the helicopter again is unit production manager Dan Allingham. Just like the night before, he'll be operating the Night Sun, a powerful searchlight mounted on the nose of the chopper. It's his job to pick out Moro on the ground with its beam and follow him as he moves across the set. But with them this time, Wingo and Allingham are joined onboard by a cameraman, who's there to capture footage of the scene from the air. There's also a stuntman who'll be firing blanks from the fifty caliber machine gun strapped to the side of the aircraft.

• 12:14Lindsay Graham?

  And then, just after eleven PM, Wingo takes to the skies and maneuvers into position thirty-five feet above the Vietnamese village. Standing beside one of the cameras below, John Landis shouts "Action" into a bullhorn, and Wingo sees Vic Moro rush out onto the shore of the river. That's the stuntman's cue, so leaning out of the side door of the helicopter, he aims the machine gun at Moro and opens fire. The muzzle flashes in the darkness, spitting out flame. Below the helicopter, a line of exploding squibs races across the Nihai River, simulating the bullets streaking into the water. Vic Moro dives out of the way just in time, and then the first mortar in the river explodes.

• 12:58Lindsay Graham?

  A column of water spurts into the air, splattering the helicopter's windshield with wet sand. Pilot Dorsey Wingo winces. Whoa, they didn't say it would be that close. Unable to see out the front, he looks out the side window, checking his distance to the cliff, but it's hard to tell exactly in the dark. Then the second mortar in the river goes off, coating the glass with mud again. On the seat beside Wingo, Dan Allingham shouts out.

• 13:22Speaker 01

  The cliff, Dorsey, the cliff!

• 13:24Lindsay Graham?

  I know, I know, can't see a damn thing. They never said it would be this close. Wingo desperately tries to make sure he doesn't drift into the cliffside. The first mortar in the village detonates, and a ball of flame roars past the side of the chopper. They didn't tell me anything about this. Two more explosions quickly follow. The helicopter seems surrounded by flames. By the open side door, the stuntman abandons his machine gun and rolls back into the cabin, swearing at the heat. Wingo glances behind him. You alright? The man nods, but his face is burned pink. The heat in the chopper is intense. Even Dan Allingham seems shocked.

• 14:01Speaker 01

  This is too much, Dorsey. Get us out of here!

• 14:04Lindsay Graham?

  With pleasure. The helicopter veers away from the set, and as Wingo pilots him back to the helipad, he quietly fumes. Damn, what the hell was that? Those explosions were far too close. I know. You guys told us safety first, right? Safety first, you promised you'd take care. We can't afford close calls like that. This is a machine, not a toy. I know, Dorsey, I know. Look, I don't want anything to happen. I'll talk to John ahead of the next shot. We'll have a production meeting, and we'll take care of it. Well, I should be there. Let me handle it, please. I'm your liaison here. No, I want to be there. This can't happen again. It won't, I promise, but you should let me handle it.

• 14:44Lindsay Graham?

  When the helicopter lands, it's closely inspected by a mechanic for any damage. He was watching the shot, and even from a distance, he could see that flames from the mortars were sucked into the rotor system. So he carefully checks everything on the helicopter he can. He pays special attention to the rotor blades. If any damage has been done to them, the next flight could go catastrophically wrong. Luckily, though, he can't see anything, and after clearing off the dirty water and sand, he gives the helicopter the all-clear. And while the mechanic works, Dan Allingham returns to the village set to inform John Landis about the problems they faced in the air. But no additional safety meetings are arranged with the special effects team. No other warnings are given to the rest of the crew.

• 15:27Lindsay Graham?

  And when Landis sees Dorsey Wingo a little later on, he even jokingly exclaims, "You ain't seen nothing yet." The crew breaks for a meal while the explosives team sets up the last shot of the night, the last shot of the entire movie. It's the escape scene where Vic Morrow crosses the river with the children in his arms and delivers them to safety on the other side. It's already around midnight when there's a gentle knock on the door of Renee Chen and Mika Din Lee's trailer. Renee blinks awake. She's been taking a much-needed nap on the couch. The shot they filmed earlier was frightening and exhausting. It's taken her some time to recover. Renee groggily stretches as a production assistant asks if they want anything from the catering truck.

• 16:10Lindsay Graham?

  They'll be needed on set soon, but there's still time for them to eat first. Renee and Mika both nod enthusiastically, and the woman soon returns with two bowls of steaming soup. While they're eating, there's another knock on the door. This time, it's the movie's producer, John Folesy Jr. Flashing a warm smile, he asks the kids how they're doing and urges them to eat up their soup. Then quietly, he reminds Renee's mom and Mika's dad that if anyone questions why they are here, they're to lie, especially if any of the fire safety officers ask. They're not to say anything about the $500 they're being paid or about their children working on set. Renee and Mika finish their soup. And then, just after 1 a.m., the production assistant mutters into her radio that she's

• 16:51Lindsay Graham?

  bringing the Vietnamese, the crew's code word for the child actors, to the makeup area. So she leads the children out of the trailer and into a waiting car. Renee climbs into the backseat. Peering through the window at the trailer, she waves goodbye to her mother as the production assistant drives them off into the night. This final shot should only take around an hour, and then both children will be free to go home. There's a flutter of nerves in Renee's stomach as a car bounces along the dirt road. Last time, she broke down in tears. It was so frightening. The helicopter, the explosions. But this time, she knows what to expect. There's no reason to be afraid.

• 17:32Speaker 03

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• 18:33Speaker 05

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• 19:13Lindsay Graham?

  Throughout his career in the movies, director John Landis has wanted to do things for real. When he was just a teenager, he worked as a stuntman in Europe. And there, with little training to speak of, he threw himself off horses and dodged bullets in a series of cheap spaghetti westerns. The work he was asked to do on those sets wasn't always totally safe, but Landis embraced every challenge, and he loved the results he saw on film. So when he returned to the United States and became a director himself, he carried that daring, can-do attitude into his own movies. He never let a lack of experience or knowledge hold him back. And he found that doing things for real on camera was often faster and cheaper than using any other method. So even though now he's armed with far larger budgets,

• 19:57Lindsay Graham?

  he hasn't changed his ways much. When Landis made The Blues Brothers, the production team strapped a Ford Pinto to a helicopter and dropped it from 1,400 feet. The movie had more high-speed chases, mass pileups, and near misses than any other in history, and it was almost all done for real. So when it came time to shoot Twilight Zone the movie, it was no surprise that Landis decided to do as much as possible on set. It would be safer for the production to use dummies or stunt people instead of the two small children. It would be safer to capture certain shots in the controlled environment of a studio or shoot the scenes during the day and make it look like night in post-production. But all these alternatives would take longer, cost more, and look worse than simply doing it for real.

• 20:42Lindsay Graham?

  And that's why in the early hours of July 23, 1982, Renee Chen and Mika Din Lee are having their final makeup applied while a huge helicopter waits nearby and a special effects team crawls over the set rigging it with explosives. As well as the three mortars at the foot of the cliffs, there are two large mortars farther downriver from the village. These will form a fiery backdrop for the final shot of Vic Morrow carrying the children across the river. But John Landis has decided that it's still not big enough for the climax he has in mind. He wants more explosions among the bamboo huts themselves. So he has a long talk with his experienced special effects supervisor, Paul Stewart. Landis's first idea is to place a mortar beneath one of the traditional Vietnamese

• 21:26Lindsay Graham?

  flat-bottomed boats they've got moored in the river beside the village. But Stewart points out that that would risk throwing debris into the air and endangering the helicopter. After further discussion, they decide the best solution is to place explosives around one of the shacks on set, a bamboo platform that stands on four legs and straddles the shoreline. A powerful 18-inch square mortar is positioned beneath the shack. Another cylindrical mortar is added outside it. Both are angled away from the structure, and Stewart doesn't believe that they'll be strong enough to cause any damage to the shack itself. So in his mind, the helicopter shouldn't be affected at all either. Still, pilot Dorsey Wingo should be informed of these new additions. And shortly before filming is scheduled to begin, he tours the village with special effects expert Stewart.

• 22:15Lindsay Graham?

  Around them, the set designer's team is busy rearranging foliage and repairing the huts damaged in the earlier shots. As Wingo passes a man up the ladder, he calls up to him. Hey, now, you make sure to nail that bamboo down tight, all right? I don't want any stray debris flying around later. He glances at Stuart. They've all been told, right? They'll make sure everything is secure, Doris. Now you know about the three mortars by the cliff. Yeah, I remember those. Well, it's gonna be about the same thing again. Three mortars fired about a second apart. Stuart points out the positions of the mortars along the cliff. There they are. Bang, bang, bang. Right, okay. Well, I told John I'm gonna pull back a little farther from the cliff this time, about 12 feet. That should be enough to avoid any of the flames being sucked back down through the rotor system again. Okay, good.

• 22:59Lindsay Graham?

  But then you've got the two mortars downriver as well. They'll be detonated when Vic and the kids reach their mark. That's gonna be around a second after the first of the three explosions, depending on how fast he moves in the water. I don't think that'll be a problem. I'll be well clear of those. All right, great. So now, they're also thinking about setting off something in one of these huts. Stuart gestures to the shacks lining the shore. But Wingo immediately shakes his head. Oh, no, no, no, Paul. We've talked about this before. You can't do that. What, because of debris? Yeah. My airspace has to be kept clear at all times. I mean, look at this. Wingo wanders over to the nearest hut and grabs a small piece of muslin cloth that's hanging from the roof. I mean, see what I'm talking about? I'm sure you think this all looks nice or authentic or whatever, but once you set off

• 23:42Lindsay Graham?

  one of your mortars and this rips loose, it's gonna come into my air intake and create a compressor stall. It could even work its way into the tail rotor. I could bring the whole chopper down. Okay, Doris, okay. Wingo stuffs the muslin into his pocket. I need my airspace clear. So no mortars in these huts, right? Okay. Nothing where there's any risk of creating debris. Got it.

• 24:06Lindsay Graham?

  Paul Stewart does not tell pilot Dorsey Wingo directly about the mortars that are already in place, and he doesn't relay Wingo's warnings to the man on his FX team who will actually operate the explosives. This all means that as Wingo leaves set to prepare for the final shot of the night, he has no idea what he's about to fly into. By 2:15 a.m., there are six cameras ready to capture the scene at Indian Dunes: three on the ground, one on the cliff top, another on a tall crane across the river, and one in the helicopter. John Landis positions himself next to one of the cameras on the ground, on a narrow spit of sand that juts out into the river in front of the village. His cast and crew are all in position. Everything is ready, so wielding a white-handled bullhorn,

• 24:50Lindsay Graham?

  Landis crosses the water to give some last-minute direction to Vic Moro, Renee Chen, and Mika Din Lee. The three actors are waiting in position by the shore. Landis tells them that when they see him raise his megaphone above his head, Moro is to pick Renee and Mika up, then head straight toward the crane 100 feet away on the other side of the river. And once again, he's not to stop running until he hears the shout of "cut!" Landis splashes back through the water to his position on the sandy peninsula. Cameras get rolling, and the thump of the approaching helicopter grows louder and louder. Then comes the crack of the slate. Landis looks up as the helicopter moves into its position 35 feet above the river, where a flat-bottom boat bumps up and down as the rotor wash

• 25:33Lindsay Graham?

  churns up the water. It doesn't look right to Landis, so he shouts into his bullhorn for the chopper to come lower. A few moments later, the helicopter descends to just 24 feet, its nose pointing directly at Moro and the children on shore. Liking this position better, Landis then waves his megaphone in the air. Seeing his cue, Moro lifts up the children and runs into the ankle-deep water. Landis shouts "Fire!" and the machine guns on the helicopter open up, and the first three mortars by the cliff explode. Flames light up the night sky in red and orange. The stench of gasoline and gunpowder fills the air. As the mortars erupt, one by one, Moro powers his way across

• 26:14Lindsay Graham?

  the river with a child gripped under each arm. The helicopter and the explosions have stirred up a violent wind, and spray whips off the surface of the water. Moro squints and turns his head to protect his eyes, but just as instructed, he keeps moving forward. Above him, the chopper turns on its axis, keeping its searchlight trained on Moro and the children. And as its tail swings around, the small village shack directly below disappears in an enormous ball of flame. Landis watches in amazement and excitement as fire fills the air behind his actors. It's just like he pictured it, perfect. But suddenly, something seems wrong. In the river, Moro loses his footing and stumbles into the water.

• 26:58Lindsay Graham?

  At the same time, just 20 feet above his head, the helicopter shakes violently and then starts spinning. The searchlight on board swings wildly as the engine roars and whines. The helicopter is falling, whirling toward the water. Members of the crew on the ground abandon their equipment and run, but Moro can't find his feet quick enough in the muddy river to get out of the way. The helicopter lurches and pitches into the shallow water, and slowly, almost gently, it tilts onto its side, its main rotor blade still spinning, siding into the river and into Vic Moro and the children. Landis can't see them. He can't see anything with the enormous helicopter that has suddenly appeared right in front of him. For a moment, he doesn't understand what's happened.

• 27:42Lindsay Graham?

  He wonders what the helicopter is doing in his shop, and then he hears the screams.

• 27:51Speaker 06

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• 28:22Speaker 07

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• 29:04Speaker 07

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• 29:33Lindsay Graham?

  There were just under 10 seconds between the first mortar exploding on the Indian dune set and the helicopter crashing into the river. No one inside the chopper is badly hurt, but with the Huey now resting on its side in the shallow water, pilot Dorsey Wingo is left hanging from the straps of his seat. He releases himself in a panic, falling into Dan Allingham in the seat next to him. The others on board struggle to free themselves from their tangled restraints, but eventually they all manage to climb out. On set, it's chaos. Between the crew, production staff and visiting family and friends, there are well over 100 people standing around the Vietnamese village which is still on fire. Some of the onlookers can only stare in disbelief at what they've just seen.

• 30:16Lindsay Graham?

  Others shout out in horror or cry out for ambulances. But there's no phone on set, so the location manager has to run to his car and speed away down the dirt track toward the highway to call for help. No one can see Vic Moro, Renee Chan or Mika Din Lee. When the chopper crashed, its spinning blades kicked up an enormous sheet of water. When it fell away, the three people in the river were simply gone. Now dozens of people scramble into the river to help look for them. Special Effects Supervisor Paul Stewart is among those hurrying toward the helicopter when he trips over something in the water. He looks down and realizes to his horror that he's found Vic Morrow.

• 30:57Lindsay Graham?

  Stewart has never seen a dead body before, let alone one missing a head. Not knowing what else to do, he grabs onto the torso to stop it floating away. A few yards away is Fire Safety Officer Jack Tice. He rushed up to the village set when he saw the helicopter go down, and now he finally learns about the children working illegally on the movie by finding seven-year-old Mika's head in the water. He pins it between his legs until someone can bring him a bag, and he scoops it up and gently carries it to the bag. Meanwhile, others have located six-year-old Renee and are desperately trying to resuscitate her, but she's been crushed beneath the skids of the huge helicopter.

• 31:39Lindsay Graham?

  The aircraft weighs over 6,000 pounds, and it's soon clear that Renee is already dead. The remains of the three actors are laid out on the shoreline, one by one. Almost total silence descends on the Twilight Zone set, until the only sound piercing the night is the desperate, grieving wail of Renee Chen's mother. Slowly, people begin to drift away. The crew packs up the valuable equipment and puts out the remaining fires still smoldering among the huts. Those who were in the helicopter are taken to the local hospital. Film's director, John Landis, is in shock, and he's driven away by producer George Folsy along with Renee and Mika's parents. So by the time Police Sergeant Thomas Budds arrives just after 4:00 a.m., there's almost

• 32:24Lindsay Graham?

  no one left at Indian Dunes. Budds was on the night shift at the L.A. County Sheriff's Office when he heard the call about the accident come in. With uniformed officers now securing the set, Budds makes his first appearance on the scene. Dawn is still more than an hour away, so he walks through the deserted village by flashlight. He crosses the river and picks his way through the debris of the burned-out huts. The sharp smell of smoke and fuel catches in his throat. Reaching the cliff at the back of the set, he plays his light across the rock face towering above him. It's scorched black where the three mortars were ignited. The marks extend so far up the cliff, Budz can hardly imagine how big the explosions must have been.

• 33:06Lindsay Graham?

  Turning around, he then heads back to the water and slowly circles the hulking metal carcass of the fallen helicopter. Beyond it, on the sandy peninsula that juts out into the river, he spots a discarded white old horn. A few feet away, a chair with Vic Morrow stenciled on the back lies in the mud. There's a piece of metal embedded in the ground beside it. It looks like part of the helicopter's rotor. Noting everything down, Budz moves on to the bodies of the victims. The two children have been covered in blankets. He peeks underneath, then takes a look inside the two plastic bags that lie next to them. These contain Vic Morrow and Mika Din Lee's heads. Budz grimaces and quickly covers them back up.

• 33:50Lindsay Graham?

  Right now Budz is still treating this as an industrial accident, a workplace tragedy. But he's got his eyes open. He knows some sort of mistake lies behind most incidents like this. What he has to work out is whether whatever's happened here amounts to a crime. As hazy, early dawn light seeps over the horizon, Budz is joined by investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, as well as other local and federal outfits. The bodies of the three victims are taken away for autopsies. The helicopter and the charge set are all photographed. But as the forensics team continues its work in the village, Sergeant Budz grows increasingly frustrated. He wants to start gathering witness statements right away while memories are still fresh.

• 34:34Lindsay Graham?

  But with so few people left on set, he's struggling to find anyone to talk to. Then he hears from one of the deputies that the helicopter's pilot, Dorsey Wingo, is already out of the hospital. Immediately Budz asks him to bring him back to set. When Wingo arrives a short time later, he's wearing a neck brace over his flight suit but otherwise seems unharmed, and he's happy to answer Budz's questions about the accident.

• 35:01Lindsay Graham?

  The two men stand beside the river, close to the wrecked chopper. Wingo shakes his head. I knew there was gonna be explosions, of course, but I knew nothing about their exact location, other than where they'd been before. I had no idea that someone would be setting off blasts directly underneath me, for instance. I see, and that's normal, is it? A movie involving explosive effects like this? I can't really say, to be honest with you. And why's that? Well, as a matter of fact, I've not worked with special effects like this before. Okay, but you still realize it was potentially dangerous, right? I mean, explosions near a helicopter? Yeah, you don't need to be an aviation expert to work that out. I knew, everyone knew. And I said it, all the blasts were close enough to concern me, but I was told the folks on the ground were at the top of their game, the best in the business.

• 35:46Lindsay Graham?

  So you figured they knew what they were doing? Well, yes, sir, I did. Buzz nods, and then turns to point at the cliff. So you say there were three explosions at the back of the village? Yeah, I was expecting those ones, but then came the real humdinger. A fireball, right underneath me, physically rocked the aircraft. After that, things just went downhill. I couldn't figure out what was wrong at first. I lost anti-torque control, and we started spinning. God, everything happened so fast, I couldn't stop it. The impact was hard, and from that point, it was just a mad scramble to get out of the bird. Wingo looks at the sad remains of his chopper, still sitting in the water, and then the blackened and burned-out huts on the opposite shore. Well, they told me they were gonna blow up the village, and I guess they did, right out from under me.

• 36:33Lindsay Graham?

  This interview with Dorsey Wingo leaves Sergeant Thomas Buzz with more questions than answers. He knows he needs to talk to director John Lannister, to the movie's producer George Folesi, and to the many other witnesses as well. He wants to understand how this could have happened, and who could have allowed young children to work on such a dangerous set. But by the time he leaves Indian Dunes only a few hours later, there's one thing Buzz isn't questioning: This was not just an accident. This is more than a workplace tragedy. This is a criminal case.

• 37:08Lindsay Graham?

  From Wondery, this is episode three of The Twilight Zone Accident for American Scandal. In our next episode, the investigation into the three deaths at Indian Dunes leads to criminal charges for the filmmakers and a reckoning with Hollywood's attitude towards safety on movie sets.

• 37:27Lindsay Graham?

  Follow American Scandal on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes of American Scandal ad-free by joining Audible. And to find out more about me and my other projects, including my live stage show coming to a theater near you, go to notthatlindseygraham.com. That's notthatlindseygraham.com.

• 37:50Lindsay Graham?

  If you'd like to learn more about the accident on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie, we recommend the book Special Effects by Ron Lebrecht and Outrageous Conduct by Stephen Harper and Mark Green. This episode contains reenactments and dramatized details. And while in most cases, we can't know exactly what was said, all our dramatizations are based on historical research. American Scandal is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham, for Airship. Audio editing by Jake Sampson. Sound design by Gabriel Ghul. Music by Thrum. This episode is written and researched by William Simpson. Fact checking by Alyssa Jung Perry. Managing producer Emily Burr. Development by Stephanie Jens. Senior producer Andy Beckerman. Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Jenny Lauer Beckman and Marshall Louie for Wondery.

• 38:42Speaker 08

  Hey, I'm Cassie DePecce, the host of Against the Odds from Audible Originals. In each episode, we share thrilling true stories of survival, putting you in the shoes of the people who lived to tell the tale. In our latest series, we track the story of Hugh Glass, the real-life revenant that inspired the 2015 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In 1823, Glass was brutally mauled by a grizzly bear in present-day South Dakota and left for dead. His survival depended on trekking through 350 miles of wilderness alone with grave injuries. But he was driven by his thirst for revenge. Follow Against the Odds wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Against the Odds early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.