A Haunted House is Not a Home

A Haunted House is Not a Home
Details
Show	The Flintstones
Season	5
Episode number	121
Production number	P-121
Original airdate	October 29, 1964 (ABC)
Recording Date	April 21, 1964
Crew
Animated by	Lou Zukor Allen Wilzbach Rudy Cataldi John Sparey
Layout	Dick Bickenbach Jack Huber Don Sheppard
Background	Fernando Montealegre (known as F. Montealegre) Phil Lewis Rene Garcia
Written by	Alan Dinehart Herbert Finn
Chronology
Previous	"Cinderellastone"
Next	"Dr. Sinister"

"A Haunted House is Not a Home" is the seventh episode of the fifth season and the one hundred and twenty-first overall episode of the original series, The Flintstones. It aired on October 29, 1964.

Synopsis

Fred stands to inherit a mansion if he can spend a night there and survive multiple attempts on his life.

Plot

Fred receives a letter from a lawyer reporting the death of Fred's "kooky" uncle, J. Giggles Flintstone, the bachelor-recluse occupant of a Nightmare Hill mansion. Fred's presence at the reading at said mansion of Giggles' last will and testament is required by the lawyer, and naturally, Fred, believing that Giggles has bequeathed an extravagant inheritance to him, eagerly journeys to the Manor of Giggles with Wilma, Barney, and Betty on the prescribed thunder-stormy, Halloween-like evening to listen to the lawyer's reading of Giggles' final wishes.

Fred will inherit Giggles' entire estate, but a codicil "to wit" of Giggles' will stipulates that Fred must stay at Giggles' mansion for one night, lest the bequest be null and void. In the event that Fred dies or does not fulfill the requirement of the codicil, Giggles' wealth will be divided equally among his three morbid servants: Creepers, the butler, who carries a long and sharp knife; Potrock, the cook, diminutive but wielding a huge cleaver; and gardener Wormstone, whose clippers can snip through stone. This is the stage set for a paranoiac night of terror for Fred, who believes that the three servants want him dead.

Nonetheless, he is determined to qualify for Giggles' legacy and obliges Barney to join him in the none-too-pleasant task of nightly habitation in the creepy mansion. As though the servants are not daunting enough, an ear-piercing laugh reverberates through the mansion chambers and causes Fred and Barney's hair to stand on end, the eyes move on Giggles' portrait above the dinner table, and a phantom figure animates a knight costume and slings an arrow from a statue directly into Fred's butt.

Alphabet soup served to Fred and Barney by Potrock spells "beware," and the frightened pair forgo their meal, thinking that the soup is poisoned. Neither Fred nor Barney can sleep on a large bed, and when Barney says he desires twin beds, Potrock appears behind them from an opening in the wall and uses his cleaver to slice the bed in two. Fred and Barney flee the bedroom down the handrail of a stairwell and are attacked at the base of the stairs by the clippers operated by Wormstone. And so it goes.

Fred and Barney survive the night by hiding respectively in a stuffed animal wall ornament and large cuckoo clock, but when Fred rejoices at now being a worthy heir to Giggles' property, Giggles steps out of the portrait, very much alive, the source of the laughing through the night. He says that with the help of Creepers, Potrock, and Wormstone, he was testing Fred by the nocturnal frenzy of fright to determine if Fred has a sense of humor- a bona fide condition of his inheritance. Fred loses composure and, in a demented, chuckling rage, chases him with a cleaver and his servants out of the mansion. Wilma, Betty, and Barney were behind him to go after them, and then Wilma said, "Well, back to the poorhouse," and then they laughed in the end.

Characters

• Fred Flintstone
• Wilma Flintstone
• Barney Rubble
• Betty Rubble
• Pebbles Flintstone
• Bamm-Bamm Rubble
• Dino
• Hoppy
• Giggles Flintstone (only appearance)
• Blackstone (only appearance)
• Creepers, Potrock, and Wormstone (only appearance)
• Horace (only appearance)

Locations

Bedrock

• Flintstone home
• Giggles' Mansion (only appearance)

Objects

• Baseball
• Creeper's knife (only appearance)
• Wormstone's hedge clippers (only appearance)
• Potrock's cleaver (only appearance)
• Giggles' will (only appearance)
• Cuckoo clock
• Rock Bell Phone

Food

• Cookies
• Bronto-Bone
• Rockwheat Bread
• Alphabet soup (only appearance)

Animals

• Snorkasaurus
• Hopparoo
• Vulturedactyl
• Brontosaurus (as a Bronto-Bone)
• Turtlesaurus
• Batasaurus
• Saber-Toothed Cat (as a trophy)
• Hipposaurus (as a trophy)

Vehicles

• Flintmobile

Cast

Alan Reed	Fred Flintstone
Jean Vander Pyl	Wilma Flintstone Pebbles Flintstone
Mel Blanc	Barney Rubble Dino Wormstone
Gerry Johnson	Betty Rubble
Don Messick	Bamm-Bamm Rubble Hoppy Potrock Blackstone Cuckoo Bird
Hal Smith	Giggles Flintstone Horace Creepers

Notes/Trivia

• When Fred and Barney are served with alphabet soup for dinner, Barney's serving has the letters H and B on top, a nod to Hanna-Barbera.
• The title is based on the 1964 song "A House Is Not a Home," recorded by American singer Dionne Warwick and written by the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

Errors

• The back of Barney's chair gets cut in half, but a second later, it's intact.
• At night, the sky is covered with clouds, and there is lightning. Yet when Wilma and Betty leave, the sky is clear with stars while it's still storming where Fred and Barney are.
• After Fred pounds Barney on the head with his fist (for scaring him with loud gargling), Barney has 'normal' eyes with whites and pupils for a few seconds.
• When Wilma and Betty leave the house, you can see that there are two doors. However, when they return the next morning to pick up Fred and Barney, there is only one door.