Late Night with the Devil

In the midst of 1970s America, a time of cultural and social upheaval, the television landscape was dominated by the rise of late-night talk shows. Among these was "The Eddie Mitchell Show", a popular program hosted by charismatic and irreverent comedian Eddie Mitchell. The show, which aired from a dark, imposing Manhattan studio, was a sensation, known for its edgy humor and exposure of current events. However, nothing could have prepared the audience for the catastrophe that unfolded on that fateful evening of November 1977. The live broadcast was going smoothly, with Eddie delivering his signature wit and charm to a packed studio audience. Guest stars were well-received, and the show's resident band, the hypnotic "Night Starseekers", had just finished a rousing performance of their latest single. The cameras panned to the iconic couch, where Eddie sat with a beautiful and charming actress, Carol Anne, who was about to reveal some fascinating details from her new film. But just as the conversation was gaining momentum, something strange began to happen. Unbeknownst to the audience, a production assistant, Jerry, had been on set for several hours that night, fiddling with some mysterious equipment in the studio's bowels. A conspiracy theorist at heart, Jerry was an amalgamation of various characteristics from various 1970s icons, a combination of Allan from "The Conversation", Rick from "Animal House", but ultimately, he was uniquely himself, perhaps a key figure we never really got the feel of. Unbeknownst to the rest of the crew, Jerry had tampered with a few key components of the show's broadcast signal, feeding select wavelengths of radio frequency interference (RFI) to an off-the-air broadcast frequency. Unbeknownst to all involved, that frequency had previously been used in demonology, bringing forth unforgivable demons who are just short of the real demons, on previous nights. Although they had always lived parallel to, yet invisible to human consciousness they were always on the outskirts of society, never able to fully participate in civilization. What unfolded on that TV show came as a mix of pure unplanned, chaotic violence and a calculated choice from the demonic entities that have moved to reclaim control and govern as much of the world as they can by dark means. A churning, swirling, void-like entity materialised behind the couch, emitting an otherworldly scream that shattered studio mirrors and shocked onlookers into silence. The very fabric of reality seemed to rip apart as the entity conjured an army of swirling demons to swarm the stage. Their twisted forms danced within strobe-like dissonance from fractured studio lights, a spectacle of chaotic abandon. Panic raged as crew members scrambled to comprehend what was happening, on an already late-night schedule that for once in an eternity needed a reason to wait even a minute longer. Actress Carol Anne, whose dark past laced with bizarre mysteries hinted at a connection to Jerry and his late-night chat show mayhem, grabbed her bag and made a run for the exit amidst pandemonium. Though she would make it that night to tell us the facts of that dread incident, she never again experienced the freedom of an unfettered night out. Convinced she walked straight into 'the zone', they say demons after that date could occasionally spot her. Eddie Mitchell watched, petrified and dumbstruck, his studio ablaze with unholy light, as reality faltered. It's also worth noting Jerry would go missing, a victim, having once stumbled into too much temptation. He would walk on into nothingness following late nights.