The Twighlight zone blog

The fact that a grandma is trying to get her five year old grand son to commit suicide so he can be with her in the afterlife is what makes long distance call a darker than average ghost story especially for the time period. For example he is talking to his dead grandmother on some messed up telephone he recieved from her when she was alive, then suddenly he jumps into the pond and almost dies. This proves my point because the kid is being lured to death by his grandmother so he can be with her in the after life. Also it's dark for the time period because in the nineteen sixties suicidal five year olds wasn't exactly the normal programming. Another example is before Billy jumps into the pond he jumps in front of a car and is nearly decapitated. When questioned by the driver Billy responded someone told me to. So since hes five and talks to not really anyone but his parents and the mysterious caller on the phone his grandmother is assumed to be the perpatrater. This shows again that his grandmother is trying to get him to die so they can be together. This is so dark because grandmothers are supposed to be the protectors of their grandchildren. The fact that the child is doing all these crazy things is another reason why this is so messed up, because grandmothers are supposed to love their grandchildren but when it gets to the point in which Billy feels she's the parent the relationship becomes unusual and unhealthy.