ABC airs the eighth episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, based on Jeff Rice’s novel and the 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker, starring Darren McGavin. Richard Kiel guest stars. 
A series of mysterious high-society deaths coincide with the theft of valuable gems and jewelry. Kolchak and the police arrive at a jewelry exchange robbery and witness a 7′ tall Amerindian, accompanied by an unseen coyote, who casually swats aside the officers then mysteriously disappears over the edge of the rooftop. The reporter identifies the Indian from a museum display as a “diablero,” a Hopi medicine man with the ability to hypnotize his prey and change into a crow or coyote. According to legend, one medicine man was cursed to roam the world on an eternal quest to collect a hoard of jewelry. The source of his power is his eyes, through which he can control the world. Bright lights can deprive him of his powers, while only the power of his own gaze can destroy him. Tracking the diablero to the empty top floor of a skyscraper, Kolchak must use a mirror to defeat the medicine man before it can kill him.
written by L. Ford Neale & John Huff
directed by Alex Grasshoff
music by Jerry FieldingCast: Darren McGavin (Carl Kolchak), Simon Oakland (Tony Vincenzo), Ramon Bieri (Captain Joe Baker), Richard Kiel (The Diablero), Alice Ghostley (Dr. Agnes Temple), Victor Jory (Charles Rolling Thunder), Jack Grinnage (Ron Updyke), David Lewis (Auctioneer), Marvin Kaplan (Delgado), Ruth McDevitt (Emily Cowles), James Griffith (Schwartz), Dennis McCarthy (Ballistics Man), Morris Buchanan (Guard), Keith Walker (1st Reporter), Madilyn Clark (Hostess)
Notes: Richard Kiel makes his first of two appearances as a Night Stalker monster. Actor Ramon Bieri plays a police captain in a later episode (Legacy Of Terror) but has a different name.
LogBook entry by Steve Crowe