One of the greatest TV Western episodes ever. Little Joe is near an old ghost town when he gets robbed and shot on the way to buy some cows with $2000 in cash.
He wakes up in Martinville, where the town mayor and his daughter are taking care of him, and everyone wants to be his friend. Joe says he has never met so many nice people. Is it because they are ghosts that need someone to break the curse that ties them to the dead town? Is Little Joe in the Twilight Zone? This episode aired during the time when The Twilight Zone was at the top of the TV charts, and very popular. It seems like Bonanza was trying to get some of that too.
It is hard to mention any details without giving away the story. Suffice to say that it builds up very nicely, and there are warnings, but after a while Little Joe just puts his own life on the line, which is what the ghost town needs. He can either be the hero or their sacrificial goat, as the dead sheriff's wife tells Little Joe.
There are a lot of thoughtful nuances and different ways to explain what the curse was on the town, or if there was a curse, or if Little Joe was in a mystical ghost world because he was near death, or just hallucinating. Lots to think about. Lots of good TV actors are in this episode, and they play their roles well.