Binghamton Remembers Rod Serling 50 Years After His Death

Residents of the Binghamton area have been visiting the statue honoring Rod Serling 50 years after The Twilight Zone creator died.

The six-foot statue in Recreation Park on the city's West Side was unveiled last September. It stands in the southeast section of the park, just a short distance from Serling's childhood home on Bennett Avenue.

Although Serling was born in Syracuse, he considered Binghamton to be his hometown.

The legendary television writer and producer died at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester on June 28, 1975. He was 50 years old.

Serling had undergone heart surgery two days before his death.

At the time of his death, he was residing in Seneca County. He made frequent visits to Binghamton to speak at various events.

In her book "As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling," his daughter Anne recalled that she last saw her father in the Rochester hospital, three days before he died.

Anne wrote: "He was just fifty years old, I barely twenty."

In the book, Anne Serling observed that "driving back to his hometown was a pilgrimimage my dad took every summer until his death. I recognized that these visits re-centered my dad."

Rod Serling fans will gather again in Binghamton in a few months for the annual SerlingFest. It will be held from September 19 to 21.

WNBF NEWS VIDEO: We returned to Recreation Park to remember the place that inspired much of what Rod Serling brought the world in The Twilight Zone.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com or call (607) 545-2250. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.