The Monsters Are Due on Nantucket Island

Barry Brownstein  – January 5, 2021

Many consider the 1960 episode of the Twilight Zone “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” one of Rod Serling’s most astute social commentaries.

The story takes place during a late summer afternoon in small-town America. Children are playing; on front porches, adults are talking. Suddenly there is a shadow, a roar, and a flash of light. The residents assume they heard and saw a meteor. Yet, the power has gone out. Cars and lawnmowers won’t start. Radios and phones don’t work.

One neighborhood boy, Tommy, remembers the plot of a science-fiction story. In Tommy’s story an alien family lives among them as scouts for an invasion; the outages evidence an invasion is underway. The boy tells the adults, “They don’t want us to leave. That’s why they shut everything off.” Initially, the adults dismiss Tommy’s story, but a seed has been planted. 

Then one car starts by itself. Neighbors start talking about the idiosyncrasies of the car’s owner. The owner frequently looks at the sky at night. Is that evidence he is an alien? Accusations spread; mere inconsequential human differences are taken as evidence of being a dangerous alien. 

Neighbors begin to watch the homes of neighbors they suspect. 

Fear grips individuals, and a mob forms that is primed to stampede.

The mob focuses attention on homes where electricity is on. Fights break out. As lights and car engines go on at random, a riot ensues. Someone is shot dead.

The monsters have escaped the Twilight Zone and have come to tony Nantucket Island. Early in this Covid-19 crisis, the wealthy fled to Nantucket to escape the virus. Now cases on Nantucket are rising, and as on Maple Street, “residents are pointing the fingers at each other over who is to blame.” Some cast aspersions on the outsiders who swelled Nantucket’s population; others point fingers at those they know....................Read more