In which episode do aliens cause a small town to turn on itself?

The Twilight Zone episode in which aliens cause a small town to turn on itself is “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” After a strange flash and power failure, the residents of Maple Street begin suspecting one another of being alien agents. Ordinary details—an oddly behaving car, a homemade radio and unexplained lights—become supposed evidence.

Written by Rod Serling and directed by Ronald Winston, the episode originally aired on March 4, 1960, as the 22nd episode of the first season. The cast includes Claude Akins as Steve Brand, Barry Atwater as Les Goodman and young Jan Handzlik as Tommy, the boy who understands what may be happening.

The aliens barely need to intervene. They watch as fear, rumor and prejudice turn neighbors into a mob, revealing that social panic can do the invaders’ work for them. The closing scene makes the point explicit: the aliens move on to another neighborhood, while a human voice explains that the real monsters are the people themselves. A 2003 revival remake used a government experiment rather than aliens.