Charlie Farnsworth is the main antagonist of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street", the 22nd episode of The Twilight Zone's first season, which aired in 1960. He is a paranoid man who unwittingly served the aims of the alien invaders by creating mass panic in the neighborhood of Maple Street, which resulted in a bloody riot.
Charlie Farnsworth was portrayed by the late Jack Weston. In the 2003 remake of the episode, titled "The Monsters Are on Maple Street", Charlie's role was filled by a character named Dylan.
Biography[]
By the early 1960s, Charlie Farnsworth and his wife lived in Maple Street, a small neighborhood somewhere in the United States, knowing many neighbors by name and living there for at least 3 years. One day, at precisely 6:43 PM, Charlie was pruning a tree in his front yard when what looked like a meteor zoomed by overhead, creating a loud roaring sound and flashing lights, but there was no sound of impact. Then, all power, gas, radio signals, and phone lines in the community were cut off, confusing everyone. An elderly man named Pete Van Horn decided to investigate the next street, Floral Street, walking out the neighborhood.
Several neighbors assembled together in the street, including Charlie, who pointed out that the outage couldn't have been due to a storm, as there were no clouds around. Charlie then proposed going to the police, but then thought that it wasn't necessary for a simple power failure. However, fellow neighbor Steve Brand realized that a simple power outage didn't explain the cut phone lines, and the loss of radio signals. Steve then tried to drive for help, but found that his car was unable to start, despite having just been filled with gas. With that, Steve and Charlie decided to just walk downtown, but as they turned to leave, a young boy named Tommy urged them not to go, saying that 'they' wouldn't let anyone leave, revealing that he read many comic books where a complete power and communication shutoff was a prelude to an alien invasion. Charlie and Steve tried to leave again, but Tommy protested again, saying that in the stories, the only people who could leave were alien agents disguised as humans who were planted in the settlements. Steve asked him to clarify, and Tommy said how the comic book aliens sent aliens who resembled a typical human family, unnerving the townsfolk.
Steve laughed it off, and Charlie decided it was no use to joke about it, wondering if Pete returned. Then, before they could try leaving again, a man named Les Goodman, Charlie's neighbor, tried to start his car, only for it to start on its own when he walked away from it, shocking everyone. The neighbors suddenly became suspicious of Les, one pointing out that Les didn't come outside to see the passing meteor, making Charlie note that Les and his family were real 'oddballs.' The townsfolk then decided to question Les, and began running over to him, until Steve ordered them to not make a mob. Walking over to Les, the car suddenly turned off, and Les asked what was going on. A neighbor noted that Les' car was the only device on the street to start, and Charlie called for an explanation, the other townsfolk joining in. Les protested, saying he didn't know why it started, and Steve explained the situation. A neighbor suddenly asked for Les to explain something, but cut herself off. Steve tried to diffuse the situation, but Charlie interrupted and asked the woman to continue, making her admit that she saw Les stand in his yard in the very early morning, as if watching or waiting for something. Les claimed he had insomnia and just stargazed in the morning, and angrily told the townsfolk that they were starting up a nightmare.
Still suspicious, Charlie had the other neighbors keep a watch around Les' house as the sky went dark, Charlie sitting on his lawn to do so. His wife soon brought him a jacket and a drink, saying it was wrong to spy on the Goodmans, as they had been neighbors for three years. Charlie claimed that someone who acted like Les did was worthy of suspicion and had something wrong with them, saying the circumstances weren't 'normal' enough to let it slide. Steve and Les talked, both believing the situation was just madness, but Charlie yelled that Steve had best watch who he met with, as Steve was also not beyond suspicion. A neighbor asked if all they were going to do was stand around all night, and Charlie responded that it was all they could do, saying that the aliens would show themselves sooner or later. Steve urged him to forget it and go to bed, but that made Charlie suspicious of Steve, yelling that Steve seemed anxious for the situation to blow over, prompting another neighbor, Don Martin, to reveal that Steve's wife was talking about strange things Steve was doing. Charlie urged the neighbor to continue, but Steve protested that Charlie might as well throw together an impromptu execution and investigate every small oddity and idiosyncrasy of everyone present. Don revealed that Steve had supposedly been building a ham radio that nobody has seen, making Charlie come up to Steve and demand he explain himself, asking who Steve was talking to with it. Steve, angered, sarcastically said that he was talking to aliens, but his wife interjected and claimed that it was a simple radio, but Steve refused to show it, telling Charlie to get a search warrant. Charlie tried to say that Steve couldn't afford to hide it, but Steve rebuked him and pointed out that Charlie and the others were just trying to assign blame somewhere, and that the situation would destroy them all.
Suddenly, the townsfolk heard footsteps approaching, and saw a shadowy humanoid figure approaching from down the street. In their fright, they all huddled together to see who it was, and Don retrieved a shotgun from his house. Steve quickly took it from him, not wanting to use violence, but Charlie ordered Steve to shut up, saying that Steve would just let the aliens walk over them, and took the shotgun from him, impulsively shooting the figure square in the chest. Charlie and the townsfolk then ran over to see that the figure was none other than Pete Van Horn, now dead, shocking Charlie, who tried to protest that he didn't know that the figure was Pete. Charlie struggled to keep defending himself, only for the lights in Charlie's house to turn on. The neighbors began to turn on Charlie, demanding to know why his house suddenly had power, realizing that Charlie was quick to kill and tell people to look out, figuring that Charlie himself was the alien spy, trying to deflect suspicion from himself. Charlie backed away while denying it, falling into a bush while insisting that somebody was playing a joke on him. Steve then grabbed him and asked how he could call murder a joke, but Charlie pushed him away and threw another neighbor to the ground, fleeing to his house, but a neighbor then threw a rock at him, striking the lamp above him, the shards making a deep gash on Charlie's head.
Charlie then stopped and desperately screamed that he knew who the real monster was, calling Tommy the alien, as Tommy was the first to suggest alien invaders, his accusation throwing the townsfolk into a frenzy and made them chase Tommy and his mother home, but suddenly, the lights of a house belonging to a man named Bob Weaver turned on, before the lights to Don Martin's house also turned on, and then the house of a family by the name of Williams, Charlie still screaming that Tommy was the alien, despite another man turning on him. Lights and appliances up and down the neighborhood then began rapidly turning on and off, making the neighbors accuse each other of being alien spies and spark a riot despite Steve's protests, grabbing weapons and beginning to attack each other. On a nearby hillside, the true aliens watched, Charlie's accusations against Tommy echoing over the scene. It is unknown what happened to Charlie Farnsworth, but it is possible that he was killed in the riot.
