The original “The Twilight Zone,” created by Rod Serling, is renowned for its twist endings that have left audiences stunned and contemplative since the show’s inception. Here are six of the best twist endings, ranked:

6.”Time Enough at Last” – Season 1, Episode 8

A bookworm Henry Bemis survives a nuclear apocalypse and finally finds the time to read without interruptions. The ending delivers a cruel twist when his glasses break, leaving him unable to indulge in his passion for reading amidst humanity’s ruins.

5.”The Masks” – Season 5, Episode 25

In this episode, a wealthy dying man forces his greedy family to wear masks that reflect their worst personality traits during Mardi Gras if they want to inherit his fortune. The twist comes when they remove the masks only to find their faces have contorted into hideous shapes mirroring the masks themselves.

4.”Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” – Season 2, Episode 28

After reports of a UFO sighting near a diner, we’re led to believe one of the customers is an alien. In a surprising reveal at the end, not only is one patron discovered to be a Martian with three arms, but the diner’s cook reveals himself to be a Venusian with three eyes on a mission to prevent the Martian from succeeding.

3.”To Serve Man” – Season 3, Episode 24

Extraterrestrials come to Earth with seemingly good intentions and a book titled “To Serve Man.” The humans eventually discover to their horror that it’s not a manifesto of servitude but rather a cookbook, as one of the characters famously cries out: “It’s a cookbook!”

2.”Eye of the Beholder” – Season 2, Episode 6

This iconic episode delicately plays on our perceptions of beauty. After multiple surgeries to look normal and remove her facial deformity, the bandages come off revealing a beautiful woman according to our standards. The doctors and nurses are revealed as bizarrely pig-faced people who consider her appearance repulsive.

1.”The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” – Season 1, Episode 22

What starts as an exploration of power outage paranoia turns into an examination of human nature’s susceptibility to fear and mob mentality. The end reveals that aliens have indeed been manipulating events, commenting that all they need to do is introduce a simple problem and watch as humans destroy themselves through distrust and hysteria.

These episodes showcase how “The Twilight Zone” masterfully played with expectations providing not just entertainment, but also delivering profound commentary on human nature and society.