ThroughoutSupernatural’s 15 seasons, there have been some truly terrifying episodes that make for the perfect rewatch during the Halloween season. When it comes toSam and Dean Winchester, every day is seemingly like living in a horror movie, where vampires, werewolves, and ghosts are normal adversaries to face and defeat. It’s hard to deny Sam and Dean’s aptitude for wielding guns and knives, but that just means when their foes get the better of them, it’s a lot more shocking.
Given the procedural nature ofSupernatural, it’s easy to jump into episodesand watch solely based on the monster of the week. So when looking for something scary to watch during the Halloween season, the easy answer might just be to turn on one of the manyscary episodes ofSupernatural. MostSupernaturalepisodes are all about 45 minutes, and there’s no unnecessary build-up or background audiences need to know before starting to watch.
10Thinman
Season 9, Episode 15
The later seasons ofSupernaturalare known for losing their scary quality. Instead of having many horrific attributes, there’d only be one or two episodes a season that sent chills through audiences. One of these episodes comes inSupernaturalseason 9, episode 15 “Thinman.”The episode bases its premise on the viral story of “Slenderman,“the faceless, tall man who often abducts, terrifies, and disorients his victims.Supernaturaltook the idea that Slenderman was a made-up internet meme and ran with it, posing the horrifying question of what if Slenderman was real.
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Often inSupernatural, it isn’t the episodes with scary supernatural beings that are scary—it’s when humans are the real perpetrators of these horrible acts. That’s the case in ”Thinman” as the mysterious being that killed three people including the Sheriff was actually two people working together to kill people who had wronged them in some way. The episode truly has some horrific and scary elements,but its connection to the real-life tragedy of the Slenderman murders and the cost of publicly lying can take on a person is the real horror.
9Roadkill
Season 2, Episode 16
“Roadkill” has all of the makings of a great horror film in only 40 minutes. There’s a creepy ghost who is hunting a pretty woman, Molly (Tricia Helfer), on the side of a highway in Nevada. This episode ofSupernaturalsees Molly get rescued on the side of the highway by Sam and Dean who promise to help Molly find her husband who had gone missing from their car.“Roadkill” expertly implements classic slasher movie elements,but like most things inSupernatural, not all is what it seems.
“Hammer of the Gods”
“Thinman”
Season 9
While there is still the angry ghost who tries to spill the guts out of his victim, the episode’s ending is worth the journey.Sam and Dean reveal to Molly that she had actually been the one to strike and kill the angry ghost Jonah Greely 15 years earlierand that every year on the anniversary of his death she appears and he hunts her, as she was also killed in the car wreck. It’s a heartbreaking ending, but Sam and Dean attempting to help Molly find peace is a wonderful ending.
8Everybody Loves a Clown
Season 2, Episode 2
There’s a reason why clowns are so often used to induce terror at haunted houses and in horror media, andSupernaturalproves that in the season 2 episode “Everybody Loves a Clown.” The episode is significant for many reasons inSupernaturallore, as it is the first time audiences are introduced to Ellen andJo Harvellefor the first time. Additionally, it was the first time audiences got to see Sam truly terrified of something—clowns.
It’s a running gag throughout the rest of the series, but seeing Sam being absolutely about to lose his cool in an elevator with a creepy murderous clown is equally hilarious and terrifying. “Everybody Loves a Clown” is a downright gruesome episode, withSam and Dean learning that a Hindu creature called a Rakshasa is pretending to be a clown in a circusand is befriending young children so that it can enter their homes and eat their parents.
7No Exit
Season 2, Episode 6
There is nothing quite as terrifying as something that is based on real people and events. “No Exit” sees Sam and Dean Winchester assisting Jo Harvelle on a case in a Chicago apartment building where young blonde women have been going missing. It’s seen that a black, tar-like substance is taking these women away and seemingly killing them. It’s later revealed that the ghost behind these murders and kidnappings is the ghost of real-life serial killer H.H. Holmes.
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The fact that the ghost of Holmes captured his victims by utilizing the pipes in the apartment building is terrifying,and the scenes with Jo in the sewers trying to resist Holmes long enough for Sam and Dean to get to her can make anyone’s heart race. All of this paired with the icky black ectoplasm seen throughout the episode is enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine. While not the most outright terrifying episode, “No Exit” certainly plays on the fears of young single women.
6The Benders
Season 1, Episode 15
“The Benders” is a pretty important episode ofSupernaturalbecause it was the first time the“monster of the week” wasn’t a monster, but instead a real human—which is much more terrifying. There’s something to be said about how terrifying things like vampires and werewolves can be, especially inSupernatural, but it seems that more often than not, it’s the episodes where humans are the real monsters that are the most terrifying.Supernaturalproved that early on with their 15th-ever episode “The Benders.”
Not only that but this family also consume their prey—as in hunting and then cooking the humans they kidnap.
Audiences learn that the title of the episode “The Benders” actually refers to a family who kidnaps and then hunts humans for sport.Not only that but this family also consume their prey—as in hunting and then cooking the humans they kidnap. When Sam is one of the men who go missing, Dean is dead set on finding and rescuing his brother. Joining forces with the local sheriff, Sam and Dean eventually escape with the three men of the Bender family inadvertently either killing one another or being killed by the Sheriff.
5Provenance
Season 1, Episode 19
While fans ofSupernaturalmay remember “Provenance” as the episode that introduced Sam Winchester’s first love interest after the death of Jessica in theSupernaturalpilot, as well as when Sam delivered the iconic line,“Who doesn’t have salt? Low-sodium freaks!”the episode is very creepy. The plot of the episode sees multiple people murdered after acquiring an old painting. What’s especially creepy about this episode is thatSam and Dean burn the painting, thinking that is what is tying this murderous ghost to the real world; however, in true horror movie fashion, the painting magically reappears the next day.
The Winchester brothers believe that the murderous ghost is the father depicted in the painting, as his facial features keep changing in the painting, though it’s later revealed that it was the adopted daughter who was the one who killed her whole family and blamed it on her adoptive father. The showdown between the murderous little girl and Sam is super entertaining, and it’s only heightened by Dean rushing to burn a doll that still had some of the little girl’s hair on it. If anything, this episode will keep audiences away from any antique art shows for a while.
4Bloody Mary
Season 1, Episode 5
“Bloody Mary” was based on the old folklore legend that young people would do to conjure the spirit of a woman named Mary who then would kill whoever spoke her name three times. Audiences can see this same thing happen at the beginning of the episode but with a gory twist. In the episode, anyone who conjures the spirit ofSupernatural’s “Bloody Mary"bleeds from their eyes as they are confronted with the fact that they were responsible for someone’s death. While those murders are gory and have great direction using mirrors, that isn’t the scariest aspect of the episode.
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The scariest part of “Bloody Mary” comes at the end of the episode when Sam is used as bait to defeat the spirit.Dean smashes the mirror that Mary appears in, but she then crawls out of the mirror,which is reminiscent ofThe Exorcistand is a skin-crawling image. All the mirrors that surround Mary after she crawls out of the mirror force her to see herself as a murderer and cause her to self-destruct. This paired with the reveal that Sam had a premonition about Jess’ death added to the overall story thatSupernaturalwas trying to tell.
3Family Remains
Season 4, Episode 11
“Family Matters” has gone down as one of the most horrific episodes in all ofSupernatural, and it’s certainly worth a watch if someone is looking for an episode that is equal in that it horrifies and will mess with one’s mind. “Family Matters” could be compared toThe Conjuring, but somehow, scarier. The episode sees the Carter family moving into a home where previously a man named Bill Gibson was found murdered in a room locked from the inside. Despite Sam and Dean trying to dissuade the Carters from moving into the house, they move in anyway.
It’s later revealed that Bill Gibson had raped his own daughter who faked her death after giving birth to her son who was helping her on her murder spree.
The episode becomes terrifying when a girl emerges from the wall and starts playing with the youngest Carter child, Danny. The two form a bond and she tells Danny that he can stay but that she doesn’t like adults. When Kate Carter wakes up to something licking her hand, Sam and Dean rush in and get into a salt circle, which the girl can walk through, proving she’s human. It’s later revealed that Bill Gibson had raped his own daughter who faked her death after giving birth to her son who was helping her on her murder spree. Downright horrifying.
2Hook Man
Season 1, Episode 7
In a truly scary episode ofSupernaturalSam and Dean investigate a murder by the “Hook Man” a local legend of Reverend Jacob Karns who had killed prostitutes in the 1800s. Karns has a stump for his hand, which he attached a hook to so he could murder his victims. The scenes where the spirit of Karns stalks and then kills his prey are unsettling. Not only is the opening scene where a college boy named Rich is found murdered and hanging upside down scary, but the worst murder isn’t even seen on screen.
When the Reverend’s daughter Lori returns to her dorm room at night she goes to bed without turning on the light so she doesn’t wake up her roommate. However, when she wakes up in the morning,Lori’s roommate is dead and the words“Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?”are written in blood on the wall.The scene is beyond creepy and will haunt audiences as they go to bed. That paired with the creepy visuals of the Hook Man makes this an all-timescary episode ofSupernatural.
1Scarecrow
Season 1, Episode 11
“Scarecrow” is just one instance ofSupernaturalshowing pagan gods as being realand requiring human sacrifice. The said scarecrow seen in the episode is just what Dean calls it—“fugly.”But it’s the sickle in his hand that is intimidating more than anything. When Dean learns that the people of the town mess with one visiting couple’s car a year and “fatten” them up before sending them on their way so that their car would break down just outside of the orchard where the scarecrow will find and kill them.
After Dean helps the couple escape, the townspeople decide to use him as the sacrifice, though Dean knows what needs to be done to take down the Vanir, aka the Scarecrow.The image of the scarecrow missing from his perch is enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine,but the image of the sickle killing two of the townspeople might put a damper on some people’s apple-picking plans.Supernaturalhas a bunch of scary episodes, but if someone isn’t looking to commit to an hours-long film, some options will still give people their scare during the Halloween season.
Supernatural
Cast
Supernatural is a television series that follows brothers Sam and Dean Winchester, who were raised by their father to hunt and combat supernatural entities after losing their mother to a demonic force. Traversing the American landscape in their ‘67 Chevy Impala, they face numerous paranormal threats.
