As of this writing, Supernatural still proudly holds the title of being the longest-running The CW show, as well as the longest-running fantasy series in the history of American television. First airing in 2005, the show ran for a whopping 15 seasons and followed brothers Sam and Dean Winchester as they saved people and hunted things—their family business—and amassed millions of fans across the globe. Throughout its fifteen-year run, the show is best known for its recurring references and odes to actual urban legends and famous ghouls, in addition to countless tear-jerkers and spine-tingling tales.
In light of spooky season coming up, we’ve listed down a couple of some of Supernatural’s most iconic and terrifying episodes for you to binge.
‘Hook Man’ (season 1, episode 7)
Supernatural’s early seasons were memorable for the Winchester brothers’ monster-of-the-week formats and takes on classic urban legends. Among its earliest dives into these chilling myths involves the age-old Hook Man legend.
Set in a quiet college town in Iowa, the episode opens with (as one would expect) a date. Lori, the town preacher’s shy daughter, is out on her very first date with the most popular guy on campus, who, upon hearing odd scraping noises outside of their car, goes out to investigate only to end up dead and hanging over the roof of the said car from a tree branch—true to Hook Man fashion. This is, of course, the beginning of what would be a series of kills, which calls the attention of the Winchester brothers who set off and find the remains of the infamous Hook Man to burn them and end his rampage.
‘The Kids Are Alright’ (season 3, episode 2)
This one is absolutely a favorite. The episode features Dean badgering Sam for them to go to Indiana to investigate a string of strange deaths … and to check on an old flame of his, Lisa Braeden.
Upon reuniting with Lisa, they discover that she has a son that oddly resembles Dean, which makes for a great subplot because later on. The boy ends up missing and the brothers are faced with a demonic parasite that appears to be taking kids while masked as humans.
‘Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things’ (season 2, episode 4)
The Winchester brothers visit their mother’s grave in this episode, which proves to be sentimental for Sam, but entails a ton of repressed feelings for Dean. The visit, true to just the way things are with the Winchesters, leaves the brothers stumbling upon an interesting case.
As Sam pays his respects to their mom, Dean stands outside the cemetery’s outskirts and notices a dying tree inside a dead area of grass that has somehow formed a perfect circle: the tell-tale signs of unholy ground. The investigation leads them to a case involving necromancy. In other words, a zombie.
‘Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid’ (season 5, episode 15)
The community of Sioux Falls finds themselves reuniting with reanimated loved ones. The scariness of this episode comes from the gradual shift in the zombies’ behavior. One minute people are celebrating with their loved ones—poor Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) gets to briefly reunite with his wife—and the next they are seen as meat.
‘Roadkill’ (season 2, episode 16)
Often noted for being one of the best episodes from Supernatural’s second season, “Roadkill” is another classic ghost story. In this episode, we follow a woman named Molly and her husband, David, as they celebrate their anniversary. Out on a lonely road, Molly happens to hit a man and lose control of their car.
When she wakes up, David is gone but the man she supposedly hit is there and out to get her. The Winchesters reveal to her later on that the man isn’t what he appears to be and is actually a highway ghost that appears on that road every year to exact his revenge on the person who killed him. Although scary in all the right places, this episode also has heartwarming moments that’ll leave you missing the show’s early days.
‘Playthings’ (season 2, episode 11)
If you absolutely hate dolls then this episode will be the perfect scare for you. In fact, Jensen Ackles himself admitted in a 2017 interview that it’s among the show’s episodes that still creeps him out.
“Negative on the vintage dolls. You know it’s not like it creeps me out—no, it does. Full-on,” Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester, shared. “My wife decided to buy one years ago and just set it up in various places in the house and would move it. I mean, I know she was doing it but she still got me. Lovely wife.”
To add to the creep factor, the episode is set in a haunted hotel whose owners are getting ready to pack up and move. The owner’s daughter is seen throughout the episode playing with her dolls and an imaginary friend who later on turns out to not be so imaginary after all.
‘Jus in Bello’ (season 3, episode 12)
It’s a bloody good time when Ruby (Katie Cassidy) shows up throughout season 3. The episode follows Dean, Sam, and a group of folks in a police station trying not to die when demons show up to murder them all. The concept that almost nobody can be trusted because they can be possessed at nearly any time is horrifying. We also learn that the all-powerful demon Lilith is behind the town’s insanity.
‘The Benders’ (season 1, episode 15)
“The Benders” is regarded by most fans as among the show’s scariest episodes, and Jensen Ackles himself also agrees. He’s listed the episode as among those that stuck with him.
“The reason that [“The Benders”] always kind of stuck with me is because it wasn’t a monster. It was real people. It was humans doing very bad things. That for me personally could be much more real as opposed to a Chupacabra,” he explained. And I very much agree with that.
In the episode, we see the Winchester brothers visit the area because it had been marked by their father as a possible site of a “phantom abductor”, due to its higher-than-average disappearance rates over the years. What they discovered, though, was much more sinister.
‘No Exit’ (season 2, episode 6)
“No Exit” is memorable for being the episode containing the infamous H.H. Holmes ghost and the one where Jo Harvelle (SOBS) celebrated her first hunt, much to her mother Ellen’s disappointment. The episode is premised on a creepy old apartment building where six young women—all blondes—have disappeared for the past eighty years. The disappearances occur every decade or so, leaving the cops in the dark as to the pattern.
‘Fresh Blood’ (season 3, episode 7)
Vampires were at their scariest during the early seasons of Supernatural. This episode follows Dean and Sam, who are stuck dealing with rogue hunter Gordon Walker (Sterling K. Brown) again after he’s turned into a vampire. It explores disturbing themes regarding women being preyed upon, and later Gordon’s attack on Sam is genuinely scary to watch. The feeling of helplessness is ever present throughout which adds to the fear of the episode.
‘Provenance’ (season 1, episode 19)
Yet another episode that features a freaky haunted object. “Provenance” follows a young couple who are murdered after purchasing an old painting of a family from the early 1910s. Upon further research into the portrait’s provenance, Sam and Dean learn that everyone who has ever owned the painting was murdered, leaving the brothers racing to find out who the violent spirits will claim next.
‘Bloody Mary’ (season 1, episode 5)
Another episode featuring a classic urban legend, “Bloody Mary” is often included in lists like these because it’s one of the show’s first episodes that left us all hooked and wanting to watch more.
Anchored on the simple premise of a group of partying teenagers daring one of their friends to stand in front of a mirror and say “Bloody Mary” three times. Someone of course ends up dead. The episode unfolds with the Winchester brothers looking into the origins of the legend. They creatively find an explanation as to why the Bloody Mary myth actually turned out true for Toledo, Ohio, but not anywhere else in the world.
‘On the Head of a Pin’ (season 4, episode 16)
This season 4 episode follows Dean, who is forced to torture a demon named Alastair (Christopher Heyerdahl) to get information out of him. The episode gets pretty violent and unsettling mostly because Dean is being messed with psychologically. Knowing Dean was being forced to do things that haunt him is … rough. Between the fight scenes, Alastair’s unapologetically eerie presence, and the close calls that many characters experience, it’s an episode that will give you the shivers.
‘Abandon All Hope’ (season 5, episode 10)
Season 5 is at its creepiest because Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) is roaming around. We see Dean, Sam, and their allies attempting to kill Lucifer using the Colt. There’s almost nothing scarier than walking into the belly of a beast and hoping you don’t get devoured. Most people would be scared out of their minds facing down hellhounds, demons, and Lucifer. The episode is an all-around exercise in how to build up tension and terror, and knowing how to scare your audience with threats seen and unseen.
‘Family Remains’ (season 4, episode 11)
“Family Remains” definitely seals the deal as the show’s scariest episode. In this one, Sam and Dean investigate what they assume is a female ghost that keeps showing up in an abandoned house. The case becomes a little more complicated when a new family moves into said house. Despite warnings from both brothers, the family is insistent on the move following a tragedy that struck their family.
Sam and Dean learn of various horrors that occurred inside the house, including several deaths. All while the ghost they’re investigating appears to be impervious to salt or any other protection against the supernatural that the brothers know of.
Irrelevant but probably interesting side note eagle-eyed viewers have noticed: Dylan Minnette makes an appearance in this episode.
(featured image: The CW)
