5 Supernatural Episodes That Are Actually Scary, Including Jensen Ackels' Favorite

For 15 seasons, Supernatural balanced dark fantasy, a Dom Toretto level of “family” quotes, and a surprising amount of humor. But at its core, the CW series was built on horror. While not every monster-of-the-week episode was focused on genuine terror, there are some installments that still haunt viewers long after the credits rolled. Even star Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) has admitted there’s one episode that got under his skin more than the rest.

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So, with that in mind, here are the five episodes we think prove Supernatural could be just as scary as anything on late-night cable. I mean, if Dean Winchester can get spooked, what chance do we have?

5) “Everybody Loves a Clown” (Season 2, Episode 2)

Do they? Does everyone love a clown? Sam Winchester certainly doesn’t. And considering clowns have long been a staple of the horror genre, it’s unlikely many others like them, either. From the very real, very terrifying John Wayne Gacey to Stephen King’s It, the sinister creep-factor of clowns makes this episode a given on this list.

The episode builds up the scary through the innocence of children (another key element in scary plotlines). The demon can only be seen by children, and for some reason, the kids aren’t remotely concerned seeing it at the carnival, then by the side of the road on their way home. By the time the clown turns up at the family home, the children are more than happy to let it in to kill their parents. It’s a terrifying detail that makes the adults powerless until it’s too late.

For many fans, this one hit close to home. Anyone who grew up uneasy around clowns found new reasons to keep their distance after watching. The eerie carnival setting, the sense of danger lurking just outside the tent, and even the sinister feeling of chaos within the fun house makes it one of the show’s most underrated horror outings. It effectively weaponizes a common phobia while still delivering a monster-of-the-week mystery.

What makes it more interesting is that this episode came 9 years before the bizarre and very real nightmare-fuel phenomena of the 2016 clown sightings. People were dressing up as creepy clowns and being extremely menacing in the middle of the night. From standing in the middle of abandoned roads, blocking rivers, to creeping up to people’s ring doorbells and staring into the cameras. So, if anything, Supernatural was way ahead of the trend, and with hindsight, “Everybody Loves a Clown” certainly deserves to be on this list.

4) “No Exit” (Season 2, Episode 6)

Season 2’s “No Exit” is a chilling reminder that some of the darkest monsters come from real history. The episode centers on the ghost of infamous serial killer H.H. Holmes, known as America’s first serial killer. His spirit captures and torments women living in an apartment building. So, Sam and Dean team up with Jo Harvelle (played by Alona Tal) to put an end to the hauntings.

The true-crime angle adds an extra layer of dread. Holmes’ crimes were very real, and extremely heinous. His “Murder Castle” which Sam briefly mentions in the episode, is disturbing not only because of what he did there, but also that a living, breathing human being had the capacity to think of it and act on those thoughts. Seeing his presence bleed into Supernatural’s world gives the episode disturbing authenticity.

Its claustrophobic setting certainly adds extra terror. The victims are trapped in the walls and crawlspaces of the building, echoing Holmes’ real-life torture designs. But it’s the fact that Sam and Dean can’t actually kill Holmes’ ghost. Sure, they manage to incapacitate him and pour a city-sized amount of concrete on top of him, but he’s still there. It’s the fact that any time in the future, some developer could come along, dig up the ground, and start the whole thing over again.

3) “The Benders” (Season 1, Episode 15) — Jensen Ackles’ Pick

And while Holmes was a spirit in Supernatural, he was no less horrific than his living, breathing version, showing that sometimes the scariest monsters are the human ones. That’s exactly why Jensen Ackles singled out “The Benders” as the scariest episode of the entire series.

In the episode, Sam is kidnapped by a backwoods family who hunt people for sport — literally nothing supernatural here! Ackles has explained in numerous interviews that what made this episode stand out was its realism. He told ScreenRant “It’s not the supernatural element, it’s humans doing very bad things”.

The episode plays like a classic survival horror film, reminiscent of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or The Hills Have Eyes. But, like “No Exit”, “The Benders” is based on very real people. In Kansas between 1871 and 1872, a family known as “The Bloody Benders” were accused of killing up to 20 travelers after letting them stay in their cabin.

Even after facing down countless demons and angels across 15 seasons, Ackles still points to “The Benders” as the one that made him shiver. That endorsement alone makes it a must-watch for anyone curious about Supernatural’s scarier side.

2) “Bloody Mary” (Season 1, Episode 5)

Few episodes of Supernatural have been as effective at pure horror as “Bloody Mary”. Early in the show’s run, the writers utilized familiar urban legends for their monster-of-the-week stories, and none is more notorious than the story of chanting “Bloody Mary” into a mirror.

The Winchester brothers investigate mysterious deaths tied to mirrors, leading to eerie sequences where Bloody Mary herself crawls out of reflective surfaces. Even today, fans point to this episode as the one that made them afraid to look in a mirror at night. The episode’s atmosphere and commitment to the legend make it one of the most terrifying in the series.

In a quite literal game of “Truth or Dare”, the episode also succeeds by turning the legend personal. It punishes those hiding guilty secrets, forcing characters — and by proxy, the viewer — to confront uncomfortable truths. It’s horror with psychological teeth.

1) “The Kids Are Alright” (Season 3, Episode 2)

Though not officially cited as the scariest episode for Jared Padalecki (aka Sam Winchester), this is one he has definitely acknowledged as causing the creeps.
Children in horror often walk the line between innocent and sinister, and Supernatural takes full advantage of that uncanny energy in “The Kids Are Alright.” Dean reconnects with old flame, Lisa, only to discover that the children in her neighborhood are acting in an odd Invasion of the Body Snatchers kind of way. Eventually, he realizes the kids are most certainly not alright, and they’ve been replaced by changelings — creatures who feed on their human mothers while posing as their children.

It’s one of the show’s creepiest creature designs, with changelings revealed as pale, leech-faced monsters when you see their reflections in mirrors. The juxtaposition of childhood innocence with suddenly aggressive neediness and predatory malice creates some of the series’ most unsettling visuals.

The episode hits hard because it takes something as familiar, comfortable, and wholesome as suburban family life, and corrupts it with horror. For parents watching at home, “The Kids Are Alright” may be the one that lingers long after bedtime.

Which Supernatural episodes do you think are scariest? What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!