15 of the Creepiest Episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

A bold and clever episode concept for the series' first season, this episode explores the things our beloved characters fear the most. Besides classic nightmares about unknown tests, unexpected nudity, and being thrust onto a stage to sing, the episode also features crowd pleasers (or scarers) like vengeful spiders and killer clowns. And even as the episode dives deeper into Buffy's own personal fears, the most terrifying part of the episode is the root of all these nightmares come to life. A young boy, Billy, lies in a coma as his exceptional fear manifests an evil entity he calls the Ugly Man, who wreaks havoc among the world of the waking. The Ugly Man has an ominous, unsettling character design, but nothing is more disturbing than how real and serious the show gets about the true cause of Billy's fears—and why he's in a coma.

While it's a surprising turn of events for a show so deeply rooted in the exploration of the supernatural, this episode isn't scary because it centers around an evil robot. It's scary because of the ways in which the robot is evil. Buffy's mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), has a new boyfriend, Ted (John Ritter). At first glance, Ted appears to be the perfect man—practically a snapshot of 1950s idealism. Buffy, however, has her doubts. As Ted's relationship with Joyce progresses, Ted reveals himself to be a threatening and abusive figure towards Buffy. Not that anyone will believe her. And when Buffy tries to defend herself, her reaction has consequences which frame her in a dangerous light. This episode examines the way people treat victims and support abusers and it's uncomfortably accurate—and while it may not have you screaming, it'll have you squirming in unease all the way through.

I'll scream it from the rooftops and rant about it to anyone who'll listen, but season two of Buffy is quite possibly the best season of any show ever. The evil Angel arc was absolutely devastating, and completely pulls the rug out from under the feet of first-time viewers. While Angel lost his soul several episodes prior, "Passion" is where his manipulative cruelty really comes to a head, proving just how dangerous it can be to let someone close enough to know your weaknesses. He toys with the Scooby Gang by leaving them little presents in their homes, just to remind them that he has full access to them and can do whatever he wants. But as the gang schemes ways to protect themselves, Angel leaves the most disturbing gift of all for Buffy's mentor Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) to find.

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Taking a brief departure from the all-consuming drama that is the fight with Angelus, this episode centers around Buffy ending up in the hospital with the flu. Hospitals are already places which skeeve people out, but it's made all the worse when Buffy learns of the existence of a creature called Der Kindestod. The demon preys on sick children, taking their lives in the most horrific way possible. And to make it worse, only the sick can see him, making this yet another storyline in which the fear is increased by the fact that no one believes the suffering. This is by far one of the most visually disturbing episodes in the series' seven season run.

Did this episode emotionally devastate me? Yes, of course it did. But it also has some of the best uses of haunted house tropes I've ever seen—and it all takes place in the school. Back in 1955, a doomed couple of a teacher and a student (which is already creepy enough to start with) ends in a murder-suicide. In Buffy's present, the tragic ghosts of the lovers haunt the students. Cue monster arms shooting out of nowhere, a room full of snakes, people sinking into floors, and a massive swarm of wasps. Throughout the episode, pairs of people keep getting possessed by the long lost lovers, playing out their deadly last moments.

Who doesn't love a parallel world trope? This episode from season three isn't just one of the creepiest of the series, it's definitely one of the best. When Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) gets fed up with Buffy's interference in her life, she unknowingly makes a wish to a vengeance demon that changes the course of history so Buffy never arrived in Sunnydale. The world has suddenly become a much darker place, overrun by vampires and devoid of hope. In this macabre timeline, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan)—the friends which keep Buffy grounded and warm—are some of the most malicious vampires in town. And a glimpse into Buffy's altered life shows only hardened misery and despair.

This episode expertly weaves in several layers of horror. First and foremost, there's the visceral horror of betrayal. Buffy trusts Giles more than anything in the world, as both a friend and a mentor, and he is the agent of her struggle here, removing her slayer abilities for a test. A test which would be terrifying even if Buffy were at the top of her form. She must face off against a vampire who is mentally unstable. Things go awry for everyone, however, when the unmedicated vampire breaks free from his prison and seeks out Buffy on his own terms. As an audience member, nothing is more terrifying than seeing our ultimate heroine brought so low. It reminds us of how fragile we are as human beings.

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As a whole, season four isn't going to be winning any awards from me. However, it does contain one of the most terrifying episodes to ever grace television screens. Long before A Quiet Place hit theaters, Buffy utilized an episode consumed by total silence, amping up the tension to intolerable levels. In "Hush", a group of creatures called The Gentleman come to Sunnydale, stealing the voices of all of the residents so they can quietly rip out their hearts. The creatures have a ghoulish character design, and their flowing theatrical movements are uncanny. The brutality and the isolating nature of this episode delivers a deeply eerie experience.

Every minute of this episode is disorienting and surreal. In the aftermath of the season's final battle, the members of the Scooby Gang all fall asleep in Buffy's living room, slipping into odd, visceral dreams. Dreams which all feature a man with cheese . . . A brilliant work of foreshadowing, the episode is steeped in allusion and metaphor. As the group's insecurities and anxieties play out in their dreams, it's not just the cheese man that follows them, however. The First Slayer stalks them through their slumber, bringing death in different forms.

The episode prior to this, "The Body", is beyond devastating, as it follows the abrupt and unexpected natural death of Buffy's mother. As the whole of season five is painted in heightened themes of loss and sacrifice, this episode really highlights how difficult some things are to give up—and showcases the lengths we will go to in order to get them back. Bereft at the loss of her mother, young Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) secretly performs a resurrection spell, despite all warnings that the result may not be what she wants. As Buffy and Dawn argue about their respective behaviors, a figure rises from Joyce's grave. Through the withholding of clear visuals and the use of shadows and extreme close ups, the audience is left to only guess at what truly crawled out of the earth.

Because it's not dangerous enough to try resurrection once, the sixth season sees the Scooby Gang bring Buffy herself back to life. As she died of supernatural means, the spell works—but not without a cost. A creature of evil was created by the spell used to bring Buffy back, but as the creature doesn't have a body, it must possess the others of the group. As the demon threatens the gang, perhaps the most unsettling part of the episode is the truth behind Buffy's time spent dead.

Sometimes life gets so hard we wish it was all a dream. After Buffy gets hit with hallucinogenic venom, she spirals into a reality in which she's a patient in a mental hospital. Every terrible thing that has ever happened to her was just a figment of her imagination, and all the people she thought she lost are alive and well. She's just been trapped in a delusion for the past six years. But for all that it seems like her worst problems may be gone in this alternate reality, it does mean she doesn't have her friends or her sister. As everything that Buffy holds dear hangs in the balance, the grounded reality of her alternate life spins a thread so convincing that it's hard for even the audience to decide the truth.

If two attempts at resurrection have bad consequences, why not try a third time? After Willow's girlfriend, Tara (Amber Benson) is killed by a stray bullet, Willow attempts to bring her back to life. Her attempts are shot down by the god Osiris, however, as the death did not involve magic. In order to get revenge on Warren (Adam Busch), the man responsible, Willow absorbs a wealth of dark magic. On a terrifying path of fury, she hunts him down and inflicts brutal torture before flaying him alive—giving audiences one of the most gory and disturbing visuals the series has ever seen. And if someone like Willow, who began so sweet and kind, can be so thoroughly corrupted, how can there be hope for anyone?

After retreating to rehabilitate herself in England, Willow makes her return to Sunnydale early in season seven. However, as she arrives home to no welcoming committee, it seems to her as though no one is pleased about her return. Meanwhile, the gang start to worry when it seems Willow never returned home . . .  Separated from the group by magic, Willow is held captive by a demon named Gnarl, who paralyzes his victims before skinning them alive.

Told in a series of separate vignettes in which the characters don't interact with each other, the members of the gang all have an experience with the dead in this episode. The separated nature of this episode serves to heighten the tension of isolation, which only makes the events more ominous. As Buffy gets psychoanalyzed by a former classmate turned vampire, Spike (James Marsters) seems to be back at his old tricks, stalking women and draining them dead. Willow is visited by the ghost of a dead girl, Cassie (Azura Skye), who claims to be delivering a chilling warning from Tara. Meanwhile, Dawn is home alone being tormented by a malevolent force which seems to have a grip on her deceased mother.