Supernatural rewatch: 3 terrifying Season 2 episodes

“Everybody Loves A Clown” Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester stars in SUPERNATURAL on The CW. Michael Courtney/The CW ©2006 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.in SUPERNATURAL on The CW

2) Everybody Loves a Clown

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t think clowns are terrifying. Supernatural taps directly into that fear in their first (but not last) clown-themed episode.

The traveling Cooper Carnival is unknowingly playing host to a creature known as a Rakshasa. The being takes the shape of a clown so it can lure children away from their families, earn their trust and friendship, and eventually get invited into their homes to murder the child’s parents.

In Supernatural lore, Rakshasas are monsters from Hindu lore. They sleep on beds composed of dead insects and come out to feed (on human flesh) every 20-30 years.

As per usual, Supernatural has taken actual lore and tweaked it to fit their story needs. Rakshasas are indeed a real part of Hindu mythology:

"A Rakshasa (female Rakshasi) is a bloodthirsty demon, banished from the realm of the gods and forced to live on earth, making mankind its prey."

Even scarier than Rakshasa? The very real, prolific serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, who killed over 30 people and was known for dressing up as his alter ego “Pogo the Clown” to perform at children’s parties where he often picked out his victims.

Not to mention the insanity of the 2016 clown panic when people were supposedly dressing up as clowns and attacking others. Everybody loves a clown? More like nobody loves a clown.

1) Croatoan

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According to History, In the 16th century, a group of Englishmen settled on Roanoke Island. Their governor, John White, left them to go on a supply run back in England and when he returned to the island years later, all of the settlers had mysterious disappeared. No trace of them was found and the only thing left behind was the word “CROATOAN” carved into a wooden post.

There have been hundreds of theories about what happened to the lost colony, varying from the realistic, to the absurd, to the downright horrific.

Supernatural’s take is vastly different from the origin story as it involves a demonic virus (though who knows, maybe that is really what happened!). Sam and Dean arrive in River Grove, Oregon, only to find the place ominously deserted.

The effects of the virus, which the Winchesters dub the “croatoan” virus given they find the word carved into a post like a warning sign, are similar to that of a zombie epidemic. The infected become aggressive, murderous, and keen on infecting everyone they can.

Once infected, the only way out is death, so when Sam gets infected, every fan of the show was holding their breath. They wouldn’t really kill him would they? Well, not yet. Turns out Sam’s demon blood made him immune to the virus.

The Winchesters are able to contain the disease but this wasn’t the last time we saw it as it crops up again in Season 5. Introducing a virus of this magnitude into the Supernatural canon still makes me uneasy. Imagine if it ever did manage to infect the whole country? The Winchesters would need to take a couple pages out of The Walking Dead’s book.

Honorable mentions:

• Heart: For Madison’s tragic and terrifying turn into a werewolf.
• Simon Said: Being forced to do anything against your will is bad enough, but even worse when it’s because someone is in your mind manipulating you.
• Born Under a Bad Sign: Jared Padalecki gives an excellent but disturbing turn as a demon possessed!Sam, the scene where he almost assaults and/or kills Jo is haunting.

What were some of your favorite episodes from season two of Supernatural? What other moments from the season freaked you out? Which of those listed in this article did you find the creepiest? Sound off in the comments below!

New episodes of Supernatural air Thursday nights on The CW.

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