Classic SpongeBob episodes to binge for Halloween

For me, the Halloween season is usually all about binging horror movies. This year, however, I’ve been craving some classic shows that I grew up with to make me laugh and fulfill my Halloween need. As you can imagine, SpongeBob SquarePants fit the bill perfectly.

What follows are 15 segments/episodes within seasons 1, 2, and 3 of SpongeBob SquarePants that are fantastic to watch around Halloween. No matter your age, I promise you’ll get a kick out of these classic episodes containing horror movie references and recognizable horror themes. Have fun streaming these nostalgic Halloween classics!

Season 1 has got aliens, ghosts, and abstract horror!

Sandy’s Rocket/Squeaky Boots – This first segment is all about aliens. We watch as SpongeBob and Patrick steal a rocket, mistake Bikini Bottom for the moon, and believe their friends are aliens. It’s pretty messed up when you think about all the innocent people who’ve been bombarded, trapped in bags, and thrown into a dark vault. Next is Squeaky Boots, which is all about the fragile mind being tortured by a repeating noise. Mr. Krabs’s psyche gets overtaken by the sound of squeaking boots – getting worse and worse until he absolutely loses it. There’s even a direct reference to Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-tale Heart!

Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost – An obvious play on Casper the Friendly Ghost; SpongeBob and Patrick believe that they have killed Squidward, and when the real Squidward comes out of the bathroom in a white towel, they think he’s come back as a vengeful ghost. There’s dark organ music in the background as Squidward emotionally and mentally abuses SpongeBob. Even better, we witness an attempted live burial.

Scaredy Pants/I Was a Teenage Gary – This is the only classic SpongeBob episode that is strictly about Halloween. Scaredy Pants takes place on Halloween night with trick r treaters, a Halloween party, and a soul-stealing appearance by The Flying Dutchman. The next segment is a play on the classic film I Was a Teenage Werewolf, where Squidward’s neglect for his neighbor’s pet causes both himself and SpongeBob to mutate and transform into horrific snail creatures. It’s actually pretty intense.

SB-29 – This one used to freak me out when I was little. Squidward accidentally traps himself in the freezer of The Krusty Krab, leaving him to be unthawed in the future where everything is chrome. He uses a time machine and ends up in a place that cannot be characterized by time. The blank, abstract void known as the “Nowhere” dimension is quite terrifying. There’s also a visual reference to The Shining earlier in the segment with the cut from Squidward freezing in the present to Squidward frozen in the future (mirroring Jack’s frozen face of death at the end of the movie).

Hooky – This segment starts with Mr. Krabs telling a real-life horror story about the dangers of the local fishing hooks. When SpongeBob and Patrick foolishly go to the hooks to have fun, we see a child’s tennis shoes sprawled on the ground while Patrick claims that a kid was playing there earlier. So yeah, its implied that a kid dies, and we watch SpongeBob spiral in terror believing he too is about to die.

Season 2 presents us with murderers and references to classic monsters!

Imitation Krabs – In this segment, Plankton makes a robot version of Mr. Krabs – one lurks around in the shadows of The Krusty Krab like a total creep. SpongeBob, being an idiot, doesn’t know who the real Mr. Krabs is (a scary concept on its own). The two versions of Mr. Krabs end up being threatened with a tartar sauce death and the real Mr. Krabs is almost eaten.

Wormy – Most of us have been subjected to this episode and its unnerving close-up of the butterfly. It’s a really gross visual, and that buzzing sound makes my skin crawl. Those few parts with the butterfly close-up earned this segment’s spot on the list. That aside, all of Bikini Bottom becomes a victim of SpongeBob’s fearmongering and runs for their lives from this small butterfly as their town is set ablaze.

Shanghaied! – This one is a special, full-length episode all about ghost ships and town haunts! It’s the perfect Halloween feel all around and of course its contagiously quotable. The most frightening part is when The Flying Dutchman sends Squidward through the “Fly of Despair,” an obscure version of Hell, making him fall endlessly through unsettling images and dark laughter.

Frankendoodle – In this fun spin on Frankenstein, SpongeBob accidentally brings a drawing to life who possesses the tendencies of a homicidal maniac. We are treated to the perfect horror protagonist line: “I created this monster. And I’ve got to stop him.” We even get a nice horror cliche as SpongeBob “kills” the monster, believes he’s safe, then gets attacked by DoodleBob for one last scare.

Graveyard Shift – We all know and love this iconic segment. When The Krusty Krab stays open overnight, SpongeBob begins to dwell on the dark and scary world outside. Squidward decides to milk the moment and tells him the scary “true” story about the Hash Slinging Slasher. As the night continues, the story Squidward told starts actually happening to them in real life. In the end and out of nowhere, we get a hilarious Nosferatu reference.

Season 3 gives us insanity, the living dead, and a killer robot!

Nasty Patty – Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob believe that they murdered the health inspector, so they go out on that dark and stormy night and attempt to bury the body. The whole segment has a horror feel as the pair gets approached by unsuspecting cops and we see SpongeBob totally freak out and lose his mind from guilt and paranoia.

Doing Time – Poor Mrs. Puff. She gets arrested and sent to jail for being the instructor of the worst driver on Earth. Behind bars, she finally finds peace as she is separated from SpongeBob. Now SpongeBob, being clueless, breaks into jail to rescue her, which means she is repeatedly tormented by the little guy. Guards never see SpongeBob so they think Mrs. Puff has gone crazy, then they lock her up in a padded room. The end gets absolutely trippy, almost like we’re all in a nightmare that keeps restarting.

One Krab’s Trash – Krabs sells SpongeBob a hat and is immediately desperate to get it back. He thinks he can scare SpongeBob into returning it, making a paper ghost to tell him that the hat is cursed. SpongeBob ends up returning it to the grave of the random name Mr. Krabs came up with (Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen). Well, Krabs ends up in a creepy old graveyard and digs up the skeleton. Then Smitty come back to life and resurrects all the dead bodies in the graveyard to attack Krabs. How is that not for the horror community?

Krab Borg – “Scary movies don’t always freak me out,” SpongeBob says as he watches a gigantic robot chase a human on screen. At work the next day, he starts to see signs that Mr. Krabs is actually a robot. It gets pretty intense as he convinces Squidward that Krabs is in fact an evil robot, causing them to tie him up and torture him – seriously.

Clams – This episode is centered around the classic horror film Jaws.  When Mr. Krabs takes SpongeBob and Squidward Clam fishing, his millionth dollar gets eaten by a huge clam. Each time the clam gets close, an orchestra plays intense music similar to how it works in Jaws. When they can’t find the dollar, Mr. Krabs goes completely psycho. He throws all of their food overboard then ties up SpongeBob and Patrick at the edge of the ship to use as live bait.

You can stream these classic episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants on Paramount Plus!

Are there episodes after season 3 that you think fit the spooky, scary Halloween theme? Let us know in the comments!