1. Jimmy Neutron– “Nightmare in Retroville” (2003)
Second only to the Macbeth in Space episode (you know the one), in this iconic episode Jimmy uses his science skills to turn the gang into real life monsters on Halloween in exchange for half their candy. Oddly enough, this still isn’t as terrifying as the one with the lima bean monster that haunts Carl’s dreams.
2. That’s So Raven– “Don’t Have a Cow” (2003)
In order to dominate at a Halloween party costume contest, Raven and Chelsea uncharacteristically turn to the dark arts, and it quickly backfires by turning them slowly into cows. Luckily, we find out the whole thing was a vision– otherwise I would seriously start to doubt Raven’s psychic abilities!
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer– “Fear, Itself” (1999)
While I fully understand that the aptly named season 2 episode “Halloween” is a fan favorite, and for good reason, this is one of my must-watch episodes. The scoobies are trapped in a house of their own personal horrors that results when a bunch of frat boys use magic to enhance their haunt and end up getting more than they bargained for. More notably are the costume choices, which thankfully don’t become them quite as much as in “Halloween”, such as Anya’s bunny suit and Willow & Oz’s couple costume (Joan of Arc and God).
4. Rugrats– “Candy Bar Creep Show” (1991)
Rugrats does an amazing job of showing a big world from the perspective of a small person. In this episode, the Pickles run a haunted house out of their own home and Angelica entices the kids with Reptar bars, which sound horrifyingly delicious. It’s a really cool look at the kids’ first real Halloween experience!
5. Everybody Hates Chris— “Everybody Hates Halloween” (2005)
All you need to remember from this episode is when Terry Crews as Julius buys ridiculous off-brand candy to save money (eg. Butterthumbs).
6. Boy Meets World– “Who’s Afraid of Cory Wolf?” (1994)
Cory is bitten by something and begins to transform into a werewolf, in what is probably meant to be some kind of allegory to puberty? I don’t know. Besides being purely classic, it features another flawless moment between Cory and Topanga.
7. The Suite Life of Zack & Cody– “The Ghost in Suite 613” (2005)
If I’m being completely honest this was prime horror to me as a kid, and terrifies me to this day. According to the old maid Muriel, Suite 613 is allegedly haunted by the spirit of a woman whose husband went off to war and remarried an Italian woman after years of no contact. She reacted to learning this by throwing a special hairbrush he gave her at a mirror, leading one of the shards to break off and kill her. This ought to be watched like true art, for Esteban’s seance alone, and of course the haunted portrait.
8. Arthur– “The Fright Stuff” (1999)
If #7 was prime horror, this episode deserved an Emmy. In a boy vs. girls prank war at a haunted castle party, it’s anybody’s game, and it can be hard to distinguish prank from reality. Filled to the brim with puns and creepy references to classic literature such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, this holds up almost 20 years later.
There are so many amazingly spooky specials from Nickelodeon, Disney, and everything in-between that we remember from being kids. Pop some of these on and have a very frightful night indeed!