Todayâs college students grew up in what many consider to be the golden age of childrenâs and teensâ television programming. We were blessed with shows like Drake & Josh, iCarly, Wizards of Waverly Place, Spongebob Squarepants and moreâall of which I still find hilarious and enjoyable, even in my 20s.
Because Halloween is right around the corner, I decided to celebrate some of my favorite childhood shows by ranking 7 of their Halloween-themed episodes according to their spookiness and memorability.
- Hannah Montana: 1×17, âTorn Between Two Hannahsâ
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In this episode, Mileyâs cousinâwho looks exactly like herâcomes for a visit, but Miley doesnât trust her seemingly sweet attitude. Mileyâs intuition turns out to be right: her cousin ties her up, tricks everyone into thinking that she’s Hannah Montana, and goes to a Hollywood Halloween party dressed up like Hannah. At the party, Mileyâs cousin embarrasses Miley and threatens to reveal her secret identity as Hannah. Luckily, her plot is uncovered just in time, and Mileyâs secret is saved.
I put this episode in last place because the spookiness factor just wasnât there for me. Although much of the episode took place at a Halloween party, the plot itself wasnât really centered around Halloween, and I didnât feel that this was a particularly strong or memorable episode.
Memorability: â
Spookiness: â
- The Suite Life On Deck: 3×11, âThe Ghost and Mr. Martinâ
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This episode of The Suite Life On Deck features the spirit of a steamship captain who died 150 years ago when his ship crashed. When Zack starts noticing paranormal activity around the S.S. Tipton, heâs convinced that the late captain is trying to recruit his help to reveal what really caused the shipwreck. Zack, Cody and Woody then work together to uncover clues and discover the truth.
The ghosts and talk of a fatal shipwreck add an element of spookiness to the episode, but the ghost is quickly revealed to be friendly, so it wasnât actually scary. I also didnât find this episode to be too memorable, but it was definitely entertaining.
Memorability: â
Spookiness: â â - Wizards of Waverly Place: 3×2, âHalloweenâ
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In âHalloween,â the Waverly Place Merchants Association tells the Russo family that they have to make their annual haunted house scarier, or else they could lose it. To help achieve this goal, Alex gets real ghosts from the wizard world. At first, she gets three ghosts that arenât scary enough, so she goes back and finds Mantooth, a much scarier ghost. Unfortunately, this backfires since Mantooth turns out to be too scary, and the haunted house gets shut down after all.
Wizards of Waverly Place was one of my favorite shows growing up, but I always felt that they could have done better in their Halloween episode. For a show about a supernatural family, they could’ve probably had more than ghosts and a haunted house. Still, thereâs a decent amount of spookiness in this episode, and itâs one that Iâve remembered throughout the years.
Memorability: â â â
Spookiness: â â â
- iCarly: 1×7, âiScream on Halloweenâ
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Carly, Sam and Freddy decide to record their Halloween episode of iCarly from apartment 13B after Lewbert tells them that itâs supposedly haunted. They promise their viewers that theyâll be live on air for the entire night in the haunted apartment, but things soon get weird. They hear someone yell âGet out!â ominously, theyâre trapped in the apartment when the doorknob falls off, the lights flicker and glass shatters. At the end of the episode, they find out that someone actually lives in the apartment and that all of the things they witnessed had perfectly logical explanations.Â
This episode freaked me out a bit as a kid; unlike some of the other episodes on this list, it actually tries to scare viewers a little. At the same time, it manages to be funny, and I think itâs pretty memorable as well.
Memorability: â â â â
Spookiness: â â â â - Spongebob Squarepants: 1×13, âScaredy Pantsâ
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SpongeBob has had many Halloween episodes throughout the years, but âScaredy Pantsâ was the first, and itâs undoubtedly a classic. Mr. Krabs introduces the Flying Dutchman for the first time in this episode as he tells the story of a ghost who goes around stealing souls on Halloween. SpongeBob is teased for being terrified, so he proceeds to dress up like the Flying Dutchman and try to scare people around town. Eventually, the real Flying Dutchman shows up because he doesnât appreciate SpongeBobâs impersonation, but SpongeBob manages to scare him away.
This episode is spooky and silly and fun all at the same time. It is a great introduction to the Flying Dutchman, who became a recurring guest character on SpongeBob, and itâs a very strong episode overall.
Memorability: â â â â
Spookiness: â â â â - A.N.T. Farm: 1×14, âMutANT Farmâ
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âMutANT Farmâ answers the question many of us have asked while watching A.N.T. Farm: what would Webster High School look like if all the A.N.T.s were monsters and all the older students were humans? Weâve all wondered about that, right? In this episode, we get to see the A.N.T.s reimagined as vampires, zombies and mad scientists (oh my!). Chyna is Medusa, and she tries to bridge the divide between the humans and A.N.T.s by proposing that humans should be invited to the âMutANTs Onlyâ Halloween dance.Â
I always thought that this episode was extremely creative, and it absolutely nailed the Halloween theme. There was a ton of spooky spirit, but it wasnât done in a way that was meant to be scary. âMutANT Farmâ also gets a perfect score for memorability because it was the episode that gave us âCalling All the Monsters,â China Anne McClainâs iconic 2011 song.Â
Memorability: â â â â â
Spookiness: â â â â - The Suite Life Of Zack and Cody: 1×19, âThe Ghost of Suite 613â
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In this episode, Zack and Cody (along with London, Maddie and others) explore suite 613 of the Tipton Hotel. The suite is said to be haunted by a vengeful ghost who died decades ago after finding out that her husband had cheated on her. Throughout the night, strange, ghostly things start happening. Esteban decides to conduct a seance, and the ghostâs spirit takes over his body. Zack becomes terrified and tries to leave, at which point itâs revealed that the whole thing was orchestrated by Cody to get back at Zack for scaring him all the time. But later on, Zack and Cody have an encounter with the real ghost (who actually turns out to be quite nice).
When I think of Halloween episodes from my childhood, this is the one that immediately comes to mind. I remember it absolutely terrifying me as a kid (though, when I recently rewatched it, all of the âscaryâ parts were actually just hilarious). This episode has even inspired several memes and is referenced to this day, so I think itâs safe to say that it deserves the number one spot on this list.
Memorability: â â â â â
Spookiness: â â â â â
Most of these are easily accessible online or on streaming services like Disney+. So if youâre looking for something spooky and nostalgic to do this Halloween season, I recommend watching a few themed episodes and reconnecting with your childhood.