Netflix very recently released the second season of it’ show Haunted, a series where real people tell their real stories involving ghosts, demons, and supernatural hauntings, accompanied by dramatic reenactments of said stories that will absolutely scare the pants off of even the most hardened horror fans. Each episode tells a new and unique story, and the stories that these people tell seem so sincerely felt and experienced that it’s hard not to believe what they’re saying.
And although every episode is terrifying in it’s own way, since every episode tells a new story there are obviously some episodes that are more frightening than others. Honestly no one should watch any episode of the series if they’re planning on sleeping in the next six hours, but some episodes are scary enough that they shouldn’t be watched if someone is planning on sleeping in the next six days. So here are the ten creepiest episodes of Haunted, ranked.
Children Of The Well
This haunting story truly has the grand slam of terrifying elements. It has overly religious parents, a little boy being haunted by some dead kids, and a well that seems to be a direct gateway to hell. In a weird way it seems so much like a Stephen King novel come to life that it almost makes the entire saga less frightening than some of the other stories, but it’s certainly not the kind of haunting that anyone would want to experience for themselves. And unlike many of the stories in Haunted it at least has a silver lining, as the man who was the subject of this haunting has been able to use his connection to the other side for some good too.
Demon In The Dark
Now isn’t it just typical of demon worshipers to summon a poltergeist and then bail on the whole situation, leaving someone else holding the bag? This episode of Haunted tells the story of a young girl and her mom who move into grandma’s house after their uncle/brother who was fascinated with dark magic has already left the home, and who seem to encounter some kind of evil spirit that won’t leave them alone.
Also as if the actual demonic haunting isn’t enough, the drug addled and alcoholic man who summoned it in the first place occasionally shows up to scare the bejesus out of everyone too.
Ward Of Evil
If it’s true that demons and spirits like to prey on the weak, then it comes as no surprise that there would be a lot of instances of hauntings and demonic possession in places like nursing homes. The actual demonic activity is very frightening in this story, but what gives it an extra edge of scary is that the women working in this nursing home are dealing with patients who are often senile or suffering from dementia, so it can be very easy to question their own sanity and not believe that what they’re seeing is some kind of possession until the evidence becomes absolutely undeniable.
The Mimic
Although so many people believe in ghosts and experience things that are very hard to deny, there is a weird comfort in the fact that if you just experience something strange by yourself that you can just try to explain it away as a trick of your mind. But when a bunch of people are experiencing something straight out of a horror film it’s much harder to excuse the bizarre and terrifying circumstances you find yourself in. And although evil entities take on many forms, it’s difficult to imagine a more frightening form than that of your friends, roommates, and loved ones.
Spirits From Below
Honestly, little kids can be creepy enough on their own, but seeing a bunch of dead little kids or some kind of demon entity that takes on the form of young children is infinitely more terrifying. The people who experienced this haunting were children themselves at the time, and the spectral children that they saw initially tried to befriend them.
But things took an exceptionally dark turn when these spirits began encouraging the kids to do really dangerous things, and what makes things scarier and sadder is that none of the kids felt comfortable sharing their experiences with one another, so they all had to deal with these horrors alone.
Born Cursed
Every story in Haunted has it’s own unique horrors to offer the audience, but the episode “Born Cursed” is one of the scariest episodes for a few reasons. The entity that is referred to as “the hangman” takes on a multitude of terrifying forms, but it is most recognizable for it’s deranged, inhuman smile. And of course, it’s scariest form is something that can terrify even the toughest of us, a demonic clown. Although a young boy is initially the only one who can see it, eventually others start seeing it too, and in a particularly scary and heartbreaking twist it appears that the evil being kills the family’s dog when the dog tries to protect them.
The Woman In White
Most malevolent beings clearly only want the worst for whoever they’re haunting, but what makes “The Woman In White” so scary is the sheer number of near death experiences that the man who is being haunted by said woman has had at the hands of his demonic terrorist. The man who has suffered through this haunting initially encountered this ghost of a woman who murdered her children and killed herself when he was just a boy, and their chance encounter when he moved into her old apartment unfortunately became a connection between the entity and the boy instead of the entity and the place where she lived and died.
Stolen Gravestone
Demons and evil spirits seem to be very sneaky when it comes to some hauntings. Sometimes they just come right out and show people hellish visions that scare the crap out of them, but some of them try to portray themselves as friends to their targets instead of foes.
And in the darkest hauntings, sometimes the people who are being targeted want to be friends with the spirit too. That is certainly the case with Clarence, a spirit that haunts a young woman and that she initially believes is some kind of guardian angel. But once she realizes that this may be an evil spirit it’s almost too late, as even when things get scary she’s reluctant to let Clarence go.
Cult of Torture
Every episode of Haunted is scary in it’s own way, but the episodes like “Cult of Torture” are a grim reminder that some of the most frightening horror stories on earth are tales about the awful things that human beings can do to other people. The man who is the subject of “Cult of Torture” certainly may have seen some kind of demonic force at work, but what is pretty undeniable is that he saw the evil of humanity. When he was just a young boy he was forced to go to gay conversion camp, and during his conversion “therapy” he was treated more terribly than most people with a conscience would even treat an animal.
The Slaughterhouse
If the greatest horrors in the world are atrocities committed by regular people, then the episode of Haunted called “The Slaughterhouse” is undoubtedly the scariest Haunted episode of them all. The family that tells this story does tell a story involving a demonic entity, but what makes the tale such an abjectly terrifying one is that the family is led by a father who apparently murders people for sport. Evil spirits and ghosts are phenomena that are still up for debate, but we all know that serial murderers exist, and the thought of someone spending years killing people for no other reason than entertainment is truly terrifying.
