Halloween Episode

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    Umm... trick or treat?

    The characters are costumed, their houses are decked out haunted mansion style, they tell spooky stories, and weird (or weirder than usual) things abound! It's the yearly Halloween Episode!

    Probably the most well known of these is The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episodes, but most American kids' and genre shows have them. While neither Samhain nor All Saints Eve is ever mentioned, the similarly themed (but more upbeat) Día de Muertos (November 1-2) might be if the characters are on a visit to Mexico.

    If it's too scary (or rather, too successful), this may result in Nightmare Fuel. Often A Day at the Bizarro. Either way, coming across a Halloween episode of a show you watch in syndication is often an unexpected treat.

    If the cast ends up in Halloween costumes, expect at least some of them to be a Shout-Out or even the occasional Actor Allusion.

    There's a subversion/reversal on supernatural-oriented series where Halloween is literally a holiday for supernatural beings, and they all stay home. (Some Fridge Logic here because this assumes that terrorizing the populace is a job for supernatural creatures, rather than leisure activity.)

    See also Halloween Special.

    Examples of Halloween Episode include:

    Anime and Manga

    • Ouran High School Host Club has a Halloween episode with a Kimodameshi competition. It also gives the cast the opportunity to remark on how Renge dresses up in costumes even when it's not Halloween.
    • Keroro Gunsou had a Halloween episode where a mysterious girl who had apparently been adopted by a demon-like alien kidnapped Fuyuki.
    • Axis Powers Hetalia has two Halloween strips. One of which involves America and England trying to outscare each other (a long running competition between the two). Hetalia also recently featured a Halloween Special Episode which also included France harassing a young woman and resulting in a trip to jail. ( Surprisingly he didn't seem to mind that he had been detained and questioned by the police)
    • Suite Pretty Cure has a Halloween episode. Unlike a lot of examples, it actually plays into the plot somewhat: It's the first episode after a major Wham! Episode involving a change in villain management.
    • Dirty Pair OAV episode 2 took place on Halloween. The plot involved a search for an escaped stolen combat robot, made more difficult by the camouflage provided by the many costumed people in town that day, and a fireworks display at midnight during which the robot begins shooting missiles (which some bystanders assume are All Part of the Show), and Yuri and Kei destroy the robot with the fireworks after their usual weapons aren't enough.
    • Kuroshitsuji has a chapter in which Ciel holds a multicultural English/American/Chinese/Japanese Halloween party for the tenants on his estate. Ciel, who had delegated everything about the party, is surprised to find himself in a cute devil costume.

    Fan Works

    Literature

    • For the first four Harry Potter books, an important plot development happens on Halloween and is usually the focus of the chapter in which it occurs, so those chapters could be said to be "Halloween episodes" in a sense. The first of these chapters is actually titled "Halloween".
      • And also, Harry's parents were killed on Halloween of 1981.
    • The Dresden Files has had two of these:
      • Grave Peril, where the dead are restless and Bianca holds a costume party to celebrate her promotion ( both of which are related, as she uses the party as both a play for power and an excuse to kill several of her enemies). Harry, of course, decides to show up to the party as the cheesiest vampire possible.
      • Dead Beat, wherein a whole bunch of necromancer descend on Chicago in a desperate attempt to claim godlike power.


    Live Action TV

    • Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Each season except the seventh has one.
      • Season 1: Sabrina's cousin Amanda is introduced
      • Season 2: Sabrina throws a Halloween party
      • Season 3: Sabrina's Great Aunt gives her a doll for a present that locks down the house and summons monsters to scare Sabrina and her friends
      • Season 4: Sabrina gets attacked by zombies. Or so it seems. When they finally get to her, all they do is dance to the tune of Larger Than Life (in what is obviously a parody/reference to Michael Jackson's Thriller music video).
      • Season 5: She throws another party only this time without her aunts' permission and it involves Roxie falling for Frankenstein
      • Season 6: Sabrina and her friends end up living a who dunnit murder game
    • Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask, a book that takes place in Halloween, was adapted as an episode of the TV series.
      • At least The Haunted Mask II, Attack of the Jack-O-Lanterns, and Werewolf Skin all revolved around or included a sequence during Halloween.
    • Bewitched, unsurprisingly, had several of these.
    • Roseanne did one of these every year the show was on the air.
    • Night Court had several Halloween episodes, including one where resident Jerkass Dan cheerfully "sells his soul" to a man in a devil costume, who then reveals a worrying amount of detailed knowledge about Dan's life and crimes. It turns out it's an elaborate practical joke.
      • There's also one where Harry has a defendant locked up for contempt after he claims to be Death... and people mysteriously stop dying.
    • Home Improvement did tons, maybe one every single year, often involving the Taylors throwing a Halloween party, Tim inventing new extra-spooky Halloween decorations, impromptu scary prank competions, etc. Highlights of the series.
    • Newhart had a Halloween episode in which all the residents of Stratford (except Dick Loudon, natch) become convinced that an |alien invasion is imminent.
    • Even M*A*S*H was able to take time out from the horrors of war to indulge in some Halloween tomfoolery. In the episode "Trick or Treatment", the staff share ghost stories, unaware that an apparently dead soldier outside is actually clinging to life. Fortunately, Father Mulcahy realizes the mistake just in time and the soldier is rushed into surgery to save him.
    • The Benson episode "The Stranger" has the governor's mansion visited by a "Mr. G. Reaper" on a stormy Halloween night.
    • Freaks and Geeks managed to squeeze one of these into its short run.
    • What I Like About You did two, one in each of its third and fourth seasons. Interestingly, in the third season, only Holly's circle dressed up, while in the fourth, only Val's circle did.
    • Chuck did a Halloween episode ("Chuck vs. The Sandworm") that among other things featured Halloween decorations, a Halloween party (with Chuck & Morgan going as a sandworm from Dune), and Morgan's new clothes style being mistaken for a Gordon Gekko outfit.
    • Halloween episodes tend to be rare in British series as the occasion is less of a big deal in the United Kingdom, but My Family (often cited as an "American-style" sitcom) did have one - which, for no apparent reason, was released in March.
      • British Brevity? Just a guess, but it probably finished it's season in April and didn't return again until January, therefore there wouldn't have been much choice.
    • Halloween being a holiday for the supernatural doesn't necessarily make things any easier for the Scoobies.
      • Season 2 had "Halloween", where the trick-or-treaters in Sunnydale are subjected to a literal case of Becoming the Costume thanks to Giles's former friend, Ethan Rayne. This unfortunately includes Buffy, who chose to dress up as an 18th century lady in an effort to impress Angel, and becomes a Damsel in Distress for the duration of the spell. And just when you think things couldn't get any worse, Spike finds out about Ethan's antics through Drusilla, and comes pretty close to offing her.
      • Season 4 had "Fear, Itself", where someone getting blood on a supposedly fake mystical symbol makes the college Haunted House significantly more lethal, subjecting Xander, Willow, Oz, and Buffy to their current fears. Xander gets rendered invisible to the others (being left behind while the others are at college), a simple tracking spell of Willow's gets way out of hand (getting too far out of her league with the magicks), Oz transforms and accidentally hurts Willow (losing control and hurting those he loves), and Buffy gets stuck fighting a bunch of zombies by herself (being abandoned by those she loves and being alone because she is the Slayer). Also memorable for introducing Anya's fear of bunnies, Giles making a door with a chainsaw, and the five inches tall Gachnar.
      • Season 6 had "All the Way", where Dawn sneaks out to raise hell with her friend Janice and a couple boys, only to discover they're part of a group of vampires trying to rebel against the "Halloween holiday" spirit. Also provides setup for some of the events in "Once More, With Feeling". (Willow using a spell on Tara, Xander and Anya's engagement, Giles's fear that Buffy isn't taking responsibility because of him)
    • Quantum Leap had a surprisingly spooky Mind Screw of a Halloween Episode. Sam jumps into a horror novelist living in Maine (who is totally not anyone in particular) to whom really strange and creepy things are happening. Sam is seeing things nobody else does, people are dropping like flies, Al is behaving weirdly and Ziggy can't tell anyone anything. Then things get downright scary and Al goes from just acting strange to flat out evil. After he finally jumps again, Al appears and tells Sam that Ziggy hasn't been able to find or reach Sam since before his last jump and Al hasn't seen him since then either. [1]
    • Pushing Daisies did a Halloween episode in their first season. The plot centered around the cast trying to track down a "ghost", and actually aired on October 31. The second season episode didn't fall on the same date and wasn't about Halloween, but the show still managed to put its cast in costumes that week.
    • Angel had a company Halloween party for the evil supernatural law firm, analogous to a company Christmas party.
    • On Reaper, the office that takes back captured souls is closed for the holiday. Also, the Devil hates Halloween because it's too commercialized and has become the one day when people don't believe in him.
    • Friends had a Halloween party featuring Chandler & Ross in the lamest arm wrestling match ever.
    • That '70s Show's Halloween episode was an Alfred Hitchcock homage.
      • They had another where the gang visits their old and run-down elementary school, with Fez dressed as none other then 1960's Batman.
    • The Office (NBC series) has had three episodes set on Halloween. The first episode had Michael having to fire an employee (he had waited until Halloween because firing employee is a scary thought for him). The second had Dwight, Kevin and Creed all dressed as Heath Ledger's version of The Joker. The third had everybody competing in a costume contest to win a coupon book.
    • Ghost Whisperer's Halloween episode has Melinda investigating a headless horseman.
    • In the Bones episode "Mummy in the Maze," Brennan, Booth, and "Squints" work to solve the murder of a girl left in a Halloween maze while getting ready for a Halloween party. Costumes include the captain of the Titanic, a cow (well, the back end of one), Catwoman, and Cher. Brennan and Booth end up catching the bad guy while dressed as Wonder Woman and a Squint, respectively.
    • Supernatural has "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester." A man dies from eating candy filled with razor blades, a girl drowns in boiling water while bobbing for apples, and the brothers attempt to stop two witches from raising the demon Samhain before Castiel and Uriel destroy the town.
    • Ultraman Tiga episode 8, Halloween Night. This is a typical Halloween episode, with cast in costumes, kids trick-or-treating, and a Halloween-themed enemy, except that the series is from Japan, where Halloween was rarely celebrated. The episode specifically mentions that the town in question celebrates it and that it may someday be celebrated all over Japan. They turned out to be correct; the popularity of Halloween in Japan has drastically increased since this episode was made.
    • NCIS had three: "Witch Hunt", "Murder 2.0", and "Code of Conduct" in that order.
    • On Castle, Rick Castle dresses up as Mal Reynolds during his Halloween episode. His daughter tells him that it's been five years and he should just get it over it.
    • Tales from the Darkside of course had a few usually involving some miser trying to ruin the Holiday for everyone. One ep focused on a debt collector who made a tradition of running a spooky house (basically just things rigged to scare people) and having those that owe him money have their kids go inside and search for the receipts. If they found it, the debts would be cleared. Course the collecter would do his best to scare the kids away before they could. However one particular Halloween, real monsters come to pay a visit and well..you can imagine what happens.
    • Criminal Minds
      • The episode "About Face" is set around Halloween, and featured a villain who killed his victims by cutting their faces off, after terrorizing them a bit with missing persons flyers with their image on them that he'd cover the inside and outside of their houses with.
      • "Devil's Night" has a serial arsonist who always strikes during Halloween festivities.
    • Reba has one, in which Reba attempted to pull pranks on her family and to get her youngest child to get into the spirit of scaring people on the holiday.
    • There are two Halloween episodes in Charmed, the first being "All Halliwell's Eve" in season 3 where the sisters get sent back in time to colonial Virginia. Contains three Shout Outs as Phoebe dresses up as Elvira and Piper dresses up as Glinda. Phoebe also cackles while riding a broomstick. Another episode in season 8, "Kill Billie Vol. 1", is set on Halloween but has a separate plot entirely.
    • Are You Afraid of the Dark? has "The Tale of the Twisted Claw" which featured two boys trick-or-treating at the house of a witch who gives them a magical claw that grants wishes.
    • The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fought the Halloween Monsters of the Week Frankenstein monster in "Life's A Masquerade" and the Pumpkin Rapper in "Trick or Treat" in season one. In the next season, Lord Zedd traps Tommy in a dimension with several monsters in Zedd's Monster Mash.
      • In Power Rangers Zeo, the episode "It Came From Angel Grove" featured the surprise return of Lord Zedd and Rita, as Adam awoke on Halloween to find his friends and the rest of the town (including Zordon) transformed into a Universal Horror parody of itself - which in the end turns out to be All Just a Dream.
      • The Power Rangers Operation Overdrive two-parter "Ronny on the Run" was set around Halloween, concluding with a costume party held at the mansion.
      • Power Rangers Samurai has "Party Monsters", an episode where all the previously slain monsters have a Halloween party in the afterlife, discussing their encounters with the Samurai Rangers and how they almost beat them. In short, it was just a Clip Show.
    • In a season three episode of Veronica Mars, Logan and Veronica go to a Halloween party dressed as Jack and Meg White of the White Stripes. Their costumes, however, are pretty lame.
    • The second season of Glee had one of these, with a Rocky Horror Picture Show theme.
    • The Bill had a Halloween episode with the cops on stake-out swapping ghost stories from their past careers, each of which could have had a rational explanation, until DS Stanton encountered a definite ghost.
    • Community
      • Season 1 had Annie hosting a Dia Del Muertos party. Notable for Abed's Batman costume/voice.
      • Season 2 had the dean getting biohazardous material from an army surplus store and thinking it was taco meat, which started a zombie outbreak. Strangely for a show with no fantasy elements, they manages to handle the resolution in a way that leaves the episode entirely in continuity.
      • Season 3 had Britta discover that one of the group displayed homicidal tendencies, and pressures the group into telling scary stories in an attempt to weed out the killer.
    • Scrubs had a minor one in Season Two. The main plot was about J.D.'s brother, but the B-story was that some of the staff were in costume, and Cox and Kelso's annoyance at "this, the mother of all non-holidays".
    • Two Guys, a Girl And A Pizza Place had three that really ran with the concept:
      • "Two Guys, a Girl and a Psycho Halloween": A psycho killer that looks like Berg is killing off the main characters one-by-one. Turns out to be Mimi in disguise, trying to get her own show... and all the pizza she can eat.
      • "Halloween 2: Mind Over Body": A mad scientist switches Pete and Ashley's brains and then Berg and Sharon's. Hilarity Ensues.
      • "The Satanic Curses": Jealous of their status as True Companions, Irene summons Satanic powers to curse Berg, Pete and Sharon. Berg becomes increasingly deformed, Pete grows Ashley's head on his shoulder and Sharon grows a penis.
    • Ugly Betty had one in its first season, were Betty's idea of celebrating is to dress up as a butterfly for what is supposed to be a work party. At work, Betty shows up in her outfit... only to discover that there is no costume party (it looks like Marc made a series of prank e-mails).
    • Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide had a two part Halloween episode, the first part dealt with the annual party at a jock's house. The second was a dream induced by a sugar crash in which Ned was a vampire who was having trouble passing his "turning into a bat" exam, Cookie was a werewolf looking for a transformation trigger to chase off Franken-Loomer, and Moze was a ghost looking to kill someone because she was the only ghost at school.
    • Boy Meets World had one in season two where Cory thinks he's been bitten by a werewolf and one in season five where Jack dates a girl who claims to be a witch. Another episode, "Boys II Mensa" from season one, had a Halloween-themed B plot.
    • In the Small Wonder episode "Haunted House" (1987), the Lawsons think a ghost has invaded their house after the electricity goes out, so they call a pair of bungling ghost hunters named Dickens and Fenster. No one seems to be aware that an electrified Vicki is responsible.
    • Hawaii Five O had one in the second season, "Ka Iwi Kapu." Five-0 investigates the murders of two college kids out shooting video for a documentary on legendary Hawaiian ghost warriors in an ancient Hawaiian graveyard at midnight on Halloween.
    • The last episode of Dead Like Me which featured a Serial Killer.
    • Dinosaurs had an episode which originally aired on October 31 where Robbie, stuck home babysitting Baby, told a scary story about becoming a were-caveman. This scared Baby so much he was going to tell on Robbie unless he was given candy. Since there was none in the house Robbie took Baby next door to ask for some.

    Neighbor: Is this some kind of trick?
    Robbie: No, it's just a treat for the baby.

    They're so successful getting candy they decide to do it every year.
    • Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Catspaw". When Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to a planet they encounter witches, a wizard with a black cat familiar and a dungeon with Hollywood Torches and skeletons. Kirk says that it looks like someone is playing an elaborate trick or treat on them. The episode was first broadcast October 27, 1967.
    • The Muppet Show did two Halloween-themed episodes: with Vincent Price in season one, and Alice Cooper in season three.

    Professional Wrestling

    • WWE will usually have something Halloween related in the week Raw or Smackdown falls on Halloween. The most famous one was in 2002 that featured a backstage Halloween party where Stephanie McMahon (then Smackdown GM) and Eric Bischoff (then Raw GM) kissed in Stephanie's office. That was also the night that started John Cena's rapper gimmick as he dressed up as Vanilla Ice and performed a rap.
    • These days you can usually expect the divas to have a costume contest which have been taking place since 2006.
      • In fact in 2007 and 2008 the costume contests were part of the Cyber Sunday PPV. Mickie James won both of them, first for dressing up as Pocahontas and then as Lara Croft.
      • The NXT rookie divas had a contest as well with Aksana as a devil, Maxine as an ice queen, Naomi as the Hamburger Helper hand, AJ as Raphael, and Kaitlyn as Vickie Guerrero.
    • WCW used to have "Halloween Havok" a Halloween themed pay-per-view event. Highlights from the event included Rick Rude debuting as a masked "Halloween Phantom," a "Chamber of Horrors" Match, and a mummy called "The Yeti" attacking Hulk Hogan.
    • Most recently Raw had The Muppets as the guest stars and yes the Divas were in costume again.


    Radio Drama

    • No discussion of Halloween episodes can overlook Orson Welles' (in)famous radio dramatization of War of the Worlds in a 1938 Halloween Eve broadcast of the Mercury Theatre on the Air. The first half of the program, presented as a Phony Newscast of the Martians' invasion of New Jersey, led to panic in some parts of the country when listeners took the "reports" as real.


    Video Games

    • Bully has a Halloween mission (two, if you're playing the Updated Rerelease) where Jimmy, Gary, and Petey run around and raise all sorts of hell on Halloween night, in costumes. Jimmy's a skeleton, Petey's a pink bunny rabbit, and Gary's a Nazi officer (No Swastikas, though).
    • Team Fortress 2 runs special events for the week of Halloween, involving map variants starring ghosts and giant undead killers.
    • Halloween is one of the major event Holidays in Animal Crossing both in the Gamecube version and in the City Folk version, where you buy candy throughout the month of October in Nook's store and give them to villagers to prevent them from playing tricks on you by transforming your clothes and pocketed items into Halloween themed items, while trying to find the real Jack (one of the special holiday NPCs) who all your villagers are dressed as and give him candy in order to get the Spooky furniture series from him, though this is the point of the holiday in both versions of the game, there are some subtle different features added to the holiday in the City Folk version, such as being able to get villagers who are inside their homes to give you candy with a complete costume outfit which was not possible in the Gamecube Animal Crossing's version of the holiday.
    • Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare could be considered as an example.
    • In Famous has the DLC Festival of Blood. It's about Cole being turned into a vampire.
    • Some people like to consider The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask as one for the Legend of Zelda series, what with the emphasis on masks, the darker atmosphere and lots of genuinely scary moments. Not to mention the game was released in America on October 26, 2000, just 5 days before Halloween.


    Web Comics

    • Fetish comic, Craving Control had a two part special featuring its gluttonous protagonist Lalia going trick or treating and cleaning out the whole neighbourhood before any of the kids could show up.
    • In The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob, no matter what else may be going on in the storyline, the gigantic Halloween Monsteralways shows up for a cameo in the strip nearest to Halloween. His appearance changes subtly with each reappearance, and he does occasionally show up out of season.
    • Schlock Mercenary took this to the extreme with the annual "Schlocktoberfest", in which the storyline filling the month of October always took a dark theme, sometimes associated with classic horror movies. Howard discontinued Schlocktoberfest after the arc about Tagon's 50th birthday.
    • This issue of Questionable Content has the main characters talking about Halloween episodes of webcomics.
    • For Halloween 2008, nudist webcomic The Bare Pit featured three spooky stories told around a campfire, although the cartoonist admits that Australians don't celebrate Halloween the way Americans do.
    • Angst Technology often had the team attending an office Hallowe'en Party. Ink Tank has continued the tradition.
    • Bob and George had one every year. The first two were general costumes (with someone dressing as the Pink Power Rangers as a Running Gag) Starting with 2002 (and barring 2004), each year had a theme to the costumes.
      • 2002: Super Heroes
      • 2003: Final Fantasy
      • 2005: Video Games (Mostly Nintendo, but some Sega too)
      • 2006: Anime (also set in the hand-drawn universe)
    • Nicktoons Tales has the dark Nicktoons Tales of Terror episode. It has the main trio (A.D.S., Timmy, and ZIM) tell scary stories ala Simpsons' Treehouse Of Horror format.
    • Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff has one. True to tradition, it was written and published on Christmas Day 2010. It later received a Call Back in Homestuck when Kanaya "died". Not everyone thought this was appropriate.
    • The Keiki comic "Beefer Madness" became a Halloween special about halfway through, because the cartoonist didn't have time to write a whole new story.
    • Mulberry had the title character hunt a zombie in "Franken-Berry", and later, pull some frightening pranks on her rival in "Let's Scare Mary Roach To Death".
    • The Whiteboard almost always has a Halloween-related story around October. Mostly it's just parties where Cameos from other webcomics abound, but on occasion it's a full story arc, like with the 2010 Zombie Apocalypse story arc.
    • In Roommates (Mega Crossover fancomic) the Halloween arc is traditionally the highlight of the year. Be it a Costume Party that gets derailed into a Murder Mystery (2008) or a Zombie Apocalypse (2011).
    • An Ears for Elves filler page for Halloween here has drawings of the artist and site maintainer dressing up. Well, more like one getting into the festive spirit and the other wondering what the point is...


    Web Original

    • The Angry Video Game Nerd does an annual Halloween double feature in which he rips apart horror-themed video games:
      • 2006: The Nerd takes on the sucky licensed games of Friday the 13 th and A Nightmare on Elm Street and fights both Jason and Freddy.
      • 2007: The Nerd gets menaced by evil hillbillies and a mad slasher as he plays the games of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween.
      • 2008: The Nerd covers the classics by snarking about some bad Dracula games, then decides to play god and creates a Franken-Nerd to play bad games in his place. It doesn't end well.
      • 2009: The Nerd does a marathon of the classic Castlevania games.
      • 2010: The Nerd revisited the most horrifying game he had ever reviewed; Dr Jekyl And Mr Hyde.
      • 2011: The Nerd reviews Dark Castle for Sega Genesis and CD-i.
        • James also does a Monster Madness month over on Cinemassacre, where he'll review monster and horror movies (the 2011 run, for example, does the Universal Frankenstien, Nightmare on Elm Street and the Halloween series)
    • The Annoying Orange has at least one Halloween video every year:
    • Fred has had a few.
    • Every year, the main characters from Homestar Runner (plus others, such as Marshie, Stinkoman, or The Goblin) get dressed up in costumes and do stuff. They are often dressed up as some obscure pop culture icon from the '70s, 80's, or 90's, although we will occasionally be relieved of guessing too hard with some costumes such as Tingle, Hello Kitty, Beetlejuice, Zoidberg, or M. Bison. The events are different each year, such as one memorable Halloween where you got to give the characters candy in an interactive game. There are also a few traditions, such as an appearance from The Goblin, Coach Z going as a hip-hop artist, the "Witch's Brew" catchphrase, or Marzipan cross-dressing (Lampshaded when Homestar said that Marzipan's cross-dressing was starting to freak him out).
      • Can't forget this one: Always, always click near the Poopsmith to see the easter egg with Homsar.
      • In 2010, the creators of Homestar Runner put off the Halloween special until December. As a result, everyone dressed as either characters from Christma-er, Decemberween specials, or as Decemberween decorations.
    • The Irate Gamer also has annual Halloween episodes:
      • 2007: After a Cold Opening involving The Devil and the Evil Gamer, the Irate Gamer, dressed as a Ghostbusters, reviews Zombies Ate My Neighbors, while pausing occasionally to talk to a Jewish skeleton after noting that there are no skeleton enemies in the game. At the end, he throws the game into his ghost trap, gets one last call from the skeleton, and leaves. The Evil Gamer then takes over the show, but ends up talking to the skeleton as well.
      • 2008: Another cold opening shows the Evil Gamer plotting another Hostile Show Takeover from within his "Castle of Evil", coming up with a plan to kill the Irate Gamer with Monster Party. The Irate Gamer himself, meanwhile, is not invited to the biggest Halloween party in town, leaving him stuck at home getting unwanted visitors. He decides to vent his frustration by reviewing bad games, and finds that a Monster Party cartridge has mysteriously appeared on his occult shelf. While he reviews the game, characters from previous episodes show up, and the Irate Gamer gets more unwanted visitors. Eventually, the Irate Gamer beats the game, unleashing the devil. The devil wants to take over the world, but gets distracted by a Voltron figure while trying to kill the IG, and both of them go to drink apple juice at a bar, despite protests from the Evil Gamer.
    • The Nostalgia Critic has an annual Halloween related video/review:
    • Rhett and Link, who are Christians, have no trouble celebrating Halloween, seeing as most of the demonic observations have faded. They wrote Trick-or-Treat song and even made a podcast that compares Halloween to the "Harvest Season."
    • Trinton Chronicles had a whole arc dedicated to the Halloween season in late 2007; it featured a vampire who sucked on powers (as opposed to blood) who went around turning people into ghouls after sufficiently draining them of their powers and life force. He was brought down in dramatic flare and fashion by having an electrified sword driven into his chest where he promptly exploded into sand. At the end of the story a huge fireworks display is shown over the city with a good old fashion Happy Halloween scrawled in the sky.
    • The Whateley Universe had a big Halloween spectacular for the fall of 2006 (Whateley time), when everyone dressed in fun costumes (Phase hated his)... and the campus was attacked by cyborgs, robots, and dropships full of Syndicate badguys. It ended up taking three full stories to wrap it up. Fanon has speculated on what might happen at Halloween 2007.
    • Code MENT gave us "Halloween Rules" which was more about Lelouch teaching Suzaku all about Halloween.
    • Stuff You Like had "5 Ridiculously Entertaining Things About Underworld" for their first Halloween episode, complete with Black Cloak and Evil Laughter.
    • In the middle of a civil war, ponies throw a Nightmare Night party.
    • Loading Ready Run's Commodore HUSTLE had a Halloween episode in the form of "Roll For Treats", where Kathleen bemoans being too old to trick or treat and the crew play Dungeons & Dragons. Features Kathleen in a dirndl skirt (which Matt persists in calling a "beer girl" costume) and Tally trick-or-treating as a Bedsheet Ghost to hide her age.


    Western Animation

    • As mentioned above, The Simpsons' annual "Treehouse of Horror" episodes, which are anthologies containing three short stories with a horror theme (Played for Laughs, of course). Oddly enough, for the last decade or so most of these have premiered after Halloween, due to FOX's World Series coverage pre-empting its Sunday prime time lineup at the end of October each yaer.
    • The original Woody Woodpecker Show got a Halloween Special called Spook-A-Nanny. It's included as an extra on the first Woody Woodpecker And Friends DVD collection, and worth watching for it's cheese factor. Oh, and ghosts wearing Beatle wigs. No, really.
    • Donald Duck starred in a bunch of shorts with a semi-scary atmosphere, such as Donald Duck and the Gorilla, Donald's Lucky Day, and Duck Pimples, but the true Halloween episode is fans' favorite Trick or Treat, where Donald's assholish treatment of his nephews leads to a witch helping the boys to get the best of their uncle.
    • Mickey's House of Villains could be considered a Halloween episode of House of Mouse. There, the Disney animated villains kick all of the good guys out of the House and rename it the House of Villains. Jafar gets Mickey's job as the master of ceremonies, while Captain Hook and Hades get Donald and Goofy's jobs as chief assistants. The rest is your usual HOM stuff, with showing scary shorts instead of the usual upbeat ones.
    • Space Goofs: A Dracula-like vampire is the new guest at the house. He bites the aliens on their sleep, thus turning them all into vampires. In the end, Gorgeous makes the vampire a pie with garlic in it, with turns him into a human (as opposed to killing him). He opens a window to see the sun for the first time...and all of the aliens turn into ash.
    • The Fairly OddParents: Remember the Buffy Halloween episode where everyone became the costumes they were wearing? Same plot, only with the Yugopotamians and four Omnicidal Maniac robots thrown in for variety.
    • The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron takes great pleasure in pushing this trope to its stereotypical limit. In the episode, Jimmy creates a monster wheel designed to turn his friends into authentic monsters (a closer examination of the wheel shows Michael Jackson as an option) - the only problem is, the invention works a little too well, and Carl and Sheen end up as a real vampire and a real werewolf. They bite Cindy and Libby, who then join the ranks of bloodsuckers/flesheaters, and before you know it the whole town is out for a good ol' fashioned monster-mob.
    • CatDog: Dog gets bitten by Peruvian vampire ticks, so Cat tries desperately to find a cure. In the process, their friends are also bitten by the vampire ticks and turned into vampires. At the end, Cat drowns everyone in garlic juice, which apparently works just like in Space Goofs since it cures everyone (even the Peruvian ticks). At the end, Winslow shows up, and reveals that he was bitten by a werewolf.
    • The Mask: Skillit uses his powers to summon a zombie cowboy, a ghost knight, and a demonically-possesed warlock to crash the Coco Bongo's annual Halloween party. In the end, the Mask vanishes them to Skillit's home dimension by making them say the word "mask" backwards.
    • The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat: Felix is persuaded to join the Black Cat Society, a secret society for people dressing and acting as black cats. He runs away when they try to take off Felix's mask (i.e., his face). When they discover that he is an actual black cat, they name him their king.
    • Pinky and The Brain: Pinky sells his soul to the Devil so that Brain can take over the world. Brain then challenges Satan to a gymnastic competition for Pinky's soul, and loses. However, when Pinky signed the contract giving his soul to the Devil, the Devil forgot to give him some sort of gizmo (with a really weird name and a vague explanation of its function), thus rendering the contract null and void, and saving Pinky's soul.
    • Gravity Falls had one with an odd Christmas in July version of Halloween called "Summerween"; the in-universe explanation was that the town of Gravity Falls loves Halloween so much, they have it twice. Word of God, however, states that the show's general theme was pretty much begging for a Halloween episode, even though the whole series took place over one summer. Whatever the case, the plot involved Dipper torn between going trick-or-treating with his sister and wanting to do "more mature" activities with Wendy (who he has a crush on) all the while threatened by the Sumerween Trickster, who threatens to eat children who reject holiday spirit.
    • Tiny Toons' Night Ghoulery: A parody of Rod Serling's Night Gallery with Babs Bunny in the Rod Serling role. One story is a parody of Frankenstein with Elmyra as Doctor Frankenstein, Dizzy as Igor, and the Gossamer as Frankenstein's Monster. Another is a parody of Stephen King's Pet Sematary with Elmyra's dead pets coming back from the grave as zombies. Another is a parody of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, with Plucky Duck as Costello and Buster Bunny as Abbott. The final story is a parody of The Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", with Plucky Duck as the William Shatner character and the gremlin from the Looney Tunes short Falling Hare as the monster (it also, to some extent, spoofs the final segment of Twilight Zone the Movie).
    • Garfield's Halloween Adventure has the titular cat and Odie trick-or-treating. But when attempting to cross a river on a boat for extra candy, the two end up in a haunted mansion. Also features really catchy songs.
    • Scooby Doo has had at least two episodes specifically set during Halloween: "The Headless Horseman of Halloween" and "A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle".
      • The Day of Dead is used as the reason for Mystery Inc. to visit Mexico in the direct-to-DVD movie, Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico.
      • Halloween is day used for Scooby-Doo And The Goblin King
      • What's New, Scooby-Doo? used the Halloween episode straight.
      • Not specifically a Halloween episode, but Cartoon Network used to run an all-day Scooby-Doo marathon on the last day of daylight-saving time, meaning you'd get 25 hours of the show in one day. One year, during the commercial breaks, they ran bits of a Scooby-Doo-themed version of The Blair Witch Project, which eventually featured the line, "Maybe this time we shouldn't have meddled".
        • Also, the UK Cartoon Network once ran a marathon of Halloween-themed cartoons on the morning of April 1 as an April Fools joke.
    • The Pac-Man cartoon also had two Halloween episodes: "Pacula" and "Trick or Chomp".
    • Hanna-Barbera's version of The Little Rascals had one: "Fright Night", in which three of the Rascals went trick-or-treating. I don't recall all of the details, but I do remember that Darla dressed so as to resemble Alfalfa.
    • Transformers Animated had one, "Along Came a Spider", in which Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Sari go trick-or-treating, dressed up as Dracula, a ghost (with a costume made out of a striped fumigation tent, so he looks more like a walking billowing circus), and Optimus Prime, respectively. Also, Blackarachnia appears to confront Optimus about their past.
    • Jem had a Halloween episode, "Trick or Techrat", having the Holograms fixing a haunted opera house-and Terri, one of the Starlight Girls, learning not to scare at every thing.
    • Class of the Titans had a Halloween episode in which Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, tried to escape from her prison in the moon. It also introduced Theresa's mystical powers.
    • Winx Club had an ep where the girls went to a party in their transformed fairy outfits.
    • Aaahh Real Monsters: When Ickis, Krumm, and Oblina go to do their daily scares, there's a mixup with a kid wearing a Halloween costume of an Ickis-like creature. Krumm and Oblina go to the kid's Halloween party, believed by everyone to be just kids in costumes, and the kid goes to the monster world. The day after Halloween, everything is cleared.
    • Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy's Boo-Haw-Haw had the Eds attempt to follow a map to "Spookyville", the ultimate trick-or-treating neighborhood. Unfortunately, an overdose of B-movies on Ed's part causes him to hallucinate that the other kids of the cul-de-sac are movie monsters out to get him and his friends, and Hilarity Ensues.
    • The Ben 10 episode Last Laugh considered a Halloween episode, despite the fact that the series is supposed to take place during the summer.
    • The short-lived Lloyd in Space had an episode in which yhe gang goes into a Haunted House type thing, only to come out to a version of the space station in the far future where it's completely deserted and a monster has apparently killed everyone. It turns out to be some variation of All Just a Dream, but man, that whole episode was basically Mood Whiplash.
    • There have been a few in South Park. The first, called "Pinkeye", is about Kenny becoming infected with a zombie virus and turning most of the townspeople into zombies; the second one is "Spookyfish", involving Stan receiving a killer goldfish from his aunt and meanwhile alternate universe versions of the boys show up; the third is "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery", which involves the rock band Korn solving a mystery involving pirate ghosts in an Affectionate Parody of Scooby Doo; and the most recent one is Hell on Earth 2006, involving Satan throwing a Halloween party.
    • There have been a couple in King of the Hill. The first one concerns a religious fanatic trying to ban Halloween from Arlen. In the second (definitely one of the series' darker episodes), Luann moves in with a schizophrenic millionaire who owns a pork processing company.
    • Rocko's Modern Life had an episode in which Philburt went trick or treating for the first time and met the Hopping Hessain (a parody of the headless horseman.)
    • There's one in Invader Zim called the Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom, in which inside Dib's head is a parallel universe with real monsters.
    • The Teen Titans episode "Fear Itself" could be considered a Halloween episode, even though the gang didn't do anything Halloween-related besides watch a scary movie.
    • The Wild Thornberrys had a Day of the Dead episode in 2000.
    • Hey Arnold!'s Halloween episode was a homage to Orson Welles' 1938 "The War of the Worlds" radio broadcast.
    • Avatar: The Last Airbender's The Puppetmaster was aired (and possibly meant) as a Halloween episode, since the holiday doesn't exist in their universe.
    • The Mighty B! has Bessie trapped in a cat costume and...stuff happens.
    • The second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 'toon had "All Hallows' Thieves", an adaptation of a comic book story of the same name, which featured baddie the King of Thieves and his attempts to use an army of goblins in order to have them steal a bunch of stuff for him.
    • The Real Ghostbusters had three such episodes.
      • "When Halloween Was Forever": a pair of ghosts free Samhain, the Spirit of Halloween, whose goal is to create a permanent Halloween night.
      • "Halloween 2 1/2": Samhain is freed from the Containment Unit and tries to again achieve his goal, while also seeking revenge against the Ghostbusters.
      • "The Halloween Door": Seeking to end Halloween forever, a Moral Guardian steals Ghostbuster tech to use for his machine. Doing so, however, breaks an ancient, ghostly contract - allowing hordes of supernatural terrors to invade New York City.
    • Lilo & Stitch: The Series has the episode Spooky as it Halloween episode that has the characters against an experiment that can transform into their worst fears.
    • Doug had two that come to mind. One (during the Nickelodeon run) a half hour special that had Doug going to the amusement park Funky Town to ride a scary ride and end up getting locked in it after the park shuts down for the night. Another (Disney run this time) had him (and eventually the other kids) thinking his best friend Skeeter was a vampire.
    • The Life and Times of Juniper Lee one had the title character trying to fix a spell that turned monsters into humans (which their idea of a Halloween costume) and having to go through a complicated barter system which at the end involve her having to wrestle (as in WWE-like wrestle) a monster to help get the last thing she needs.
    • American Dragon: Jake Long version had Jake throwing a party for both monsters and humans and of course almost brings danger down on their head in the form of the Huntsclan.
    • Danny Phantom had "Fright Night" where Danny temporarily steals a sword from Fright Knight, the ghostly Anthropomorphic Personification of Halloween. Hell ensues (literally).
    • Rugrats had "Candy Bar Creep Show", where the babies tried to get Reptar Bars, and "Curse of the Were-Wuff", where Angelica scares them into thinking they will become their costumes after Halloween.
    • The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy had "Billy and Mandy's Jacked Up Halloween" although many episodes could qualify.
    • "Trick or Treat" from Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?: After Zack and Ivy attempt another trick on Carmen Sandiego, she pays them for their second trick attempt at arresting her.
    • Trinton Chronicles has a whole story dedicated to the season of the witch, Hallow's Eve.
    • The Spectacular Spider-Man has one of the most plot important episodes as a Halloween episode. It involves plot advancement on who the Green Goblin is, and it is actually the set up for another episode when Peter arrives in his Spidey suit.
    • On Home Movies the gang was on their way to a Halloween party but they all ended up at the hospital when Brendon's stepmom went into labor and Coach Mc Guirk had a heart attack. Not the best place for Melissa to dress like the Grim Reaper.

    Coach: Omigod, it's Death.
    Melissa: Coach, it's me, Melissa!
    Coach: Omigod, it's Melissa.

    • The Magic School Bus had a Halloween special that was two spookily-themed episodes from the series tied together by a live-action sequence where an old caretaker told two kids terrifying stories about kids learning about sound and bats.
    • Celebrity Deathmatch had two Halloween episodes with matches such as Frankenstein's Monster vs. the Wolfman, The Undertaker vs. Captain Doody (a demon possessing Nicky Jr.), and Sarah Michelle Gellar vs. a vampire.
    • The Cleveland Show had "It's the Great Pancake, Cleveland Brown", where Cleveland upsets Cleveland Jr. by telling him he is too old to trick or treat and Rallo eats too much candy.
      • You forgot his Drew Carry look-a-like friend that was annoying everyone with bad jokes the whole episode went Ax Crazy and tried to kill both Cleveland and his entire family. Or I could be thinking of another Halloween special from the show. It dealt with Cleveland and Rallo trying to prove they weren't scared.
    • Phineas and Ferb has one, called "That's the Spirit" where the boys encounter a strange boy named Russell who is convinced his house is haunted. Meanwhile, Agent P has to stop Doof after he becomes a werecow.
    • As part of a special series that ran throughout October 2011, Cartoon Network premiered new Halloween themed episodes as part of their Monday night scheduling block. The five shows participating were Johnny Test, The Amazing World of Gumball, Adventure Time, Regular Show and Mad. The other show, Secret Mountain Fort Awesome, did not participate due to the sheer newness of S.M.F.A. The premieres culminated on Halloween Night (which fell on a Monday) in which each episode was shown during a marathon.
      • Regular Show had "Terror Tales of the Park", à la Treehouse of Horror, consisting of a series of smaller episodes. In true Treehouse of Horror fashion, none of the episode is canon. The first part of the episode is about a Victorian age doll named Percie that Pops had as a child who has a compulsive need to draw on people's faces, which climaxes as the doll comes to life and attempts to kill Mordecai, Rigby and Pops to fulfill his need. The three defeat the doll eventually by throwing it into a furnace. The second part features Muscleman and High Five Ghost as they plan to crash an RV into a bottomless pit only to find the last owners, a metal band named Skull Bash, have not left. Muscleman and High Five can't take their music and are unable to escape from the RV. Thus, they crash the RV into the pit which kills Muscleman in the process, turning him into a ghost. The third part features Mordecai and Rigby trick-or-treating. Rigby eggs the Halloween Wizard's house and pays for his crime. The wizard exacts his revenge by turning Rigby into a house. He proceeds to murder the rest of the park employees. The wizard liquifys High Five Ghost, burns Skips alive, flushes Benson down a toilet, traps Pops in a closet and destorys it, decapitates Mordecai, skins Muscleman and eventually, turns Rigby back to normal only to drown him in a giant egg. It is at last revealed that the entire story was told by the Halloween Wizard, disguised as Rigby the entire time.
      • The Johnny Test episode is titled "Johnny Trick or Treat". Johnny accepts a dare by a mysterious card impaled on his door. In order to see a real haunted house and cash in on a large amount of candy, he must spend a night in a house and wear a tutu. He is joined by Dukey and Jillian, only to find the house is rigged with traps, which include spiders, crocodiles, slime monsters and other various enemies. They successfully complete all of the tasks, only to be eaten by a giant maggot. With Jillian in danger, the master of the house, Darth Vegan, tries to save them, only to have his plans ruined. When it is revealed that there was no candy, Johnny and the rest of the crew teleport to a party attended by Susan, Mary and Agents Black and White, where he wins a candy making machine for first place in a costume contest.
      • Adventure Time parodies Clue and And Then There Were None in the episode "The Creeps". Members of the cast are assembled at a mountain-top castle. Each of the characters gain aliases as part of the invitation:
        • Finn as Prince Hotbod
        • Jake as Randy Butternubs
        • Princess Bubblegum as Lady Quietbottom
        • BMO as Professor Pence
        • Lumpy Space Princess as Duchess Gummybuns
        • Cinnamon Bun as Guy Farting.
      • The costume party goes awry as characters are killed off and the party turns into a mystery when it is revealed that a ghost has possessed one of them and intends to murder them. In order of death, Cinnamon Bun is skinned and his gore is stuffed in a closet, BMO is taken apart, Bubblegum is melted, LSP is sealed within a painting and Jake is spirited away. Finn tries to escape the castle, seeing multiple aparitions, but when the true ghost corners him, he accepts his fate. When Finn has had enough, Jake and Lady Rainicorn reveal that they are the ghost and that none of the character were killed. Finn asks how Jake got the house to come to life. Jake doesn't know what Finn is talking about and the crew leaves the castle. Finn keeps the memory in "his vault" . Fun fact: This is not the first time Adventure Time has turned to Agatha Chrstie for inspiration. The first time was "Mystery Train", a somewhat homage to Murder on the Orient Express. In addition, the episode makes references to "Mystery Train" and could even be considered a continuation.
      • A second Adventure Time halloween special, "From Bad To Worse", aired a week later. The episode deals with a Zombie Apocalypse and is a continuation of the premiere "Slumber Party Panic". Finn, Jake, Rainicorn and LSP are seen running through the Candy Kingdom avoiding the now zombified denizens. After making it to the castle, Princess Bubblegum explains the infection is her fault. While experimenting with the flesh of a candy zombie, she turns her back, giving Cinnamon Bun enough time to ingest the sample, turning him into a zombie. Princess Bubblegum says she will make the antidote again but before she can, she is bitten by a zombie. Before being changed, she tells Finn to let science do the work to create the formula again. It is up to the four to create the formula. They each create a different version and begin to test them out. With less than PB intelligence, however, the formulas give the zombies upgrades. Finn's give the zombies wings, LSP's make the zombies have larger lips (which she attempts to use after the fact), and Jake and Rainicorn's formula make the zombies stronger. The four characters realize their folly and attempt to escape the horde only to be transformed by their own faults (LSP by trying to use the lip potion, Jake by protecting Ranicorn, Raincorn by letting Jake out of quarantine). Finn locks himself in a shower in PB's lab with her pet candycorn rat in tow. In a moment of realization, Finn realizes PB's last words meant for them to use Science, the lab rat. The lab rat creates the formula and Finn tests in on Jake who returns to normal. Unfortunately, the effects are reversed after Jake is bitten again. Out of ideas, Finn covers himself in the antidote and flings himself into the fray and is chewed by the zombies. The last scene shows the Candy Kingdom fully cured, Finn in a state of well-being and Princess Bubblegum awarding Science with a medal for heroic bravery. Fun Fact: Lady Rainicorn calls Jake by name four times with no Korean inflection, marking the first time she has spoken English. Also, Finn calls Lady Rainicorn LR, the first time she has been called by that nickname.
      • MAD had the episode "Kitchen Nightmares Before Christmas/How I Met Your Mummy". Within the episode were Nightmare Before Christmas and How I Met Your Mother references, as the title implies. Other references included Scream X20 (Scream parody), Scooby Doo: Ruining Halloween Since 1969, and Veggie Tales Tales from the Crypt.
      • While not necessarily Halloween material, some episodes that premiered did contain horror elements.
        • Regular Show "Camping Can Be Fun"
        • The Amazing World of Gumball "The Poltergeist"
    • Kick Buttowski had the predictably named "Kick Or Treat", where Kick accepts a challenge from Kendall to go trick-treating at the scary Old Dark House across the street. Turns out the house is owned by a nice old lady who loves Halloween so much that she went completely overboard with the special effects.
    • My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic has "Luna Eclipsed" where the ponies celebrate the day as "Nightmare Night" and a certain literal Ensemble Darkhorse shows up, being determined to change her frightening public image she made back in the past. At first, it wasn't really working out all that well for her, and it goes to the point where she ends up decreeing the cancellation of Nightmare Night forever! However, Luna eventually learns that the young ponies actually like being scared by her, and she declares that Nightmare Night's back on.
    • The Backyardigans episode Scared Of You is this in all but name.
    • WITCH had "W is for Witch", in which the girls were able to get away using their Guardian identities in public in order to capture Nerissa. However, thanks to the series' serial storyline, when Toon Disney elected to air this during a Halloween-themed marathon, it was shown earlier than it was supposed to, effectively spoiling viewers to a number of future plot points.
    • American Dad did one of these where Stan tried to outdo his neighbor's haunted house. His solution? Bring in caged serial killers. And then Roger frees them...
    • Family Guy only has one, oddly. It was from season 9, where Chris and Meg went to a party, Stewie and Brian dealt with a bully that stole Stewie's candy and Quagmire getting revenge for a prank by Peter and Joe. Lois becomes the bully for the bullies and actually scares Stewie a bit, Quagmire pretends to be possessed by a Japanese WWII pilot and MEG AND CHRIS ACCIDENTALLY MAKE OUT WITH EACH OTHER.
    1. ↑ The episode has another layer of infamy add to it. From the very first time it aired back in 1990, weird events have been associated with this episode. This episode has the highest incidence of VCR / cable / local station failure than any other episode aired. There have been numerous reports of VCR?s cutting out during the taping of this episode, local station and cable companies dropping their signal. Even mentioning it by name is hazardous, as one net. Leaper can attest. He lost his job AND his net - hence QL fans usually refer to it as "The Halloween Episode" or "The B**giem*n".
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