13 Times Sam and Dean Have Actually Died on Supernatural

While on a mission to save their father from Meg, Sam and Dean come face-to-face with the demon that killed their mother. Inhabiting John's body, the demon gravely injures Dean, only to be stopped by Sam via a bullet to the leg. The three Winchesters almost make it out alive until a possessed truck driver slams into their Impala, forcing John to bargain his life for Dean's.

When the Yellow-Eyed Demon kidnaps Sam and other "Special Children" in order to start his war on mankind, Dean enlists Bobby's help to find him. Meanwhile, Sam teams up with a supernaturally strong soldier named Jake to escape the ghost town they're being held captive in. After Jake says he doesn't trust Sam, the two fight and Jake is defeated. Dean arrives just in time for a seemingly unconscious Jake to stab Sam, killing him and crushing our hearts in the process. Poor Sam.

It's Groundhog Day for Sam, who must relive the same day over and over again — each culminating in Dean's death. The time loop restarts with "Heat of the Moment" by Asia playing on the radio, much to his chagrin. Dean's many demises include death by poisoned taco, being electrocuted while plugging in his razor, and getting mauled by a dog.

Season three seems to have a recurring theme: Dean getting mauled to death by dogs. As the mother of all demons, Lilith, terrorizes a town, Sam, who is the elder Winchester, and Bobby team up to take her down. Unfortunately for him, Lilith's hellhounds are called in and he suffers yet another terrible fate at the hands of a four-legged creature. Yikes.

You know the saying, "be careful what you wish for?" Sam and Dean learn the difficult lesson in careful wish-making after visiting a town with an actual wishing well. Hope, a resident in the town, wishes for no one to take her love, Wes, away and when you're a hunter named Sam confronting said person, things are bound to go awry. In this case, he is struck by lightning. Thankfully, the wishes get reversed in the end and everyone walks away unscathed.

Dean and Sam are called in to investigate a series of near-death experiences and, as always, figure out that an evil entity is behind it. With the help of Pamela Barnes, they die, become spirits, and enter the astral plane. Along the way, the brothers are aided by their friend Tessa, who awakens Dean's memories of her with a kiss. They end up saving the day, but Sam also learns that his powers aren't exactly pure.

In case you were wondering, the zombie apocalypse isn't caused by mankind. It's the Devil himself, Lucifer, who releases a virus that turns humans into zombies. Dean wakes up five years in the future to a near-barren world and vows to kill Lucifer in order to save the remaining survivors. His life is cut short by the Devil inhabiting Sam's body, who snaps his neck in front of Dean from the present. Confusing? Maybe so. Traumatizing? Definitely.

The Winchesters do a lot of things together: track down supernatural baddies, ride in the Impala, and even get shot to death by a pair of angry hunters. But not to worry, their souls make it to Heaven where they relive pleasant memories from Earth. However, they're quickly sent on a mission to track down an angel named Joshua, whom God regularly contacts. Spoiler alert: They eventually get sent back to Earth to continue their misadventures in demon hunting.

Anna escapes from Heaven and is subsequently sent back in time to kill Sam and Dean's parents, John and Mary Winchester, in order to erase their existence. The brothers travel back in time to stop her, only for Sam to be impaled by a pipe. But don't fret! He gets resurrected by Michael and all is right in the world . . . for now.

With a title like this, there's bound to be a Winchester death. The apocalypse is looming, and Sam and Dean agree to be caught be demons so that they're taken to Lucifer, who is then allowed to possess Sam's body. As Lucifer nearly kills Dean, Sam regains control of his body and leaps into Lucifer's cage, taking Michael with him. Castiel suddenly appears to heal Dean, but the damage has been done. Sam is once again trapped in hell, because the Winchester family can never have a happy ending.

It's not a proper finale unless a Winchester brother dies. This time around, Sam and Dean team up with Castiel, Bobby, Meg, and the prophet Kevin to stop Dick from executing his plan for the Leviathans to take over America. They're able to take him down, but it's Dean who gets stuck in purgatory. That wouldn't be so bad if there weren't monster souls lurking about, ready to tear him to shreds.

After falling under the influence of the Mark of Cain, Dean is locked up in a dungeon while Sam and Castiel go looking for Gadreel. However, Dean escapes and embarks on his own mission to kill the Metatron. Unfortunately, the bout does not go in his favor and he is stabbed in the heart with an Angel blade. Before dying in Sam's arms, the elder Winchester tells his brother, "I'm proud of us." To this day, none of us have recovered from that moment. Dean is resurrected, but as the new Knight of Hell. Who saw that coming?

You'd think watching Dean and Sam die so many times would offset the sting, but those Winchesters really know how to tug at your heart strings. What is supposed to be just a werewolf hunt ends up being an emotional wrecking ball, when Sam is critically injured and Dean believes that he is dead. The flashback to their arrival and Sam's insistence that "this could be fun" didn't help matters, nor did Dean's refusal to leave his brother behind or those uncomfortably long pans over Sam's seemingly lifeless body. But none of that compares to the heart-wrenching moment Dean intentionally overdoses on pills just as Sam wakes up. And the kicker? Sam's not really dead, but now Dean is. However, thanks to modern medicine, he is revived by a doctor and the Winchesters are reunited. Talk about your close call. This one was way too close.