13 Halloween TV Specials From the '90s That Scared (and Scarred) Us

On Oct. 25, 1990, The Simpsons kicked off a beloved Halloween tradition by airing the first of many "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episodes during the show's second season. Bart, Maggie, and Lisa sit in their treehouse and entertain each other with three scary stories while Homer eavesdrops: one about a haunted house, one about alien abduction, and finally a Simpsons-ified version of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven". "Treehouse of Horror V" is also pretty solid with its spot-on parody of The Shining and a segment about lunch ladies who chop up bad students for the next day's meal, but we have to applaud the original.

This particularly haunting episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? hit TV screens on Halloween in Canada in 1990, but didn't make its way to the US until 1992. In other words, Canadians had two extra years of nightmares thanks to this story about two boys who get more than they bargained for. While trick-or-treating, they go to the house of an old lady in their neighborhood who they terrorized on Mischief Night, and she gives them a cursed vulture's claw that grants three wishes, which come at a terrible price.

This season four episode not only has a creepy connection to American Horror Story, but also puts a fun spin on the haunted house trope. When Buffy and Co. head to a Halloween party at a frat during their first year of college, an accidental pentagram ends up making everything in the house come alive, including its scary decorations. As if frat parties weren't bad enough.

In this 1996 episode of Family Matters, an evil ventriloquist dummy that looks exactly like Steve begins terrorizing the Winslows after it's struck by lightning and comes to life. It's like Child's Play-lite, and if you didn't get just a bit freaked out when Stevil trapped Eddie in the chimney or "dismembered" Laura, you might be a soulless dummy yourself.

Zack, Slater, Screech, Kelly, Jessie, and Lisa travel to a secluded mansion for a murder mystery weekend after Jessie wins a radio contest in this 1991 episode. They quickly come to suspect a real killer is on the loose somewhere on the grounds, and Zack has to act as detective. Although everyone makes it out alive, we just wish he would've discovered what supernatural entity possessed Lisa and forced her to wear that heinous rainbow blazer . . .

1999's "Tricks and Treats" is funny, heartfelt, and awkward in the way that most Freaks and Geeks episodes are. Lindsay and Sam realize they aren't who they thought they were when she ditches her mom to hang out with the Freak gang, and he goes through multiple embarrassments with his friends after learning they're too old to trick-or-treat.

Beverly Hills 90210 takes on Halloween in 1991's season two episode, which ends up taking a dark turn. When the group attends a costume party at an old mansion, Kelly shows up dressed as a witch, and her revealing costume attracts the unwanted advances of some creep dressed as a cowboy. He gets her alone in an upstairs bedroom, and despite her protests, aggressively forces her onto the bed. Although it doesn't go any further thanks to Brenda and Donna interrupting, just thinking about it still leaves us shaken.

You might not remember this 1993 episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but it's one of our favorites. Will and the rest of the Banks family visit a psychic so that Hilary can try to communicate with her late fiancé, Trevor, but it ends up backfiring when Will accuses the man of being a fake. The psychic curses them, but Will has a very sassy, "Lady Marmalade"-themed comeback at the ready.

Fraiser's season five, episode three ode to Halloween in 1997 features the kind of classic miscommunication that sitcoms thrive off of. Roz is worried she might be pregnant, but Niles misinterprets part of a conversation he overhears and assumes Daphne is the one pregnant with Frasier's baby. This all takes place while everyone is dressed as literary characters, by the way (including a hilarious Cyrano de Bergerac costume and Roz's sultry take on The Story of O).

After the gang ends up in detention with Feeny in this 1998 episode, they each start getting picked off one by one in variously gruesome ways. Someone gets stabbed in the back with scissors! Another is impaled on a giant pencil! A few are thrown off a ledge! This Scream-inspired episode is way freakier than most give it credit for.

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There isn't anything scarier than knowing My So-Called Life isn't on the air anymore, but this 1994 episode attempts to come close. Angela breaks into Liberty High with her friends and has visions of a hot student who died years earlier. She also angsts over the thought of Jordan Catalano getting expelled from school, because of course she does.

This 1995 episode of Goosebumps, which was broken into two parts, does not mess around. As the first episode of the series ever, it really sets the tone with this superscary story about Carly Beth, a young girl who steals a gruesome mask for her Halloween costume that ends up fusing with her skin. It's truly unsettling for a kids' show, and still holds up over two decades later.

This 1998 Halloween-themed episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch has everything from creepy dolls to insane asylums, if you're into that. Sabrina ditches her 500-year-old Aunt Beulah's annual costume party to hang out with her friends instead, so her aunt sends a talking doll from the Other Realm to terrorize her as punishment. We'd be lying if we said we didn't hear "I'm a Molly Dolly, and I'm gonna get you" every time we closed our eyes for a week after watching that.