As Supernatural has developed over the years, it has also shifted its focus away from its horror roots. With so many first-rate comedic and dramatic episodes, it's easy to forget that the show actually produced some genuinely scary ones as well. So with horror season closing in, and Supernatural returning to the small screen for its 12th season (premieres October 13), we thought it was time to list the 15 Scariest Episodes of Supernatural Ever.

15. Repo Man (Season 7, Episode 15)

Faithful fans, who have stuck with the show during its eleven odd years, tend to be clear on which seasons they favor. Season 7 is not usually one of them. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the show was still trying to find its feet after creator Eric Kripke stepped down as showrunner following season 5 (when he had intended it to end) - or simply because the new big bad, the Leviathans, failed to impress. That said, even the less captivating seasons of Supernatural has its gems. Take "Repo Man" for example.

Sam and Dean are alerted to a case where women are being murdered in a way reminiscent of a demon they exorcised four years earlier. They recruit the demon's former "meatsuit", Jeffrey (Russell Sams), who's now living in a halfway house and can barely tie his own shoes, to track the demon down. So when it turns out that the demon is still trapped in hell, and it's in fact Jeffrey who has been killing these women all along, it sure freaked us out. What made this episode so scary is that harmless-looking Jeffrey had us all fooled, and that despite the inclusion of a demon and Lucifer himself (in the form of Sam's hallucination), it was just a seemingly ordinary man who was the psychopath all along.

14. No Rest For The Wicked (Season 3, Episode 16)

In the season 3 finale, we were faced with the scariest scenario possible: the death of Dean Winchester. And even though we (and Sam) have had to go through it over a hundred times since, this traumatizing moment is hard to forget.

With 30 hours to go before his deal with the crossroad demon is up, Dean is starting to lose hope, whereas Sam is determined not to let his brother go to Hell. Having learned that boss-demon Lilith, who holds Dean's contract, is on "shore leave", the brothers see an opportunity to catch her off guard. Lilith, in the body of a little girl, uses her time off to play house and torture the girl's family, killing off whoever doesn't entertain her anymore (like grandpa and Freckles, the cat).

Watching Lilith terrorize this poor family is definitely unsettling, but it is the terrifying and heartbreaking ending, where Dean is being torn apart by hellhounds and dragged to hell, that puts this episode on the list. We just can't get over that horrific final image of Dean in Hell, calling out for his brother in agony.

13. Provenance (Season 1, Episode 19)

Season 1 did certainly not lack for scary episodes, with most of them playing out like mini horror flicks. While focused on familiarizing the viewers with the Winchester family, it was also the  season that introduced us to many of the supernatural phenomena out there. Like a painting that kills, for instance.

When a string of unexplained murders occur, Sam and Dean find out that all of the victims once owned the same family portrait, dating back to the early 20th century. The story goes that Isaiah Merchant killed his wife, two sons, and adoptive daughter before killing himself with a straight razor (we are still asking ourselves why anyone would want to buy this painting in the first place). When everyone who acquires this "work of art" gets their throats slashed, the Winchesters assume it's Isaiah on a killing spree. With the whole Merchant family having been cremated, it first appears as though his spirit is trapped inside the painting. Until one night, when they see the portrait and notice that the razor is missing from it - and so is the little girl. Sca-ry!

12. Scarecrow (Season 1, Episode 11)

There's a lesson to be learned here, people. If you're planning a road trip through an idyllic small town, don't be fooled by the friendly smiles and delicious pies. The townspeople are just trying to fatten you up before they sacrifice you and your other half to a pagan god who takes the form of a Jeepers Creepers-y scarecrow.

Every few years, young couples disappear mysteriously while traveling cross-country. Dean and Sam manage to narrow down the search to Burkitsville, Indiana - a happy small town that prospers, despite the misfortune suffered by neighboring towns. Little do the brothers know that this is all due to the townspeople feeding a pagan god that resides in the apple orchard. At night, the scarecrow comes to "life" and climbs down from the pole to eat the two poor souls who happen to wander around due to car problems. It's more frightening than it sounds.

11. The Kids Are Alright (Season 3, Episode 2)

We all know that there are few things more disturbing than creepy children - and despite having seen it a million times before, it never ceases to be scary. So when "The Kids Are Alright" presents us with a whole town full of them, it's bound to be an unsettling episode.

As it happens, this was a case the Winchesters stumbled upon when Dean decided it was time to pay a surprise visit to an old flame, Lisa. On top of being less than thrilled to see him (come on, it was eight years ago), Lisa now also has a son, Ben, who is a mini version of Dean. What was supposed to be a fun getaway got even more complicated when the brothers realize that the children in town have been replaced by changelings - beings that kidnap children, kill the fathers, and feed on the mothers. Kids, right?

10. Roadkill (Season 2, Episode 16)

Each year, on the night of his death, Jonah Greely haunts Highway 41 in Nevada, in search of someone to punish for running him over 15 years earlier. Only this time, Dean and Sam are there to stop him. While driving, they come across a woman on the road, Molly (Tricia Helfer), searching frantically for her husband, who has gone missing from their crashed car. Naturally, the brothers agree to help her - especially since it turns out Molly is Greely's chosen victim. The story has many elements of a typical slasher flick, but all is not what it seems.

"Roadkill" is a ghost story with a twist - in between pissed off ghosts and guts spilling out, it's also a very tragic episode, and a rare case where haunting spirits are presented as more than vicious supernatural beings. We never saw the twist ending to this frightening and sad episode coming. "Roadkill" completely earns its spot as no. 10 on this list.

 9. Playthings (Season 2, Episode 11)

There are so many ways in which this episode gives us the creeps that it's hard to know where to begin. How about a century old hotel, terrifying porcelain dolls, and a psychotic imaginary friend? Those are just some of the goodies that "Playthings" has to offer.

Sam and Dean hear of a suspiciously high number of deaths occurring at an old inn up for sale, and decide to investigate. They meet the owner, Susan, who lives in the hotel with her two daughters (the brothers assume), Tyler and Maggie, and her mother, Rose. With everyone involved in the sale of the place ending up dead, it is obvious something's up. It's only when a confused Susan explains that she only has one daughter that it becomes clear who the culprit is. You see, Maggie is Tyler's imaginary friend. Although she isn't really. She is actually Rose's sister who drowned in the pool as a little girl. Grandma Rose had been protecting her family from Maggie's spirit using hoodoo all those years, until a stroke prevented her from doing so. Maggie's only wish is to have someone stay and play with her forever, and she'll do anything, and kill anyone, to make that happen.

8. Home (Season 1, Episode 9)

In this episode it's not only the viewers who have to face their fears. When Sam dreams of a woman crying out for help, it takes the brothers to a place they had sworn never to return: their childhood home in Kansas.

Flickering lights, clapping monkeys, and a toddler in the fridge lead to the conclusion that there is a poltergeist in the house. The brothers team up with their father's old friend and psychic, Missouri (Loretta Devine), and together they try to exorcise the spirit.

"Home" played out like a classic horror film and, although we've seen it before, still made us check our closet before going to bed. When Missouri announced there was more than one spirit present, it got even scarier - until that emotional moment when we (and the brothers) realize that it's their mother, who died in that house 22 years earlier. There to protect them, she eventually fights off the evil spirit, but does so at the expense of her own ghostly existence.

7. No Exit (Season 2, Episode 6)

A word of caution, if you're a pretty, blonde girl you might want to skip this one. In "No Exit", Sam and Dean are accompanied by aspiring hunter Jo, who has proudly dug up her first case. Why she chose this particular case, where all the victims were spitting images of herself, we have no idea.

When young, fair-haired girls keep disappearing at a steady rate from an apartment building, with no other trace than some black goo (i.e. ectoplasm, which equals one pissed-off spirit), the team decides to move in. They find out that the building next door used to be a prison, and the ground where the apartment building now stands was where they hanged the prisoners. Consider us scared. Enter H. H. Holmes, a notorious serial killer (supposedly the first serial kiler), back from the dead to kill his favorite type of victims. Be prepared for some claustrophobic scenes as Holmes drags his victims down to the sewers and puts them in boxes, taking some hair samples when he feels like it, and peeking lustfully at his trophies through holes in the "coffins".

6. The Benders (Season 1, Episode 15)

If you thought ghosts, changelings, or living scarecrows were scary - think again. While investigating yet another case of missing people, the brothers unwillingly get separated as Sam goes missing, and Dean teams up with a local police officer to find him.

Originally assuming they are hunting some sort of supernatural being, the Winchesters were as surprised as we were to learn that the kidnappers were monsters of a kind closer to home: a family of cannibalistic hillbillies, whose favorite hobby is hunting humans for sport. The Bender family is unbelievably disgusting, and it's almost as if you can smell the stench through the screen. Having developed a taste for human flesh, they kidnap men (mostly), put them in boxes, and when it's time to play they trick their bait into thinking they can escape, only to hunt them down. It's then up to Pa Bender to chop the body up and cook it for dinner.