The CW’s Supernatural has attained legendary status in the TV landscape for running across 15 seasons. Sam and Dean Winchester traveled the country hunting monsters that derived from beings of lore that have also been seen in classic horror movies.
With the series done for good, it’s worth looking back on the monsters that can be found in features like Universal’s Monsters series and other pieces of the horror genre. It goes a long way in proving just the kind of survivors the brothers were that they fought all these creatures and ended up winning as well.
Mummy
“Monster Movie” is generally considered one of the Supernatural for the way he was made out to be a horror movie protagonist. To be fair, the Mummy in question was actually a Shapeshifter who took the form of the monster, but it still counts since Sam and Dean went out hunting for it.
The Mummy’s depiction played straight to the classic monster movie style, complete with the grimy appearance and taste for humans. By the time Sam and Dean got to it, though, the Mummy persona had shifted, denying them the chance of killing one of these monsters.
Ghouls
Classic monster movies started incorporating ghouls starting from The Mad Ghoul, showing them to be creatures akin to zombies that want to eat humans. had ghouls planning against the Winchesters by taking on the form of their dead brother to lure the brothers to them.
Sam and Dean realized ghouls eat their prey and then assume their forms, also learning that their brother was dead all along. The brothers ended up overpowering the monsters to then slay them through decapitation. There were a couple of other instances of ghouls in the series that met the same fate.
Shapeshifters
Among the first monsters the brothers faced off against, Shapeshifters were rather grotesque in the series, shown to tear off their skins to take on new forms. Earlier monster movies didn’t have Shapeshifters as main antagonists, although they showed as ing baddies.
In Supernatural, Shapeshifters were also kept as additional villains to illustrate that many monsters existed. Sam and Dean figured out that Shapeshifters were weak to silver and used bullets made out of silver to shoot them to their deaths, along with keeping silver knives on hand.
Zombies
Zombies tended to show up at the most Supernatural, usually when a surprise attack or calamity took place. The show initially introduced the Croatoan plague as a way of incorporating zombies, as people turned into mindless monsters.
The final season started off with a small army of zombies that Supernatural twisted into showing were spirits possessing the bodies of deceased people. In most cases, zombies were shown to be relatively simple, with headshots usually doing the trick to killing them.
Frankenstein's Monster (Doc Benton)
Doc Benton is one of the Supernatural for the way he cruelly killed people to use their body parts for his own. While Supernatural showed the Frankenstein family to be what Mary Shelley based her book on, as of the clan killed people and took their organs to live forever, the monster was adapted through Benton.
The doctor was active as far back as 200 years prior to the series’ events, eventually becoming inhuman in appearance after stitching different body parts together to keep himself functioning. Sam and Dean concluded that they couldn’t kill him, but gave Benton a worse fate by burying him alive to be sealed forever.
Werewolves
Werewolves are among the most enduring classic monsters who continue to be featured in various films and shows today. Supernatural made full use of them as well, with werewolves turning up frequently across the 15 seasons the show was on.
The most significant hunts included that of Madison, who became Sam’s lover but was tragically out down. A scary episode surrounding werewolf attacks was “Red Meat,” where Sam nearly lost his life during a scuffle and had to fight multiple werewolves while injured. In Supernatural, werewolves could be killed from things like silver, angel blades, decapitation, or even be cured to turn them back human.
Ghosts
Ghosts are the longest-running villains in Supernatural since the series began with the Woman in White spirit. Ghosts are also the most classic of monsters viewers know of, having been part of cinematic history from back when the horror genre was made.
In Supernatural, ghosts took on different forms, with the most malevolent ones shown to be extremely powerful, to the point where they could harm Leviathans and angels. Sam and Dean’s hunts usually had them defeating the ghosts by locating their human remains or belongings that they burned to send the spirits to Hell.
Vampires
Vampires were the greatest threats when it came to dealing the biggest impact to the heroes, as Sam and Dean usually came out worse for wear. Dean even turned into a vampire at one point that required the creation of a new cure in order to turn him back human.
The strongest of vampires were the hardest to dispatch, as seen when John had to use the Colt on one since nothing else worked. Of course, Supernatural fans will never forget vampires because Dean lost his life for good at their hands in the series finale, proving that these classic monsters could easily give the brothers a run for their money.