The Best Halloween Specials from Your Childhood

Katie Conway ’18 / Emertainment Monthly Contributor
As everyone knows, Halloween is right around the corner! With that comes crazy costumes, spooky Halloween parties, and lots of candy! But when you were a kid, there was one factor during the month of October that excited you the most for All Hallows Eve – Halloween specials of your favorite televisions shows! Whether it was Spongebob taking out the trash during the night shift, or Zack and Cody exploring a haunted hotel room, you were pumped just to stay up late and watch these as you anticipated October 31st! Here are the best Halloween episodes from your childhood – guaranteed to bring nostalgia and nightmares!
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
This American classic is one even your parents can remember from their past! Produced and animated by Bill Melendez, this TV special follows the story of young Linus van Pelt, who writes his annual letter to The Great Pumpkin in hopes of the legen appearing before him in the pumpkin patch. The episode initially aired on October 27, 1966, but it wasn’t aired as a special annually until ABC acquired the rights for it in 2001.

The Fairly OddParents, “Scary God Parents” (2001)
This Nickelodeon special follows the after effect of Timmy Turner’s wish to make everyone’s costumes “real and scary” upon seeing the awesome and realistic costumes the popular kids get to wear, compared to Timmy’s toilet-papered mummy costume. And like after most wishes, everything goes horribly wrong when the popular kids’ outfits turn into evil Jack-O-Bots. A special appearance by the Yugopotamians is included, and shouldn’t be missed!

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, “The Ghost of Suite 613” (2005)
A beloved episode and fan favorite, “The Ghost of Suite 613” tells the tale of Irene, the ghost of a woman who haunts a Tipton Hotel room. Zack, Cody, and the rest of the hotel gang decide to contact her spirit, which results in one of the most hilarious episodes in Suite Life history. Who doesn’t remember Esteban’s “on hold” bit with the spirits and Maddie’s taunts of “I love pizza!” If you’re looking for a more “adult” version of this, look no further than American Horror Story: Hotel!

Spongebob Squarepants, “Graveyard Shift” (2002)
Another Nickelodeon classic, this iconic episode puts Spongebob in the position of working the nightshift with Squidward. As excited as Spongebob is to start working at night, Squidward warns him of the “Hash-Slinging Slasher” (Trash-Singing? Cash-Ringing?). Turns out there’s nothing to fear except for the playful Nosferatu!

Danny Phantom, “Fright Knight” (2005)
In this Halloween special of Danny Phantom, Danny steals the sword of the legendary “Fright Knight” ghost in order to create the illusion of fear in his school’s Halloween exhibit and win his bet with Dash. The fear becomes real when The Fright Knight himself chooses to invade Amity Park and the entire school!

Rugrats, “Candy Bar Creep Show” (1991)
In an attempt to get the delicious “Reptar Bars,” the Rugrat crew is convinced to enter a scary haunted house in order to receive their candy on Halloween. Even though Angelica is the one who said they would be too scared, the Rugrats are the ones who scare Angelica in the end!

That’s So Raven, “Don’t Have a Cow” (2003)
Upon finding an old magic spell book, this special episode of That’s So Raven finds Raven and Chelsea trying to make their costumes look awesome for a big Halloween party! But they didn’t expect the spell to turn them into cows!

Lizzie McGuire, “Night of The Day of the Dead” (2001)
In this creepy episode of the beloved Disney Channel series, things go all sorts of wrong when the infamous Kate is in charge of the school’s Halloween celebration that Lizzie and Miranda are a part of. When Kate disrespects the skulls and skeletons that Miranda brought of her dead ancestors for the Day of the Dead celebration, things really start to go bump in the night!

Avatar the Last Airbender, “The Puppetmaster” (2007)
Considered one of the darkest episodes of the cult classic, this holiday special features a supposedly “sweet” old lady who wants to teach Katara everything she knows about waterbending, including one of the most inhuman and cringe-worthy forms of it — blood- bending!

Jimmy Neutron, “Nightmare in Retroville” (2003)
This fun and frightful special of Jimmy Neutron follows Jimmy’s mad scientist pursuit of helping turn his friends boring costumes into something “more real” (in order to gain half their candy). What he doesn’t expect is for his experiment to go out of hand as Sheen becomes a werewolf on the prowl, Carl as a vampire ready to kill, and Jimmy’s Dad a Frankenstein monster about to terrorize the town!