Demon Smoke

Demons appear as smoke in their incorporeal form; they manifest by possessing humans, alive or recently deceased, via demonic possession. Acheri demons are the only exception, as they are able to manifest from their smoke form into that of a little girl. When an exorcism is performed, this forces the demon to leave its vessel or meatsuit, and the smoke is usually seen pouring out of the person's mouth. In nearly all cases the smoke is black, although Crowley's smoke was shown to be red. When multiple demons gather in their incorporeal form, their demon smoke cloud generates purple lightning.

Some demons such as Crowley and Abaddon possesses the ability to partially enter a person, by sending a piece of their "smoke" form into the person's body, to read their thoughts.

Asmodeus is the only demon shown to be able to "shift" and imitate the form of different people. This may be attributed to his consumption of grace from the archangel Gabriel, who also had this ability.

Episodes

The disaster-causing demon in his smoke form.

1.04 Phantom Traveler

An unnamed demon with an affinity for causing disasters begins possessing people and causing commercial airliners to crash. This demon shows different attributes than demons that would be seen later, for instance: appearing as more of a cloud of dust than smoke, having the ability to enter a person through their eyes, and violently reacting to the word "Christo."

1.22 Devil's Trap

After luring Meg into a devil's trap in Bobby's home, Sam and Dean try to get information out of her regarding the whereabouts of John. When it becomes clear that Meg is not going to be forthcoming with them, they threaten an exorcism, which gets her to finally give up all she knows. Satisfied that she is telling the truth, Dean orders Sam to finish the exorcism, much to Meg's displeasure. Though Bobby warns them that doing so will kill the girl being possessed, Dean justifies it as putting her out of her misery. As Sam finishes the exorcism, Meg throws her head back and screams, the demon leaving through her mouth in a black cloud of smoke and spreading out within the devil's trap in the ceiling before disappearing.

After Sam shoots an Azazel-possessed John in the leg, John begins pleading and ordering Sam to finish the job while he is still in control, much to Dean's protest. Before Sam can make a choice, Azazel smokes out of John's body and escapes through the floorboards of the shack.

2.01 In My Time of Dying

After the Impala is run off the road, the demon steps out of the semi-truck and rips off the door of the Impala, only to be met with Sam pointing the Colt at it. The demon tells Sam that he is bluffing, but when Sam cocks back the hammer on the Colt, it is enough for the demon to exit its meatsuit and make its escape into the night.

Later, when John makes his deal with Azazel to save Dean's life, Azazel takes to his smoke form in the Veil and possesses the reaper Tessa and brings Dean back to life.

2.14 Born Under a Bad Sign

After suspecting something isn't right with Sam, Bobby secretly doses a beer with holy water, revealing that Sam has been possessed by a demon, and knocks him out. Sam wakes up tied to a chair under a devil's trap, where Bobby begins reciting an exorcism while Dean taunts the demon. After the demon fails to smoke out, they learn that it has branded Sam with a binding link, preventing any expulsion from his body. The demon then uses terrakinesis to cause a crack in the devil's trap, freeing it to assault Dean and Bobby, and revealing itself to be Meg in the process. As Meg is about to deliver a killing blow to Dean, Bobby grabs Sam's arm and burns the binding link, which sends Meg retreating up the fire place in smoke form.

Azazel is ripped from his meatsuit by John Winchester.

2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One

An Acheri demon appears before Jake Talley when he notices a young girl standing at a window in a schoolhouse; as it is about to attack Jake, Sam dispels her with an iron rod. When Ava seemingly goes missing, and Sam and Jake set out to search for her, she approaches Andy Gallagher and proceeds to summon the Acheri. A cloud of black demon smoke appears outside the window, and as Ava has broken the salt line, the Acheri is able to enter the room. Once inside, the Acheri manifests as a young girl and knocks Andy down. It wastes no time in killing him; Andy screams in pain, his blood splattering everywhere, until he is dead. Ava watches his corpse for a second, amused, then begins screaming. When Sam arrives to see what happened, he is quickly able to see through Ava's manipulations, and as Ava attempts to distract Sam with talking, the cloud of black smoke returns to the window. Just as it is about to enter, Jake comes from behind Ava and twists her neck, killing her instantly, causing the demonic smoke to retreat and disappear.

2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two

With Jake having embraced his psychic powers after giving in to Azazel for his family's safety, he takes the Colt and places it in the Devil's Gate, releasing hundreds of demons and spirits from Hell into the world before Bobby and Ellen can close the gate.

As Azazel stands before Dean, prepared to kill him, the spirit of John Winchester appears behind him and rips out the demon smoke from Azazel's meatsuit and holds on to him. When Azazel is able to wrestle free from John's grip, he quickly smokes back into his body. The distraction proves fatal for Azazel, as it grants Dean enough time to pick up the Colt and shoot the demon in the heart, killing him once and for all.

3.01 The Magnificent Seven

Walter Rosen exits the house to take out the garbage. As he walks back to the house, the garbage cans rattle. He stares, walking cautiously towards them. They continue to rattle; he looks up and sees a demonic cloud swirling over the Chicago skyline in the distance. Panicked, he runs back towards the house, but trips before he gets there. A tendril of demon smoke pours into his mouth. The demon Envy stands in its new meatsuit, looking towards the rest of the demonic cloud now streaming towards Chicago, and smiles.

3.12 Jus in Bello

Waiting in their holding cell, Sam and Dean are approached by FBI Deputy Director Steven Groves, who cordially greets the Winchesters before shooting Dean in his left shoulder. Sam jumps up and grapples with Groves through the bars; Groves fires several more shots, narrowly missing Dean. While continuing to struggle with Sam, Groves' eyes turn black, prompting Sam to begin an exorcism ritual. Not wishing to be exorcised, the demon leaves Groves' body, disappearing into the ceiling air vent.

Later, Sheriff Melvin Dodd unlocks the cell, telling Victor Henriksen they are going to make a run for it to a SWAT facility in Boulder. Henriksen enters the cell and shots Sheriff Dodd in the head. Sam and Dean grab Henriksen, and shove his head in the toilet, which has been turned into holy water, and begin an exorcism. As Deputy Phil Amici runs in, Dean grabs Henriksen's gun and tells him to stay back as Henriksen lifts his head up out of the water, burning and screaming. Sam shoves him back into the toilet bowl and continues the exorcism. The demon pulls itself out of the toilet bowl one last time to tell the Winchesters "They're already coming." Sam shoves him back into the water and finishes the exorcism; black smoke shoots out of his mouth and up to the air vent in the ceiling.

The demons are exorcised after being trapped in the police station.

Needing to retrieve supplies from the Impala, Dean ventures to the impound lot. As he starts putting things into a bag, the lights at a gas station flicker and thick black smoke with blue lightning races past. Dean quickly fills his bag and turns to see the black smoke coming towards him. As Dean runs back to the station, Sam is drawing a devil's trap on the floor while the others line the windows with salt. Dean rushes inside, warning the others of the demons that are coming. The demon smoke hits the building and surrounds the windows, engulfing the building and causing it to shake before it seems to disappear and all becomes quiet again.

After finding that the demons having taken meatsuits, Sam and Dean formulate a mass exorcism plan. The group all break the salt lines and devil's traps protecting the doors, allowing the demons to run inside and fight with Sam, Dean, and Henriksen, who lure them into the main office. With the demons in place, Dean tells Henriksen to play the exorcism recording. As the exorcism airs over the loudspeakers, demons flail and scream and pound against the outside doors, trying to get out. Black smoke begins to pour from the demons’ mouths. The bodies of the possessed people fall to the ground as the smoke swirls around the ceiling. There is an explosion of light on the ceiling, then everything goes still. The people who had been possessed start to get up as the electricity flickers back on.

3.16 No Rest for the Wicked

After siccing a hellhound on Dean and killing him, Lilith, in Ruby's meatsuit, approaches a pinned-down Sam and attempts to use her white light against him. To her shock, Sam survives without a scratch. He picks up Ruby's knife and begins to approach Lilith, who fearfully begins to back away before smoking out of Ruby's body.

4.03 In the Beginning

When Dean realizes where Azazel will be in 1973, he heads to the home of Liddy Welsh in Haleyville to kill the demon. Samuel and Mary burst into the home and Samuel shoots him in the chest, to no effect. As Azazel subdues the Campbells, Dean arrives with the Colt drawn and orders Azazel to let Mary go. Dean cocks the hammer on the Colt and nods to Mary, who breaks away from Azazel, who then smokes out of Dr. Brown's body and exits out a vent in the wall.

After Azazel kills the Campbells and John, while possessing Samuel, Mary makes a deal with the demon to bring John back to life in exchange for permission to enter her home in ten years. As they seal the deal with a kiss Dean rushes toward them with the Colt drawn. Before he can shoot, black smoke flows from Samuel's mouth as Azazel makes his escape.

4.15 Death Takes a Holiday

After learning Cole Griffith was the last person to die in Greybull, Wyoming, Sam and Dean find themselves at his grave to perform a ritual to "smoke him out" if his spirit is still lingering. They are soon confronted by a grave digger, who questions what they are doing. As Sam and Dean are preparing to leave, the grave digger reveals himself to be Alastair. Alistair flicks his hand, sending Dean flying across the graveyard into a gravestone. He tries the same to Sam, but nothing happens. Smirking, Sam flicks his hand and causes Alastair to go flying. As Sam raises a hand to exorcise him, Alastair quickly flees the man's body.

In order to communicate with Cole Griffith, Sam and Dean have Pamela aid them in an out-of-body experience. While they are talking with Cole about what happened in Greybull, Tessa arrives and tells them of a reaper having gone missing, and she is here to rectify the lack of deaths due to it. As Tessa is preparing to take Cole, the lights begin to flicker and the front door opens. Black smoke pours through, filling the house. Everyone ducks as it pours over them. When it is gone, everyone looks around and sees that Tessa is gone.

Meg smokes out of her new meatsuit.

5.01 Sympathy for the Devil

After luring Sam and Dean into a trap with a demon-possessed Bobby, Meg orders the demon to kill Dean. Bobby is able to wrestle control enough to stab himself with Ruby's knife, killing the demon and allowing Sam and Dean to go on the offensive. As Dean kicks the feet out from under the other demon, he grabs the knife out of Bobby's stomach and stabs the demon in the chest. As Dean stands up and advances on Meg, Meg backs away and lets out a scream as she smokes out of her meatsuit, which collapses.

5.06 I Believe the Children Are Our Future

As Julia Wright is recounting to Sam and Dean her time being possessed, she tells them of how she became pregnant and that during the birth of Jesse Turner, she was able to briefly gain control of her body, at which point she grabbed fistfuls of road salt and poured it down her throat, causing the demon to rush out of her.

After Sam and Dean leave, Julia's mailman approaches her and reveals himself to be possessed by the same demon that possessed her years ago. He tells her they need to visit their son, and grabs hold of Julia's mouth. Black smoke pours out of the mailman's mouth into Julia's. When the last of the black smoke is out of the mailman, he drops like a stone.

As Sam, Dean, and Julia's demon are face to face with Jesse, the demon tries to convince Jesse to join it and embrace its powers. However, Sam is able to reach Jesse and convince him to turn against the demon. Jesse commands the demon to leave Julia, causing the black smoke to pour out of Julia and escape up the fireplace.

5.12 Swap Meat

After finding that the demon they have summoned to collect on the Dean Winchester bounty has taken possession of Nora, the demon kills Trevor without hesitation. Once the demon finds the location of Dean and the Gary-possessed Sam, the demon makes an offer for anything Gary wants. When the demon tells Gary he just needs to meet with Lucifer, Gary shows trepidation at the prospect. As Dean attempts to attack the demon with Ruby's knife, Gary begins an exorcism; when the demon realizes he is trying to exorcise it, it begins advancing on Gary. Dean continues the exorcism, trading off verses with Gary until the demon is finally expelled from Nora, smoking out back to Hell.

5.17 99 Problems

In Blue Earth, Minnesota, Sam and Dean are being pursued by demons. Trapped in the Impala with demons approaching, they are saved at the last minute by some hunters who use a hose to douse the demons in holy water, while reciting an Enochian exorcism, causing the demons to smoke out. Soon after finding that the town is aware of the Apocalypse, the Winchesters join a group and assist in killing and exorcising 15 demons from a house.

Castiel shoves Ellsworth's demon smoke back down into his meatsuit.

6.20 The Man Who Would Be King

Castiel appears in Ellsworth's cabin and smites the two demons right in front of his desk. Realizing what awaits him, Ellsworth attempts to leave his meatsuit, but Castiel is able to capture his smoke and push him back into the body and then smite Ellsworth.

After having been confronted by Sam, Dean, and Bobby about his dealing with Crowley, Castiel urges the group to flee as a large cloud of demon smoke approaches, eventually swarming the cabin where Castiel is trapped.

6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much

After finding the location where Castiel plans to open the door to Purgatory, Bobby sees a large cloud of demon smoke approaching from the distance. Bobby and Dean run to the Impala; Dean gets in the front, Bobby the back. The demon smoke flips the car upside down, then continues towards the building. Inside, Castiel is looking at the paper with the ritual incantation written on it. He hears screams, presumably of the guards. He stands up to listen and sees demon smoke cover the window before Crowley appears before him.

7.17 The Born-Again Identity

Stopping at a convenience store after finding the amnesiac Castiel, Dean is assaulted by a demon, whom he is able to kill with Ruby's knife. As other demons appear, Dean walks to the next aisle and raises the knife and swings at one of them, but the demon blocks his arm and the knife goes flying to the floor. Dean punches the demon and it throws him into some shelves. While Dean is still on the floor, Meg suddenly appears from behind the demon and kills it. Seeing this, the remaining demon smokes out of the body and escapes through a vent.

Crowley's crimson smoke vacates Linda Tran.

8.02 What's Up, Tiger Mommy?

Sam and Dean reluctantly agree to take Kevin to see his mother. They soon realize that demons have been staking out the home. After taking out the demons on the outside, Kevin knocks on the front door, and after Sam and Dean test Linda to see if she is possessed, the two reunite with a hug. When Sam smells sulfur, the Winchesters enter the house and see Linda's friend Eunice in the kitchen as demon smoke pours out of her mouth. Thinking quickly, Sam recites an exorcism in reverse, sucking the demon back into the body, allowing Dean to stab and kill the demon inside Eunice.

After being given a way around Plutus' warding by Beau, Crowley takes possession of Linda Tran and attempts to steal away with the demon tablet. However, in the chaos, Crowley is cornered by Dean, who places Ruby's knife to Linda/Crowley's throat. Briefly distracted by the sudden appearance of Kevin, Crowley smokes out of Linda in a previously-unseen red smoke form and escapes to his original meatsuit.

8.12 As Time Goes By

After time traveling to 2013 in pursuit of Henry Winchester, the Knight of Hell Abaddon imparts a piece of her demon smoke into first a man who witnessed the Winchesters escaping their motel and later a female comic book store clerk. This allows her to receive their memories and get information on the Winchesters.

After agreeing to make a trade with Abaddon, Henry for Sam, Henry shoots Abaddon in the head with a devil's trap bullet, creating a force around the body of Josie Sands, not allowing her demon smoke to go any farther than a few inches before being forced back into the body.

8.17 Goodbye Stranger

As Sam and Dean are interviewing Wendy Rice, she goes to answer a knock at her door to find three men standing there. Their eyes go black when Sam and Dean show up behind Wendy. The three demons barge in and a fight erupts. Wendy is flung into the living room, smashing into the coffee table. The demon who had tossed Wendy grabs a map, then runs out the door. Dean pulls out the demon-killing knife. Just before he stabs one of the demons, black smoke erupts from the demon's mouth and flies into Wendy's mouth, possessing her. Her eyes turn black. She gets up and runs towards another door. Dean runs after her as Sam is being bested by the third demon, when suddenly the demon is smote by Castiel who tosses the body aside and easily captures the demon-possessed Wendy.

8.23 Sacrifice

After Abaddon tracks down the imprisoned Crowley, Sam douses her in holy oil before setting her aflame, forcing her to vacate her meatsuit.

9.02 Devil May Care

In an abandoned house, sigils have been drawn on the bathroom's walls in blood. As demon smoke swirls above a bathtub, a demon -- Jason -- takes out a knife and cuts open his wrist and allows the blood to pour into the tub. Bright light starts to emanate from it, and the demon smoke flies down into the tub. The light pulsates and dies out with a small shockwave and Abaddon stands up, her former meatsuit Josie Sands having been healed of all bodily harm.

As Abaddon meets with demons for recruit in her takeover of Hell, a crossroads demon in an elderly woman's body questions Abaddon's true power. This prompts Abaddon to grab the granny crossroads demon by the throat, force her demon smoke out of the meatsuit, and send it back to Hell, telling the demon to warn Hell that she is coming.

Believing her new demon recruits need stronger looking meatsuits, Abaddon commandeers a bus and picks up some soldiers at a naval base. The doors snap shut and the demons smoke out, then possess the soldiers.

9.10 Road Trip

When Crowley's attempt to hack Gadreel's brain in order to wake Sam up proves futile, a desperate Dean tells Castiel to possess Sam. When Castiel insists he'd needs Sam's permission, Crowley volunteers to go in, under the condition he be set free once Sam expels Gadreel. With everyone in agreement, Castiel burns off Sam's anti-possession tattoo, allowing Crowley to smoke inside Sam and reach him in his subconscious. Inside Sam's mind, Crowley meets a shocked Sam in the Bunker library and tells him "Poughkeepsie" and that Dean sent him to tell him he's been possessed by an angel. When Gadreel arrives, a fight ensues until Sam is able to kick Gadreel out of his body, which is soon followed by Crowley smoking back to his meatsuit.

9.11 First Born

In 1863, the demon Cain comes to a cabin in Jasper Springs, Mississippi. There he kills three demons who have been protecting the Knight of Hell Abaddon, who has taken possession of his human wife Colette Mullen. As Abaddon tries to persuade Cain to come back to her, Cain rebukes her, angering Abaddon and causing her to twist Colette's neck. At the same time Cain leaps forward and stabs her with the First Blade, but Abaddon is able to flee in a cloud of black smoke in the nick of time.

9.16 Blade Runners

As Sam and Dean are meeting with "transaction facilitator," André Develin, regarding how to find the First Blade, Crowley is listening to the conversation from a bench and suddenly decides to take matters into his own hands. Crowley's red smoke rushes out of his mouth and across the park and into Develin's mouth. A moment later it rushes out again and back into his meatsuit.

At the National Institute of Antiquities in Kansas City, Missouri, two security guards are playing gin when they hear a noise but before they can check it out two columns of demon smoke come under the door and force their way down their throats. One of the security guards goes to unlock a vault while the other stands guard. When a coworker, Beth, walks in with takeout for the security guards, one of the possessed guards grabs a knife from a table and cuts her throat.

Abaddon takes possession of Josie Sands.

9.17 Mother's Little Helper

After realizing they are dealing with demons in the convent, Henry Winchester and Josie Sands track the possessed to the cellar and perform exorcisms, expelling the demon smoke from the possessed nuns. However, when Abaddon appears in the body of the Mother Superior, Henry's attempts at exorcism are brushed off by the Knight of Hell, who renders him unconscious with a gesture. As Abaddon is about to take possession of Henry, Josie strikes a deal for Abaddon to take her body as a host instead, telling the demon that as a woman she would be able to fly under the radar among the Men of Letters. Abaddon agrees and smokes out of the Mother Superior and takes possession of Josie.

11.01 Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire

The be-spelled Castiel attacks the physically prone Crowley, knocking him to the ground. Crowley is able to smoke out of his meatsuit and escape through a sewer grate before Castiel can deliver a killing blow with his angel blade. In his smoke form, Crowley makes it to the suburbs, where he takes possession of a women named Marnie, and proceeds to have an orgy with Marnie's husband and friends before killing them and contacting his demon minions, who prepare Crowley's old meatsuit for repossession.

11.03 The Bad Seed

Bored with the gifts she's been brought, an unimpressed Amara tells Crowley she is hungry. When he offers her cupcakes, Amara walks over to her demon nanny, grabs her face, and proceeds to suck out and consume the demon smoke.

Later, in Crowley's throne room, he witnesses Amara continuing to feed on the demon smoke of one of his minions. She tells Crowley that every time she consumes a soul, she feels how much emptiness there is in the world.

11.18 Hell's Angel

After trapping Lucifer in holy fire and using an angel suppressing sigil in hopes of Castiel expelling the archangel, Lucifer proves to be too powerful. Realizing that the warding is failing, Crowley smokes out of his meatsuit and enters Lucifer/Castiel in hopes of reaching Castiel and getting him to eject Lucifer. Unfortunately Lucifer is able to find Crowley in Castiel's subconscious, and as Lucifer begins to mercilessly beat Crowley, Crowley burns "Help" into his meatsuit's forehead, prompting Sam and Dean to perform an exorcism and allow Crowley to escape back into his meatsuit.

Amara is attacked by a horde of demons.

11.22 We Happy Few

After the combined forces of Heaven attack Amara with a single unified blow of celestial energy, a horde of demon smoke from all directions pours down on Amara. Amara shouts and attempts to bat away the demons. They lift Amara into the air, surrounding her, as she screams for them to get back. Amara screams in rage, causing the building to shake. Crowley walks outside and smokes out of his meatsuit to join the fight, his crimson smoke striking and knocking Amara from the cloud of demons and into the side of a car.

12.06 Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox

After the body of Randy Bull is found strung up above the body of Asa Fox, the crossroads demon Jael makes his presence known by smoking out of the body of Alicia Banes. Jael soon takes possession of Elvis Katz, and after a short confrontation with Dean Winchester, snaps Elvis' neck 180 degrees around and smokes out of his body before Dean could perform an exorcism.

The remaining survivors soon realize that Jael has taken possession of Jody Mills, and as Jael incapacitates and taunts the others, Sam begins the exorcism rites, only to be telekinetically thrown into the wall. Dean attempts to continue it, but Jael sends him flying through the parlor doors. Alicia and Max pick up the exorcism but are also knocked away by Jael. Finally Mary is able to complete the ritual, forcing Jael out of Jody and sending the demon back to Hell.

12.23 All Along the Watchtower

Before Lucifer stabs Crowley with an angel blade, Crowley's demon smoke slips out of his meatsuit and into a nearby rat. As his meatsuit is being dragged away by some demons, Crowley (inside the rat) follows. When his body is buried, Crowley smokes out of the rat and into the ground, where he emerges back in his original meatsuit.

13.08 The Scorpion and the Frog

After being caught by a security guard in an off-limits area of the Cambridge Museum, the demon tasked with retrieving the Nephilim tracking spell quickly smokes out into the security guard's body and delivers the spell to Barthamus.

As a demon tries to convince Luther Shrike to help Asmodeus capture Barthamus, Luther leads the demon onto a hidden devil's trap then performs an exorcism, expelling the demon back to Hell. He commands the departing demon to tell Asmodeus he doesn't take orders, he gives them.

13.18 Bring 'em Back Alive

Taking his position as the new "God", Lucifer overhears two priests in the midst of an exorcism stating that they believe the victim to be possessed by Satan. Lucifer corrects the priests, telling them that it is not Satan, but a low-level demon named Anthony. When Anthony tells Lucifer he was only having some fun, Lucifer snaps his fingers and forces Anthony to smoke out of the young woman. He kicks at the smoke as it escapes down a vent, telling it not to return.

Abraxas is released from the Enochian puzzle box.

14.01 Stranger in a Strange Land

After killing Kipling, Sam declares that there will be no new King of Hell and if any demons want the job, they have to go through him. The ultimatum set, the remaining demons in the bar choose to smoke out and flee rather than face him.

14.11 Damaged Goods

After Nick breaks the Enochian puzzle box, Abraxas emerges in smoke form which is contained by the devil's trap the puzzle box was left in. Abraxas immediately possesses the security guard Jeff, who has been set up by Nick as a meatsuit for him.