Serial Killers

Dean: The Zodiac? Sam: Seven victims. Dean: Dahmer? Sam: 17. Dean: That's some freaky stuff, man. It's a whole new side of you. Sam: It's called true crime, Dean. It's a hobby. Dean: No. Bass fishing, needlepoint ...that's a hobby, okay? Collecting serial-killer stats ...that's ...that is an illness. – Dean and Sam Winchester, 10.14 The Executioner's Song

Serial killer is a term generally used to describe someone who commits three or more murders at different times, and usually committed in different places. The term is used in this sense in Supernatural in relation to humans, although many vengeful spirits and demons would also fit this definition. In fact, Bela Talbot even refers to Sam and Dean as serial killers.

Sam Winchester is fascinated with serial killers. In 10.14 The Executioner's Song, Dean quizzes him on the murder statistics of different serial killers. In 11.05 Thin Lizzie, when Sam finds a case in the Lizzie Borden House and is keen to investigate, Dean says: "This has something to do with your freaky fetish for serial killers."

In 14.03 The Scar, Jody says that she had thought a serial killer was responsible for a series of deaths, and Sam states that it would be the first one in South Dakota since Robert Leroy Anderson, demonstrating his knowledge of true crime. Dean gives him a mocking look.

In the process of finding his family's murderer, Nick becomes a budding serial killer; at first only killing the people involved around the murders of his wife and infant son, but begins to have urges to kill innocent people. Before being captured by Sheriff Donna Hanscum and the Winchesters, Nick's victim's included: Arty Nielson, a priest, Frank Kellogg, an unknown woman (and possessing demon), and a man named Jeff who was killed once he was possessed by the demon Abraxas. However, it is unclear if the possessed woman was actually still alive as demons don't require a living meatsuit.

Prophet Tony Alvarez becomes a budding serial killer after being driven insane by his premature activation and hearing the mutterings of Donatello Redfield in his mind which he thinks come from God. After committing two murders that reenact divine retributions, Tony is stopped in the middle of a third by Sam and Dean who save his last victim.

In 2.06 No Exit and 14.13 Lebanon, Sam and Dean face the ghosts of famous serial killers H.H. Holmes and John Wayne Gacy who continue their murder spree after death. Both ghosts are defeated by the Winchesters and prevented from causing further harm.

Episodes

1.07 Hook Man

In 1862, Jacob Karns killed 13 women. His spirit continued to kills people, feeding off repressed emotions until his silver hook hand he was tethered to was destroyed.

1.12 Faith

David Berkowitz is the name on the credit card that Sam gives to the nurse in the hospital to pay for Dean's treatment. There is an extremely famous person with the same name, the serial killer also known as "Son of Sam."

2.05 Simon Said

Dean comments when examining Andy's van "Not exactly a serial killer's lair, though. There's no... clown paintings on the walls, or scissors stuck in victims' photos. I like the tiger." Dean mentioning clown paintings is a reference to John Wayne Gacy, who was known to paint portraits of his alter ego "Pogo the Clown" while incarcerated.

2.06 No Exit

H.H. Holmes is often called America's first serial killer. The number of his victims has typically been estimated between 20 to 100, and even as high as 230, however, the only verified number is 2. In 1893 he opened a hotel for the Chicago World's Fair and used it to trap, torture and kill his victims. It became known as the Holmes Murder Castle. In Supernatural, his ghost is haunting the apartment building which was erected over the site where he was hung. When the Winchesters are researching people killed at Moyamensing Prison, it is Sam who recognizes that Herman Webster Mudgett was H.H. Holmes' real name. Unable to destroy the ghost as his bones are buried in concrete, the Winchesters permanently trap him in his lair with the help of Jo Harvelle.

2.19 Folsom Prison Blues

After learning of a ghost haunting a prison from their father's old friend Deacon, the Winchesters believe it to be the spirit of Mark Moody, an insane Satanic serial killer who died of a heart attack in the prison. Sam later learns from Randall that Moody was actually beaten to death in his cell and salts and burns the blood left behind to put Moody to rest. However, Moody turns out not to be the culprit with the ghost of Nurse Glockner being the killer instead. Though not identified as such, Glockner herself could be considered a serial killer as Randall told Sam and Dean tales of her euthanizing inmates who went to her infirmary when they weren't terribly sick.

3.15 Time Is on My Side

After Doc Benton found the secret to immortality, over many years he would kill people for their body parts to keep himself alive. Sam and Dean are able to stop him by burying him alive.

7.15 Repo Man

Jeffrey was a postal worker with psychopathic tendencies, who was possessed by a demon who started killing people. After the demon was exorcised, Jeffrey eventually began killing on his own. Eventually he would hope to be reunited with his demon after performing a special ritual to summon exorcised demons. The demon, would however refuse to possess Jeffery revealing it is only a "recruiter" and has already unleashed Jeffery's potential. Dean later kills Jeffery while Nora Havelock exorcises the demon.

7.19 Of Grave Importance

Whitman Van Ness killed his fiance, and a number of other women. He died at the age of 40, and continued to haunt the Van Ness House, killing many people over the decades all the while uses the other trapped ghosts in the house to feed off of and become stronger.

10.14 The Executioner's Song

Cain teleports to death row to visit one of his descendants; Tommy Tolliver. Before he was arrested, Tolliver killed nine people, but the state only arrested him for seven. Cain kills him and teleports away with his body.

While Sam and Dean visit death row to investigate Tolliver's disappearance, Sam comments on how he collects serial killer stats from watching movies from the true crime genre, including murders commited by the Zodiac and Dahmer.

Castiel discovers that Cain is committing genocide by killing off his descendants. "Culling one in ten of everyone." He kills people of varying ages and genders and buries their corpses in a plot somewhere in Illinois. Before he can kill Tommy's estranged son Austin Reynolds, he is captured by Sam and Crowley and Dean kills Cain with the First Blade.

11.05 Thin Lizzie

Sam and Dean visit the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum, much to Dean's dismay due to his aversion to Sam's fetish for serial killers. Lizzie Borden was commited for hacking her father and stepmom with a hatchet in 1892. She ended up getting acquitted and spent the rest of her life persecuted by the townspeople.

Len Fletcher talks about how he and Amara were discussing Lizzie Borden. He stated that her uncle had stronger motive and opportunity to kill them, but Amara tells Len that she can tell that Lizzie definitely killed her victims.

14.02 Gods and Monsters

Nick goes back to Pike Creek to visit his old neighbor Arty Nielson and ask him about the murders. Arty reported seeing someone leaving Nick's house at the time of the murders, but he later changed his story. Arty denies seeing anyone, but Nick soon becomes agitated and lashes out at Arty. He later beats him to death with a hammer, the modus operandi matching his family's deaths.

14.03 The Scar

Sam shows off his knowledge of serial killers by mentioning Robert Leroy Anderson, who was a killer in South Dakota who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999.

14.07 Unhuman Nature

Nick visits a priest who Arty visited to receive confession. He wanted the priest to reveal what Arty told him about that night, but he was uncooperative as the nature of confession is confidential. Nick then slits his throat and nails him to the door frame.

After he finds out about Frank Kellogg, Nick heads over to Montauk to see him. On the way, he sees a young woman walking out into an alley from a club, and contemplates whether to leave his car, ultimately deciding to walk up to her. He takes out his knife and hides it behind his back. She invites Nick to come inside and party with her and her friends, but he tells her to leave.

Nick arrives at the home of Frank Kellogg and asks him about what happened to his family. Kellogg tries to slam the door on Nick, but Nick catches him and ties him to a chair. Nick tells Kellogg what Arty told him before he died: He saw a cop leaving Nick's house that night. Kellogg later reveals that he went to Nick's house to respond to a call made by Sarah about a possible prowler. Outside the house, he meets someone named Abraxas, but he doesn't remember anything else before he woke up in his car covered in blood. Nick recognizes the name and realizes that Lucifer knew that name. Nick realizes that Abraxas is a demon who possessed Kellogg and used his meatsuit to kill his family. When the cops discovered what happened, they covered up the murders to prevent Kellogg from going to prison. Although Nick acknowledges that Kellogg is innocent, the demon still used him to kill his family. He then proceeds to beat Kellogg to death with a hammer.

14.11 Damaged Goods

Nick continues his murder spree by capturing and torturing demons for information on Abraxas. After learning that Mary Winchester captured Abraxas, Nick heads to Hibbing, Minnesota to confront Mary, but is stopped driving a stolen van by Sheriff Donna Hanscum who learns of Nick's killing spree after running his fingerprints. Nick knocks Donna out with a stun gun and learns Mary's location from Donna's phone, but chooses not to harm her further. Instead, Nick just leaves Donna unconscious in the driver's seat of her police car.

Nick then kidnaps Mary and forces her to lead him to Mary's Lock-Up where Abraxas is trapped in an Enochian Puzzle Box. Nick promises to release Mary once they are done there. After finding the puzzle box, Nick goes so far as to kidnap a security guard named Jeff to act as Abraxas' meatsuit so that he can talk to the demon for answers. After Abraxas offers answers in exchange for Mary's death, Nick tries to kill her, but is interrupted by Sam, Dean and Donna. Nick releases Abraxas who attacks and reveals that he killed Nick's family under the orders of Lucifer. Nick then completes his revenge and killing spree by killing both Abraxas and Jeff with an angel blade.

After Abraxas' death, Nick is surrounded by the Winchesters and tries to attack Mary. However, Donna shoots him in the leg and Mary knocks Nick unconscious. Nick is subsequently arrested for his murders by Donna and shows no remorse for them, feeling that they were necessary to avenge his family.

14.12 Prophet and Loss

Nick remains in custody for his murder spree for which at least four jurisdictions want to prosecute him. Nick claims that his murders were due to Lucifer's influence on him which no one buys. However, Nick is able to overpower his police guard and escape from the hospital where he was being treated for his leg injury.

At the same time, malformed Prophet Tony Alvarez hears what he believes to be God instructing him to commit divine retributions. Tony drowns a young woman in bloody salt water and slits the throat of his friend Alan, a first born, to reenact two divine retributions. Tony is stopped from burning a man alive by the Winchesters and commits suicide. Due to worries of future activated Prophets ending up like Tony, the Winchesters and Castiel decide to remove Donatello Redfield from life support, only to learn that Tony was actually hearing Donatello's mutterings as his mind attempted to rebuild itself.

14.13 Lebanon

"A serial killer clown, I mean this is like the best worth thing that's ever happened to you, because you love serial killers and hate clowns."

Amongst the occult items retrieved from a pawn shop is the cigar box of John Wayne Gacy, the "Killer Clown." After the box is revealed to hold the ghost of Gacy, Dean is amused as it combines Sam's love for serial killers and hatred of clowns together. Gacy's spirit is laid to rest by Sam before he can kill anyone else.