Top Spine-Tingling Are You Afraid of the Dark Episodes

Are You Afraid of the Dark was a success from the very start, with the show’s second episode topping the list, and it’s for a very good reason. See that photo? That’s right, clowns are scary, have always been scary, and will always be scary.

This time it’s worse, as the clown is also a ghost, the lingering spirit of a 1920s clown that stole the carnival’s payroll and took cover in a funhouse to evade the police. When Josh steals the clown’s nose to prove that he isn’t scared, he learns that Zeebo isn’t trapped in the funhouse and that there’s only one way to save himself from the terrifying clown ghost.

“The Tale of Laughing in the Dark” is filled with misdirects, jump scares, slow-boiling scares, and an iconic villain that defined the series for a generation. That’s why it’s not only the scariest episode, but the best.