Halloween is a special time of year when people celebrate the timeless act of scaring the pants off of themselves. Doctor Who is a show that has always flirted with horror and scares, from the Daleks to the Weeping Angels, making it one of the perfect substitutes for the traditional slasher horror movie marathon on Halloween night.

Both the original series and its 2005 continuation have caused children of all ages to hide behind the sofa on more than one occasion, and that trend doesn't seem likely to let up any time soon. The scariest episodes of the series blend psychological terror with visual scares, imaginative monsters, and a tense narrative to sell the experience.

Updated on October 7, 2022 by Meagan Bojarski:

The Centenary Special set to air in October 2022 continues the recent tradition of Halloween episodes that began with the Flux plot in 2021. However, there have been excellent horror episodes throughout the years that fans can rewatch throughout the Halloween season. From horrifying plots set by the Doctor's greatest enemies to aliens that haunt the audiences' nightmares, Doctor Who provides scares from Classic Who through the modern era that are perfect for getting fans into the Halloween spirit.

Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead (2008)

"Silence in the Library" is a terrifying story for those who are scared of the dark. The Doctor and Donna land in an abandoned library only to discover that it is occupied by a species that lives in the shadows. The Vashta Nerada, "piranhas of the air," threaten to strip any visitor's flesh off their bones and use their bodies as a disguise.

This saga is one of the most terrifying stories in the modern era of Doctor Who, especially considering the Doctor doesn't destroy the monsters at the end of the day. The Vashta Nerada live everywhere throughout the universe, and while they have not appeared in any other episodes, the idea that they might be lurking in any shadow is enough to make many viewers sleep with the lights on.

The Deadly Assassin (1976)

This Classic Who arc introduced much of the lore fans know about Gallifrey and its people, as well as being the only story to feature the Doctor with no companion in the original run of the show. The Doctor returns to Gallifrey after dropping Sarah Jane off, only to find himself unwittingly responsible for the death of the President.

Alongside the terror of being so strategically framed for murder, the Doctor ends up trapped in a simulation filled with torturous encounters intended to kill him. One of these moments was so horrifying it was highly criticized for being too harsh for young viewers and has even been cut from some future airings.

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (2005)

While "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" end up being a tragedy of sorts, the concept and imagery involved are thoroughly nightmare-inducing. The Doctor and Rose land in the midst of the London Blitz, where the community is terrorized by a child in a gas mask asking, "Are you my mummy?"

Anyone who touches the child takes on his symptoms, with gas masks fused to their face and seemingly no consciousness other than the need to repeat the child's mantra. The horror genre discovered long ago that children can be terrifying, and this Doctor Who story uses that trope to its fullest extent.

Terror of the Autons (1971)

Doctor Who was resurrected with an episode featuring the Autons, terrifying mannequin-like creatures, and one of their best stories was "Terror of the Autons," which also introduced the Master. The Master lands on Earth and uses the Nestene Consciousness and a plastic factory to mass-produce seemingly harmless plastic objects that spontaneously come to life and kill their owners.

With how much plastic is involved in daily life, this story is as scary now as it was when it first came out. The idea of plastic humanoids is concerning enough, but making all plastic materials deadly would be an invasion force humanity would be hard-pressed to stop.

Listen (2014)

While Doctor Who has provided fans with a lot of lore to dive into, the history of its titular character is still largely a mystery. This was part of what made "Listen" so captivating, because the episode explored the Doctor's own childhood fears.

The episode explores the idea of a creature so good at hiding that it has prompted everyone to occasionally feel like they are being watched. Because this is such a common sensation, it tugs at the audience's fear of the unknown to the point where they may feel the need to check the hidden spaces in their own room while watching or when they try to get to sleep.

Genesis Of The Daleks (1975)

The Daleks quickly went from frightening alien foes to lovable pop culture icons during the '60s and '70s, and that presented problems for their longevity. Thankfully, original creator Terry Nation drafted up a story that made the creatures scary again, by going back to the moment of their creation.

Not only is "Genesis of the Daleks" one of the single-best Doctor Who stories ever, but it's deeply frightening. The clever use of lighting and camera angles gives the Daleks an intense presence, especially when they are first activated. The story itself is dark, deeply complex, and woven together with philosophical and moral questions that resonate to this very day.

The Seeds Of Doom (1976)

This classic 1976 Who story finds the Fourth Doctor in Antarctica investigating a mysterious pod that houses a lethal alien plant species known as the Krynoids. This invasive weed is capable of devouring animal life — humans included — and begins doing so right away.

The serial is notorious for its violent imagery in comparison to past Who stories - a fact capitalized on by Mary Whitehouse, an outspoken advocate for censorship (and a thorn in the side of the BBC) widely criticized for her knee-jerk, out-of-context reactions to what she considered objectionable material.

Asylum Of The Daleks (2012)

"Asylum of the Daleks" is a different kind of Dalek story altogether. It features a kidnapped Doctor deposited onto a prison planet populated exclusively with Daleks who are too dangerous to be controlled.

The story has its humorous moments, but the bulk of it is tense, nerve-wracking horror as the Doctor, Amy, and Rory descend into the bowels of the Dalek asylum. These highly dangerous and unpredictable Daleks are just one problem; the other being the reanimated corpses of a human crew infected with a Dalek pathogen.

The Unquiet Dead (2005)

The 2005 reboot of Doctor Who started out largely as a sci-fi adventure series, but it wasn't long before the show started diving into horror territory. "The Unquiet Dead" was a ghost story full of spiritual human possessions, séances, and reanimated zombie corpses designed to give viewers the willies.

This episode revealed the ghostly antagonists to be the Gelth, a form of life devastated by the Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks which caused their bodies to convert into a gaseous, apparition-like form. It helped give the Ninth Doctor a bit of backstory leading up to the season 1 finale.

Pyramids Of Mars (1975)

One of the Doctor's most fearsome and unrelenting foes is undoubtedly the alien Sutekh, an Osiran masquerading as an ancient Egyptian God who wished to bring the "gift of death" to humanity, and had more than enough powers to make it happen.

Sutekh was capable of destroying entire star systems at the peak of his power, and not even the Time Lords would have been able to stop him. This is shown to be the case when Sutekh's will is more than enough to dominate the Doctor's mind and turn it to his own control.