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Prepare for a spine-chilling journey as we dive into some of the creepiest and most disturbing criminal cases ever tackled by the BAU. From haunted clowns to sinister puppeteers, these episodes of Criminal Minds will haunt your dreams and keep you on the edge of your seat. Join us as we revisit the chilling tales that made this series so unforgettable.
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00:00Two of you will leave this room alive.
00:04One of you will die.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:07And today we're counting down our picks for the scariest, creepiest, and most disturbing cases from criminal minds that still
00:14haunt us.
00:14We'll only be looking at the original 15-season run of the show.
00:18There will be spoilers.
00:27Number 20.
00:28The Capillanos.
00:30What happens when you combine creepy clowns with home invasions?
00:34Absolute terror.
00:35In season 3, the BAU solves a case that haunted Rossi for years.
00:40They learn that the unsub, who killed a married couple in their home and left their three children without parents,
00:45was a clown from a traveling carnival.
00:47There was this clown that made me a balloon animal.
00:51It didn't even look right.
00:52But then he kind of followed me around.
00:55He didn't really do anything, but my mom got afraid, so we left.
00:59Ten seasons later, the team goes to Oklahoma to investigate a string of robbery homicides, where one living victim says
01:06he saw a clown brutally kill his dad in the middle of the night.
01:09It's unclear what he saw, but he says his dad was killed by a clown.
01:15Maybe the unsub wore a disguise.
01:17The unsubs are brothers Sal and Tony Capilano, two out-of-work clowns on a spree, though Sal is the
01:24only one taking lives.
01:25Just the image of him peeking out under the bed is enough to give us bad dreams.
01:29You're charged with the murders of Sam Frankl.
01:32Get up!
01:33Mark Wilson.
01:36Bella John Richardson.
01:39The red tree makes silence.
01:40Number 19.
01:42The Caller.
01:42Hello?
01:43I'm gonna get you.
01:46I'm gonna get you.
01:48Stop it.
01:49I mean it.
01:50This isn't funny anymore.
01:51Stop calling here.
01:52Losing a child is every parent's worst fear.
01:55And in this episode, one deranged man thoroughly destroys the lives of at least two families, starting when little Frankie
02:02Clavin is murdered.
02:03Fifteen years later, the killer finds a new victim.
02:06What Malcolm and Lita Taffert dismissed as prank calls from a child were actually the murderer taunting them before and
02:12after he kidnaps and kills their son Andy.
02:15He's not talking.
02:15Please let us handle this.
02:17Why?
02:18Why isn't he talking?
02:19Just let us do our job.
02:20Can you take him back to the house, please?
02:21The unsub uses a recording of himself playing as a little boy, along with disturbing audio in the background.
02:28The recording itself is bizarre and unsettling, especially because the playful threats take on a sinister tone.
02:34I'm gonna get you.
02:37I'm gonna get you.
02:44Did you see what I did?
02:45The episode ends on the chilling image of the Tafferts sitting speechless while their phone rings.
02:50Number 18, Broken.
02:52In one of the series' most tragic episodes, the BAU must track down a serial killer targeting both men and
02:58women.
02:58When the unsub, Paul Weston, was young, his abusive father condemned him for being gay, going so far as to
03:04send him to a sadistic conversion camp and hiring a female sex worker to turn him straight.
03:09Who is suffering from an identity crisis.
03:11This man can accept his same-sex desires, but he can't fight them either.
03:15As an adult, a deeply traumatized Paul still hates himself for being attracted to men, which is why he kills
03:21them, along with the women he attempts to sleep with.
03:24Seeing only a glimpse of the senseless brutality and trauma these young boys were subjected to is truly stomach-churning.
03:31We cannot even imagine the awful things we didn't see, and we definitely don't want to.
03:36Fix me all those years trying to prove to me that I was broken?
03:41Well, it worked, Dad.
03:44It worked.
03:45I'm pretty damn broken now.
03:46Number 17, Into the Woods.
03:48A family camping trip turns into a nightmare when young siblings Robert and Anna Brooks are abducted on the Appalachian
03:54Trail.
03:55Even though he's just as scared as she is, Robert tries to comfort his little sister.
03:59The unsub takes him to a different room, and when Robert returns, he is visibly traumatized.
04:04Fearing the unsub will do the same to Anna, he tells her to escape and find help.
04:08Next time he comes to get me, run, and don't stop.
04:19Seeing the look of terror on his face is as heart-wrenching as it is haunting.
04:23While being rescued and reuniting with their family is a happy ending, we know they will never be the same
04:28after what they endured.
04:29And the unsub wasn't caught, and more than likely continued kidnapping more kids.
04:35He can't function anywhere else.
04:36He's got no place to hide.
04:38We're taking that away from him.
04:39It's just hard to accept there's no justice for the families he destroyed.
04:44We'll get him.
04:45Number 16, The Tall Man.
04:47In one of many unsettling Matthew Gray Goobler-directed episodes, the BAU heads to JJ's hometown of East Allegheny, Pennsylvania
04:54to help search for two missing girls.
04:56Their friend Allie escaped and told law enforcement that they were taken by The Tall Man, a local legend who
05:02harms his victims until they reveal their darkest secrets.
05:05Please help me.
05:07He has him.
05:09He has my friends.
05:11Who?
05:12The Tall Man.
05:14JJ figures out that the school guidance counselor Ethan Howard is the unsub, and that he was the guy who
05:19groomed her sister Rosalind before she took her own life.
05:22Sure, the Slenderman-like urban legend is creepy.
05:25The spooky imagery of the fictional character might just be as scary as the mask the real unsub wears.
05:31But the reality of what was actually going on is much, much worse.
05:35Rosalind, it probably wasn't your first victim.
05:41True, Bethany.
05:43She will be your last.
05:45Number 15, A Shade of Grey.
05:48When the BAU takes on a child abduction case that quickly turns into a homicide, registered sex offender Hugh Rollins
05:54is the obvious suspect.
05:55But everything changes when Danny Murphy casually admits to Prentice that he killed his little brother Kyle after he broke
06:01a toy.
06:02He broke my plane.
06:05Sarah!
06:07No.
06:09No.
06:10No.
06:10Their devastated parents tried to cover it up to protect their living son, but they couldn't hide Danny's troubling anger
06:16issues and apparent sociopathy.
06:18The case is similar to Season 2's The Boogeyman, where James Charles tries to take the fall for his disturbed
06:23son, Jeffrey.
06:24While it doesn't happen too often, the BAU has dealt with a few young unsubs.
06:29But when they do, it is always upsetting to think of someone of that age fatally harming another person.
06:35The only thing Danny isn't capable of is remorse.
06:38He feels nothing.
06:42The son you were trying to protect is a sociopath.
06:46Number 14, Omnivore.
06:48From 1995 to 1998, Boston had a serial killer dubbed The Reaper.
06:54It was an early case for Hotch, and although he created a profile, the BAU left once it appeared the
07:00murders had suddenly stopped.
07:01After a decade of dormancy, The Reaper returns.
07:04Hotch and Rossi speak with George Foyette, The Reaper's last and only living victim, but soon realize they've been interacting
07:11with The Reaper the whole time.
07:12I'm taking him with me. I'll let him go so as I'm safe.
07:16No, you're not.
07:18I said I'll kill him.
07:19You kill him, I kill you.
07:21What makes this episode so terrifying is how similar he is to real-life serial murderers who hid in plain
07:27sight, like BTK and Ted Bundy.
07:29As we feared, Foyette breaks out of prison.
07:32And later, in one of the most heartbreaking episodes of the series, he kills Hotch's wife, Hayley.
07:38Then, Hotch murders him.
07:39I don't have to think. I know that he would have tried to kill my son, too.
07:47That's good enough for me.
07:49Number 13. Rabid.
07:51In Wisconsin, three bodies are found covered in bite marks, both animal and human.
07:56And the culprit, David Wade Cunningham, has to be one of the BAU's most sadistic unsubs.
08:01He abducts his victims, then cages, restrains, and infects them with a deadly disease via biting.
08:07Cunningham's sick fascination with watching people slowly die of rabies started years ago with his younger brother.
08:13Why are you doing this?
08:16You're cold.
08:19Yes.
08:21That's from the fever.
08:22Seeing an animal foaming at the mouth and becoming, well, rabid is scary enough.
08:27But watching humans go through the incubation process is nothing short of horrifying.
08:31Fortunately, the team manages to save his most recent victim, Russell Holmes, soon enough that he's on the road to
08:37recovery.
08:37Sadly, Liz Foley was too far gone.
08:40She slipped into a coma.
08:45Won't be long now.
08:47Number 12. Our Darkest Hour.
08:49In this season 5 finale, the BAU faces one of the most prolific unsubs they've seen.
08:54They travel to Los Angeles, where there have been a series of robbery homicides during rolling blackouts.
09:00After they determine the killer's motivation is connected to Detective Matt Spicer,
09:04Morgan finds Billy Flynn, aka the Prince of Darkness, but can't stop him before he kidnaps Spicer's young daughter Ellie.
09:10On your knees.
09:12Don't do it!
09:13Don't do it!
09:16That's a good boy.
09:18Hello there.
09:19The finale ends on that cliffhanger, leaving us horrified and anxious about Ellie's fate.
09:25Anyone with a fear of the dark will have a tough time with this episode,
09:28especially since Flynn waits until nighttime to invade his victims' homes, terrorizing and killing them mercilessly.
09:34Legendary actor Tim Curry plays the Night Stalker-inspired serial killer,
09:38and we gotta say, it is perfect casting.
09:41This one's just special.
09:45Number 11. Mr. Scratch.
09:47There are a few episodes of Criminal Minds that feel supernatural, and Mr. Scratch is one of them.
09:53When three different people are detained after committing murder,
09:56they each say that Mr. Scratch, a dark figure with talons for hands, is the real culprit.
10:01I can hear her screaming.
10:03Larry, no!
10:04Larry, please, no!
10:06However, the crime scenes and literal blood on their hands prove otherwise.
10:11The real unsub turns out to be Peter Lewis,
10:13a man enacting revenge on the now-adults who accused his father of abuse when his parents ran a group
10:18home.
10:19He used hallucinogens to manipulate their minds and make them kill the people they loved.
10:23What do you see when you look at me?
10:31Do you see Mr. Scratch?
10:34We only see shadows of the growling Nosferatu-like figure, making the entire episode that much creepier.
10:40Take a guess who directed this one.
10:42Firm memories don't imprint on the developing brain until about age five.
10:45Yet somehow, the unsub was able to make the victims hallucinate an almost primal childhood fear of the dark and
10:51of the monsters that lurk within it.
10:52Number 10. Alchemy
10:54This episode, directed by none other than Matthew Gray Goobler, opens with a literal nightmare.
11:02Help me.
11:04I am so scared.
11:06A man follows voices down a creepy hotel hallway.
11:10He peels the wallpaper to find a slimy organism that swallows his arm.
11:15When he wakes up, his reality isn't much better.
11:18Later, we learn that he is one of two men found dismembered in South Dakota.
11:23So nobody else was able to make the connection between the two victims?
11:25An autopsy shows a potent hallucinogen in his system, meaning he was seeing scary things asleep and awake.
11:32The unsub's next victim has his own hellish experience.
11:36Calm down.
11:38Calm down.
11:40It's all moving high.
11:43In the same hall, he sees a boy walking backwards and then crawling into the wall.
11:50Hey!
11:56Then, an old woman stabs him in the neck.
11:59Luckily, the BAU saves him before he ends up like the others.
12:04Number 9.
12:05The Good Earth
12:06After four men go missing, the team travels to La Grande, Oregon.
12:10We think she's keeping her victims in isolation in the countryside,
12:13which means she has access to land or a structure that is remote, hidden, and private.
12:16We see Emma Kerrigan, the unsub, a health store worker slash farmer,
12:21force-feeding these men a brownish substance via a tube.
12:25This image alone makes us squirm, but it gets worse.
12:28Emma once had a skin disease that healed after she used her deceased husband's ashes in her tomato garden.
12:34She's using her victims as human fertilizer.
12:37This led her to use healthy men as fertilizer, which she sees as the only remedy.
12:42She continues to hallucinate terrible lesions on her arms and face.
12:53This leads her to kidnap a pregnant woman to consume her placenta,
12:57which she sees as another possible cure.
13:00All of these acts are stomach-churning,
13:02but yanking out one man's feeding tube is painful to watch.
13:06Number 8.
13:07Reflection of Desire
13:09What if all we have is all we were meant to be?
13:14No, no, no, it's had.
13:16Past tense, had.
13:17Not have, try it again.
13:18I can't.
13:20Not like this.
13:21Rhett Walden, dubbed the Hill Ripper,
13:24is the son of old movie star Mae Walden.
13:27Since her death,
13:28he's been trying to recreate a film she starred in called Reflections of Desire.
13:32When his first victim can't get the lines correct,
13:35he takes her life,
13:36leaving her body in an alley.
13:38But he takes a trophy,
13:40her lips.
13:40While the second victim delivers the lines to his satisfaction,
13:44he has to remove parts of her body so she can literally walk in his mother's shoes.
13:49You were right.
13:53Your toes were too long.
13:55His disturbing relationship with his mother,
13:57before and after her death,
13:59is reminiscent of Norman Bates.
14:01And considering Rhett also keeps his mother's corpse and pretends she's still alive,
14:06the similarities are glaring.
14:08They're calling for us.
14:12I told you this day would come.
14:13You didn't believe it.
14:14But here it is.
14:15Number 7.
14:16Proof.
14:17Just walk.
14:18Shh.
14:18Just walk.
14:19Come on.
14:19This way.
14:20Come on.
14:21Back in high school,
14:22Cy Bradstone had a crush on a girl named Lila.
14:24She rejected him,
14:26later telling her friends that he was gross.
14:28As an adult,
14:30Cy exacts his revenge on surrogates of a teenage Lila,
14:33dressing them in clothing from the 1980s.
14:36The sales clerk said the clothes in the crime scene photos were of that time period,
14:40and he confirmed that they were purchased from his store.
14:42He uses sulfuric acid to attack their senses like sight, smell, taste, and touch.
14:48Cy turns his attentions to his niece Tammy when he sees her wearing Lila's old homecoming dress.
14:53What do you think?
14:54I lightened my hair in your honor, Mom.
14:57Oh, why you're beautiful.
15:01He's even more enraged with Tammy,
15:03because he secretly despises his brother Matt for marrying his girl Lila.
15:08It's truly disturbing seeing him taunt Matt, laughing at his daughter's pain.
15:13Trust us when we say this one is tough to watch.
15:16You might not want to watch this.
15:18Number 6.
15:19Moseley Lane.
15:20Did he remember us?
15:22You didn't doubt that, did you?
15:24Remembering you was the only way we survived.
15:26Cases involving the youth are always upsetting,
15:29but the unsubs in this one are especially creepy.
15:32Amy?
15:34Amy?
15:37Amy?
15:39Amy?
15:40Roger and Anita Roycewood have been taking them for over 8 years.
15:45Seeing anguished parents of the missing,
15:47and what the victims go through as prisoners,
15:49is truly heartbreaking.
15:51Your son took my baby?
15:53Mrs. Lynch.
15:54Your son took Amy?
15:55What's even more chilling is that we don't know why the Roycewoods did this.
15:59We can speculate, but we're ultimately in the dark.
16:03Knowing these abductors were able to get away with this for almost a decade makes our skin crawl.
16:08Without a doubt, this is an episode that sticks with us.
16:12He was alive yesterday.
16:16I've been watching you for the last hour.
16:22And you are the most ravishing creature that I have ever seen.
16:27The BAU travels to Oregon for a case involving a body found in an abandoned asylum.
16:33The woman's elaborate period clothing and makeup are unusual,
16:36but it only gets weirder from here.
16:38Look at how she's laid out.
16:40It's almost like it's a ceremony and she's the sacrifice.
16:42James Heathridge is on a mission to rid the world of the devil's wives.
16:47He puts his victims through tests, where the only outcome is death.
16:52When he was a kid, his mother Catherine attacked a fellow actress,
16:55believing she was one of these wives.
16:57She then cut off her daughter's arm, thinking that would make her less attractive to the devil.
17:03Catherine was institutionalized and died in the asylum.
17:05Now, she appears in James' hallucinations, encouraging his witch hunt.
17:11She's 16, which means she's at a vulnerable stage.
17:14The devil will take notice of her now.
17:16What do I do?
17:18My poor, noble James.
17:20You'll have to strike first if you want to save those you love.
17:24The gothic tone of the episode and open ending leaves us seriously creeped out.
17:29I've waited so long for you, Laura.
17:33It's time to come with me now.
17:35Number 4.
17:36Lucky.
17:37One of the many cannibals the BAU comes across is Floyd Phelan Farrell in Bridgewater, Florida.
17:43His victims, at least what's left of them, are found with satanic markings,
17:48leading the team to believe the killings could be ritualistic.
17:53Excuse me, ma'am.
17:58When they finally arrest Floyd, he's in his basement in front of a satanic altar, appearing unfazed by the arrest.
18:05With a freezer full of bodies and a live victim, there's no doubt this is the guy.
18:11Cheryl Timmons?
18:12Yes.
18:12You're safe now.
18:13Is Tracy Lambert here?
18:15No.
18:16Among his things, they find a human recipe book.
18:19The team realizes that Floyd runs a barbecue stand,
18:23and that he volunteered to feed the search party for Tracy Lambert, his victim.
18:28God is in all of us.
18:33We need to stop the interview.
18:35So is Tracy Lambert.
18:37We'll let you guess what the ingredients were.
18:40Number 3.
18:40The Uncanny Valley.
18:42Ed.
18:43Go ahead.
18:44We need to send that back up.
18:45As a child, Samantha Malcolm was mistreated by her father.
18:49To keep her silent, he subjected her to ECT, giving her a set of dolls to ease his conscience.
18:54But when an adult Samantha sees her father give her special dolls to another little girl,
18:59she sets out to recreate them.
19:01Instead of actual dolls, she kidnaps petite young women and keeps them in a drug-induced paralysis.
19:08She dresses them up to resemble her dolls, each with different hair colors and dresses.
19:14She loses a doll, or in this case, if she loses a woman who represents a doll, she has to
19:19replace it.
19:19Her victims can't survive in this state.
19:22So she then has to dump the bodies and collect new ones.
19:26From the traumatic childhood to the Unsub's method of killing,
19:29everything about this episode is a nightmare to say the least.
19:33Do you want to see them?
19:35Can I?
19:37Yeah.
19:38Yeah, do you want to play with them?
19:39Number 2.
19:40To Hell and Back.
19:41This Unsub is extremely smart and obviously organized.
19:44He's managed to abduct very different victims with very different abilities, all with no witnesses.
19:49In a case inspired by the real-life serial killer Robert Pickton,
19:53this two-part episode takes the team to a rural pig farm in Canada.
19:57It's home to brothers Mason and Lucas Turner, who are involved in the murders of dozens of people.
20:03Though Lucas is the muscle who carries out the murders, it's Mason who has the brains and the power.
20:08He's a run-sick?
20:10For seven years, Mason has been paralyzed from the neck down.
20:14They were doing experiments.
20:17Experiments?
20:20Unsuccessful ones.
20:21In an attempt to cure his paralysis, Mason has his brother kidnap unhoused people and people with substance use disorder
20:28and bring them back to the farm to undergo gruesome experiments.
20:31Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable mentions.
20:35The Eyes Have It.
20:37An Unsub removes the eyes of his victims to use them in his taxidermy.
20:41Any other theories?
20:42There have been cases where after enucleation, mental patients have consumed the eyeballs.
20:48Are you serious?
20:50God Complex.
20:51An amateur surgeon performs human experiments by amputating their legs.
20:55You don't understand.
20:56I perfected this.
20:58This is my last test.
21:00Drop it now!
21:01Then I can fix you.
21:04I never want it to be fixed.
21:07Risky Business.
21:08An Unsub tricks high school kids into playing a dangerous game.
21:11Only so he can revive them.
21:22Blood Relations.
21:23More Matthew Gray Goobler-directed Nightmare Fuel.
21:26I'll give you money.
21:27You just name your price.
21:29I don't want your money.
21:33What do you want?
21:37I want you to say hello.
21:39Nightlights.
21:40A sadistic Unsub blinds his victims before hunting them down.
21:43I started screaming and thankfully one of my friends heard me and came running.
21:48But the look on this guy's face, he was clearly enjoying it.
21:55Number 1.
21:56The Lesson.
21:56Please, please just tell me where Justin is.
21:59Please.
22:00This bizarre episode is the stuff of nightmares.
22:04After an accident leaves him with brain damage, Adam returns to a childlike state of mind.
22:09The head injury must have been the trigger and he woke up with the delusion that he was
22:11a boy again.
22:12Like a Peter Pan syndrome.
22:14He starts kidnapping people, dressing them up like two puppets from his childhood.
22:18He uses medieval-like devices to dislocate their joints, making for some hard-to-watch scenes.
22:24This allows him to manipulate their movements like a puppeteer.
22:28He needs the perfect puppets to reenact the night his father dies, because they need to
22:33save him this time.
22:34What robber, Adam?
22:35From him!
22:37He did it!
22:38We have to stop him!
22:40The marionette performance is simultaneously beautiful and completely horrifying.
22:56Do you lose sleep after watching these episodes?
22:59Let us know in the comments.
23:06Let us know in the comments.
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