TV villains are meant to be bad, but some of them have crossed the line and are just downright scary!
These are the ones that stay with us long after we turn off our TV. They haunt our waking thoughts and terrorize us as we try to sleep! If we even can!
Don’t turn off the lights, because that bad guy or gal or being might be waiting for you in the dark!
Check out our list of 25 TV Villains who give us nightmares!
Negan – The Walking Dead
Anyone who gives a name to a barbed-wire covered bat is the stuff of nightmares. Eenie-Meanie-Miney-Mo will never sound so innocent again.
The Salesman – The Exorcist
The evil only exists in your mind…or does it? It’s a scary thought knowing that something only you can see can torture you until you give in to its evil, but that’s exactly what The Salesman is doing to Casey Rance. Shudder!
The Monster – Stranger Things
Imagine a being like this so close you could almost touch it, but who would want to? The Monster or demogorgon lives in another dimension called the Upside Down, but was able to enter our world through tears in the fabric of reality. It was attracted to the smell of blood and would cpature victims and bring them back to its world, sometimes killing them, sometimes not! Let’s hope there are no tears in the fabric of our reality!
Jervis Tetch (The Mad Hatter) – Gotham
Hypnotism is scary under normal circumstances. Who knows what happens when you’re put under? But, imagine if it was a madman doing the deed? Oh, my! Time to run!!
Sidney – Outcast
Sidney just looks like evil incarnate, yet many people in Rome are welcoming him into their lives. Probably not a good idea, but that’s exactly what the man-in-charge of demons or whatever they are wants. So, beware of the new guy in town. Never know who he might be.
The Master – The Strain
Vampires are some of the scariest beings, but imagine being running into one of the original vampires? Even worse? Getting infected by a virus that automatically turns you into a vampire and not even knowing what happened. It’s the stuff of nightmares!
The Stewmaker – The Blacklist
Stanley Kornish was a dentist by trade, but his side job as a body disposal expert was the stuff of nightmares! Sure, the people he dissolved with chemicals in motel room bathrooms were already dead thanks to whoever hired Stanley to dispose of them in the first place, but what kind of person enjoys doing that type of job? He also like to keep souvenirs taking pictures of the people and keeping a tooth.
But, the worst part of The Stewmaker was when he decided to move from provided corpses to the living after capturing Elizabeth Keen. Fortunately for her, she was saved before she was melted alive.
Amy Hughes – Dead of Summer
Amy seemed like a pretty normal girl. It’s just too bad she was possessed by a demon and killed all of her friends. Demon possession is the worst nightmare of all!
James March – American Horror Story: Hotel
American Horror Story is full of scary villains, but James March was one of our favorites. Anyone who stuffs mattresses with nightmarish monsters to torment the living who stayed at his hotel deserves to be on this list. He also held a dinner party every Halloween with the world’s most terrifying serial killers, perhaps creating the worst nightmare of all.
Papa Legba – American Horror Story: Coven
Just keep on walking if you run into this guy. As the gatekeeper of the spirit world he likes to make deals for souls, especially innocent baby souls. Besides all that, just look at him! He’ll be haunting your dreams forever!
Jerome Valeska – Gotham
Ha…ha..ha..ha! Who would have ever guessed that a simple laugh could haunt your dreams? Jerome Valeska first entered our nightmares on Gotham Season 1 and returned on Season 2 even crazier than before! He threw people off a roof, tried to set a busload of cheerleaders on fire, and eagerly played Russian roulette with one of his cohorts. Even though he died at the hands of Galavan, rumor is he became one of Professor Strange’s experiments and is set to return. What kind of nightmares will he bring this time around?!
Azazel (The Yellow-Eyed Demon) – Supernatural
Hell-bent on destroying the world, he was the most evil villain ever on Supernatural. His yellow-eyes caused nightmares not only for Sam and Dean, but for everyone watching as well.
Rakshasa – Supernatural
No list would be complete without a killer clown! Although we could’ve added Twisty from American Horror Story, we thought this guy was bit more scary. Rakshasa liked to befriend little kids who then invited him into their house so he could kill their parents. Worst nightmare ever!
Lucy Butler – Millennium
Lucy Butler was the epitome of evil who made Frank Black’s life more miserable than it already was. She didn’t always appear as the nice woman she seemed to be. Sometimes she appeared as a scary long-haired man. Other times she appeared as her true demonic self. And one time, she appeared as all three right before she slaughtered Frank’s good friend and co-worker, Bob Bletcher.
Tooms – The X-Files
Any serial killer is scary, but a mutant serial killer who could contort his body to squeeze into small spaces? Yikes! Tooms also liked to eat human livers which would sustain him until his next 30-year hibernation. Just thinking about Tooms gives us nightmares!
Bob – Twin Peaks
Bob was an evil spirit who liked to feast on human pain and suffering and was responsible for the murder of Laura Palmer. He could possess anyone in Twin Peaks and reveled in making them do the most horrific things. Once again, malevolent spirits rule the nightmare world!
Moloch – Sleepy Hollow
Another demon that wants to launch the Apocaplypse upon the world! He sacrificed anyone and everyone, including children, to try to reach his goal. Stuff of nightmares, indeed!
Sylar – Heroes
Everyone wants to be special, but Sylar took it to new heights. He liked to kill people and steal their brains in order to gain their abilities. Once he figured out a way to gain their abilities without killing them, he kililed them anyway just because! Yeah, that’s not scary at all!
Gnarl – Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Gnarl doesn’t need to use his horrifically long fingernails to paralyze us, just looking at him does the trick! Those unlucky enough to get caught by this terrifying demon died a slow death as he stripped pieces of skin off them while they were still alive! Willow was one of those unlucky people until Buffy saved the day!
The Gentlemen – Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The Gentlemen are a group of ghouls who go from town to town stealing people’s voices so they can’t scream when they cut out their victims’ hearts. Definitely stuff of nightmares, huh? Buffy and friends thought so until they defeated the scary beings!
Peter Pan – Once Upon a Time
Forget Disney’s watered down version, this Peter Pan is what he was always meant to be: a nasty, evil demon who would sacrifice his own family for his own benefit. Everyone in Storybrooke feared him, and so do we!
The Borg – Star Trek: Next Generation
Resistance is futile. We wouldn’t want to wake up seeing one of these things hovering over us, but if we knew these things were around we probably wouldn’t sleep at all. They want your knowledge and once they suck it out of you, you get to become one of their hollowed out army. Or something like that. Any way you look at it, these things are truly nightmare inducing!
Hannibal – Hannibal
Hannibal was a serial killer and mastermind who enjoyed the taste of human flesh. Sometimes, he would have dinner parties where the main meal might be one of his guests. We have nightmares just thinking about it!
Arthur Mitchell – Dexter
Perhaps the scariest villian of all just for the fact that he was family man and upstanding member of his community, yet underneath the mask he was a brutal serial killer. He killed more than 200 times, including Dexter’s wife, before he met his end at Dexter’s hands.
The Weeping Angels – Doctor Who
They may look innocent at first, but beware. The Weeping Angels are an ancient race of alien monsters who Dr. Who said were “the only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely.” They can’t be too nice when they hurt you in the past to feast on your unlived days in the future. Nasty beings!
