You’re probably familiar with the Nickelodeon show Are You Afraid of the Dark? if you grew up in the 1990s. Every week, the Midnight Society appeared on the screens to tell a terrifying narrative about the encampment.
The midnight society was a group of youngsters who would gather in the woods at a hidden place to tell ghost stories. “Submitted for the approval of midnight society, I call this story the tale of,” they’d say at the start of their stories. After announcing the title, they’d proceed to throw midnight dust into the campfire. As the members recited the story, it would begin to play on the screen.
The plots would be based on urban legends and strange occurrences. Ghosts, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures were frequently encountered by the heroes of the stories. The protagonist in the majority of the stories had a happy ending. The traits of the storyteller were frequently reflected in the stories told by the first generation of the Midnight Society.
The events that occurred around the protagonists inspired the storylines of the second generation. Back in the 1990s, Are You Afraid of the Dark was responsible for many restless nights. Now, let’s take a look at ten of the show’s most terrifying monsters.
The Corpse – The Tale Of The Dead Man’s Float
You could sense that the corpse is nearby by the odor it gave away. The corpse smelled of decay, Sulfur, and acid. The corpse lived underwater in the swimming pool. It blended in the water and he was invisible. In 1954, the corpse killed three students by pulling them underwater. He started by killing Joe, Cindy’s little brother. At that time Cindy was dating the lifeguard Charlie Dempster. Charlie tried to save Joe but the corpse was faster. The pool was closed after two more students died drowning. It was hidden behind a row of lockers.
In 1994, Zeke Mathews discovered the hidden pool and showed it to Clorice, to impress her. Clorice, being a member of the swim team, got the pool reopened. The corpse returned as the pool reopened. He tried to drown Clorice and her friend Greta, but they managed to escape. Later, the corpse attacked Clorice again, when she and Zeke were hanging out in a raft, on the pool.
The school janitor happened to be nearby, he was none other than the old lifeguard, Charlie Dempster. Zeke figured out that they can stop the monster if he is no longer invisible. He poured Methyl Orange in the pool, as the corpse was half acid. The corpse emerged from the water, appearing like a hideous zombie.
Clorice got an idea from Zeke’s volcano experiment. She swam underwater to retrieve the jar of magnetite. Zeke jumped in to distract the corpse as it almost got to Clorice. Charlie pulled Zeke out of the water in time. They finally put an end to the terror of the Corpse monster by dousing him with magnetite. It made the corpse scream in pain, as she bubbled and sizzled while evaporating into thin air.
The corpse appeared in the Tale of the Dead Man’s Float. It was the first story narrated by Stig. His stories often featured monsters who stood out because of their appearance. He himself was ridiculed by his peers for not looking clean and hygienic. The corpse monster in his story was a vengeful spirit.
The swimming pool was built on an old burial ground. All the corpses were moved to a different locations before the pool was constructed but they forgot to move the body of the corpse monster. He would get furious whenever his eternal slumber was interrupted. He would often drown and kill the swimmers as a punishment for disturbing him. Stig mentions that moments before Joe was attacked by the corpse monster, he could smell a foul acidic smell coming from the pool.
Later, a similar odor occurs when Zeke’s volcano explodes in the science class. The explosion was caused by Zeke miscalculating how much Manganite should have been put on the water. Later, they use the same formula to defeat the corpse monster. The Tale of the Dead Man’s Float is one of the scariest stories told in Are You Afraid of the Dark? This was the only initiation story, which didn’t grant an immediate membership to the Midnight Society.
The Vampire
The vampire is an ancient blood-sucking, shape-shifting creature. He is notorious and manipulative. He often takes on the form of an innocent-looking teenage girl to lure his unsuspecting victims. He feeds once every fifty years and he cannot survive without his coffin. He has his minions who obey his orders and run his errands. He is balding and has green skin. He often takes on his real form before draining his victims of their blood. He managed to sneak into the hospital by mailing his coffin as a water pump.
When the water pump goes missing, Felix gets into trouble for not being careful. He was also the first victim to be drained by the vampire. He was assisted by Margot, who appeared to be a teenage girl volunteering at the hospital. They manage to turn almost everyone at the hospital into zombies, except for Amanda and Colin.
The vampire almost gets to Amanda, but Felix is able to regain his human side and assists Colin in burning the Vampire’s coffin. After the Vampire goes up in flames, everyone goes back to their human form and their memories of being a vampire in transition are erased. Felix is the only one with his memories intact as he was turned first, and he almost became a Vampire.
The Tale of the Night Shift was the final episode of the first edition of Are You Afraid of the Dark? The story was narrated by Sam, who started off by saying that the story is about deception. The story is set in the United Hospital. The main character of her story is Amanda, a high school student who moonlights in the hospital as a volunteer. Amanda’s busy schedule barely gives her any time to fall asleep.
Her classmate Colin is admitted to the hospital to get his tonsils removed. He has a crush on Amanda and wants to ask her out on a date. Amanda confesses that she likes him too but her busy schedule doesn’t give her the liberty of dating. The night begins to take a twisted turn after Colin’s roommate Bud goes missing. All the nurses and doctors seem to be walking around in a daze.
They come across dozens of emptied blood bags and notice bite marks on the nurse’s wrists. Colin goes to the morgue to search for Bud, but he finds the undead corpse of Felix, the night janitor. Felix tries to help the kids by showing them the Vampire’s coffin, and Margot appears on the scene.
Felix is terrified of her. She proceeds to say the coffin isn’t the only thing the vampire needs, he needs to feed every fifty years. Hospitals make an easy target as it is similar to a candy shop. In the end, the vampire is defeated with the help of Felix. Amanda agrees to go on a proper date with Colin. Sam reveals that the story was about Amanda being so busy, that she didn’t realize she was missing out on life.
Nosferatu – The Tale Of The Midnight Madness
Nosferatu was the vampire protagonist of Dr. Vink’s horror movie. The film’s plot was that the Vampire wins at the end. The unconventional ending made it popular amongst the audience, who declared they were going to have nightmares for weeks. The real horror strikes when Nosferatu walks out of the silver screen and attacks the theatre employees. The Rialto was an old-fashioned movie theatre, struggling to make any profits.
Pete and Katie liked working at the Rialto. Katie was considering taking up a job at the new movie theatre to make ends meet. Pete was working on a plan to have the Rialto declared a historical landmark so that it doesn’t close. One night, Dr. Vink turns up at the theatre with the reel of Nosferatu the Demon Vampire. It was a film made by him in the era of black and white silent movies.
He claims all of his films were popular as they had magical elements. He promises this film will help revive the sales of the theatre, in exchange he only wants them to play his old movies, once a week. Mr. Kristoff agrees to the deal but hesitates as soon as Dr. Vink leaves.
Nosferatu the Demon Vampire’s reel lies forgotten in the projection room. One day the canister opens by itself, and the red smoke coming out of it causes the nearby projector to overload. They decide to play Dr. Vink’s film to keep the audience from asking for a refund. His film turns out to be a constant hit and helps them regenerate profit. When Mr. Kristoff doesn’t keep the end of his bargain, Nosferatu comes out of the screen, to get Dr. Vink’s revenge.
The tale of Midnight Madness was narrated by Frank when the local theatre was hosting fright night, a triple horror movie marathon. He submits his story to the midnight society by saying that sometimes a movie seems so real that it’s hard to differentiate between what’s playing and reality. In the Rialto, while Pete watches Dr. Vink’s movie, he thinks that he is dreaming when Nosferatu walks out of the black and white screen, in color.
He rushes to tell Katie of the bizarre experience. When they walk into the theatre, they find Mr. Kristoff lying unconscious, with bite marks on his neck. They are horrified to find out that Nosferatu has indeed walked out of the screen to get revenge for Dr. Vink. In the movie, while the hero tries to drag Nosferatu’s coffin into the sunlight, he appears from behind and bites the hero.
It gives Pete an idea and he tells Katie to roll the final scene. Nosferatu goes after her in the projection room but Pete distracts him by appearing on screen. Instead of dragging his coffin, Pete removes the curtains from the window as Nosferatu appears on the screen. The sunlight burns Nosferatu to ashes and Pete comes out of the screen. Mr. Kristoff’s bite marks disappear and his memory of the event is erased. He agrees to Dr. Vink’s conditions. But Dr. Vink has already bought the theatre, and he plans on playing his sinister movies every night.
Creature of Darkness
The Creature of Darkness is the evil ghost haunting the house Aaron and his family has moved into. The creature has the ability to violently shake and move furniture. He would infect his victims with an incurable cold, and walk out of the walls to scare the skin out of them. Doug begins to feel cold inside his room and falls ill with an incurable cold. In school, Aaron runs into Connie and develops an attraction toward her. In the middle of the night, Aaron has a dream about a girl who bears striking resemblance to Connie.
She was performing a ritual but she gets attacked by the creature of darkness and dies in a fire. He recovers a half-burnt book from under his bed and discovers the girl he dreamt of was Laura Turner. The next day at school, Aaron asks Connie about Laura Turner.
Connie gets annoyed at first, but when she learns that Aaron has moved into her previous house, she opens up. She tells that Laura was her twin sister who died in a fire. Laura had done some research on the house and found out it was haunted, but no one believed her. She performed a ritual to capture the ghost but somehow the house ended up catching fire and Laura burnt to her death. Laura had warned Aaron that the ritual didn’t work because she did it wrong.
The tale of the Quicksilver was narrated by Kiki, to demonstrate that magic can be performed when you get the right ingredients. Aaron performs the ritual with Connie to protect his brother, but he fails in the final step just like Laura. He draws a door on the wall with chalk and recites “To trap a creature of the night, trace a door on the wall with chalk so white.”
It makes the Creature of the dark appear but when reciting “Araberius loekaradette, I command you to enter this amulet.” He fails to capture the creature in the magic wand. Aaron realizes that the magic wand doesn’t work because the spoon used in the want is not made of silver, but steel. He replaces the spoon with his silver locket and captures the creature in the magical wand. The ghost of Laura appears and her sister begins to tear up. Laura’s spirit continues to protect the residents of the house, and the creature of darkness remains trapped in the magical wand.
The Evil Demon – The Tale Of The Silver Sight
The Evil Demon was the villain of the three-part mini-series the tale of the Silverlight. It was the three-episode premiere of season seven. The Evil Demon appeared as the Waif Kid from the Victorian era. He was cunning and devious. He had the face of an innocent child, who was draped in tattered clothes. He could scare others by creating illusions of them being chased by other creatures. The Evil Demon was a servant to Silversight.
It was a relic that had the power to remove one’s enemy from their path. It would do so by capturing the enemy’s soul, making the relic more powerful. Things never ended well for those who used the Silversight. A string of bad luck would follow them around until they died. Back in 1937, a group of teenagers, the original members of the midnight society, came across the Silversight.
One of the members hid the relic on realizing its true nature. He distributed a piece of broken records as a puzzle to his friends, which would lead them to the Silversight. The next day he died in an accident. The evil demon laid dormant for years, but he resurfaced in 1999 to haunt the current members of the midnight society.
Gary has a nightmare about the Waifu kid. He wakes up to find out that his grandfather has passed away because of a heart attack. He discovers that his grandfather was the founding member of the Midnight Society. He wanted to find the Silversight and destroy it. The task has been now passed down to the current members of the club.
The club starts to track down other members of the original midnight club, hoping to find pieces of the broken record. The club started with General Laing Candle’s house, who warned the kids about the evil nature of the Silversight. He warns them that it has only brought misfortune to those who have come to possess the Silversight. The Waifu Kid follows the members every step of their way, observing and assessing them. The kids come across an old photograph of the founding members of the Midnight Society.
Quin ends up in a Junkyard in search of Donna Tilton. There he meets Vince, Donna’s ex-boyfriend. He tells Quin about his string of unfortunate accidents and his breakup with Donna. He informs Quin that Donna had died in a car accident. Her then-boyfriend General Candle was present with her at the time of the incident but he survived. Vince agrees to give Quin Donna’s piece of the recording in exchange for getting Donna’s picture from General Candle. Megan’s search leads her to a family living under the sewers, hiding from loan sharks.
She learns of Eleanor, who made a huge fortune at a young age. But a string of bad luck led to her making bad investments and the family ended up losing all of their fortunes. When she asks about Eleanor’s broken record, her son becomes furious and tells Megan to leave immediately. Eleanor’s grandson agrees to help Megan and tells her to return after his father has calmed down.
Megan arrives at the sewers later, only to find out that Eleanor’s family has been chased away by General Candle. At this point, the children begin to believe that the General is the main culprit. The kids end up at an amusement park, in search of the final member, Bruce McGorrill. They retrieve all the broken pieces of the record and pieces of warnings.
The final warning tells them to know who their true enemy is. Once they recover the Silversight, the Waifu kid tries to convince them to use it to get rid of the General. Gary realizes who the true enemy is and uses it against the Waifu kid. Once the Evil Demon is captured, the other trapped souls escape from the Silversight and the relic becomes powerless. The Evil Demon never returns to haunt the group.
Gordon Ankers
Gordon Ankers suffered from lycanthropy, which caused him to turn into a werewolf. He was eating all the pets in his neighborhood. Jed and Hughie are the neighborhood pet detectives. Jed believed that being a pet detective would prove to his mom that he is responsible enough for raising a pup. There has been an increase in the disappearance of people’s pets. While searching for Mrs. Neville’s cat, Jed finds Misty’s collar.
He notices that the empty house around the corner is now occupied. He finds a trail of pet collars and finds Mr. Ankers filling his fridge with Tupperware full of ground beef. He suspects that Mr. Ankers is kidnapping the pets from the neighborhood and eating them. He tries to get evidence by capturing him on video. He ends up recording Mr. Ankers turning into a werewolf. Jed tries to tell his mother of the incident but she ignores his claims. While trying to play the recording, the footage stops working.
Jed is surprised to find out that his mother is dating Mr. Ankers. He tries to prove Mr. Ankers is a werewolf by touching him with silver utensils. Nothing happens to Mr. Ankers after coming in contact with the silver. Jed ends up in Mr. Ankers home to investigate, he is surprised to find the ground beef from the fridge cleared out. He comes across a photograph that reveals Mr. Ankers has a twin brother. A werewolf begins to chase Jed and Hughie around the house. Mr. Ankers arrives in time to tame his brother Gordon.
Gordon Ankers is the unintentional villain of the tale of the Full Moon. Jed later treats Gordon like his own pet dog, which he wanted all along. Gordon was harmless, just not to the neighborhood pets. He was suffering from lycanthropy, and it was extremely difficult for his brother to put him down.
Jed’s mother had known about the condition for quite some time. In the beginning, she was frightened but later she was used to it. Jed was initially scared of the werewolf as his research told him werewolves feed on animals and children. He didn’t feel safe living in the same neighborhood as a werewolf. Until the werewolf is revealed to be Gordon, he appears to be a dangerous creature out for blood. In reality, Gordon is as tame as any other pet dog.
Zeebo
Zeebo the clown was a criminal who stole money from the circus he used to perform in. He hides in the funhouse to escape from the police. He would have gotten away with it. He lit a cigar which ended with the funhouse catching on fire and Zeebo dying on the spot. From then on Zeebo’s ghost continues to haunt the circus grounds. The funhouse was rebuilt with a replica of Zeebo hiding behind one of the doors.
When Josh steals Zeebo’s nose to prove that he’s not a coward, Zeebo begins to haunt him to get his nose back. Zeebo’s appearance is announced with cigar smoke. For a moment Josh believes that Weegie is playing a prank on him. Josh gets terrified on learning that Zeebo is inside his house and he’s the one responsible for his microwave firing up. He returns the nose to Zeebo in the funhouse and makes a peace offering with cigars to keep Zeebo from haunting him.
The Tale of Laughing in the Dark was narrated by Betty Ann. She proceeds to tell the story of Playland, an amusement park haunted by the ghost of Zeebo the clown. At the amusement park, there was a haunted house called Laughing in the dark. Josh hangs out near the haunted house with his friend Weegie and his little sister Kathy. Josh constantly teases Weegie and his sister to prove that he’s tougher.
When they arrive at Laughing in the dark, Kathy refuses to go in saying it’s haunted by Zeebo. Weegie is reluctant to go in as well as he has heard the stories around it. Josh makes fun of them for being scared of the haunted house and taunts them by pretending to be a chicken.
The circus cranny turns up in a striped suit and encourages Josh to go to the haunted house alone, as he is a non-believer. The carney reminds Josh that if he picks the right door, then he’ll be free. But if he picks the wrong door then there he’ll be. Josh goes inside Laughing in the dark.
He looks terrified but he doesn’t want to show it to Weegie. He picks the right door, and then he realizes he needs to bring Zeebo’s nose to prove he went till the end. He opens all the doors and runs away after snatching the clown’s nose. The next day a puff of cigar smoke appears as Zeebo begins to haunt Josh. The haunting stops after Josh returned the stolen nose to Zeebo and brings cigars as a peace offering. It is revealed that the circus carney was the ghost of Zeebo all along.
Jake “The Snake” Desmond
Jake “The Snake” Desmond was a hockey player whose skills improved after he started playing with a magical stick. His hockey stick was evil in nature. The player using his hockey stick would begin to transform into a snake from the first shot. After a certain number of shots, they would completely turn into a snake. Wiley and Zach were close friends who were trying out for the hockey team.
Zach was significantly better than Wiley on the field. Wiley was doubtful of his skills and his ability to make the team. When he is sent to get ice packs, he meets Jake the snake Desmond. After hearing the story of the greatest hockey player that ever lived, Jake encourages Wiley to use his magic stick. Wiley recovers the stick from a pile of shed snakeskin and rat carcass. Wiley gets the spot instead of Zach, but a rash breaks out in his skin. His attitude becomes foul and it causes bitterness between him and Zach.
The tale of Jake the Snake was told by Tucker. He describes it as the story of two friends who would risk everything for each other. Zach is surprised by how much Wiley has improved in a very short time. He is also taken aback by Wiley’s sudden bad attitude and a dangerous rash appearing on his skin. Zach freaks out when Wiley almost eats a rat, thinking that it was a hot dog.
Zach eavesdrops on Wiley and Jake’s conversion and confronts Jake about his intentions. Jake reveals that he wants to turn Wiley into one of the snakes in his pit. Zach tries to warn Wiley against using the stick but fails to convince him. Zach goes back to fight Jake.
Jake hangs Zach upside down to be fed to the other snakes. Wiley appears just in time to witness the situation. He hits Jake with a hockey puck, sending him down to the snake pit. Having used the stick too many times, Wiley begins to transform into a snake. Zach realizes that the true evil lies in the stick and proceeds to destroy it. Wiley turns back into a human as his transition wasn’t over. The two friends reunite and leave as Jake crawls out of the pit.
The Ghastly
The Ghastly Grinner was a sinister comic book character created by Sylvester Uncas. The Ghastly Grinner was a Jester who would go around catching people and laughing at their faces until they turned into a laughing and drooling idiot. Sylvester hadn’t realized he had created something evil until it was too late. The Ghastly Grinner had come to life and turned him into his first victim.
His daughter got a hold of the comic and kept it secured and hidden. Years later, she handed it over to Ethan, a promising young comic artist. While Ethan gets caught reading the comic book in his science class, the teacher drops his comic in the fish tank to punish him. At home, Ethan tries to dry the comic by putting it in the microwave, but the rays end up reviving The Ghastly Grinner. It escapes from the comic book and leaves after turning Ethan’s parents into laughing idiots. Ethan goes back to the comic book store to get answers about what is happening around him.
Ethan learns that the owner of the comic book store is the daughter of Sylvester Uncas. She had handed the comic over to Ethan as she believed he was talented enough to write a fitting end to her father’s story. She reveals that her father wasn’t creating comic books, rather he was creating guidebooks to alternative dimensions. He was working on the book the death of the Ghastly Grinner but the Grinner got to him before he could finish his work. Ethan’s classmate Hooper gets the idea of defeating the Grinner by using the microwave.
They go back to the science classroom and work on the microwave while the Grinner tries to attack Ethan. Hooper saves Ethan from the Grinner, he is immune to the Grinner because of his lack of sense of humor. Ethan draws the end of the comic and ends up as a character inside the comic. In the pages, Ethan tries to destroy the Grinner by putting it inside the microwave but that doesn’t work. In the end, Hooper erases the face of the Grinner and rescues Ethan from the comic book. Later, it is revealed that Ethan has turned into a famous comic book artist.
The Crimson Clown
The Crimson Clown was a manifestation of Mike’s anger for his younger brother’s actions. The Crimson Clown appears to punish badly behaved children and take them away. The Crimson Clown observes Sam behaving badly while the brothers go out to buy a present for their mother. The Crimson Clown begins to appear in front of Sam when no one else is around. Sam gets terrified at the sight of the Crimson Clown.
The Clown would appear in Sam’s room as a creepy doll and disappear when Mike came to the room to help Sam. It made it look like Sam was having a bad dream. The Clown later crawls out of the television screen while Sam is watching a scary movie. He wraps Sam in a tight grip and tells him he’s going to take Sam away for being a rotten kid. Sam begins to scream in horror but his mother and brother think he’s screaming because of the scary movie. That same night, the clown ends up sending Sam to a parallel dimension where he is trapped in a warehouse.
The Crimson Clown appears to be six feet tall. He ties Sam in his bed with ribbons and prepares to send him away. Sam keeps crying for help and apologies for his behavior. The Clown doesn’t pay attention to him until he believes that Sam is sincere. The next morning, the clown uses his powers to alter time and sends back to the time when he was out with his brother to buy a present for their mother.
This time Sam doesn’t steal his brother’s money to buy a video game and he behaves nicely. The tale of the Crimson Clown is told by Gary. He was being pushed around by his brother Tucker. Tucker was blackmailing him to be his servant for a week in exchange for hiding his embarrassing poem from everyone else. After the story ends, Tucker returns the poem to his brother. And he decides to treat him better. Gary is happy to get his poem back but he gets upset on realizing that Sam and Frank are going out. He throws the poem on fire. At the end of the episode, it is shown that he had written the poem for Sam.