Throughout my life, one of the most consistent things during the spooky season has been The Simpsons. Costumes and candy come and go, but every year The Simpsons drops a referenced-filled anthology episode titled Treehouse of Horror.
Over the years, we’ve seen Ned Flanders as the devil, Groundskeeper Willie as Freddy Krueger, and Lisa as Sherlock Holmes. It all started on October 25th, 1990, when the very first Treehouse of Horror episode aired. This would be the first time The Simpsons would ever break off their episode into segments as an anthology, and the only time the stories were actually told in the treehouse itself. Today, we celebrate over 30 years of spooky Simpsons fun and remember Treehouse of Horror.
The first segment, “Bad Dream House,“ sees the Simpson family moves into a cursed house with a Native American burial ground in the basement. We get all sorts of references from The Amityville Horror, The Exorcist, The Shining, and Poltergeist. The Simpsons must deal with a house that yells disgruntledly at them, makes the walls bleed, and hits them with floating books. It’s not until Marge “mom voices” the house that it decides it would rather completely destroy itself than live a single day with the Simpson family.

“Hungry are the Damned” is the second segment and has fewer horror references, as it is a direct parody of The Twilight Zone’s “To Serve Man” episode.
In this story, the Simpsons are abducted by Kang, Kodos, and Serak, the Preparer, of the hideous Rigellians alien race. The Simpsons are immediately forced to eat massive piles of their favorite foods. As it becomes all too clear that the aliens are fattening up the family for their own consumption, Lisa confronts Serak about their evil plans.
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In a hilarious exchange, the truth is revealed that the aliens really did just want to feed and care for the family, and after being offended, kick them off the ship. Fun fact: this is the only episode of The Simpsons to feature Serak the Preparer.

The third segment is absolutely the most iconic and memorable. Titled “The Raven,“ the story is a re-telling of the famous poem of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. Homer is the narrator, Bart is the raven, Marge is Lenore, and Lisa and Maggie are the celestial seraphim.
The best part about this episode, aside from Bart’s constantly annoying “Nevermore,” is the perfect narration from special guest James Earl Jones. I think the entire world could listen to him tell us scary stories for days.
The episode ends with the kids not being scared, but a terrified Homer being too scared to sleep and claiming his hatred for Halloween. This would go on to spawn 30 years of some of the most fun Simpsons moments ever.
If you’d like to go back and watch any of the Treehouse of Horror episodes, they can all be found on the Disney+ platform. What’s your favorite Treehouse of Horror segment of all time?
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