10 Upsetting Children's TV Show Episodes That Gave You Nightmares

Hey Arnold was one of the best shows that ever aired on Nickelodeon, and while it was without a doubt a kid's show, it never talked down to kids. Which means that it had it's fair share of episodes that were way too real and dealt with some upsetting subject matter (The Pigeon Man? Helga's mother's alcoholism?).

But the episode that is actually the scariest is the one with the haunted train. Basically Arnold's grandpa is telling them a ghost story about a conductor who went crazy and drove a train right off the tracks, sending it into the "fiery underworld".

The kids go in search of the haunted Engine 25 (as though they've never seen a horror film before), and predictably experience some very spooky things, all of which are seemly explained away by coincidence.

But the truly frightening moment comes at the end, when all the kids are convinced that Engine 25 was made up, until Brainy (poor, simple Brainy) looks at the tracks and sees the train, complete with a horrifying ghost conductor singing a creepy song. And just like that, no sleep was had for Hey Arnold viewers.