12 Times The Simpsons Went Dark
9. Dark Stanley
Dark Stanley is probably the scariest thing that The Simpsons has ever produced, and that includes the actual Halloween specials.
In the episode, "Yokel Chords," Bart reveals that there is a legend haunting the ground of Springfield Elementary. The story goes that there was once a cafeteria cook named Stanley. He was endlessly mocked by the children because he was unable to graduate from MIT and forced into the demeaning profession of feeding them. Soon, the mocking proved to be too much for Stanley and he snapped.
He swore revenge on those who made fun of his failures and killed all the children, cut their heads off for his special, Kid's Head Soup. The legend ends that he was eventually caught and executed for his crimes, labeled so evil that he didn't even deserve a marked grave.
As a twist to the episode, we learn that Stanley was actually a real person after one character reveals her son was one of his victims. What makes this so dark is, not only the subject material, but also the imagery that is presented.
With the new art-style, dark colors and showing the actual decapitated heads of children in the soup, this was a surprising dark turn for the show.