History NightmareFuel / HomestarRunner

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T2HV9IU9R4 Fan Costumes 06]] has this rather sad commentary by Strong Bad on a rather creepy picture of Homestar:
--->"Why do I get the sinking feeling that no one else was present when this photograph was taken? And that the camera's just sitting on a nearby trash can. And that guy accidentally set the timer for three minutes instead of ten seconds, and he sat there and waited the whole time for the picture to take. And after it did, he went back upstairs to his dorm room, and went to bed. I mean, and wet the bed."

* Main Page 28, based on the "Unbeliveably Soothing Children's program" Characters from Yonder Website, has a couple of options that remind you that whole sub-series is a drug trip.
** Hovering over Games has Character 8 (Strong Sad) chug down expired Smary Juice until his head suddenly pops and a new face with a deep voice appears on his torso. Narrator Strong Bad calls it the most disturbing thing he's ever seen.
** Hovering over Characters has Character 3 (Coach z) appear and immediatley melt into a puddle as his gibberish slows to a crawl.

* Halloween 2019's cartoon, "The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods", ''starts off with'' '''Homestar DYING.''' And though his first two fears are [[AbsurdPhobia weaksauce,]] both Strong Bad's eyeball barf bath (which was barfed up by Strong Mad, raising some questions as to [[ImAHumanitarian how]] ''[[EyeScream that]]'' [[ImAHumanitarian happened]]) and Homestar's third and final fear (A half-decomposed raccoon being carried around by a family of wet pigeons, which Narrator Strong Bad notes [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids is in a children's book]]) are legitimately creepy, as is the end: Homestar kept his ghost tail, ostensibly because it was so close to the witching hour, and it scared [[HereWeGoAgain Strong Bad to death.]] Keep in mind that the witching hour is already OVER, so he's more than likely ''stuck'' as a ghost. And [[EveryoneLaughsEnding it ends with everyone laughing]].

* The Powered by the Cheat music video "Crystal Fortress" features some darn creepy imagery including unicorn horns sprouting out of stuff and the Stave It Off Guy’s fave melting.
* In Punkin Show, there was the Homestar pumpkin made from a messier punpkin. Even Homestar mentions that it may be unsuitable to children.
* Doomy Tales of the Macabre, while mostly a BlackComedy, did cross the line a few times including the King of Town drowning in mutton stew (though he enjoyed it), Pom Pom exploding and relaxing a gas that kills the Poopsmith, Bubs' severed head, Homestar gaining too many knees, and, of course, Strong Bad’s realistic human hands.

* Marshie's counterpart in the "Old-Timey" AlternateUniverse, Mr. Shmallow, is ''slightly'' less distressing ("Look lively. ''Look lively!''"). At the end of the "Fluffy-Puff Air-Puffed Sugar Delights" commercial, Homestar comments, "That monster's gonna give me nightmares."
* "Marxie" (seen on main page 26) is also fairly unsettling, with flashing eyes, a furious expression and a semi-exposed brain. It doesn't help, either, that Marxie explodes soon after his appearance.
* The off-key singing at the end of the Fluffy-Puff Marshmallows commercials was very unnerving even before Marshie was thrown into the mix.

*** Though the Easter eggs literally save it, especially Homsar's.
---> '''PAINTING:''' (hesitant) Come on in heeeere?
---> '''HOMSAR:''' Iiii'm a touchy-feely holic!
---> '''PAINTING:''' Jibblie jibblie jibblie!
*** There's another easter egg saving the special.
---> '''STRONG SAD:''' "Original" and "Horror movies"? [[NoFourthWall Not these days...]]
* The Drive-Thru Whale is a surreal drive-thru speaker known for showing up out of nowhere and spouting crackly non-sequiturs, usually revolving around self-mutilation (''"Sever your leg, please. It's the greatest day."''), with the implication that it actually ''eats'' [[TooDumbToLive anyone who actually complies with its requests]]. If it weren't funny as hell, it would be terrifying.
* ''[[http://www.homestarrunner.com/trudgemank.html Trudgemank]]'' is saved from being absolute Nightmare Fuel only by the timely intervention of Peacey P.
* Also, [[http://homestarrunner.com/main25.html Main Page #25]] not only features another appearance by Marshie, but also features a somewhat disturbing appearance by a seriously off Homestar Runner puppet called "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Exact Same]]". There is something strangely frightening about the ensuing exchange, especially how The Exact Same's mouth doesn't move:

** Shark-Tooth Bubs has an equally unnerving quality to him.
* The main page shown above features [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/main7.html Pom-Pom as a ghost, and Homestar and Strong Bad as zombies]]. Defused somewhat when Strong Bad's head falls off and rolls away.
--->'''Zombie Strong-Bad:''' "I come back from the dead, to ta-* head starts leaning* whoa-oa! * head rolls away* holy craaaap..."
** And when you roll your cursor over "Toons," worms come out of Homestar’s mouth.
* The Poopsmith ''hissing'' in the Halloween toon "Pumpkin Carve-nival".
* [[http://www.hrwiki.org/w/images/c/cf/Dongrel.PNG The Dongrel torso in Thy Dungeonman III.]] That thing should go back to the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' universe where it belongs.
* The Powered by the Cheat music video "Crystal Fortress" features some darn creepy imagery (The unicorn horns sprouting out of stuff-- {{Squick}}...).
* In Punkin Show, there was the Homestar pumpkin. Not quite high octane, but Homestar did mention that it may be unsuitable to children.
* Doomy Tales of the Macabre, while mostly a BlackComedy, did cross the line a few times. Strong Mad eating The Cheat, the King of Town drowning in mutton stew (though he enjoyed it), Pom Pom exploding and relaxing a gas that kills the Poopsmith, Bubs' severed head, ONION BUBS [[SuddenlySpeaking TALKING]], Homestar gaining too many knees, and, of course, the realistic human hands. Strong Sad's costume and the NothingIsScarier intro did not help.
** It's kind of nullified by (a) the awesome costumes (STRONGBADAS[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask SKULLKID]]OMG) and (b) everyone's various reactions to their deaths, some of which are hilarious.
*** Nullified a bit when Strong Bad cuts in to say that's actually how they ''bathe'' The Cheat.
---> '''Strong Bad:''' That's not macab-er! Strong Mad eats the Cheat like, four times a day! How do you think we give him baths?
** [[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda What a totally unfrightening Zelda moon...]] ''I'm terrified...''
** Not to mention Strong Sad, one of the ''nicer'' characters in the show, is fantasizing about ''killing'' his friends because [[DisproportionateRetribution they didn't come to his party]]! Talk about ''serious'' HiddenDepths!

** His expression helped add to the shock value a lot.
** And then, to compensate for their lack of a Halloween 'toon that year, The Brothers Chaps released a cartoon where all of the main characters appeared, "got their weens mixed up" and dressed up in Christmas-related costumes. ''[[FridgeHorror All except Homsar]]''.
*** Nullified by the fact that one was JUST the costumes part. The costumes come at the end of every Halloween toon, and Homsar usually only appeared if you activate his easter egg during the toon. Since there is no toon, [[FridgeBrilliance there is no Easter egg, meaning no Homsar.]]
* In "Bug in Mouth Disease", Homestar goes to see Bubs about his swallowed bug problem. Before he arrives, there's a shot of Bubs burning a manilla envelope labeled "Exhibit A", which he quickly hides when Homestar shows up. After "examining" him, Bubs tells Homestar that he has no pancreas, but "luckily", he happens to have a fresh one on him- inside a cooler labeled "Exhibit B". It's not hard to figure out what's going on here: ''Bubs is involved in organ trafficking''.
** The [=SBCG4AP=] series confirms this.
* The voice actor for Blue Laser Commander is revealed in one cartoon. Let's just say he looks like a pastel green [[Series/TalesFromTheCrypt Crypt-Keeper]] with bloodshot eyes.

* The King of Town is both an ExtremeOmnivore and a BigEater. He employs the Poopsmith for reasons he doesn't want to say. And he's apparently able to eat ''anything''.

** Not surprising, since it's a reference to a scene from ''Film/ShallowGrave.''
** [[WildMassGuess He was the only one still at the area of the party, and still with the flashlight. It'd probably be a antic of boredom.]]

* At the end of the "Grumblecakes" music video, Strong Bad makes a rather unnerving grin that just has to be a SlasherSmile.

** And afterwards, We see Homestar being attacked by a '''''patchwork zombie Pom-Pom'''''.
* Hremail #62 has a flashback scene showing how Homestar got his "Brellow Crown," a brown and yellow crayon mashed together. The scene is a spoof of the famous "you got your chocolate in my peanut butter" Reese's commercial, with Homestar and Strong Sad holding each of the crayons. What's creepy about that? Strong Sad is talking to his crayon.
--->'''Strong Sad:''' Oh, yellow crayon...only you know what ''really'' happened.
** What's Strong Sad referring to? Let's hope we never find out.

* The 2015 Halloween toon, "The House That Gave Sucky Tricks", is fairly tame compared to other Halloween toons like "Jibblies 2" or "I Killed Pom Pom" or "Doomy Tales of the Macabre," but there is one scene where Homsar is about to be executed via guillotine. Worst of all, this is NOT an Easter egg like the previous Halloween toons. It plays no matter what. Thankfully, the scene cuts away just as the blade comes down.
** There's also a bit of FridgeHorror just before that scene where Marzipan asks the King of Town if he has the authority to execute people. The King responds with "Do the words 'doo-hoo-hoo' mean anything to you?" That jolly laugh implies that not only IS he able to have people executed, but he actually [[HangingJudge ENJOYS it.]]
*** "Doo-hoo-hoo" is also the sound he makes when he's distressed. More likely it's meant to imply that he's a totally ineffectual ruler who wouldn't be taken seriously even if he did order executions.

** And then we learn why, aside from a cameo as a silhouette in A Decemberween Mackerel, we haven't seen Dijjery Doo around lately: The Cheat, [[GreenEyedMonster feeling that there's only room for one animal-like lackey in Strong Bad's life]], has been keeping him in a crate for 20 years. ''[[AndIMustScream He's still alive.]]''

* Halloween 2018 gave us "Mr. Poofers Must Die!", where the titular dog, who is explicitly said to be ''fictional'', hijacks all the stories told about him to be harmless non-sequiturs instead of his death. While mostly played for laughs, there is a whole new level of horror to be elaborated upon from this. All of these stories are made up on the spot by Homestar. And the ''fictional'' Mr. Poofers changes them without Homestar's consent. Homestar's imagination was ''actively going against him.'' And then proceeded to ''leech into everyone else's heads to make '''''their''''' imaginations work against them.'' There's a good reason why many [=YouTube=] commenters have compared that dog to something out of the '''SCP Foundation.'''
** Made even worse during the Halloween 2020 cartoon, where it's revealed that even the ''Jibblies Painting'' can't overcome Mr. Poofers' terrifying power.
* Halloween 2019's cartoon, "The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods", ''starts off with'' '''Homestar DYING.''' And though his first two fears are [[AbsurdPhobia weaksauce,]] both Strong Bad's eyeball barf bath (which was barfed up by Strong Mad, raising some questions as to [[ImAHumanitarian how]] ''[[EyeScream that]]'' [[ImAHumanitarian happened]]) and Homestar's third and final fear (A half-decomposed raccoon being carried around by a family of wet pigeons, which Narrator Strong Bad notes [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids is in a children's book]]) are legitimately creepy, as is the end: Homestar kept his ghost tail, ostensibly because it was so close to the witching hour, and it scared [[HereWeGoAgain Strong Bad to death.]] Keep in mind that the witching hour is already OVER, so he's more than likely ''stuck'' as a ghost. And [[EveryoneLaughsEnding it ends with everyone laughing]].
** While he is SavedByCanon since he appears in many cartoons that take place after the book portion of ''Spooky Woods'', there's yet more horror to be derived from Strong Bad's death. He is said to "possess The Homestar Runner demonically", which means he (or at least his ghost) is himself demonic. Pair that with his control over Strong Sad's voice in SBEmail 120, and you can start to piece together just '''how''' he came back to life.

* Also, [[http://homestarrunner.com/main25.html Main Page #25]] not only features another appearance by Marshie, but also features a somewhat disturbing appearance by a [[UncannyValley seriously off]] Homestar Runner puppet called "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Exact Same]]". There is something strangely frightening about the ensuing exchange, especially how The Exact Same's mouth doesn't move:

* Doomy Tales of the Macabre, while mostly a BlackComedy, did cross the line a few times. Strong Mad eating The Cheat, the King of Town drowning in mutton stew (though he enjoyed it), Pom Pom exploding and relaxing a gas that kills the Poopsmith, Bubs' severed head, ONION BUBS [[SuddenlySpeaking TALKING]], Homestar gaining too many knees, and, of course, the UncannyValley human hands. Strong Sad's costume and the NothingIsScarier intro did not help.

----

* The off-key singing at the end of the Fluffy-Puff Marshmellows commercials was very unnerving even before Marshie was thrown into the mix.

** And when you roll your cursor over "Toons," worms come out of H* R's mouth * shudder*

* The King of Town is both an ExtremeOmnivore and a BigEater. He employs the Poopsmith for reasons he doesn't want to say.
** And he's apparently able to eat ''anything''. [[FridgeHorror Think about it]].
*** Well he did seem excited to go to Transylvania after hearing from Strong Bad that they eat puppies for breakfast there.
*** And according to one Halloween special, he's capable of ''eating holidays''. He's a borderline EldritchAbomination!
* An Easter egg in "Hremail 2000" shows Strong Bad walking around in what looks like Strong Sad's feet which have torn edges and make a squishy sound as he walks in them. What's more, he refers to them as "foot pelts", thus giving the impression that he's wearing Strong Sad's actual feet. NegativeContinuity saves it in the end.
* Near the end of "Homestarloween Party" Strong Sad just flickers the flashlight on and off, continuously, until the end of the toon, all while spooky music is playing. It's just...creepy...

* In the remake of "[[http://www.homestarrunner.com/wheremyhat.html Where My Hat is At?]]", there's a scene where Homestar finds Strong Sad in a pool, and it seems that he was being drowned mafia-style by Strong Bad and The Cheat. Never mind the highly disturbing punishment, which is far more cruel than anything else Strong Bad has ever done to his little brother, but his eyes are also sunken in and ''bloodshot'' from being submerged so long. Yikes!

** [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sadjournal/vday.swf This]] is one of the things you can access from Strong Sad's blog.

** And afterwards, We see Homestar being attacked by a '''''patchwork zombie Pom-Pom'''''. Sweet dreams, kiddies!

* Sickly Sam's Big Outing has a scene after the flower scene where the film "glitches" up. It then cuts to an alternative ending whereas they put The Homestar Runner and Old-Timey Marizpan in the glue factory as well. It's out of nowhere, and thank goodness it's not the real ending.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T2HV9IU9R4Fan Costumes 06]] has this commentary by Strong Bad on a rather creepy picture of Homestar, which definitely creeped this troper out when he watched that video late one night:

** Made even worse during the Halloween 2020 cartoon, where it's revealed that even the ''Jibblies Painting'' can't overcome Mr. Poofers terrifying power.

* Strong Sad keeps [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sadjournal/index.html a secret blog]] that was updated from 2002 to 2005, and surprisingly, it's genuinely sad. It's spooky from the moment you enter, with a drab grey color scheme, the depressing title "Strong Sad's Litany of Crushed Hopes and Dreams", and his creepy black-and-white profile picture (currently Bull Shannon from ''Series/NightCourt'', with previous pictures including Count Orlok from ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'' and a freaky caricature of Edgar Allen Poe). Some of the content is pretty funny, as Strong Sad has a dry sense of humor and leads a very strange life, but most of it is shockingly dark for ''Homestar'': Strong Sad is shown to be pitifully lonely, nearly emotionless, severely abused, obsessed with counting, and prone to wasting hours of his time on pointless tasks, and he has bizarre and eclectic tastes, no talent in anything, and no drive to ''do'' anything. Given how, in the main Toons, Strong Sad's depression is usually PlayedForLaughs, it's [[MoodWhiplash very upsetting]] to see it portrayed as the awful living hell that it [[RealityEnsues really is]].

->''[[VoiceOfTheLegion I'M AN ABOMINATION! And I'm comin' to your house after schoooooooool!]]''

---> '''PAINTING:''' Come on in heeeere!

--->'''Marshie:''' ''(to Coach Z)'' Come on bow-legged man! Try a sample pack of new Fluffy-Puff Pumpkin-Spice-Latte-Flavored-Banana-Bread Malloweens! Why, they're so delicious... ''(ominous music begins playing as the camera zooms in on Marshie, who speaks increasingly creepy)'' who do you think took this bite out of my head? '''''WHOOOOOOOOOOO...''''' ''(The camera zooms in on his mouth, revealing Homestar inside, upside down)''\\

[[caption-width-right:220:Toons! Games! Nightmares!]]

** Speaking of That Horrible Painting, the 2007 [[HalloweenSpecial Halloween episode]], "Jibblies 2" certainly did it for many viewers. The premise is genuinely creepy, what with everyone being hypnotized by the painting, Strong Bad wildly convulsing and bouncing all over the room and up against the ceiling, and finally [[spoiler:Homestar entering the Horrible Painting itself - though the fact that the demon finally has a friend and will no longer be evil (and Homestar's adorable [[Series/TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete Artie The Strongest Man In The World]] costume) softens the blow a bit.]]

* Doomy Tales of the Macabre, while mostly a BlackComedy, did cross the line a few times. Strong Mad [[spoiler: eating The Cheat]], the King of Town drowning to death (though he enjoyed it), Pom Pom exploding and relaxing a gas that kills the Poopsmith, Bubs' severed head, ONION BUBS TALKING, Homestar gaining too many knees, and, of course, the UncannyValley [[spoiler:human hands]]. Strong Sad's costume and the NothingIsScarier intro did not help.

* At the end of [[http://homestarrunner.com/xmas10.html this Decemberween toon]], we see Homsar [[spoiler: ''half-dead in a snowbank.'']]
** His expression helped *add to the shock value* a lot.
** And then, to compensate for their lack of a Halloween toon that year, The Brothers Chaps released a cartoon where all of the main characters appeared, "got their weens mixed up" and dressed up in Christmas-related costumes. ''[[FridgeHorror All except Homsar]]''.

* The Halloween short "I Killed Pom Pom" revolves around Homestar mistakenly believing he killed Pom-Pom. In the end, he [[spoiler:accidentally ''does'' kill Pom-Pom]].
** And afterwards, [[spoiler:We see Homestar being attacked by a '''''patchwork zombie Pom-Pom'''''.]] Sweet dreams, kiddies!

* The 2015 Halloween toon, "The House That Gave Sucky Tricks", is fairly tame compared to other Halloween toons like "Jibblies 2" or "I Killed Pom Pom" or "Doomy Tales of the Macabre," but there is one scene where [[spoiler:Homsar is about to be executed via guillotine. Worst of all, this is NOT an Easter egg like the previous Halloween toons. It plays no matter what. Thankfully, the scene cuts away just as the blade comes down.]]
** There's also a bit of FridgeHorror just before that scene where Marzipan asks the King of Town if [[spoiler:he has the authority to execute people. The King responds with "Do the words 'doo-hoo-hoo' mean anything to you?" That jolly laugh implies that not only IS he able to have people executed, but he actually [[HangingJudge ENJOYS it.]]]]
*** [[spoiler:"Doo-hoo-hoo" is also the sound he makes when he's distressed. More likely it's meant to imply that he's a totally ineffectual ruler who wouldn't be taken seriously even if he did order executions.]]
* Homestar Runner Goes For The Gold was a mostly harmless 20th anniversary cartoon, but the scene where Dijjery Doo's plan backfires was somewhat unsettling. [[spoiler:Dijjery Doo falls from the sky, causing a chunk of Tiny Handed Strong Bad's HEAD to explode and fall off. Not only that, but he also has one of Dijjery Doo's Tusks IMPALED through his head.]]
** And then we learn why, aside from a cameo as a silhouette in A Decemberween Mackerel, we haven't seen Dijjery Doo around lately: [[spoiler:The Cheat, [[GreenEyedMonster feeling that there's only room for one animal-like lackey in Strong Bad's life]], has been keeping him in a crate for 20 years. ''[[AndIMustScream He's still alive.]]'']]

* Halloween 2019's cartoon, "The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods", ''starts off with'' '''Homestar DYING.''' And though his first two fears are [[AbsurdPhobia weaksauce,]] both Strong Bad's eyeball barf bath (which was barfed up by Strong Mad, raising some questions as to [[ImAHumanitarian how]] ''[[EyeScream that]]'' [[ImAHumanitarian happened]]) and Homestar's third and final fear [[spoiler: (A half-decomposed raccoon being carried around by a family of wet pigeons, which Narrator Strong Bad notes [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids is in a children's book]])]] are legitimately creepy, as is the end: [[spoiler: Homestar kept his ghost tail, ostensibly because it was so close to the witching hour, and it scared [[HereWeGoAgain Strong Bad to death.]] Keep in mind that the witching hour is already OVER, so he's ''stuck'' as a ghost. And [[EveryoneLaughsEnding it ends with everyone laughing]].]]