True to its promise, the show has a ton of chilling moments.
WARNING: Mentions of sexual assault, death, infanticide, racism, torture and other graphic content are written below. View at your own discretion. Spoilers are marked.
- "Day 1" starts off with Lucky taking care of Chester, only to be harassed by an old white lady. The lady pets Sergeant, while singing "Old Black Joe", punctuation the title as she sings it. Then, we see a few white guys walking down the path towards the house. We don't see the aftermath of this until Episode 5.
- The home invasion is without a doubt the most horrifying part of the whole season. Lucky tries fruitlessly to hide her baby, but the old lady and men who broke in quickly find her. Lucky is raped and restrained by the men while the old woman finds Chester. At first, she plays peek-a-boo with him, but then she suddenly shouts out "cat in a bag," puts him inside a sack, and swings him around like a toy and tossing him all over the house, all while poor Lucky is forced to lie there and watch.
- The reason Henry and the girls weren't home? Henry had taken the girls to go see a movie, and left an hour earlier than he needed to. In other words, had he stayed behind a bit longer, the invaders might not have targeted Lucky and Chester. It's also abundantly clear that he feels enormous guilt towards not being there to defend his wife and child, all because he wanted to treat his daughters to some fun.
- Granted, it's probably for the best they weren't around, either. Henry himself is strong, but not strong enough to take on three men by himself. If he and the girls had been there, it's possible that they might not have only killed Chester and raped Lucky, but the girls too.
- The show makes it abundantly clear that the Emorys' Sanity Slippage over the course of the season is not just because of what's inside the house. The neighbors do a bunch of horrendous things to scare the family away.
- Betty is racist to the point of grandiose delusion, and seems to not only blame the Emorys for the quality of the neighborhood going down, but seems to revel in it since it offers her some mild relief from the issues in her personal life. Even her equally racist neighbors are put off by her obsession. She is also the one to suggest sitting in lawn chairs outside of the Emory house and blaring music.
- While not as unsettling as other things, The show highlights the racism the Emory's face in their daily lives, by going through the basic days of Ruby and Henry. Ruby speaks up in class and is hounded by her classmates making gorilla sounds, and Henry faces nonstop workplace abuse and discrimination from his boss.
- The spirits in the Emory house are definitely worth a mention, being symbolic of the insecurities and pains of their respective family members.
- Miss Vera is a tall, frightening and gaunt caricature of a 1800s schoolteacher, and targets Gracie, whom everyone in the house is initially unwilling to believe when she talks about her. Out of all of the spirits, she is the only one that is almost always silent, opting to roar in the faces of those she targets. It's also terrifying that her major target is Gracie, whose almost completely defenseless against her and in the final episode brutally beats her for reading a book, citing how black kids shouldn't read, and attacks Lucky when she tries to fight back.
- Doris is a far more insidious villain for what she mostly aims to do; Doris befriends Ruby and tries to convince her that she is just another student who really "sees" Ruby, but really feeds into Ruby's insecurities and convinces her that she can make her "pretty" (ie. white). Every time Doris appears, Ruby's hallucinations become more elaborate and delusional, until she paints herself white and shows up at her school's bonfire event.
- Da Tap Dance Man is probably the least frightening of the spirits, being pretty funny at times, but is equally as dangerous. His general appearance falls into the Uncanny Valley, with his exaggerated pupils, blackface appearance, and wide smile. He tries to egg on the normally friendly and loving Henry into acting violently against his white neighbors, essentially doing nothing but reinforcing what white people think of their family anyways, because of his anger from when Lucky and Chester were victims of the home invasion, his boss mistreating him, and his neighbors desecrating their lawn with racist toys and fire.
- Finally, There is the Black Hat Man. Originally named Hiram Epps, he was a religious man who was worshipped by the settlers of Eidolon for his ability to "speak" with God in Civil War-era California, and suffered a crisis of faith when his child and wife died. He adopted a child named Miles, viewing him as a sign from God, and was hospitable to a black couple (a pregnant woman named Martha and her husband Grafton, who are implied to be recently freed slaves) whose wagon had broken down near Eidolon. With old age he became more blind, and the racial tensions between the citizens of Eidolon, Martha speaking out of turn and rightfully calling them out on their prejudice, and delusional instructions from "God" demanding Epps punish them, resulted in Eidolon turning on the couple.
- The 9th episode's punishment of Martha and Grafton is not as bad as the home invasion scene, but it's still quite horrific. The couple is locked in a barn because Epps said they were on the same level as sows, until Miles lets them out. They get a horse and nearly escape, but are quickly caught again. Epps condemns them to have their eyes burned and blinded. Martha curses Epps and Eidolon for what he's done, and his book catches fire. The villagers then tie the couple by their feet and set them ablaze, and we get to see them wriggling about as it happens.
- While they kind of deserve it, the villagers fates are still quite horrifying. It seems Martha's curse came to pass, as the entire village goes up in flames, killing everyone immediately sans Epps and Miles - the latter of which turns out to be the literal devil whose face changes in every shot. The two of them make a deal that Epps will curse and torture every black family that settles on their land, lest he suffer eternal damnation, which he happily accepts.
- Betty's fate isn't very pretty either. She is drugged, kidnapped by the milkman George, and puts her in a dwelling underground, with dresses made for her and the same wallpaper as her own house. When she tries to trick him and escape, he tells her she can leave if she wants, and he'll let her go. When she tries to make a run for it, he shoots her in the back of the head.
- Marty and Earl torturing Henry is this as well. They knock out Henry, and hold the girls at gunpoint. Henry's pleas are either dismissed or met with aggression, and the men end up beating him in the head and chopping off one of his fingers. It culminates in them trying to linch Henry in the basement while the girls are Forced to Watch. Luckily, Gracie bites Earl in the leg, which distracts him long enough for Ruby to hit him in the head with an axe, and that forces a then-outnumbered Marty to flee.
- Fridge Horror also means that had Marty and Earl managed to kill Henry, Ruby and Gracie would have been left alone with two deranged men in the house, and given Marty's earlier sexual comments towards Ruby, Nothing Is Scarier indeed.
