Description

Supernatural Season 1, Episode 18, Something Wicked recap 🧙 Kids are falling mysteriously ill in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and Dean knows exactly what's behind it, because he's faced it before, on Denim-wrapped Nightmares, a Supernatural rewatch podcast. Get ready for a flashback to young Dean on babysitting duty.

The episode opens with a dad tucking his daughter into bed (and calling her monkey puss, which, no), and before long, the local playground is empty because parents are too scared to let their kids out. Dean diagnoses it right away: it's a shtriga, a witch that feeds on the life force of children. Sam, who has searched every database he can think of (LexisNexis, anyone?), wants to know how Dean is so sure. Meanwhile, the boys befriend Michael, the smart-mouthed kid working the motel front desk and the funniest character in the episode.

Episode Highlights:

• Monkey puss. We're still not okay.
• The boys posing as CDC agents
• Michael, the best kind of kid to hang out with for a short time before sending him home
• Flashback to 10-year-old Dean, left in charge of Sammy with Dad's orders to look after him (also, Dean, why'd you dump the SpaghettiOs if you were hungry?)
• Dean's guilt coming out, and the reason he's been acting off all episode
• The nanny-cam stakeout, with the shtriga's creepy long fingers
• Sam's sweet moment about Michael losing his innocence

In the lore segment, we dig into the shtriga of Albanian folklore and its cousins, the Polish strzyga and the Romanian strigoi, and the striga that shows up in The Witcher. Plus: how to protect yourself (salt on your eyes, mouth, and heart; a cross made of pig bone), the bizarre silver coin amulet, and our questions about how you consecrate iron bullets.

"A doctor is the perfect disguise. You're trusted. You can control the whole thing." – Sam Winchester

Your turn, hunters: Did young Dean's flashback break your heart like it broke ours? And would you have been brave enough to be the bait like Michael? Tell us in the Spotify comments, leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts (it's how new hunters find us), or send us fan mail. Bonus points for fandom fun facts we missed.

Sources:

• https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Something_Wicked
• https://forvo.com/word/shtriga/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shtriga
• https://signalhorizon.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-witchers-kikimora-and-shtriga/

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Denim-wrapped Nightmares is a Supernatural rewatch podcast hosted by Berly and LA, breaking down every episode of the Winchester saga with lore deep-dives plus cast and crew interviews. Special thanks to David Fesliyan and Fesliyan Studios.

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