Being a TV series involving the creations of H. P. Lovecraft, the series is bound to have its moments of terror.
Warning: Spoilers are unmarked.
- Episode 1, "Sundown", shows Atticus, Leti, and George trying to navigate and eventually just survive the brutal racism of the Northern States of America. The diner that George was assured would be friendly turns out to have been torched and another, far less welcoming place built over it, leaving the trio fleeing for their lives from racists who want to kill them for daring to eat there. They get chased out of the county by the sheriff, only to run into a roadblock; the sheriff was looking for the barest excuse to lynch them. Many viewers have agreed that the least horrifying part of the episode by far is when the Shoggoths show up.
- To elaborate more on the diner scene, George received a tip of a redbrick diner in Simmonsville called "Lydia's" which is supposed to be a safe spot to eat. By the time the trio arrive there, there's a white building called the "Simmonsville Dinette" in its place. When they go inside there's a White patron and a white waiter, the former of whom leaves the latter of whom seems terrified when the heroes sit down to eat anyway and then retreats into the back after telling them he'll bring them some coffee. After Leti goes to the bathroom and is returning, she overhears the waiter on the phone, sounding scared and swearing to whoever's on the other line that he hasn't served them, not after, "what [the speaker and his associates] did to Miss Lydia." Meanwhile, Tic notices that the dinette they're in is a brick building that's been painted white, and pulls back a floor tile to find scorched wood underneath. As soon as he does a siren blares and Leti comes pelting out of the back screaming that they need to go. The trio escapes just as White men arrive, engaging in a car chase and shooting after them. An additional element of horror is that the men who arrive aren't just random racists. They're the Simmonsville Fire Department.
- Sheriff Hunt and his officers are a horrifying example of Mundanger. Not only is Hunt rumored to be behind multiple missing people, but he enforces "sundown law" on his whole county. After coming across the heroes, Hunt says that as of 7:09 pm, the "sundown law" will be in effect and he'll lynch them if they're not gone. He gives them only minutes to escape the county, him driving directly behind them, ramming his vehicle into theirs, trying to goad them into speeding to give him cause to pull them over. Against the odds, they manage to escape the county seconds before sundown and Hunt gives up the chase... only for it to be revealed that he has a roadblock set up just out of his jurisdiction, so he and his deputies can lead them into the woods, frame them for some local robberies and murder them all regardless. They're only stopped by the arrival of the Shoggoths, which at least are only man-eating beasts following their instincts. Humans Are the Real Monsters.
- Episode 2, "Whitey on the Moon", has Leti opening up about her past with Tic, revealing that her mother would abandon her as a child for long periods of time, while Leti was too young to look after herself. After letting down her walls and expressing true vulnerability, Tic then promises to never abandon her and the two begin to kiss. What is a heartwarming moment then becomes terrifying as the camera pans out the window, across the manor, and into the window of Tic's room, where the real Atticus is still trapped inside.
- The ghosts in Episode 3 "Holy Ghost" are horrific victims of torture and mutilation, and bear their scars even in death. One woman has had her jaw ripped out and viscera is still hanging from her face. We see a man who's had what look like railway spikes driven into random parts of his body. One ghost crawls around without legs or a head. The strangest and most unnerving one, though, is the ghost of a full-grown basketball player with the head of an infant. Fortunately, all their wounds are healed when they team up with Leti and exorcise the spirit of the man who killed them all.
- Episode 5, "Strange Case", has several points where William's potion of disguise wears off, whereupon the user's true form bursts out of the skin of their 'disguise'... complete with bloody skin and flesh raining down upon the floor. At one point, the face of Ruby's disguise falls apart and dangles off her. Another time, we see Christina's hands pushing up at the skin of William's back as she forces her way out.
- Episode 5, "Meet Me In Daegu", has the lovely sight of Ji-Ah extruding fox tail-like tentacles from her body to invade her victim's orifices. The one(s) coming out of the eyes are particularly disgusting.
- Episode 8, "Jig-a-Bobo", has Topsy and Bopsy, the terrifying little girls that stalk Dee throughout the episode. They're a bloody, claw-handed parody of minstrel show characters that move in an exaggerated, puppet-like, jerky dance. Worse, Dee is the only one who can see them.
- One of the worst ones is when Dee think's she's outrun them and is trying to follow the cop that cursed her. She's waiting in an alley while keeping an eye out for him, and the two dance into frame behind her and start approaching without Diana noticing. Were it not for their need to dance everywhere they go, they could have easily killed her—and even then they nearly do, with one of them managing to almost touch her before she pedals off, not even realizing how close they were.
- And the whole time they're followed by a distorted minstrel song
that hammers away whenever they get close.
Stop dat knocking, stop dat knocking, stop dat knocking, stop dat knocking, you had better stop dat knocking at the door, let me in! - A minor one, but in the book, a racist police officer confiscates Atticus's copy of The Safe Negro Travel Guide during a traffic stop, seeming surprised that such a book would exist. It appears at first to be an example of casual racism directed at African Americans, but later the reader is treated to a scene where a business was burned for not being racist enough. The police officer who confiscated Atticus's book may well have sinister uses for it...
- "Full Circle," the season finale: Tic is tied to a wheel, and has his wrists slashed so Christina can bathe in his blood to become immortal. It is absolutely disgusting and horrifying as it is tearjerking.
