The most surprising thing about the first “Treehouse of Horror,” which aired 27 years ago this week, isn’t the slow pacing, or Marge introducing the “really scary” episode — it’s the lack of deaths. Only a single character, “Lost Lenore” in Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven,” passes away, and it happens off-screen. Meanwhile, in “Treehouse of Horror VIII,” a Fox censor is murdered by a sentient knife and Springfield is blown to smithereens by a bomb, killing literally hundreds of characters. Including four out of five Simpsons.
Death is a huge part of The Simpsons‘ now-annual Halloween episodes. But which member of the core family — Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie — has died the most? Because I’m a weirdo who apparently enjoys watching fictional cartoon characters get strangled, chocked, and sliced, I re-watched every “Treehouse of Horror,” and kept track of all the deaths. (If I were to have included every Springfield resident, I would have gone crazier than Homer without TV and beer.) Here they are, ranked by number of casualties.
5. Maggie: 7 deaths
-Killed by the Grim Reaper
-Blown up by a bomb
-Shredded by Mr. Burns’ gate while trick or treating
-Cooked by Kang and Kodos
-Killed by Homer’s bomb
-Earth explodes
-Her corpse is seen slung over Willie’s shoulder
4. Lisa: 9 deaths
-Killed by the Grim Reaper
-Blown up by a bomb
-Launched into the house
-Vaporized by Maggie’s ray gun
-Shredded by Mr. Burns’ gate while trick or treating
-Cooked by Kang and Kodos
-Killed by Homer’s bomb
-Earth explodes
-Jumps out a window to become a ghost
3. Marge: 10 deaths
-Killed by the Grim Reaper
-Blown up by a bomb
-Killed by an angry mob in a Munsters parody
-Shredded by Mr. Burns’ gate while trick or treating
-Cooked by Kang and Kodos
-Killed by Homer’s bomb
-Eats a poisoned pie out of guilt
-Earth explodes
-Commits suicide in an oven
-Killed by Tracey Ullman Show-era Homer
2. Bart: 22 deaths
-Turned into a vampire (others were already dead)
-Killed by the Grim Reaper
-Breaks his neck in a skateboard accident
-Blown up by a bomb
-Head explodes in space
-Killed by an angry mob in a Munsters parody
-Shredded by Mr. Burns’ gate while trick or treating
-Drowned in a bowl of cereal
-Killed by Homer’s bomb
-(Accidentally) knifed to death by Lisa
-Hung for being really bad at hangman
-Earth explodes
-Chokes on an acorn fired by Ghost Lisa
-Harpooned by Sideshow Bob
-Sledgehammered by Sideshow Bob
-Sledgehammered by Sideshow Bob… again
-Shot by Sideshow Bob
-Mauled by Sideshow Bob’s lion
-Flattened by Sideshow Bob’s paver
-Startled by Sideshow Bob’s electric bill
-Chopped to pieces by Sideshow Bob
-Strangled by Homer in the Button-Eyed Simpsons universe
1. Homer: 28 deaths
-Killed by the Grim Reaper
-Crushed by Marge’s car
-Ripped to shreds by Werewolf Flanders
-Head explodes in space
-Killed by an angry mob in a Munsters parody
-Killed by one of the deadliest plants on Earth, broccoli
-Killed by broccoli… again
-Shredded by Mr. Burns’ gate while trick or treating
-The original Homer (and dozens more) fell over a cliff
-Future Homer is shot by Moe
-Shot by Marge (that’s his blood painting the wall)
-Cooked by Kang and Kodos
-Shot by Ned
-Killed by magic spaghetti
-Sliced through a hammock
-Sucked into a voting booth
-Shot by Krusty the Clown for stealing his likeness
-Head ripped off and thrown into a punch bowl
-Turned into a “muncher”
-Falls to his death after transforming into an obese bat
-Choked by God
-Crushed by a Mayan god
-Run over by Maggie
-Turned into a rug
-Dies for unknown reasons… as a duck
-Eaten by the ghost of Frank Grimes
-Literally stabbed in the back by Bart
-Self-cannibalism
