1.09 Home

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Title Home
Episode # Season 1, Episode 9
First aired November 15, 2005
Directed by Ken Girotti
Written by Eric Kripke
On IMDB Home
Outline Sam and Dean go back to Lawrence following a vision Sam has of their old home.
Monster Poltergeist
Location(s) Lawrence, Kansas
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Promotional poster for "Home."

Jenny has just moved into a new house in Lawrence, Kansas with her two children Sari and Ritchie, having arrived from Wichita after either leaving her husband or her husband's death. She settles Sari into bed. Her young daughter is nervous in the new house, but Jenny reassures her that there is nothing scary in her closet. Jenny continues her unpacking, until a noise draws her down to the basement where she discovers a trunk full of old photos. One shows a family, and is inscribed on the back “The Winchesters. John, Mary, Dean, and Little Sammy.” Upstairs, Sari screams as the closet door swings open, revealing a figure made of flames.

Sam wakes up from a dream of Jenny, screaming from Sari’s bedroom window. Dean is researching new cases, but Sam is distracted as he sits, obsessively sketching the image of a tree. Finally he pulls an old photo from his duffel, and recognizes the tree as the one that grew outside their childhood home in Lawrence. Sam tells Dean he has dreamed of something bad happening at their old house. Dean is skeptical as to why they should return to Kansas based on a dream, but Sam reveals he dreamed of Jessica’s death, just the way it happened, several days before the actual event.

Dean is disquieted by returning to the family home. When they arrive, Sam explains to Jenny that they used to live there, and she shows them around. She explains the strange occurrences – the flickering lights, the noises, and the being that Sari reported seeing. After they leave, Sam and Dean decide they need to approach this like any other case and research the past of the house. They compare notes on what John has told them of the night their mother died, and Dean relates what he remembers from the night. Sam is surprised; he never knew Dean carried him from the house.

When he has a moment alone, Dean tearfully calls John asking for his help, and reveals how upset he is over the whole situation. Back at the house, Jenny has called in a plumber after the garbage disposal has stopped working. As he tries to fix it, a toy monkey mysteriously starts banging its cymbals, and the unit starts up, tearing apart the man’s hand. The boys go to a garage and speak to Mike Guenther who once co-owned a garage with John. He reminisces about the time after Mary’s death, and mentions that John visited every psychic in town. As Sam searches through he telephone book for psychics, a name rings a bell with Dean - Missouri Mosely. The first sentence in John's Journal reads: “I went to Missouri and I learned the truth.”

The boys visit Missouri Mosely who recognizes them without introduction, and also knows of Jess’ death and John’s disappearance. Meanwhile, something helps little Ritchie escape from his playpen and then traps him inside the refrigerator, although Jenny rescues him. Sam, Dean, and Missouri return to the house and explain to Jenny that they can help rid the house of whatever is there. Missouri senses two presences, one of which is a mean poltergeist, but neither of which were responsible for Mary’s death.

Missouri has the boys help her prepare bags filled with ingredients that will help purify the house. As they start placing the bags, the poltergeist fights back violently, trying to stop them. Finally all the bags are placed, the house appears peaceful, and Missouri declares the house safe.

Sam is less sure, so he and Dean sit in the car watching the house. Suddenly Jenny appears, screaming out the upstairs window, just as she did in Sam’s dream. The boys rush inside and Dean takes Jenny to safety while Sam gets the children. As something attacks them, Sam gives Ritchie to Sari and they run outside, but the front door slams shut behind them. Dean breaks down the front door and finds Sam in the kitchen, where some force has pinned him to the wall. A fiery figure appears, but just before Dean shoots it, it coalesces into the figure of their mother, Mary. She acknowledges Dean, and says “I’m sorry” to Sam, before commanding the poltergeist to leave the house, and disappearing herself in a ball of flame. Jenny and her family return to the house and Sam and Dean take their leave. At home, Missouri, muses that she is surprised, that given his powers, Sam couldn’t sense the presence of his father - John Winchester is in her sitting room. Missouri tells him to go and see his sons, but he says he can’t until he knows the truth.






Dean: All right. I’ve been cruisin’ some websites. I think I found a few candidates for our next gig. A fishing trawler found off the coast of Cali –- its crew vanished. And, uh, we got some cattle mutilations in West Texas. Hey. Am I boring you with this hunting evil stuff?

Sam: No. I’m listening. Keep going.

Dean: And, here, a Sacramento man shot himself in the head. Three times. Any of these things blowin’ up your skirt, pal?
Sam: Look, Dean... I dreamt about Jessica’s death –- for days before it happened.
Dean: Sam, people have weird dreams, man. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.
Sam: Yeah, but how much do we know? I mean, how much do you actually remember?

Dean: About that night, you mean?
Sam: Yeah.
Dean: Not much. I remember the fire... the heat. And then I carried you out the front door.
Sam: You did?
Dean: Yeah, what, you never knew that?

Sam: No.
Missouri: All right, there. Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing. Your wife is crazy about you. Whew. Poor bastard. His woman is cold-bangin’ the gardener.

Dean: Why didn’t you tell him?
Missouri: People don’t come here for the truth. They come for good news. Well? Sam and Dean, come on already, I ain’t got all day. Well, lemme look at ya. Oh, you boys grew up handsome. And you were one goofy-lookin’ kid, too. Sam. Oh, honey... I’m sorry about your girlfriend. And your father –- he’s missin’?

Sam: How’d you know all that?
Dean: Well, one thing’s for damn sure –- nobody’s dyin’ in this house ever again. So whatever is here, how do we stop it?
Mary: You get out of my house. And let go of my son.
Sam: What happened?

Missouri: Your Mom’s spirit and the poltergeist’s energy, they cancelled each other out. Your Mom destroyed herself goin’ after the thing.
Sam: Why would she do something like that?

Missouri: Well, to protect her boys, of course. Sam, I’m sorry.
Missouri: That boy…he has such powerful abilities. But why he couldn’t sense his own father, I have no idea.

John: Mary’s spirit –- do you really think she saved the boys?
Missouri: I do. John Winchester, I could just slap you. Why won’t you go talk to your children?

John: I want to. You have no idea how much I wanna see ‘em. But I can’t. Not yet. Not until I know the truth.

Trivia & References

The Shining (1980) is a feature film by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel of the same title by Stephen King. The film stars Jack Nicholson as tormented writer Jack Torrance. Jack's son, Danny, had creepy visions of impending evil. Another character referred to this "gift" as The Shining, hence the title. I will always assume that Dean is referring to the Kubrick film, not the novel or remake, as he also (in later episodes) makes several references to Jack Nicholson's role in the film.
Jenny: That’s Ritchie. He’s kind of a juice junkie. But, hey, at least he won’t get scurvy. Sari, this is Sam and Dean. They used to live here.
Scurvy is a diseased derived from vitamin C deficiency. It was a common affliction for sailors and pirates who were out at sea longer than fruits and vegetables could be stored.
Zelda Rubenstein played psychic Tangina Barrons in the 1982 film Poltergeist and its sequels. There is a scene in the first film where she does her psychic thing, then proclaims, "This house is clean!"

The cymbal-banging toy monkey is arguably an homage: There is a short story by Stephen King titled "The Monkey," synopsis as follows: "The story centers on a toy monkey that is apparently possessed by evil. The monkey is found by children, and their parents are, for some reason, freaked out. Periodically, the sinister monkey comes into motion, predicting the death of someone. In the end, the monkey is dumped in a lake in a bag full of heavy stones, thus stopping the deaths."

Dean hacking away at the front door with an axe and then peering inside the hole is reminiscent of the scene from The Shining, albeit without Jack Nicholson's famous catchphrase.


The box that Jenny finds in the the basement full of Winchester photos and memorabilia and gives to the boys, is later seen in Sam's possession in The Bunker in 11.11 Into the Mystic.
When Sari tells Jenny that she is afraid of the thing in the closet, Jenny reassures her that there is nothing to be afraid of. In contrast, we learnt in the 1.01 Pilot that when Sam was nine and said he was scared of the thing in the closet, John gave him a .45.
The scene where Sam hands Ritchie to his sister Sari and says "Take your brother outside as fast as you can, and don’t look back" is a replay of the teaser for the 1.01 Pilot when John hands baby Sam to Dean and says the same words.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts


Episode Meta

  • SPN Heavy Meta Season One Meta Index
  • Bond, Silvia. 2008. No Place Like It: "Home" Season 1, Episode 9. Pink Raygun, March 4; archive link