Bones dominated the airwaves for over a decade with a sizable 12-season run. Throughout those 12 seasons, Special Agent Seeley Booth, Dr. Temperance Brennan, and the Jeffersonian team investigate some of the most gruesome crimes to be depicted on television. Since Dr. Brennan specializes in forensic anthropology, she is called out to crime scenes of bodies that are in an advanced state of decay. With this specialty in mind, the writers of Bones constructed some of the most shocking crime scenes imaginable for the series.

With creatively terrifying crime scenes come killers in the same vein. Bones has produced some of the scariest murderers in procedural crime television. Whether they only appear for one episode or become a long-term antagonist, these killers left a mental scar on Bones and its viewers.

10

Howard Epps is a Mastermind, But Bones Has Done Better

Howard Epps is the first serial killer to be introduced in Bones. His first act was to manipulate Brennan and Booth into getting him off of death row, even though that was only to try him for the murders of other victims who Brennan and Booth discovered. Throughout the first 2 seasons of Bones, he would pose a major threat due to his high intellect and use of a proxy to keep killing until he managed to escape prison.

Howard Epps is a truly terrifying figure. Epps’ high IQ and usage of clues and traps for Brennan and the Jeffersonian team make him an interesting adversary. His genius and deluded quest to prove all women are guilty make him a compelling antagonist for Brennan. However, compared to some of the killers in later seasons, he pales in comparison to more creative killers with complex storylines.

9

Will Hastings was a Terrifying Killer in “The Headless Witch in the Woods”

“The Headless Witch in the Woods” is one of the eeriest episodes of Bones earlier seasons. A creepy forest home to a ghost story about a decapitated witch comes to life when a film student is found dead in the same manner as the witch. The victim’s brother, Will Hastings, grows closer to Brennan, and they bond over similarities in their upbringing.

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In a shocking twist, Will is revealed to have been the one to kill his brother. He grew enraged by his brother drugging his girlfriend in his quest to manipulate his friends into believing the ghost story in the woods was true. He turned on his brother after seeing the effect on his girlfriend and killed him in a fit of rage. His shocking arrest, where he proclaimed the ghost made him do it, shocked Brennan and viewers alike.

8

Vince McNair’s Crime Hits Close to Home in “The Woman in Limbo”

In the early days of Bones, very little was known about Brennan’s past. However, in the first season finale of Bones, a bomb drops when Brennan identifies a set of remains in Jeffersonian Institute storage that belong to her long-missing mother Christine. It’s revealed that Christine and Brennan’s father Max were bank robbers who fled from their criminal life. Unfortunately for Christine, the hitman and gang enforcer, Vince McNair would catch up with her.

McNair was a member of the same criminal gang the Brennans were in. After the Brennans fled and went on the run, McVair caught up to Christine. He used his signature move, killing his target with a bolt-stunner used to kill livestock. After Brennan imprisons him, Max would later enact vengeance by having him killed in prison. While the crime seems simple, the circumstances and stakes pack an emotional punch.

7

Tom Fargood Is a Master Manipulator in “Harbingers in the Fountain”

“Harbingers in the Fountain” is an incredibly bold season premiere episode. When Angela’s psychic friend Avalon has a vision of bodies buried underneath a fountain, the team investigates and finds the mass grave with a shocking connection to Avalon herself. The mass grave turns out to be the remains of a cult led by Tom Fargood, who took financial advantage of chronically ill people before killing them with antifreeze (and in one case a spear gun) and burying them under the fountain with the help of his accomplice.

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By the time Booth and Brennan catch up to Fargood, he is running a new scam against senior citizens under the name Alexander Gallos. As Gallos, he planned to kill his victims just as he had years prior with his 12 prior victims. Even though he wasn’t able to be charged for his cult murderers due to lack of evidence, his financial crimes were able to land him in prison for the rest of his life.

6

Two Unnamed Killers Launched a Devastating Attack in “The Doom in the Boom”

“The Doom in the Boom” is one of the types of episodes in a procedural crime series that reminds viewers that nobody is truly safe, not even well-established main characters. The crime scene becomes a crime scene when the body of a security guard is revealed to contain a bomb that detonates while being investigated by members of the team. Several cops are killed, and numerous injured including Dr. Jack Hodgins, and Special Agent Aubrey is critically wounded by shrapnel.

The killer duo in “The Doom in the Boom” is fairly unique among the killer canon in Bones. Since the characters were vying for attention and notoriety by killing cops and agents with their attack, prosecutor Caroline Julian refused to release their names to the public. Even while remaining nameless, these killers did sizable damage that permeates the rest of the series. Main cast member and team entomologist Dr. Jack Hodgins was permanently paralyzed by injuries sustained from the crime scene explosion.

5

The Puppeteer Killer Hid Using a Shocking Suspect

The Puppeteer was a truly terrifying serial introduced in the final two seasons of Bones. The Puppeteer killed his victims and preserved them so he could interact with them as if they were still alive. He then displays them like a marionette puppet. The crime scenes involving the Puppeteer serial killer are scary enough to send a chill up the spine.

The Puppeteer and his crimes soon prove to hit closer to home than the team expected. Clues are intentionally left by the killer in order to implicate former team member Dr. Zack Addy, who was been institutionalized after being manipulated into tampering with evidence and killing a victim for the cannibalistic serial killer known as The Gormogon. Zack doesn’t help the odds against him when he kidnaps Dr. Brennan. However, it’s soon proven that Zack’s fragile mental state had been tampered with by his doctor Mihir Roshan, who is the true killer. Roshan’s calculation to frame Zack makes him that much more terrifying. Zack was just a patsy, but his return to the series after years doesn’t end there. This case begins a plotline that exonerates him from the murder he was institutionalized for committing.

4

Mark Kovac is a Ghost from Booth’s Past

As the primary antagonist in the final season of Bones, it’s fitting that an antagonist is sourced from the path of one of the series’ leads. Mark Kovac is the son of a Serbian warlord Booth came across when he was a military sniper. Booth assassinated his father at Mark’s birthday party, and Mark swore vengeance on the man who killed him.

Mark mercilessly tortures and kills several members of Booth’s old unit, desperate to uncover the identity of the man who killed his father. After Booth arrests him, he escapes and begins the final campaign of terror in the series. With the help of his secret sister Jeannine, he places a bomb in the Jeffersonian which injures and traps members of the team. Though killed at the end of the series finale, Kovacs’ fury and his connection to Booth’s past made him a compelling antagonist for the final season of Bones.

3

The Gravedigger Resulted in Some Scary Episodes

The Gravedigger is one of the most devious criminals the Bones team ever came across. She was a serial kidnapper and killer who buried her victims alive. She left her victims to suffocate if her ransom was not paid, and she was unafraid to kill to cover her tracks. When the Bones team was close to identifying her, she kidnapped Drs. Brennan and Hodgins. They were able to survive, and years later she kidnapped Booth, who was able to escape with his life, which resulted in her capture.

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The Gravedigger was made that much more terrifying by her unique pathology. Her ruthlessness and unwillingness to have any contact with her victim’s families past the ransom call created a sense of inevitability and dread; like she was untouchable. The effect that the sociopathic killer had on the team was profound. She attempted to kill three of the team, and those who she didn’t kill were still traumatized by her actions, including her assassination outside the courthouse where her trial was being held.

2

The Gormogon Was a Standout Antagonist in Early Seasons of Bones

The lore behind The Gormogon is one of the most grisly and intricate plots that Bones has come up with. A season-long storyline unfolds with the Bones team investigating a cannibalistic cult. This cult has killed an unknown but sizable amount of victims and has strong ties to dark rituals that include consuming flesh and removing bones from the victim’s body for ritualistic purposes.

A cannibal serial killer is already a terrifying prospect, but an organization of them truly amplifies the terror. One of the scariest aspects of the cult is its reach and ability to manipulate those into joining the cult. This is best exemplified by the current Gormogon aka The Master manipulating Dr.Zack Addy into becoming his apprentice and assisting him in his crimes. Gormogon left an undeniable scar on the Bones team and left them feeling violated by the cult’s reach inside the team.

1

Christopher Pelant is the Scariest Killer in Bones

Christopher Pelant is the most dangerous killer the Bones team has ever faced. Pelant is a serial killer with a genius-level IQ who became a ‘hacktivist’ and a serial killer, with a strong sense of anger towards those who have wronged him. He becomes obsessed with Doctor Brennan and the Jeffersonian team and thus begins a war waged across several seasons. Pelant’s genius makes him a formidable foe and the most skillful killer the team has ever come across.

Pelant is known for intricate and gory crime scenes, such as vandalizing monuments and encoding clues in human remains. His electronic skills allow him to take bold swipes at the team, such as framing Brennan for murder and taking Hodgins’ family fortune. Pelant’s brilliance matched the combined wit of the Jeffersonian team personally, and this duel for the ages kept fans locked in whenever these two forces of nature faced off. Pelant’s psychopathy and intellect make it undeniable that Pelant was the scariest killer to ever be featured on Bones.

Bones

Release Date

2005 – 2016

Network

FOX