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Season 1 Episode 11 : SCARECROW
Filming Location(s): Deer Lake; Burnaby Village Museum on Deer Lake Ave.
This episode is supposed to have taken place in Burkittsville, Indiana. The horror movie "The Blair Witch Project" is supposed to have taken place in Burkittsville, Maryland.
While Burkittsville is a fictional location, the two towns Dean checked before Burkittsville - Scottsburg and Salem - are real towns in the southern part of the state. Nearby is Seymour, the birthplace of John Cougar Mellencamp who released the album "Scarecrow" in 1985.
William B. Davis who plays the Professor at the College, is best known as The Cigarette Smoking Man from The X-Files.
The apple trees in "Scarecrow" were actually hazelnut trees.S1Com, p. 64
Vince: [seeing the Scarecrow] Check it out. If I only had a brain...
- A reference to the Scarecrow character from The Wizard of Oz book and movie. All the main characters in Oz lack something they wish for The Wizard to give them; in Scarecrow's case, it is a brain. The line itself is from the famous 1939 movie musical, in which Scarecrow and the others sing "If I Only Had a Brain"...
Dean: Hi, my name's John Bonham.
Scotty: Isn't that the drummer for Led Zeppelin?
Scotty: Isn't that the drummer for Led Zeppelin?
Stacy: Sweetheart, that's what sacrifice means. Giving up something you love for the greater good. The town needs to be safe. The good of the many outweighs the good of the one.
- Possibly a reference to lines from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan:
- Spock: Were I to invoke logic, however, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
- Kirk: Or the one.
Dean: Let's just shag ass before Leatherface catches up.
- Leatherface is one of the family who wears a mask made of human skins and likes wielding a chainsaw in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, stars of the eponymous 1974 movie by Tobe Hooper (remade in 2003). The family's home is decorated with furniture and items made of human skin and bones. This interior design style is later referenced again in The Benders.
The urban legend of this episode (immigrants bringing their old gods to worship in a new country) seems to be influenced by the plot of the Neil Gaiman sci-fi novel American Gods, in which the deities of ancient mythology (Odin, Loki, Thoth, etc) are remanifested and recruited to fight the New American Gods. Kripke has said he is an avid fan of Gaiman's work.
As Sam says "we're not going to Indiana", it seems clear that they are not yet in the state. If they stayed where they were after the previous job, they are in Rockford, Illinois.
John phones Dean's cell, presumably because he doesn't have Sam's number.
Burkittsville was originally settled by Scandinavians, which connects the scarecrow to the Norse Vanir legends.
Sam stole a car to get to Burkittsville.
Dean's cellphone includes the numbers for at least Bren, Carmelita, Christian, Curtis, Dad, Donny, Robin, Sam. Of these, other than Dad and Sam, of course, the names seem to be art department crew members from the show: Bren Moore (Costume Set Supervisor), Carmelita Fowler (Property Assistant), Christian "Chris" Sneddon (Construction Coordinator), Curtis "Curt" Maze (On-Set Dresser), Donny "Don" McGill (Assistant Property Master) and Robin Stooshnov (Assistant Property Master).
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