It's been a long-acknowledged fact that, in spite of Pokemon's family-friendly appeal, some of the franchise's lore is startlingly dark. From sinister plots to end the world to brutal wars of days gone by and Pokemon abducting children, the games have no shortage of grim stories if you know where to look.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Pokedex entries, where the dichotomy between Pokemon's cute appeal and horrifying backstories is displayed front and centre. Such entries are numerous, and have been present from the franchise's beginning through to the present day. Proving that looks can be deceiving even in the adorable world of Pokemon, here are ten of the spookiest Pokedex entries.
10 Sandygast - The Dead Possess Beach-Going Children
Sandygast is a sandcastle-like mound found on the tropical beaches of Alola, with a cute design and a goofy face. What's not to love? Perhaps the fact that if a child touches it, it takes control of them and forces them to pile more sand onto it so it can grow.
Sandygast is in fact the grudges of the dead, which have decided to possess an unfinished sandcastle, of all things. Pokedex entries for Ghost-type Pokemon are typically quite grim, but having such a dark story behind something as unassuming as a sandcastle is especially horrifying.
9 Hypno - A Child-Abducting Dream Eater
Anyone who's played FireRed and LeafGreen knows exactly what Hypno is capable of. In those games, the Pokemon lurked in the Berry Forest, where it attempted to kidnap a young girl. Its Pokedex entries reveal more of its disturbing behaviors — it uses its pendulum to quickly put humans to sleep, and then "feasts on their dreams".
And yes, the FireRed Pokedex entry does reference the child abduction. The thought of being put to sleep and taken away in the forest to serve as dream food is certainly chilling, making Hypno's 'Dex entry one of the scariest.
8 Mismagius - A Banshee-Like Tormentor
Misdreavus isn't the scariest Pokemon, and its 'Dex entries fit this idea: it's more of a mischievous prankster than anything genuinely sinister. When its evolution was added a few years later, however, things changed. Mismagius' screams leave all who hear them with headaches and hallucinations, tormenting them long after the encounter.
It's not all bad, though — according to the Black & White 'Dex entries, very occasionally, the screams imbue happiness instead. Nonetheless, given how unpleasant the more common outcome sounds, it doesn't seem like a risk worth taking.
7 Runerigus - Tangible Trauma
Known for its unique evolution method, Runerigus is the evolution of Yamask's Galarian variant. The original Unovan versions of the line were pretty spooky in their own right, and Runerigus stays true to form. According to the Pokedex, Runerigus is a cave painting that was cursed. If you touch it, you'll receive the scarring memories the painting portrays.
What makes this so dark is how real it feels: rather than the possibility of supernatural dream eating or sandcastle possession, Runerigus is a depiction of a real event that actually happened, and the fear comes from having to live with those memories too.
6 Spiritomb - A Long-Suffering Prisoner for Unspeakable Acts
Spiritomb is actually an amalgamation of 108 spirits, a number inspired by Chinese and Buddhist mythology. These spirits have been bound to a fissure in an Odd Keystone for 500 years as punishment for something they did. The reasons making this so horrifying are twofold: for one, being trapped for 500 years would be an unbearably long time, so Spiritomb has suffered greatly by the time you find it.
Secondly, whatever Spiritomb did to merit such brutal punishment is never stated, leaving players to wonder what sort of heinous acts this Pokemon is capable of.
5 Trevenant - It Will Eat You
Trevenant doesn't mess around. Come into its forest, and it'll make you its dinner. Try to run, it'll take control of other trees to trap you in, turning your escape into a helpless game of cat-and-mouse, essentially toying with you as it makes you its prey.
Its intentions don't seem to be entirely cruel, however. While it has a taste for humans, its relentlessly territorial attitude stems from a desire to protect the other Pokemon living in the forest, for whom it is said to have great affection.
4 Blacephalon - Don't Get Too Close
Though Blacephalon is a Ghost-type, it's not scary in the way a lot of the other Ghost-types are scary. It doesn't concern itself with curses or anything; instead, it identifies its prey, slithers rapidly towards them, explodes its own head, and kills them.
While not as traditionally creepy as ghouls and voodoo, being hunted by Blacephalon definitely fits the definition of scary. It might not be having your dreams eaten, but being kamikazed by this snakelike interdimensional being sounds like a pretty nasty way to go.
3 Dhelmise - A Powerful Killer Lurking in the Deep
Dhelmise lurk the waters around Alola's islands, where they swing their massive anchors to incapacitate prey, before entangling them with their seaweed tendrils and pulling them into the depths of the oceans to drown them. These nautical-themed predators are so powerful, they can prey upon Pokemon as large as Wailord.
Alola is a paradise-like region known for its cute Pokemon and beautiful beaches, so the thought of a killer so deadly being just offshore is certainly spooky. Children playing on Alola's beaches certainly have good reason to keep to the shallows, but some comfort can at least be taken in the fact that Dhelmise doesn't consider human-sized prey large enough to be worthwhile.
2 Sableye - A Cave-Dwelling Soul-Sucker
Sableye is a relatively cute Pokemon, giving off more of a mischievous goblin vibe than anything genuinely scary. This couldn't be further from the truth, however, as according to its Ruby Pokedex entry, whenever its eyes are glowing, it will drain the spirit of anyone who wanders into its cave.
Of all Sableye's Dex entries, only the Ruby and Omega Ruby ones mention this behaviour, so perhaps Sableye became less deadly to humans as they got used to their presence. Or perhaps no one else who saw their chilling lethality in action lived to tell the tale...
1 Basculegion - The Souls of a Devastated School
Though Pokemon Legends: Arceus is yet to release at the time of writing, the lore behind one of its central Pokemon, Basculegion, is already known. When schools of Basculin attempt to migrate, they swim upstream. Unfortunately, most of the fish are too weak to survive the strong currents and perish before their journey's end.
The spirits of all the fallen Basculin inhabit one of the survivors, who becomes Basculegion, a bigger, stronger fish constantly carrying the weight of its fallen peers. Basculegion's backstory is just as spooky as those of years prior, so it's clear that unexpectedly dark Pokedex entries aren't going anywhere anytime soon.