In a word: YIKES!
Some of the characters listed below like to torture their foes.
Others like to cut their faces off. Still others serve as the matriarch of a motorcycle club, while we're still trying to figure out the identity of another.
But all have one thing in common: they scare, or they have scared, the living daylights out of us.
Scroll around, see if you agree with our selection of most frightening television characters, but be warned: you may want to do so with the lights on...
1. Ramsay Bolton - Game of Thrones
Ramsay Bolton used his powers of persuasion to turn the rotten Theon Greyjoy into Reek -- a mindless, cowering puppet. Using castration and holding the appendage up before Greyjoy's eyes helped a bit. It earned him recognition from his father and he is now Ramsay Bolton. What a sweet tale! He's far more frightening than all of the mythical creatures because he is utterly evil.
2. Dandy Mott - American Horror Story
The scariest person on American Horror Story Freak Show isn't a freak in the traditional sense. Spoiled rich boy Dandy Mott lives in a sustained childhood where his every wish is granted. He even gets a demented clown (Twisty) as a plaything, assuming his identy, and murderous ways, when Twisty is killed.
3. Gemma Teller - Sons of Anarchy
She is just a bonafide psycho. And murderer. And horrible mother. Even the big bad tough bikers on SOA are afraid of her!
4. Eugene Tooms - The X-Files
With talk of a third X-Files movie on the horizon, it's easy to recall the scary players who appeared. Eugene Tooms ate people every 30 years and then went back into hibernation. He could maniuplate his body to slip through the tiniest of spaces so you never knew where to find him. He was played by Doug Hutchison who went on to marry teenaged Courtney Stodden years later. Scary indeed!
5. Henrik Johanssen - Orphan Black
This dude made fans fall in love with the horror they thought was Helena. With someone like Henrik on your back, even scary people look good. He had an entire cult of devoted people around him while he created a larger flock while articifically inseminating his women like cattle. Totally disgusting.
6. Psycho Derek - One Tree Hill
The guy had a weird crush on Peyton and yet pretended to be her brother. He had a crazy stalker wall with pictures of Peyton, fell out of a two story window -- and escaped! Then he held a creepy basement prom with Peyton. He defined creepy, and psycho for that matter. (courtesy of Mary Kate Venedam) Now you can find Matt Barr as the not-so-creepy Nick Hawley on Sleepy Hollow!