As October gets underway, so too will the CW show "Supernatural," which returns for its ninth season on Oct. 8 at 9 p.m. The show, one of the "Big Three" of the Tumblr fandoms (alongside "Doctor Who" and "Sherlock") is particularly fitting for the spooky month, with its spins on classic horror genres (with its vampires, demons, ghosts galore).

I happen to be a bit of a pansy when it comes to scary subjects, so I'd avoided "Supernatural" for a long time. However, I recently steeled my nerves and began watching, so I'm now working my way through season two, from within the safety of a shield made by many, many blankets. Because I am so far behind in the series and I don't want to be spoiled, this is a completely spoiler-free column. 

Subject: "Supernatural," CW (formerly The WB)

In 2005, after several years of unsuccessful pitching, creator Eric Kripke (a 1996 graduate from USC's School of Cinematic Arts, holla) finally saw the first airing of his show about two brothers who hunt demons. Driving around the Midwest in a 1967 Chevy Impala to classic hard rock, Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles) work in the Winchester "family business" of hunting super- and para-normal creatures and saving those plagued by them. 

As the series goes on, recurring characters include Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver), the boys' psuedo-foster father, John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the boys' actual father and another hunter, Crowley (Mark Sheppard), the king of Hell, Angel of the Lord Castiel (Misha Collins), whose name is pronounced Cas-tea-el as opposed to Ca-steel, which is how I read it, the Archangel Gabriel (Richard Speight Jr.), Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino, who you might recognize as Jacob from "Lost") and others. 

Castiel is a particularly notable example, as Collins was only supposed to appear for six episodes in season four in order to introduce Christian theology and themes into the series, but continued as a main castmember in seasons five and six, a special guest star in seasons seven and eight and has been reintroduced as a regular cast member for the upcoming ninth season.  

Kripke created an intricate, detailed three-season (later extended to five-season) plan for the show, weaving in folk tales, various cultures' mythologies, Judeo-Christian influences and classic horror genre tropes to structure the show. After the fifth season, showrunner Kripke departed and Sera Gamble took over for seasons six and seven. Kripke's co-showrunner Robert Singer has stayed on since the beginning, and is currently joined by Jeremy Carver, who signed on after Gamble's exit.

The show has expanded from the television show to comics, novels and secondary analytical literature that discusses the symbolism, mythological evidence and folklore, gender and sexuality representations and other aspects of the show. 

In 2010, Warner Brothers' Japanese site announced that an anime series ("Supernatural: The Animation") was in the works. The series debuted in Japan in January 2011. In the Japanese dub, Sam and Dean are voiced by Yuya Uchida and Hiroki Touchi; the English dub has Padalecki voicing Sam, but Ackles only voices Dean for the last two episodes. For the other 20 episodes, Andrew Farrar voices Dean Winchester. 

A spin-off series was announced by The CW on July 22, and the 20th episode of season nine will serve as a back-door pilot.

Fandom name: Officially the "Supernatural Family" or "SPN" Family, some use "Supernaturalists" or "Hunters" to describe individual fans

Fan activity: Conventions, cosplay, transformative fanwork and fan-made media, fan activism

The first "Supernatural"-only convention was Wincon, or WinchesterCon, held in Nashville, Tenn. in 2005. Organized by and for fans, others have included "Salute to Supernatural," which takes place all over North America, panels at the San Diego Comic Con, conventions in Europe and Australia (All Hell Breaks Loose, Rising Con, the Asylum series of cons). A community calendar of conventions over the years can be found here. 

Ostensibly, the most popular cosplay character for this fandom is the angel Castiel, known for his long, tan trenchcoat, loose tie and work suit, and huge black wings. Sam and Dean are known for their effervescent love of flannel and jeans, although they often disguise themselves as law enforcement, medical personnel or any number of inconspicuous professional or authority figure to investigate supernatural activity in an area. 

I've seen people cosplay as the Impala, even. (It's pretty cool.)

As for transformative fanwork, fanfiction is by far the most popular. The two most popular ships in the fandom are Destiel (Dean/Castiel) and Wincest (It's exactly what it sounds like.) Not everyone subscribes to these ships, but those are the most popular, or at least, most active. Fanart and fanvideos are close second and third to fic, but according to Entertainment Weekly, the avid fanculture of the show is what makes it the eleventh greatest cult show ever. (Actually, they say that fanfiction makes it a cult show, a statement I disagree with. Everything has fanfiction, but the existence of a passionate and dedicated fanbase makes the "cult" aspects of a show real, not necessarily the specific action of the fans themselves.)

Aside from fan activities, the fans themselves have gotten involved in fan activism. In 2012, "Supernatural" actor Misha Collins organized GISHWHES, an opportunity for fans to get involved with their communities and expand their boundaries. 

Just what is GISHWHES?

GISHWHES is actually an acronym for "The Greatest Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen." This Guinness Record-breaking hunt was started in Dec. 2010 after fans banded together to get the cast of the show onto the cover of TV Guide's annual Fan Favorite issue. The fans voted and won, although only Ackles and Padalecki appeared on the cover; Collins then tweeted that he would be given a rhino as a consolation gift and offered to share it with the fans. 

Fans sent in self-addressed envelopes and then received a numbered piece (with numbers one through five) of a Rhino jigsaw puzzle and a letter from Collins instructing them to assemble the puzzle to advance in a scavenger hunt. Once the puzzle was assembled, Collins responded with instructions for the participants to complete 22 tasks in one week for a prize of $53.21 in Canadian dollars or a cup of tea with Collins at some point within seven years. 

This was the prequel, of sorts, for GISHWHES, which started in Nov. 2011. In order to participates, there was a fee of $10 (or, in lieu of payment, you could write an essay on one of several prompts). There were 219 different tasks on the scavenger hunt list, worth various points. 6,000 people participated (621 teams with 10 people each) and the prize was a trip to Rome and dinner with Collins. GISHWHES 2011 won the Guinness World Record for Largest Photo Scavenger Hunt. 

GISHWHES 2012 had 152 total missions, with an added special mission in an attempt to break another Guinness World Record (Most Pledges to Commit a Random Act of Kindness). Collins' charity, Random Acts, was one he founded in order to fund and encourage acts of kindness to make the world a better place. Random Acts has done things from helping victims of domestic violence to building a children's center in Haiti; many of the charity's actions are fueled by fervent support from the "Supernatural" fandom.

93,372 people pledged to commit a random act of kindness, shattering the record. 14,580 people participated, with the winners, Team Badwolf, who were flown to Scotland to spend an evening in a haunted castle with Collins. 

Incidentally, a member of Team Badwolf, Chloe Dykstra, is dating Nerdist podcast host (and host of about a billion other things) Chris Hardwick, and so the Nerdist podcast with Misha Collins as a guest was recorded in that haunted Scottish castle.

GISHWHES 2013 took place Aug. 11-18 after being announced in July over Twitter. During this time, Collins gave out a cell phone number where interested parties could call or text him during a 36 hour period. (This lead to numerous humorous encounters with fans texting Collins and posting the conversations on Tumblr with tags #Misha Collins Phone Number and #Misha Callins. 

Although winners have not yet been announced, the prize is a trip to Vancouver (with various activities therein, including a Viking séance???)

As fan Kieryn Ziegler said, "[Collins] somehow gets thousands of people across the globe to do insane tasks like running down the street wearing pumpkin shoes and having a storm trooper clean your pool. All is done under the motto 'Death to normalcy!' and it benefits Rnadom Acts. Basically, the enjoyment/involvement/insanity doesn't end with just the show."

Various tidbits for the good hunter to know:

Ziegler advises those starting the series to watch seasons one through three. Many, especially those who are active on Livejournal or Tumblr, want to skip straight to the seasons with Castiel because they see so much about him. 

"Take it from someone whose favorite character is Castiel," she said. "The show wouldn't have half as much meaning without the first three seasons…You'd miss…the basic backstory and the driving force of the show: the relationship between Sam and Dean. Don't do that to yourself."

She also advises (and I concur) for viewers to keep the lights on for the first few episodes. "If you're a bit overwhelmed by the horror aspect of the first few episodes, keep going. Everyone seems to build a tolerance after a while…the show's horror factor has an inverse relationship with the viewer's investment. As the show gets less conventionally scary, it gets more emotionally traumatic."

When the brothers argue and separate, it's stressful and can often indicate worse times in the near future. "It happens, and it feels like your heart did its own separation, but it will be okay."

"Supernatural" is notorious for poking fun at its fandom and breaking the fourth wall with shout-outs (and sometimes, call-outs). There was an episode, "The French Mistake" where Sam and Dean even interacted with "real-world" fans after being teleported to "our reality." 

MARK SHEPPARD IS IN THIS SHOW TOO. He'll appear at "Supernatural" conventions wearing a "Doctor Who" shirt. As Ziegler puts it, "He's the epicenter of a multifandom earthquake and he epicenters like no other." Other big fandom-shows have been "Firefly" and "Doctor Who" and just about everything that nerds love.

There's a running joke that, for whatever reason, Jared Padalecki closely resembles a moose. Also, Jensel Ackles looks like Rapunzel from "Tangled" and at for last April Fool's Day, "Supernatural" fans all changed posted pictures of Misha Collins over the web en force. They called it the Mishapocalypse. It was strange and overwhelming, but also pretty impressive the way they all managed to coordinate that.

Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are best bros. They refer to themselves as J2 and took part in each other's wedding ceremonies. Misha Collins invaded the broship and now they're a brOT3. Padalecki's fans are called Moosekateers; Collins' are called Misha's Minions and refer to Collins as their overlord. Neither my sources nor I have any idea what Ackles' fans are called.

Want to survive in "Supernatural?" Here's a survival guide. (Note: I can't vouch that it's spoiler-free.)

Remember when "Harlem Shake" was a thing that people did? The cast and crew did one. 

Always bring rock salt with you. Demons can't cross it, and it can get rid of ghosts if you salt and burn haunted bones. 

"Supernatural" seasons one through eight are on Netflix and it will resume airing Oct. 8 at 9 p.m. on CW. Good luck, friends. I will still be on season two. 

Continuing our creepy theme for the absolutely terrifying month of October, we'll kick the spookiness up to eleven with the Lovecraftian-esque podcast "Welcome to Night Vale." Until then, have a spooktastic start to October!

Columnist Christine Bancroft can be reached here or found saying dumb things on Twitter here. She also does not like scary movies, but loves sweater weather, all things pumpkin and homicide. Thank you to Kieryn Ziegler and Jasmine Grant for their help with this column.