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The 80s, the 90s, and even the 2000s were wild on soap operas. When Luke and Laura weren't saving the world from being frozen over and Bo and Hope weren't throwing a royal wedding, the soaps were getting up to some even more unbelievable things.
From the extraterritorial to the undead. From creepy clones to terrifying transplants. From vampires to the devil himself. Some storylines on these daytime dramas got a little too weird and wild, making them truly hard to watch.
Marlena Was Possessed By The Devil (Days Of Our Lives)
The exorcism of Marlena Evans has gone down in soap opera history as one of the wildest storylines on daytime. Airing on NBC in 1995, Days of Our Lives showcased Marlena being possessed by the Devil and her husband John Black eventually performing an exorcist to rid his wife of evil.
Despite the controversy the storyline garnered for the soap, Days brought the Devil back in 2021, possessing not only Marlena, but her two twin grandchildren, Johnny and Allie, as well as one half of an iconic Days supercouple, Doug Williams.
Vampires Came To Port Charles (General Hospital)
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Long before Edward and Bella were Livvie and Caleb on the General Hospital's primetime spin-off Port Charles. Caleb Morley, played by soap opera veteran Michael Easton, was a vampire who was obsessed with a doppelganger of his late wife, Livvie Locke.
A decade later, Caleb made his way back to Port Charles, this time on General Hospital. During the month-long arc, the villainous vampire kidnapped Sam McCall, another lookalike of his late wife due to Sam having the same portrayer as Livvie. Caleb is later stabbed in the heart by John McBain, giving Easton a double-duty role in the storyline.
Talking Dog In Llanview (One Life To Live)
One Life To Live dealt with time travel to the Old West, sent Viki to Heaven three times, and the Todd/Victor switcheroo of 2011, but the talking dog takes the cake for the hardest-to-watch storyline. Toward the end of the soap's 45-year run on ABC, the writers clearly thew up their hands and said, "What the Hell?" when they brought on this very good boy.
Owned by Tina Lord and named after another OLTL character, David Vickers, the pooch had a heart-to-heart with toddler Liam when David tells Liam that his biological father is actually John McBain and not Brody Lovett.
Daniel Touched Jennifer's Heart (Literally) (Days Of Our Lives)
It was during an organ trafficking storyline in 2011 when Days of Our Lives managed to do what it does best and take it a step too far.
When Jennifer fells victim to the scheme and had her heart removed, it was her boyfriend Dr. Daniel Jonas who discovered what had been going on in the hospital and raced against time to transplant Jennifer's own heart back inside her.
A Passion For Zombies (Passions)
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While a popular NBC soap, Passions was also known for its wacky storylines, and a 2002 storyline brought zombies into the daytime mix that already included vampires, angels, and devils.
Charity and her cousin-turned-nemesis Kay would often fight over Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald, and the battle went as far as to have Kay use a book of spells to freeze Charity and replace her with a zombie lookalike, which sought to kill Miguel.
Faison Wore A Duke Lavery Mask (General Hospital)
General Hospital had a lot going on in 2012, but one of the stranger storylines was when Duke Lavery came back to Port Charles and was revealed to have secretly turned evil. Things got even weirder when it was later revealed that Duke was never Duke at all, but Caesar Faison wearing a Duke Lavery mask.
It was unrealistic, to say the least, but GH attempted the storyline again in 2013 when Liesl Obrecht rips off her own mask of Anna Devane after pretending to be the WSB agent for months.
Night Of The Living Dead In Salem (Days Of Our Lives)
It was Halloween 2021 when the Devil returned to possess Marlena with an evil scheme to steal Ben and Ciara's baby. Part of the Devil's plan was to pull some deceased Salemites from their graves and let them free for one night to wreak havoc on their old pals.
Back from the dead was Nick Fallon to terrorize his ex-wife Gabi Hernandez, Andre DiMera to torment his ex who doubles as his murderer, Nicole Walker, and Charlie Dale to traumatize his child's mother, Allie Horton.
Reva's Clone (Guiding Light)
Guiding Light put Reva Shayne through the wringer on daytime, but more unbelievable than her becoming a princess or Amish was when she was cloned.
After washing up on a deserted island and finding her way to a phone, Reva called home to find out that her love Josh Lewis had managed to have a clone of her made. The clone eventually fought the real Reva for Josh's love, and in the end Reva got Josh and the clone turned out to be Reva's long-lost cousin Dolly.
An Alien (General Hospital)
The character of Casey the Alien is known for starring in one of the lesser enjoyed storylines General Hospital has ever aired. After getting beat out by Ian Buchanan for the role of Duke Lavery, the GH heads created the brand new alien character specifically for Bradley Lockerman.
After landing in Port Charles, an alien who goes by the name Casey befriends Robin Scorpio, who convinces her mother and Frisco Jones to help them locate the missing piece of a crystal that will help get him back home.
More Aliens (Days Of Our Lives)
When they weren't playing with devils or the walking dead, Days of Our Lives had their hand at an alien storyline in 2002.
During a meteor shower over Salem, a spaceship crash-landed, and out came two teenage aliens: Rex and Cassie. After a whole ET moment, it was eventually revealed that Rex and Cassie were the biological children of Roman Brady and Kate Roberts.