The Creepiest Crime Scene From CSI Season 15

For a procedural that aired on primetime on CBS, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" was a surprisingly dark show. Of course, that shouldn't come as a surprise, given the subject matter. The series follows a group of crime-scene investigators working on behalf of the Las Vegas Police Department, and it's called "Sin City" for a reason. They take whatever clues they can find to ascertain who's behind the despicable crimes, analyzing blood splatter, body movement, and anything else that could be of assistance. 

For 15 seasons and over 300 episodes, "CSI" made audiences everywhere believe they could unravel the most complex of crimes ... provided they could stomach witnessing the crime first. It became somewhat of a trademark for the procedural to begin each episode with a shocking revelation of the deceased body, and while it occasionally eased you into the crime, sometimes it dropped viewers in head-first. That was the case for what's arguably the creepiest crime scene to come out of the show's final and fifteenth season.

Season 15, Episode 14 of "CSI," "Merchants of Menace," is creepy from the moment the story begins. For starters, the crime takes place at a murder memorabilia conference, so right from the episode's opening, you're dropped into an environment filled with skulls, weapons, and other macabre instruments. Those items alone are enough to send shivers down the audience's spines, and that's even before the death gets revealed.

An announcer reveals they're auctioning off a vintage car owned by serial killer Lucas Reem, but a dead body is in the driver's seat when the tarp is pulled from the vehicle. As if that wasn't shocking enough, the announcer immediately recognizes the body as their partner and screams in agony.

Everything about the sequence is classic "CSI" ramped up to 11. You have a unique atmosphere that's suddenly pierced with the revelation of a despicable crime, and while some would argue that "CSI" has gone too far at times, this moment is a perfect encapsulation of what made audiences love the show in the first place. It's shocking, terrifying, and demands your attention at all times.