Phantom Traveler

"*I don't know, man. This isn't our normal gig. I mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. This is big. And I wish Dad was here.*"
—Dean Winchester

**"Phantom Traveler"** is the fourth episode of Season One of The CW's *Supernatural*. It was written by Richard Hatem and directed by Robert Singer. It is the fourth episode of the series overall, and premiered on October 4, 2005.

## Synopsis

On TransNational flight 2485, a man possessed by the spirit of the Phantom Traveler causes the plane to crash, leaving only five survivors left alive. Sam and Dean must exorcise the angry spirit before it attacks the survivors. The brothers realize the only way to do that is to take the battle to the skies.

## Recap

*This section is a detailed recap of this episode. **There are major spoilers.** Click to expand.*

Sam and Dean are called in to investigate when a plane crashes under mysterious circumstances. Their investigation leads them to the conclusion that a demon is possessing people and causing the plane they are on to crash. Things become more urgent when they discover that the demon is going after the 7 survivors of the first crash, including the pilot and a stewardess.

Dean is contacted by Jerry Panowski, who he and John helped a couple of years ago. Jerry is an air traffic controller and a plane, piloted by his friend Chuck Lambert, has crashed for no obvious reason. Jerry has found what sounds like EVP on the cockpit voice recorder saying “no survivors”, although seven people survived the crash.

Sam and Dean speak to one of the survivors, Max Jaffey, who has checked himself into a psychiatric institution. He reports seeing a passenger whose eyes turned black, rip open the plane's emergency exit just before the crash, even though the pressure on that door was over 2 tons. They visit the wife of George Phelps, the passenger Max saw, but she reports nothing out of the ordinary before the flight.

Inspection of the plane wreckage reveals traces of sulfur, and the boys start to suspect some sort of demonic possession is involved.

Jerry then calls to them that Chuck Lambert has been killed in another plane crash. The boys find there is also sulfur on the wreckage and that both planes crashed forty minutes into the flight.

The boys realize that the demon is going to kill all the survivors of the crash, and check to find the only one going to fly in the near future is flight attendant Amanda Walker. They are unable to dissuade her from flying, and so decide they must catch the same flight and exorcise the demon, although Dean is not enthusiastic due to his fear of flying.

On the plane the boys are checking out the passengers, when they see the co-pilot's eyes turn black. They enlist Amanda Walker’s help, and lure him to the back gallery, where they start to exorcise the demon. Just before the ritual is over, the demon speaks, revealing it knows of Jess’ death. Finally it is exorcised and the plane lands safely.

The boys farewell Jerry, who mentions that he got Dean’s cell number from John’s voice mail. The boys are stunned; their father's cell has been out of service since he went missing. They call his number and confirm that the voice mail directs callers to Dean. This is the first sign they have that their father is still alive.
## Cast

* Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester

Guest Starring* Jaime Ray Newman as Amanda Walker
* Brian Markinson as Jerry Panowski
* Daryl Shuttleworth as Chuck Lambert
* Paul Jarrett as George Phelps
* Fred Henderson as Homeland Security Man #2
* Geoff Gustafson as Lou
* Amanda Wood as Flight Attendant
* Ingrid Tesch as Bonnie Phelps
* Kelly-Ruth Mercier as Woman Passenger
* Dana Pemberton as Security Guard
* Benjamin Ayres as Homeland Security Man #1

Uncredited* Jeffrey Dean Morgan as John Winchester *(voice)*
* Christopher Rosamond as Co-Pilot

## Trivia

### Production Notes

* The song that Dean is humming to calm himself down on the plane is called "Some Kind of Monster" by Metallica.
* When Dean and Sam are talking with Jerry Panowski about a possible poltergeist, a co-worker walks by and says: "Poltergeist (1982)? I love that movie!" This comment was added in post and was not stated during filming.
* When calling Amanda Walker in the airport, Dean introduces himself as Dr. James Hetfield, a reference to the Metallica front-man.
* Dean says this situation is a little different than hovering over beds and spitting up pea soup. This is a reference to the movie The Exorcist (1973).
* The airline set was completely still during the crash sequence. The effect of a plane in uncontrolled rapid descent was achieved through clever handheld camerawork.
* This is the first episode in the series to feature someone physically possessed by a demon.
* When Dean asks the Flight Attendant if she is Amanda and she says no. The Flight Attendant is played by 'Amanda' Wood.
* Dean mentions that he doesn't have time for the "Truth is out there" speech. This is a reference to The X-Files a show of which is commonly compared to Supernatural.
* On John Winchester's voicemail, he says to call Dean at 785-555-0179. Dean was born in January of 1979, 01-79.
* Sam tells Dean to say God's name in Latin, "Christo", just as Dean is about to find out if Amanda has the demon in her. "Christo" is actually Greek, not Latin, for "Anointed One". If they wanted to be right they should have said "Christus".
* Brian Markinson' changes his appearance from Jerry Panowski well aware of Winchesters to Stan Thompson completely stranger to them later in the Supernatural: Hunteri Heroici (2012) .
* Sam and Dean pose as Homeland Security agents: Jerry Wanek and Robert Singer. Robert Singer is one of the executive producers of the show and Jerry Wanek is the production designer. This was of course long before the character of Robert "Bobby" Singer was introduced.

### Goofs

* When the stewardess talks to the pilot at the beginning, her lip movements don't match the words that come out of her mouth.
* The light aircraft which crash is shown before take off with square windows and the registration C-GBBP, and then in flight it has round windows and the registration C-GUTY.
* While the Winchester brothers hail from Lawrence Ks, which is in Douglas county, the plates on their car are registered in Sedgwick county, nearly three hours away.
* It is impossible to open a cabin door or emergency exit on a plane in mid-flight, pressurization makes it impossible for the doors to open.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.webcitation.org/5rzRTavIT
2. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20050926wb05/