The cult-classic series Gravity Falls is no stranger to nightmarish creatures and scary situations as the entire premise of the show revolves around mystery and paranormal phenomena–however, there is something that was only shown in the graphic novel continuation that was way too extreme for television (especially when considering this show was played on a Disney Channel).
Gravity Falls follows the adventures of the twin siblings Mabel and Dipper after they were sent to stay with their Grunkle Stan in his tourist attraction business/home (dubbed the Mystery Shack) for the summer in Gravity Falls, Oregon. In the first episode, Dipper finds a mysterious journal containing information on the general weirdness of Gravity Falls–including creatures, locations, and artifacts. Using this journal as their guide, Dipper and Mabel take on a number of otherworldly entities and overcome the most dire of situations–though sometimes, the journal itself proves to be the reason some of Dipper and Mabel’s problems occur in the first place.
Gravity Falls: Lost Legends–written by series creator Alex Hirsch with art by Joe Pitt, Ian Worrel, Asaf Hanuka, Dana Terrace, Jacob Chabot, Jim Campbell, Kyle Smeallie, Meredith Gran, Mike Holmes, Priscilla Tang, Serina Hernandez, Stephanie Ramirez, and Valerie Halla–is a collection of Gravity Falls short stories continuing Dipper and Mabel’s adventures from the show. In the story titled “Face It”, Mabel has her face stolen by a demonic creature that was summoned through the journal by Pacifica behind Dipper’s back. So, while Dipper begrudgingly teamed up with Pacifica to track the demon down and get Mabel’s face back, Mabel stayed at the Mystery Shack until the two returned with her face–and it was here where things got a little intense.
Faceless Mabel Does Something Too Scary for Younger Viewers
While Dipper and Pacifica are traversing Gravity Falls' paranormal black market hunting a face-stealing demon, a faceless Mabel sits in the dark at the Mystery Shack, watching TV in the living room, until she is interrupted by Grunkle Stan who is unaware of these oddities. When Grunkle Stan enters the room and asks Mabel if she’s seen something he’s looking for, Mabel turns her faceless head to greet him before slowly drawing a giant, squiggly smile where her mouth should be. This scene is something straight out of a horror movie–and Grunkle Stan’s reaction is the thing that really sets it apart from the other scary elements of the series.
Grunkle Stan is so freaked out by the visual horror of a faceless Mabel drawing a lifeless smile over her blank face that he reaches out to his brother, Grunkle Ford, who was out of the house on a separate investigation at the time. At this point in the series, Stan and Ford aren’t on the best terms as this story takes place before their official reconciliation following the Weirdmageddon event, so for Stan to ask Ford for help means he must have been chilled to his core–and if something is too scary for Grunkle Stan, it is definitely too scary for younger Disney XD viewers. So, from the obvious visual horror to the fact that Grunkle Stan himself was freaked, this Gravity Falls nightmare-fuel moment proved to be way too extreme for TV.