Supernatural

• “They’re just fun experiences,” say`s Padalecki. “It’s funny when [people are] shy, because I’m very relaxed and I think I’m very approachable. I’m not a jerk; If you come up and say you like the show, I’ll sit there and talk to you for a little bit because you’re a person like I am. “But sometimes I’ll be shopping and I’ll notice a girl in the aisle and I’ll kind of nod and pass by. Then I’ll be in the next aisle and she’ll be in the next aisle, too, so I’ll go back to the last aisle and she’s [eventually] there in the last aisle [as well]. I feel bad because I don’t want to go up and be like, ‘Hey, I think you know who I am.’ How cheesy is that? But I also don’t want her to feel shy. I remember I felt so bad that day because there was one specific time when this was happening, and probably for a good 10 minutes I was in the fruit aisle looking at apples and she happened to be [looking at] an orange. I think in the whole 10-15 minutes, she didn’t actually pick up [a single] item to buy. I remember she never said anything to me. I remember feeling bad. I hope she didn’t want to say anything, because if she did, I was [sorry] that she was too shy.”

  Padalecki may get the quiet fans, but Ackles tends to attract the louder kind of Supernatural follower. “Sometimes [I’m] walking along and I’ve heard girls scream. It’s bizarre. It’s not something I think I’ll ever get used to, but it’s really unique to have that effect, to have people respect and respond to what you do and let you know about it vocally. It’s cool, but it’s weird!”

  The boys agree that most fan encounters are of the friendly kind, and some are even downright heartwarming. Padalecki discusses a great piece of fanmail that he received that he says, “made me feel good inside. [The fan] said she’d actually quoted Sam and Dean at her father’s funeral, and that watching the show had helped her get through it. I guess us dealing with our father’s loss or the loss of our mother and some of the things that our characters have said she found relevant. Relevant enough to say at her father’s funeral. It’s kind of like, ‘Wow!’ That’s intense – I remember it just really warmed me up.”

  And some fans are friendlier than others. “I’ve gotten bras thrown at me and stuff like that, which was kind of fun,” Padalecki admits. Although sometimes the girls can be a little too friendly. “It depends where you are,” reveals Padalecki. “If it’s high school girls, they just want to take a picture, have you sign something so that they can tell their friends. But if you’re at a bar and it’s some girl who wants in your pants because they think you have money or something...” Padalecki is wary of those girls, just as he is with people who want to befriend him as a way to break into the industry. However, it’s not tough for the actors to see through those people. “You can tell by how intense someone is,” explains Padalecki. “If they’re like, ‘Hey, you work on the show. That’s cool. You want a drink?’ Or if someone is like, ‘Hey, who is your agent? Do you have guest stars? Do you hire locally?’ The more they ask you about what’s going on, it’s different. If they treat you just like a person, like, ‘Hey, what’s going on? Do you want to go play a game of pool or something?’ You can kind of tell just by talking to them what they’re after.”

  Then there are the fans who truly believe in the supernatural. “I’ve gotten spells sent to me,” Ackles reveals. “Not voodoo dolls; nothing like that. No pentagrams or anything. You know, like good wishes spells sent to me with crazy herbs and stuff...” But while the senders assured him the spells were for protection, he hasn’t risked trying them yet. “They’re like, ‘Here, read this and do this,’ and I’m like, ‘No.’”

  While some fans offer the guys protection from the evils of the world, others come to them for help. “I’ve actually gotten a few of those,” comments Ackles. “‘Hey, I think my house is haunted. What do I do?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’”  If they asked Padalecki, he might just tell them to lock their doors. “My fiancée is completely scared of ghosts,” he shares. “She can’t watch a commercial for a scary movie because she’s like, ‘Ghosts!’ I remember one time she was having trouble sleeping, so I bought her some door locks for her bedroom. I was like, ‘Lock your door. Turn your alarm on.’ And she’s said, ‘Locks don’t work against ghosts.’”  Then again, Padalecki’s first instinct isn’t always ghosts – he’s just as likely to blame odd occurrences on the Yellow-Eyed Demon. “You always hear about cold spots in a room or lights flickering or something like that,” he points out. “I was watching the show – I was watching the [first] season finale with
  my parents – and the lights started flickering, and I was like, ‘The demon.’ I just found myself saying that. And I was like, ‘It’s ingrained in me!’”

  Something else that’s ingrained in Padalecki are superstitions. “Yeah, a little bit. When I get on planes or go under a yellow light, I kiss my finger and touch the ceiling,” he confesses. “I don’t know what that is. I think I saw someone do it one time and now I have to do it. Like getting on a plane, if I have luggage, I’ll put it down and kiss the door when I walk in. I’ve gotten some weird looks...” Despite his on-screen persona’s fear of flying, Ackles doesn’t tend to share his co-star’s superstitions. “I’m not going to walk under a ladder,” he says, “but I don’t keep the same socks on for two months.” Padalecki also doesn’t like to walk under ladders.
  “I’ll find myself just walking around them,” he admits. But one thing he’s not superstitious about is the classic black cat. “If a black cat crosses my path, I’m just like, ‘Oh, that’s a cat. I want to go pet it.’” Interestingly, Padalecki has mixed feelings about palm readings. “I went to a palm reader years ago [on a blind date], and I don’t remember exactly what she said, but she said I was going to be rich and have a bad love life. And I was like, ‘That’s crappy. Can you switch it?’ So, good news and bad news. But it was kind of kooky and funny, and she was kind of crazy...” Padalecki hasn’t forgotten what the palm reader said, and he confides that a part of him is just waiting for his love life to get messed up.

  As you’ve no doubt surmised, Padalecki feels he’s “a 50-50 split” when it comes to believing in the supernatural. “I don’t necessarily believe in it because I’m very much a creature of what I see, and I’ve never seen or ever had any experiences with the supernatural. But I also realize that it’s a big world and big universe, and it’s hard to believe we’re the only things out there, you know? Things have definitely happened that made me go, ‘What was that?’” He’s also heard enough stories from people who have first-hand experiences that he can’t help but think, “‘You know what? It’s hard to believe that there’s nothing out there.’ I’ve never had any direct experience, so I guess I’m a non-believer, but my eyes and my mind are open to it, believe me.”

  Considering the subject matter of Supernatural, it’d seem likely that the show’s sets would attract curious – or angry – supernatural entities. When asked if there have been any unusual occurrences on set, Ackles nods his head emphatically. “Every day, man!” He grins, then amends his statement. “No, there hasn’t been anything...” But whether he’s just joking or backpedaling to cover up the terrifying truth, we’ll never know. However, he does elaborate. “We’re so used to 100-plus people working on set, so the bangs and the things dropping and just working on set itself is scary in its own right, but I don’t think we’ve had anything to write home about as far as ‘Whoa! We’re dealing with something that’s actually present.’”

  Overall in terms of the supernatural, Ackles says, “I don’t necessarily believe in the whole ghosts and goblins and demons and stuff like that. I kind of always say that I’m a bit of a realist, and I’d like to think there’s some sort of an explanation for sliding doors or noises in the night and stuff like that. But I’ll tell you one thing, if they ever come around, I know what to do now.”  Ackles jokes that he carries around “holy water, salt, shotguns – all the normal stuff. No, but it is funny. I did a talk show and I was asked what some of the things are and I started rattling them off. I thought, ‘Wow, I really know this stuff.’ And it was wild, because there is a whole subculture of people that actually believe in and buy into this stuff and use those formulas and these tactics and these weapons against evil spirits. And I’m starting to know this stuff personally. It’s a unique experience. “If there’s a noise in the other room at night and I wake up, I have a lot more confidence walking into that room and going, ‘I know exactly what to do...’ It’s definitely given me a confidence that I wouldn’t have otherwise.” The underlying, unspoken advice that both Ackles and Padalecki are giving is that we should all watch Supernatural episodes repeatedly so we can be sure we’ll know what to do the next time we have a supernatural encounter… and that’s fine by us!

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