Days of Our Lives' Wildest Storylines Include Demon Possession and Mind Control Chips

For the characters on Days of Our Lives, amnesia, extreme plastic surgery, mind control, secret love children, returns from the dead, kidnapping, and steamy love triangles are just a regular part of life.

But there are some storylines during the show’s decades-long run that have stunned even the most devoted fans.

As the daytime drama enters its 60th Season and prepares for its 15,000th episode (airing on Peacock on December 2), we’re taking a look back at some of the wildest plots ever conceived on the beloved soap opera: 

The Wildest Days of Our Lives Storylines

Princess Gina and her lookalike

Resident villain Stefano DiMera (Joseph Mascolo) was up to his usual tricks wreaking havoc in the lives of Salem’s favorite residents when the Princess Gina storyline played out in the late 1990s.

Talented artist Princess Gina Von Amberg was used by Stefano to steal priceless works of art alongside John Black (Drake Hogestyn), also known as “The Pawn,” according to Soap Hub. Gina fell deeply in love with John — who has had one of the craziest character arcs in the history of the show — but was told by Stefano that he died. In deep mourning, Gina refused to paint any longer for Stefano and Salem’s most notorious villain held her captive at her chateau in France. 

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Meanwhile, Stefano kept the art theft ring going by kidnapping lookalike Hope Brady (Kristian Alfonso), who was thought to be dead, and implanting Gina’s memories and personality into her using a computer chip. Hope and John — who was not dead — continued to carry out the scheme.

Days of our Lives key art. Photo: Peacock

Furious, Gina kidnapped Stefano and Hope and went to Salem posing as Hope, after she’d had some significant plastic surgery, in an attempt to win John back from Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall). But John was clearly in love with Marlena and Gina soon decided to focus her efforts on Hope’s husband, Bo (Peter Reckell), instead.

But Hope’s teen son Shawn-Douglas was never quite convinced this new replacement was his mother and so on Gina and Bo’s wedding night, Gina tried to shoot Shawn-Douglas. Marlena caught her in the act and Bo intervened, leading to a fight over the gun. Gina was shot and killed and Hope and Stefano were later rescued. 

Stefano’s scheming wasn’t done, however, and years later, in 2012, he reactivated the chip that turned Hope into Gina to help him steal something that had been taken from him, according to The List. After his death, his frequent accomplice Dr. Rolf (William Utay) sent her back into the “Gina” mode again in 2019. 

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Princess Gina’s daughter Greta also had a memorable run as “Swamp Girl” during the daytime drama’s run.

Carly Manning is Buried Alive

When it comes to revenge plots, this was one of the most disturbing. Carly Manning (Crystall Chappell) may have taken refuge in Salem, but her time there was anything but relaxing. After falling in love with Bo Brady, Carly began having nightmares about a child she once gave birth to but believed had died years earlier after Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel) told her the baby was born with too much water on the brain, according to Soap Central. 

Carly and Bo later learned the baby did not die and was secretly adopted by Vivian, Soaps in Depth reported. Determined to keep custody of her adopted son Nicholas, Vivian went to extreme lengths, eventually drugging Carly and sending her into a coma. After giving her some more herbs that made her appear dead, Carly was buried in a special coffin in 1993. When Carly awoke from the coma, she discovered she’d been buried alive in a coffin complete with oxygen tanks and a radio transmitter that allowed Vivian to taunt her as her oxygen slowly began to run out, according to Soaps. 

Vivian eventually came to her senses after realizing the heart medicine she was taking was making her crazy and dug up Carly, with the help of Ivan Marais (Ivan G’Vera), just in time.

Sami Transforms into Stan

Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) has been one of Salem’s most beloved troublemakers for years with her near-constant scheming, once trying to sell her sister Belle Black on the black market or drugging and sleeping with her sister Carrie’s boyfriend. But there was one scheme that seemed extreme even for Sami. 

After she was caught in bed with Brandon Walker (Matt Cedeño) the night before her wedding to Lucas Roberts (Bryan Dattilo) with no memory of how it occurred, Sami was desperate to prove she’d been set up by Lucas’ mother, Kate (Lauren Koslow), who had always opposed the relationship, according to Soap Central. 

Using makeup and a voice changer, Sami transformed herself into a man named Stan (Dan Wells) and wreaked havoc in Salem before heading to Iraq, where she helped free soldier Philip Kiriakis (then Kyle Brandt), Soaps once explained. Sami was able to prove that Kate drugged her the night before her wedding, but Kate retaliated by exposing Sami as Stan. Even though Tony DiMera (Thaao Penghlis) was found to be behind the Stan plan, Lucas turned his back on his love and his brother Austin showed up to help her nurse her wounds.

Marlena’s Possession

One of the most memorable Days of Our Lives plots occurred in the mid-1990s, when beloved psychiatrist and mother Marlena Evans became possessed by the devil. According to Soaps, Marlena’s soul became vulnerable after Stefano DiMera snuck into her home at night to try to brainwash and hypnotize her into loving him. 

The plan backfired when Marlena became possessed by Satan, memorably levitating over her bed on Christmas Eve and adopting some terrifying yellow eyes while under Lucifer’s control. Marlena’s soul was saved after Father John Black — who believed he was a priest at the time — performed an exorcism. 

Days of Our Lives revisited the memorable plot in 2021, according to Deadline.

The Gemini Twins Arrive in Town

In 2002, the fictional town of Salem seemingly got some visitors from another world. The interstellar plot began when teens Belle Black (then Kirsten Storms) and Shawn Douglas Brady (then Jason Cook) were having a romantic date night stargazing and spotted a strange object land nearby. Two figures, who spoke no English, got out dressed in silver, according to The List. Believing they were aliens, Belle and Shawn agreed to help the pair, known as the Gemini Twins.

It was soon discovered that the twins were not aliens, but were instead genetically engineered humans. Although it was originally believed that the twins, now known as Cassie and Rex, were the offspring of Tony DiMera and Marlena Evans, it was later discovered that their true biological parents were Roman Brady (Josh Taylor) and Kate Roberts, according to Soaps In Depth. The twins were created using Kate’s egg and Roman’s sperm. Evans had been implanted with the fertilized egg and gave birth to the twins, acting as a surrogate, while being held captive by Stefano DiMera.

Melaswen Island Becomes Home to Murder Victims

When a mysterious serial killer, known as the Salem Stalker, began knocking off some of Salem’s most beloved residents in 2003, fans were stunned. Longtime grandmother and matriarch Alice Horton (Frances Reid) — who was a central figure of the show since its debut in 1965 —  was even killed off by having one of her famous donuts shoved in her mouth in the months-long arc, which also saw the deaths of Roman Brady, Maggie Horton (Suzanne Rogers), Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston) and more, according to Soaps, who recounted the pivotal plotline in 2024.

Fans’ jaws dropped even further when the killer was revealed to be none other than trusted psychiatrist Marlena Evans. With her identity revealed, cops chased her down leading to a shootout on the top of the police station. Evans was killed, but on May 25, 2004, the plotline took a sudden turn when Evans and the rest of her victims were found to be alive and well on the tropical island of Melaswen Island (New Salem spelled backwards). 

The island was created to look exactly like Salem and was revealed to be nothing but a sinister plot by André DiMera, Tony DiMera’s lookalike cousin, to wreak havoc in the lives of the others, even brainwashing Marlena to make her believe she was the killer. The presumed dead were eventually returned home to Salem — although in some instances life as they knew it had changed around them by the time they returned, paving the way for even more drama, according to The List.

Stevano Is Revied

When villainous mastermind Stefano DiMera (Joseph Mascolo) died in 2016, there was one man who just couldn’t let him go. (Mascolo died himself later that same year, according to Variety).

In 2019, Stefano’s henchman, the evil doctor Dr. Wilhelm Rolf, was determined to keep his master’s spirit alive and went to great lengths to make that happen. Dr. Rolf implanted a chip with Stefano’s memories into the body of Steve Johnson (Stephen Nichols), transforming him into “Stevano,” according to Soaps. At the same time, Dr. Rolf triggered Hope to once again become Princess Gina and together the two tried to break up one of Salem’s most beloved couples, John Black and Marlena Evans.

As Stefano, Steve even took his own longtime love Kayla hostage and almost killed her, according to Soaps.

Fortunately, Hope and Steve eventually recovered their own personalities and Stefano was left to rest in peace.