Top 20 Gruesome Walking Dead Deaths by Zombies

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 Gruesome Walking Dead Deaths by Zombies. For this list, we’ll be looking at the most violent and horrific deaths that came at the hands or teeth of walkers. If you haven’t seen the entire show, beware of major spoilers ahead. Which “Walking Dead” zombie death gave you nightmares? Let us know in the comments.

#20: Shiva

During the war against the Saviors, King Ezekiel gets injured. Things take an even worse turn when the group is cornered by walkers. The king tries to convince his friends to save themselves when his loyal tiger springs to the rescue. While Shiva is able to deflect the walkers from Ezekiel, the feline is unable to overcome all the undead that start to surround her. We all watch helplessly as Shiva is left with no way out and mercilessly mauled. The show tries to make it easy on viewers by cutting away just before the gory details are seen. However, the blood trail left by Shiva’s demise doesn’t leave much to the imagination

#19: Frances

Whisperer leader Alpha’s lack of empathy leads to her demanding that a follower named Frances abandon her child among walkers. Although the young one is rescued by the heroes, the mom believes she’s lost him. Her trauma leads to a complete breakdown. After Frances snaps, she attacks Alpha when the Whisperers are in the middle of another herd of walkers. Unfortunately for her, Gamma intervenes and saves the leader. Frances is then thrown into the middle of the pack to become an early morning breakfast for the surrounding walkers. The amount of biters that made her a snack made it look like a particularly painful death.

#18: Tina

When Tina, Sherry, and Dwight escape from the Saviors, they encounter Daryl in a forest along with a greenhouse that’s burned down. Tina recognizes two bodies belonging to people she once knew and decides to pay her respects. Unfortunately, the zombies don’t care about her warm sentiments. They break through the melted glass they’re encased in to attack her. Taken by surprise, Tina trips and falls between the walkers. They both gnaw into her before the others can help. Not only does she scream in agony, but she passes away pretty quickly from a combination of blood loss and infection. It was a quick and brutal way to go.

#17: David

There are a lot of casualties when the Alexandrians attempt to lure a gigantic herd of walkers away from their community. But David faces one of the worst fates. After getting a walker bite, the Alexandrian just hoped he would survive long enough to see his wife one last time. But that wish never comes true. While trying to climb a fence away from a roaming group of undead, David is dragged into the crowd. His friends can do nothing as he’s violently devoured before their eyes. Although not all the walkers manage to get a taste due to the large herd, that's a small consolation for David. He’s eaten alive in agonizing fashion while pressed against a fence.

#16: Beatrice

The age-old technique of using walker guts to move through a horde is far from a bulletproof technique. Beatrice knows this lesson all too well. While trying to sneak through a huge crowd of zombies while camouflaged, Beatrice and Carol successfully defeat a Whisperer. However, their enemy doesn’t go down alone. The whisperer stabs Beatrice and causes the heroine to scream. As a result, the walkers see through the camouflage and atack. To her credit, Beatrice goes down bravely. But that doesn’t spare her from a truly awful demise. Beatrice is literally torn apart by walkers looking for a feast. We were left hoping that she went quickly when she became a human entree.

#15: Rick's Horse

Since there wasn’t much gas for cars around after the apocalypse, Rick decides to ride a horse into the city. He quickly realizes that galloping into a city wasn’t the smartest thing to do when the pair stumbles upon hundreds of walkers. Although Rick escapes the crowd, the horse meets its end when the zombies overwhelm it. The animal unfortunately can’t make its way out of the bad situation. As Rick gets away, the walkers waste no time digging into the horse. We still feel bad for the innocent creature who definitely didn’t deserve such a terrible death.

#14: Feral Humans

The prolonged nature of the zombie apocalypse turns a group of survivors into feral humans who develop a taste for their own kind. Connie and Virgil are hunted by these antagonists within a house until making a decisive move. After adding a little undead camouflage, the door to the outside world is opened. The walkers immediately pounce on the ferals. Despite being primal and animalistic, the villains can’t fight back against their undead enemies. The feral humans are quickly overwhelmed by a horde and eaten alive by very hungry walkers. The savagery on display is a perfect way to portray how the hunters became the hunted. In the end, this kill leaves no doubt left of who the top predator is in the zombie apocalypse.

#13: Jimmy

While they say nice guys finish last, they’re definitely first on the menu when it comes to zombie kills. Even though Jimmy was a kind and hardworking kid, he still got a gruesome ending. He met his demise while saving Rick and Carl from walkers. After the farm is overrun by the undead, Jimmy drives Dale’s RV to the barn for the father-son pair to jump on. Unfortunately, the crowd forces themselves inside the RV before he can react. One walker takes a particular interest in the young man’s neck to ensure there’s no coming back from this attack. Rick and Carl can only watch in horror from the outside as the horde finishes Jimmy off.

#12: Prison Victims

The spread of flu in the prison threatens to destroy the community Rick has built there because the lack of treatment makes this illness fatal. When Young Patrick succumbs to the disease on his own one night, his death proves to be the undoing of many others. After he’s reanimated, the young walker starts a feeding frenzy by biting into an unassuming and sleeping victim. The guy Patrick chomped on eventually rises to feed too. This awful chain reaction leads to a series of brutal deaths in short succession. And thanks to incredibly realistic effects, the victims look like they suffered unbearable fates. Even the strongest of hearts will have difficulty watching this blood-filled nightmare in the prison.

#11: Beta

Alpha’s death at the hands of Negan causes Beta to become absolutely unhinged in his quest to seek revenge. When the loyal whisperer spots the man responsible, the villain loses his mind. The vengeful Beta tries to eliminate Negan for causing Alpha’s demise. However, Daryl steps in and uses two knives to relieve Beta of his eyes. The villain somehow survives the sharp attack and starts hallucinating. As Beta descends into a delirious state, he decides to welcome the walkers that proceed to devour him. Although the villain may have been smiling, having that many walkers jump in to eat him right after losing his eyes couldn’t have felt anything less than agonizing. Even hardcore survivors like Daryl and Negan are shocked by Beta’s demise.

#10: Mary

Sometimes, the implication of a zombie death can be greater nightmare fuel than actually seeing it. Mary’s death is a brutal example of an unseen horror. When she was a resident of the town of Terminus, she tried to help turn Rick’s group into living snacks. But Mary’s plans are interrupted when she comes face to face with a determined Carol. After losing the fight, the Terminus resident is shot in the leg. But Carol isn’t done. Instead of finishing her enemy off, she opens the door for walkers to come in and feast on the defenseless Mary. While we don’t actually see the attack, the villain’s screams let us know that she was in a ton of pain. It’s ironic that someone who lured humans in to make them into meals goes out by being eaten by the undead.

#9: Amy

A calm night for the Atlanta camp inhabitants turns into a horror show when they’re all attacked by roaming walkers. While people like Ed Peletier die in horrific ways, Andrea’s sister Amy arguably got the worst ending of all. An unaware Amy gets her arm munched on by a sneaky walker. But her misery doesn’t end there. After getting a taste for Amy, the walker goes on to sink his teeth into her neck. Despite her injuries, she still manages to stay alive and screams out of a mix of fear and extreme pain before passing away. The sweet Amy didn’t deserve such a harsh death. But that’s the harsh reality of the zombie apocalypse.

#8: Caesar Martinez

After falling out with the Governor, Martinez allows his old boss to join a new group. But the two really should’ve kept their distance. When Martinez suggests that the two of them should share leadership, he’s hit with a cheap shot from the Governor. The stunned victim is then kicked off an RV and dragged to a pit filled with walkers. As if all that wasn’t bad enough, Martinez is sent in headfirst to that undead hole headfirst. The unlucky man has to die screaming as the members of the pit eat him alive. Maybe Martinez could’ve avoided this grim fate if he never started talking about leadership.

#7: Theodore Douglas [AKA T-Dog]

When walkers overwhelm the prison, T-Dog tries to fight them back. Unfortunately, his heroic actions are rewarded by a walker taking a huge and gnarly bite out of his shoulder. T-Dog uses his remaining time to try to help Carol to safety. However, his plans are seemingly dashed when they come across more zombies. But instead of backing down, T-Dog charges at the walkers and holds them back to give Carol the chance to flee. The merciless walkers tear into him as his agonizing screams echo in the dark prison. By the time Rick and the others find T-Dog, there’s almost not enough left of him to bury.

#6: Jared

Jared was a despicable Savior who took particular pleasure in tormenting people like Morgan to get his kicks. So, it was satisfying to see the villain finally get his comeuppance. After trapping Morgan, the hero turns the tables on Jared. The antagonist is trapped behind a gate as walkers approach him. When Jared tries to get out, Morgan holds him in place as the undead come to feast. Jared’s pleas for Morgan to let go are completely ignored as the hungry walkers devour the villain peace by peace. The hero doesn’t let go until Jared’s dragged to the floor. Although deaths on the show aren’t always fair, the villain 100 percent had this demise coming.

#5: Paula

Paula is built up as a tough and capable lieutenant of the Savior group. However, she made a huge tactical error when she decided to capture Carol. After the heroine gets a gun, she struggles to kill the Savior. This inspires Paula to try and get the weapon from Carol. During the struggle, the Savior gets thrown onto a sharp pipe. Before she can even comprehend the pain of the impalement, a walker comes to munch on her face. It’s unclear whether the pipe injury or the walker's bites were the most painful part. However, we’re certain that Paula screamed bloody murder when it was all happening. This terrible death is so hard to watch that even Carol seems sickened by it.

#4: Otis

Otis and Shane’s team-up to gather medicine for Carl hits a snag when they’re confronted by a herd of walkers. Although they evade their pursuers for some time, it becomes clear that they don’t have enough bullets to take them all down. Seeing no other option, Shane apologizes before shooting Otis in the leg. The gunshot victim tries to fight back to no avail. Eventually, Otis is left as both walker food and a big enough distraction for Shane to get away. The walkers waste no time feasting on the live bait. We could only gasp in shock as Otis was torn apart by the hungry herd. Since this horrifying death went hand-in-hand with a brutal betrayal, it felt more painful than the average kill.

#3: Dale Horvath

The circumstances behind Dale’s demise stick out because he never gets bit. While patrolling the farm, he is ambushed by a walker Carl lured to the farm. During the struggle, Dale doesn’t manage to protect his stomach. The walker takes the opportunity to dig into the man’s body. Unfortunately, too many of Dale’s insides end up outside of hi,. What makes this death even more painful is the fact that Dale still doesn’t perish from his wounds. He has to whimper in anguish as his friends debate about what to do. After realizing that Dale’s wounds are far too severe to treat, he’s put down out of mercy.

#2: The Anderson Family

While trying to sneak through a horde of walkers with Rick’s group, Sam’s cries cause him to be instantly swarmed by walkers. He can only let a blood curdling scream as they take him out. When his mother Jessie sees her son go, she starts screaming and gets consumed as well. The trifecta of Anderson deaths are completed when Jessie’s son Ron attempts to take his rage out on Rick. Before the angry orphan can shoot, Michonne stabs him. It’s unclear if Ron dies from the stab wound or walkers. But even if the undead weren’t the cause of his death, Jessie and Sam definitely deserve to be remembered for their devastating demises.

#1: Noah

No matter how much time passes, this death still hurts the fanbase – though not as much as it hurt Noah. While on a supply run, Aiden Monroe makes a stupid decision that lands him and his friends in hot water. He succumbs to walkers quickly in a grisly demise that’s impossible to forget. (XREF) But Aiden’s death starts looking like a nice stroll on the beach by the end of the story. After the cowardly Nicholas exposes two heroes to walkers, Noah’s dragged behind a revolving door with dozens of walkers. Glenn is forced to watch as his friend is ripped apart with horrifying and realistic detail. The kind Noah didn’t deserve to endure what was arguably the most hellish death in “Walking Dead” history.