“ | 'Course I know it's you, Grumpy! Same way I know that's a demon, that poor girl's Anna, and that you've been eyeing my rack. | ” |
— Pamela
in Heaven and Hell |
Pamela Barnes was a psychic whom hunters enlisted for help or to find out information. She was friends with Bobby Singer, who introduced her to Sam and Dean Winchester in Lazarus Rising. She was permanently blinded when she looked upon Castiel's true form during a séance. Nevertheless, she continued to assist Sam and Dean when they called upon her, until her death at the end of Death Takes A Holiday. In the afterlife, her soul went to Heaven where she became friends with Ash.
History[]
Background[]
Pamela is a psychic who at some point, met and befriended Bobby Singer. He refers to her as the "best damn psychic in the state". She has a tattoo on her lower back that says "Jesse Forever" although she tells Dean "it wasn't forever".
Season 4[]
Pamela helped Dean and Sam discover what pulled Dean out of Hell in Lazarus Rising. While doing this, the angel Castiel warned her not to press any further. Pamela ignored his warnings and kept going anyway, and finally caught a glimpse of the mysterious being. As a result, her eyes were seared from their sockets, leaving her permanently blind and a bit petulant when it came to angels in general.
She has displayed a strong sexual attraction to Dean, and flirted with Sam, especially about the firmness of his "ass" ("You can bounce a nickel off that thing!") and his "eyeballing her rack".
After losing her eyes, Pamela had them replaced with white plastic balls, which she joked made her look "extra psychic," and wore sunglasses. In Heaven and Hell, she returned to help discover the identity of Anna Milton's "real" father. Using hypnosis, she helped Anna recover her memories of her past life as a fallen angel. Still a bit bitter about her eyesight, she insisted Dean take her back home and away from all the "angel business".
Pamela returned again at the request of the Winchester brothers in Death Takes A Holiday. In order to prevent one of the 66 Seals from being broken, they needed to enter the astral plane, for which they needed the help of a psychic. Although not happy to be hauled back into what she described as their "angel-demon, Soc-Greaser crap," Pamela reluctantly agreed to use the Astral Projection Spell to help Sam and Dean in their endeavor.
When the demons discovered their plans, they attempted to kill the Winchesters' vacant bodies, which Pamela was guarding. As she fought to protect them, the demon wounded her mortally, but not before she was able to summon Sam back to his body and awaken him. After Sam banished the demon to Hell with his powers, Pamela refused to go to a hospital and instead returned Dean to his body and resigned herself to death, cursing Bobby Singer for ever bringing them to her doorstep. As she lay dying, she used the last of her strength to privately tell Sam that she caught a glimpse of his power, and to warn him that nothing good would ever come from it.
Sam and Dean later brought up Pamela in On The Head Of A Pin where they mentioned coming from her funeral and Dean reminded Castiel of him burning out her eyes. Castiel grew self-conscious of his actions since it was unintentional.
Season 5[]
Pamela returns in Dark Side of the Moon, where she is one of the Winchesters' old friends they visit while in Heaven. Ash brought her to his personal Heaven and the Winchesters are shocked to see her again. Her sight restored, she reveals that she is very happy in Heaven and that despite the circumstances of her death, she still cares for the Winchester brothers as dear friends.
Flirtatious as ever, Pamela meets the brothers in a Heavenly representation of the Roadhouse after Ash helps them escape from Zachariah. Pamela tells Dean that saying yes to Michael really is not the horrible choice he believes it will be, as many of the people killed will come to Heaven, where they will be happy and at peace, as she is. Ash helps the Winchesters find a way to the edge of Heaven's central garden, and the two of them bid them farewell, giving Dean a kiss and comments that they'll one day meet again.
Season 7[]
In The Mentalists, when Sam and Dean are in Lily Dale, a town full of psychics, some real, some fake, Dean mentions Pamela, saying, "When was the last time we saw a real psychic? Pamela? Missouri?"
Season 14[]
In Nihilism, when Dean is trapped in his mind by Michael, he owns a bar with Pamela where they live in a looped existence where a realtor tries to get Dean to sell the bar, the two have drinks and then fight off two revenge-seeking vampires. After getting into Dean's mind, Sam and Castiel are shocked to find Pamela as she is long-since dead. After Dean is reminded that Pamela was blinded by seeing Castiel's true form, Pamela suddenly becomes blind after Dean experiences a flashback of it before Sam reminds Dean that Pamela was killed by a demon. Dean remembers Pamela's death and Pamela, having only been a complex figment of Dean's imagination, disappears from the bar.
Season 15[]
In Inherit the Earth, Pamela appears in the flashback sequence at the end.
Personality[]
Pamela was a funny, witty-tongued and an unapologetic flirt, who regularly both displayed a strong sexual attraction towards both Dean and Sam. When helping the Winchesters out, she grew somewhat embittered towards matters concerning angels after losing her eyes and began to grow sick of Sam and Dean pulling her back into the angel-demon business. She still went through with helping the boys out however she could, showing just how loyal she was. Pamela could also be friendly and caring to scared new people, as she initially was with Anna, though becoming a bit more cold after Anna's memories and true identity as an angel were unearthed.
Pamela showed when she was dying that she was slightly nihilistic and didn't believe there was any better place waiting for the dead in the afterlife while accepting that "everyone has to go sometime." However, after her death, Pamela is now much happier and optimistic in Heaven, enjoying her afterlife in her own personal Heaven, even suggesting to Dean that the Apocalypse might not be such a bad thing if everyone who dies in it comes to Heaven.
Powers and Abilities[]
Pamela was a very knowledgeable psychic who was skilled at various practices, including the use of Ouija boards, séances, and hypnosis. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she had a genuine sixth sense and used real occult methods to gain information. Bobby claimed that she was the best psychic in the state she lived in.
- Spell Casting - Pamela had a notable knowledge of spell-work. She used a ritual in "Lazarus Rising" to psychically contact and glimpse the entity responsible for pulling Dean out of Hell, and also knew a spell to help Sam and Dean use astral projection, and later restore them to their bodies.
- Astral projection - Pamela helped Sam and Dean to project their consciousnesses outside of their bodies, making them ghosts. She also knew a spell to restore them to their bodies.
- Clairsentience - Despite being blind, Pamela displayed uncanny knowledge of her surroundings due to her psychic abilities. She could identify where people around her were, who they were, and what they were doing. She also sensed demonic presences; in "Heaven and Hell", she knew that Ruby was a demon without having to be told, and also felt the presence of a demon in the hotel room she was in in "Death Takes A Holiday". Furthermore, when Sam exorcised the demon in front of her using his powers, she was able to tell that he had demon blood inside of him.
- Hypnosis - She can hypnotize individuals in order to help them access unconscious feelings and repressed memories. Whether she hypnotizes using her powers, or just the normal psychotherapeutic method, is not clear.
- Astral Perception - Although she might not endure the angels true form, she was still able to hear their voice (which Dean wasn't) as she stated that Castiel whispered his name to her.
- Mediumship - Pamela is capable of communicating with the dead. She got in touch with a dozen spirits in order to find out who brought Dean back to life or why.
Weaknesses[]
- Mortality - As a human, Pamela was mortal and vulnerable to injuries and death.
Appearances[]
- Season 4
- Lazarus Rising
- Heaven and Hell
- Death Takes A Holiday
- On The Head Of A Pin (mentioned only)
- Season 5
- Season 7
- Defending Your Life (flashback only)
- The Mentalists (mentioned only)
- Season 14
- Nihilism (manifestation)
- Season 15
- Inherit the Earth (flashback only)
- Bobby Singer's Guide to Hunting (non-canon, mentioned only)