According to the Lore

Sam & Dean in 3.08 A Very Supernatural Christmas.

So, changelings can perfectly mimic children. According to lore, they climb in the window, snatch the kid. – Sam Winchester, 3.02 The Kids Are Alright

"According to the Lore" or 'the lore' (folklore) is a saying often said by Sam, Dean and Bobby but it is said by other characters, too.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jared was asked what line Sam says the most and his answer was 'so get this' and 'according to the lore'.

Believe it or not, the phrase 'according to the lore' is used twelve times, in total. Here is an account of every time Sam, or other characters, have said this phrase or 'the lore' throughout the show.

The phrase, 'according to the lore' first appears in 3.02 The Kids Are Alright.

In 11.04 Baby, "according to the lore" or 'the lore' is said more times than any other episode to date.

1.05 Bloody Mary

Sam: Right. I mean there's a lot of folklore about mirrors-that they reveal all your lies, all your secrets, that they're a true reflection of your soul, which is why it's bad luck to break them.

1.06 Skin

Dean: Every culture in the world has a shapeshifter lore. You know, legends of creatures who can transform themselves into animals or other men.

1.11 Scarecrow

Professor: But you said you were interested in local lore?

1.15 The Benders

Sam: Well, he found a lot of local folklore about a dark figure that comes out at night. Grabs people, then vanishes.

1.19 Provenance

Sam: Okay, all right. Well, um, in almost all the lore about haunted paintings it's always the painting's subject that haunts 'em.

1.20 Dead Man's Blood

John: Most vampire lore is crap. A cross won't repel them, sunlight won't kill them, and neither will a stake to the heart.

2.04 Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things

Dean: You're telling me there's no lore on how to smoke 'em.

2.08 Crossroad Blues

Dean: What's the lore on it?

2.13 Houses of the Holy

Sam: Dean, there's ten times as much lore about angels as there is about anything else we've ever hunted.
Dean: Yeah, you know what? There's a ton of lore on unicorns too. In fact, I hear that they, they ride on silver moonbeams, and they shoot rainbows out of their ass.

3.02 The Kids Are Alright

first time 'According to the lore' is used
Sam: So, changelings can perfectly mimic children. According to lore, they climb in the window, snatch the kid.
Later in the episode...
Sam: According to [the] lore, they stash them underground somewhere. I don't know why, but if it's true, the real kids might be out there.

3.03 Bad Day at Black Rock

Sam: Bobby's right. This lore goes way back. Pure Hoodoo. You can't just cut one off any rabbit. Has to be in a cemetery, under a full moon, on a Friday the thirteenth.

3.06 Red Sky at Morning

Dean: What's the lore?

3.08 A Very Supernatural Christmas

Sam: Yeah… I mean, I’m just saying that there’s some version of the anti-Claus in every culture. You got Belsnickel, Krampus, Black Peter. Whatever you want to call it, there’s all sorts of lore.
Dean: So, this is your theory, huh? Santa’s shady brother?
Sam: Well, ah – I’m just saying, that’s what the lore says.
Later in the episode...
Sam: Um… (Looks around) lore says that the anti-Claus will walk with a limp and smell like sweets.
Later in the episode...
Sam: It’s pretty rare and it’s probably the most powerful plant in pagan lore.
Dean: Pagan lore?

3.11 Mystery Spot

Dean: All right, so if it is legit, and that's a big-ass if, what's the lore?
Sam: Well— The lore's pretty frigging nuts, actually. They say these places the magnetic fields are so strong that they can bend spacetime, sending victims no one knows where.

4.02 Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester

Bobby: I got stacks of lore -- Biblical, pre-Biblical. Some of it's in damn cuneiform. It all says an angel can snatch a soul from the pit.

4.04 Metamorphosis

Sam: What if he doesn't hulk out? I did a little homework. Uh, I've been checking out the lore on rougarous.

4.06 Yellow Fever

Bobby: Well, the Buru Buru is born of fear. Hell, it is fear. And the lore says we can kill it with fear.

4.07 It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester

Sam: Halloween lore. People used to wear masks to hide from him, so I gave it a shot.

4.13 After School Special

Sam: Dean, there's lore about spirits possessing people and riding them for miles, then whenever they leave the body, they're bungeed back to their usual haunt.

4.14 Sex and Violence

Bobby: Well, some lore from a dusty Greek poem. Shockingly, it's a little vague.

5.01 Sympathy for the Devil

Sam: There's an old church nearby. Maybe I'll go read some of the lore books there.

5.05 Fallen Idols

Sam: No, actually, uh, there is a ton of lore on famous ghosts. More than the, you know, not-famous kinds. I'm actually surprised we haven't run into one before.

5.07 The Curious Case of Dean Winchester

Bobby: No. There's lore on it. Goes back centuries. Traveling card player pops into town. You beat him, you get your best years back. 'Course, most folks lose.

5.11 Sam, Interrupted

Martin: A mirror. Lore says a wraith will show its true form in a mirror.

6.02 Two and a Half Men

Samuel Campbell: The king shapeshifter. First one who spawned all the others - there's tons of lore about it.
Samuel Campbell: And he said that he could find the baby anywhere. That he could feel it, like there's a connection. That's in the lore, too.

6.04 Weekend at Bobby's

Bobby: I'm selfish? Me? I do everything for you! Everything! You need some lores scrounged up –

6.09 Clap Your Hands If You Believe...

Dean: Research. We’ve got about a century of UFO lore to catch up on, and there’s no time for—What’s up with that guy?

6.12 Like a Virgin

Sam: Great. Back to the lore.
Dean: Which says what? That they live in Middle-Earth?
Sam: No. Caves.
Dean: You're such a nerd.
Later in the episode...
Dean: Fits the lore to a tee.
Dr Visyak: But how? I mean, why? It's been seven hundred years.
Later in the episode...
Dean: Ugh! God. Just when I get used to a smell, I hit a new flavor. Dude, we have been here for hours. There is nothing. I think the lore is off. Hey, what if, uh...What if dragons like nice hotels?

6.19 Mommy Dearest

Bobby: Lore says it works.

7.04 Defending Your Life

Bobby: They identify the God Osiris. Real authoritarian type. He gets ahold of you, he's judge, jury, and executioner. Lore says that he can see directly into the human heart. He weighs the guilt. If he finds more than a feather's worth – boom, you're done.

7.13 The Slice Girls

Sam: There's this whole crazy side to Amazon lore that Professor Morrison didn't even mention.
Later in the episode...
Sam: The lore says they reproduced quickly – as in, after mating, they gave birth within 36 hours.
Professor: At 11:30 at night, it better be. Oh, here's a new twist. It repeats the conventional lore. Amazon warriors mate with males. The males are murdered. Yada, yada. But according to this... It's not the women who do the killing. Instead, a ritual of initiation requires that the child born of the mating process must kill her own father.

7.18 Party On, Garth

Sam: Okay. So, a Shojo is said to roam where there's lots of alcohol. There's lore saying that, back in the old day, if you were plastered enough, you could see one skulking around the breweries in Japan.

7.20 The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo

Dean: And I got nothing from local lore 50 miles in every direction of all of them. I mean, it's like they're just... old dirt. What’s Dick looking for?

7.22 There Will Be Blood

Sam: I'm just saying that the lore doesn't have a single real-life example of Casper the Friendly Ghost. It's all basically poltergeists until a hunter comes along...
Dean: Yeah, well, the lore sucks.

8.13 Everybody Hates Hitler

Sam: Nothing solid. I mean, the lore is all over the place. Uh, according to one legend, um, it can be shut down if you erase one of the letters off its forehead.

8.14 Trial and Error

Sam: I AM smart, and so are you. You're not a grunt, Dean. You're a genius – when it comes to lore, to – you're the best damn hunter I have ever seen – better than me, better than dad. I believe in you, Dean. So, please – please believe in me, too.

8.20 Pac-Man Fever

Sam: Yeah, something about that mark the kid saw rings a bell. Probably have to check the lore, or maybe Dad's journal.

9.15 #thinman

Dean: So, Thinman's stalking folks?
Sam: According to the lore.
Later in the episode...
Ed: Because thousands of people can agree that Thinman is any one thing? The lore changes blog to blog. He's not a Tulpa.
Harry: Well, the lore says that Thinman hangs out by trees, and the woods is where trees hang out. Two kills in town -- local woods is the best bet.

9.18 Meta Fiction

Sam: Yeah. Listen, I got a match, and it's not from the lore... it's from police records. Looks like that symbol you found was spotted at a handful of crime scenes the last couple days, all multiple homicides.

9.21 King of the Damned

Sam: The lore all says the same thing -- you change any one thing in the past, the ripple effect impacts everything that follows.

10.03 Soul Survivor

Sam: Or … You’re just messing with me. Either way, the lore doesn’t say anything about exceptions to the cure.
Dean: “The lore.” Hunters. Men of Letters. What a load of crap it all is! Oh, you got nothing?

10.05 Fan Fiction

Sam: Well, but, you know what ? This flower. I know I've seen it in the lore, somewhere. There's gotta be a connection.
Later in the episode...
Sam: According to the lore, Calliope manifests creatures from the story she's tuned into.

10.08 Hibbing 911

Sam: I mean, how much lore is even left? We've got nothing on the Mark?

10.10 The Hunter Games

Sam: Dean, we have been through all the lore. There’s nothing.
Castiel: This reaches back to the time of creation. It may pre-date the lore. If we had the demon tablet, maybe.

10.11 There's No Place Like Home

Sam: Yeah, maybe. I found this book. It's a lore book -- "The Book of the Damned."

10.12 About a Boy

Sam: Yeah, I do know that, but staying locked up in here, sitting on the ground reading the same lore books over and over and over again, it’s not helping you.

10.18 Book of the Damned

Dean: Uh, okay, you know what? Our -- our friend, Bobby, has a whole bunch of cabins scattered all around, places for hunters to crash. You know, it’s not much, but there’s some gear and lore books, stuff to keep you busy til we get there.

10.20 Angel Heart

Dean: Well, some of the lore says that they, uh, they help people, and some says that they prey on people. So...Keep diggin.

11.04 Baby

In this episode 'the lore' is said more times than in ANY OTHER episode.

Sam: I say, knock yourself out. I'm gonna find a diner, dig into the lore like Cas did, see if anything's ever happened where we're headed.
Dean: "Digging into tho lore." Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
Later in the episode....
Dean: Whatever. I called Cas, told him to look into the lore. What do you got?
Later in the episode...
Dean: It's okay. We've all had a binge. You find anything in the lore?
Castiel: Well, there is a creature that feeds on hearts and blood.
Dean: A were-pyre, you might say? Come on, I know you wanna say it.
Castiel: In the lore, it's referred to a ‘Whisper’.
Dean: The deputy was a Were-pyre. It's all right. Silver bullets worked.
Castiel: No, Dean, listen . . . According to the lore, the timing is off. The next solar eclipse in North America is years away. It can't be a --
Dean: Well, whatever it is, silver slows it down. I, uh, I'm sending you a picture right now . . . Of its fangs. I-I've never seen anything like it. See if there's a match in the lore, would ya?
Castiel: Right, you place a coin in a Nachzehrer's mouth, then sever their head, and that will kill them. And according to the lore, if you kill the pack's Alpha, everyone they've turned will revert back to human form.

11.06 Our Little World

Sam: I'll look into the lore.

11.07 Plush

Sam: Right. Oh, this is everything Cas dug up in Gaza, every last bit of prebiblical lore.

11.08 Just My Imagination

Sam: In Romanian lore, Zanna are creatures who guide and protect lost children. Zanna intentionally appear as figments of a child’s imagination, allowing the child to move on with confidence once guidance is no longer necessary. Maybe Sully’s telling the truth.
Later in the episode...
Sam: Well, Dean, I didn’t think he WAS. You saw the lore book too, I mean, maybe when I was nine years old I thought he was real, but I grew up. Or grew out of it.

11.11 Into the Mystic

Dean: The ones tied to fairy lore are. They cry out as a warning to a victim's impending death.
Later in the episode...
Dean: He was looking for lore on the Darkness. Something a little off about him, too.

11.12 Don't You Forget About Me

Jody: Yeah… she started college, but she hasn't been to classes for weeks. She doesn't have any friends. She spends all her time trolling for cases, and reading lore.

11.13 Love Hurts

Sam: (laughs) I think I’ll pass. I’m gonna go hit the lore, but you go be you.
Dean: Dean: What does the lore say?
Sam: There is no lore. My best guess is that this is the white witch’s home cooking.

11.14 The Vessel

Sam: So, I've been looking outside the lore in history. And I found this, the Vichy Memorandems. They were Nazi communications that puzzle historians to this day. And they speak of a super weapon obtained by the Ahnenerbe, said to be strong enough to win the war.
Later in the episode...
Sam: No. We can help. There's gotta be something in magic or angel lore. Some way to clear the sigils from the outside. Cas, don't worry. We'll bring him back.

11.15 Beyond the Mat

Dean: We’ve done nothing but mainline lore for a week, okay?

11.16 Safe House

Bobby: According to the lore, they can't be killed. But I'm pretty sure they can be trapped. I think I've faced one of these Soul Eaters before.

11.19 The Chitters

Sam: We couldn’t find any lore on ‘em.

12.01 Keep Calm and Carry On

Toni: But my people? We plan ahead. We study lore, and we use it against our enemies. Back home, every thoroughfare, every bridge, every dock, every airport has been warded.

12.03 The Foundry

Dean: Mylings?
Sam: Yeah, from Scandinavian lore. Uh, children's spirits, vengeful ones. "Their cries to help lure adults to their death."
Mary: Anything about frozen hearts?
Sam: Uh, no, not yet. But this is just from old, incomplete folk accounts. We all know the lore isn't always 100%.

12.09 First Blood

Mick: Now, if you work with us, you’ll have support, in every sense of the word. You need lore? Our libraries are the biggest and the best.

12.11 Regarding Dean

Sam: Okay, think hard. What happened next? I went to hit the lore. You went out for a burger. So...

12.16 Ladies Drink Free

Mick: Kendricks is the largest collection of occult lore in the world.
Sam: What? This lore dates back to the 16th century?
Later in the episode...
Sam: I read through more of Mick's lore books.

12.18 The Memory Remains

Sam: I’m not sure. I mean, there's tons of human-animal hybrid lore dating back all the way to ancient Egypt.
Later in the episode...
Sam: Yeah. Okay, so we know Kelly got pregnant sometime in early December. According to the lore, Nephilim don't need 9 months to get to full term, so I think she will be giving birth around May 18th.

12.22 Who We Are

Sam: Wait a second, guys. We're in a giant vault loaded down with – with occult books and lore. There's gotta be something somewhere in here – an item or a spell – some hoodoo that can reverse the lockdown.

12.23 All Along the Watchtower

Sam: All right, look, we know Kelly's gonna have that kid soon. Like, really soon. And according to the lore, whenever a nephilim is born, there are signs.

13.02 The Rising Son

Sam: I—I don’t. No. But the, uh, the lore says, quote, “A Nephilim becomes more powerful than the angel who sired it.” In this case, the sire is an archangel. So…

13.08 The Scorpion and the Frog

Sam: I talked to Cass. He's got nothing. It's like– [sighs] We gotta find something in the lore or wait for Jack to make a mistake.
Later in the episode...
Sam: The spell… I think it checks out. I put together a rough translation. Um, it's Canaanite. Dates back to the time of King Solomon, who apparently commissioned it to keep tabs on the Queen of Sheba, who, according to the lore, was half-angel.

13.09 The Bad Place

Sam: So the lore on dreamwalking is pretty inconsistent. Uh, there are stories about it across numerous Native Amer–

13.13 Devil's Bargain

Ketch: You’ll forgive me, but my reading of the lore suggests that the blade is only effective if wielded by an archangel.

13.15 A Most Holy Man

Sam: Well, I’ve been digging through the lore, but so far, nothing.

13.22 Exodus

Sam: My brother and I...back home we’re sitting on the biggest collection of lore and--and weapons in our world.

14.02 Gods and Monsters

Castiel: Looks like about..two centuries of biblical lore. Light reading.

14.05 Nightmare Logic

Sam: Yeah, but a war isn't Hunting. These people need, uh, lore and weapons and tips and backup, and --

14.08 Byzantium

Sam: I should have tried harder. You know, I mean, everything we got-- the spells, the lore-- what good is any of it if we couldn't even save him?
Later in the episode...
Sam: That's not-- Dean, listen, last night, after about whiskey number five, it hit me. I mean, we've torn through all the lore looking for a way to cure Jack, right? But we've never looked through Kevin's angel tablet translations.
Sam: Yeah. The lore was pretty clear-- Anubis can be bound in a ring of foinikélaio.

14.13 Lebanon

Sam: Uh, the, uh… the lore is pretty clear. We destroy the pearl, and it unwinds all of this. Dad goes back… and so will everything else.

14.14 Ouroboros

Rowena: Uh some lore says that a gorgon can tell people's fates, and, by consuming human eyes, they may "glimpse the future.
Maggie: According to the lore, the only way to kill a gorgon is by cutting off its head with a silver blade.

14.16 Don't Go in the Woods

Sam: I mean, according to the lore, Kohonta get so starving, they spit up stomach acid.
Dean: Mmm. Gross.
Later in the episode...
Dean: All right. How do we kill it?
Sam: Well, here's the thing. The lore doesn't really specify.

14.17 Game Night

Castiel: But to do so, he-- he used magic that consumed his soul. Not all of it, I hope, but we just don't know how much Jack has left. And I've been looking through all the lore, and it all says the same thing.