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.
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.
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.
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.
