Soap operas are known for having wild storylines. Amnesia, long lost siblings, and people returning from the dead routinely happen and no one bats an eyelash. All soaps use these plot devices, but General Hospital has perfected them.

Over the years, GH has mastered the art of taking regular soap opera storylines and putting the craziest spin possible on them. In Port Charles characters don’t just come back from the dead, they also get plastic surgery, then find out they have someone else’s memories. After 56 years on the air, these are General Hospital’s 10 craziest storylines. 

NED IS EDDIE MAINE

Ned Quartermaine has always done what his family expected of him, except for the time he decided to become a rock star. He secretly took on the name Eddie Maine to play rock music for manager Lois Cerullo. He and Lois fell in love and got married, with Ned keeping up the Eddie Maine charade.

While he was married to Lois, he also married Katherine Bell, because she was blackmailing his family. Obviously, their marriage wasn’t legal, but only Ned knew that and things got crazy. On the surface, it may not sound that wild, but the scenes devolved into something out of a wacky Three’s Company mix up.

ALAN HAUNTS TRACY

During the Metro Court hostage crisis, Alan suffered a heart attack, which sadly, led to his death. Fans were upset at the senseless loss of a longtime favorite and demanded his return. The show compromised by bringing him back as a ghost that haunted his sister Tracy.

Tracy had forged Alan’s will so that his estate would go to her and not his grandchildren. He responded by relentlessly haunting her until she made things right. As happy as we were to see Stuart Damon back on the show, the whole thing went on way too long.

JASON QUARTERMAINE BECOMES JASON MORGAN

Jason Quartermaine was the golden boy of the town’s richest family. He was a good son, who had plans to become a doctor like his parents. That all changed when his alcoholic brother AJ caused a car accident that gave Jason brain damage.

When he woke up, Jason had no memory of his previous life. Fed up with his family pushing him to be his former self, he moved out, took the name Morgan and began working for Sonny. We love Jason Morgan, and this was a great story for all involved, but it still hits the edge of what we can believably buy, even by soap standards.

FRANCO IS OBSESSED WITH JASON

When James Franco decided to guest star on a soap opera, he joined General Hospital as artist/serial killer Franco. At first, his character was just thought to be an eccentric, artistic type, but then it quickly became clear he was just evil.

He developed an obsession with Jason Morgan and set out to terrorize him and his family. Franco’s over the top portrayal of his character’s reprehensible behavior grew uncomfortable and hard to watch. The character returned with a different actor playing him, had a brain tumor removed, and is now considered a regular citizen of Port Charles.

RIC HOLDS CARLY HOSTAGE

Ric Lansing came to town with one plan; revenge against his half brother Sonny Corinthos. During this time, he married Elizabeth Webber. When she had a miscarriage, Ric kidnapped Sonny’s pregnant wife Carly. He held her in a secret room in his house, with plans to steal her baby.

Carly was missing for months, with Sonny and Jason thinking she was taken by mob enemy Alcazar. Somehow, while all this was happening under her roof, Elizabeth never suspected anything. When they finally figured Ric was behind it, Carly was then truly kidnapped by Alcazar, which started a whole new round of drama.

LUKE BECOMES A BAD GUY

Luke Spencer has never been considered a “good guy.” However, he’s saved the day quite a few times, which makes him a hero in the soap world. In 2014, things went wrong when Luke started acting completely out of character and was revealed as the head of the Jerome family drug ring. 

This was all so out of nowhere, viewers assumed it wasn’t really Luke. Later on, it was revealed that Luke suffered a breakdown and had dissociative identity disorder. Despite a tour de force performance from Anthony Geary, this storyline just never felt right, as there had been no previous hints at Luke having any other personalities.

MIKKOS TRIES TO FREEZE THE WORLD

In the early ‘80s, General Hospital was known as as the adventure soap, as many storylines revolved around treasure hunts and spy drama. One of these adventures had Mikkos Cassadine using the Ice Princess diamond in his weather machine, so he could freeze the world.

Mikkos wanted to take over the world, planning to blackmail the rest of the planet after he froze Port Charles. Fortunately, he was stopped by Luke, Laura, and Robert, in the process becoming a victim of his own freezing machine. This led to Helena cursing Luke and Laura, leading to the birth of the Spencer/Cassadine feud. 

STAVROS CASSADINE IS UNFROZEN

Stavros Cassadine was just as crazy as the rest of his family, becoming obsessed with Laura Spencer. He kidnapped and took her to his family’s private island, eventually perishing when he fell down a flight of stairs during a fight with Luke.

After it was revealed that Laura secretly gave birth to Nikolas during her captivity, Helena decided to get back at Luke by revealing that Stavros was actually alive. She had him cryogenically frozen, then revived him to enact her revenge. People come back from the dead all the time, but this was a longtime confirmed death that made no sense and furthered no plots.

DREW HAS JASON’S MEMORIES

When Steve Burton decided to leave General Hospital, Jason Morgan was seemingly killed off. However, when soap vet Billy Miller joined the cast, he was soon revealed to be a new Jason with amnesia and plastic surgery.

Things got complicated when Burton returned and Miller’s character was actually Jason’s long lost twin brother Drew, who was implanted with Jason’s memories. Now Drew only remembers Jason’s life and has no memories of his own. It was the most convoluted way of facilitating a return we’ve ever seen.

ROBIN’S ALIEN FRIEND CASEY

Robin Scorpio, played by Kimberly McCullough, has been on the show since the character was 5 years old, making her a longtime fan favorite. One of her most memorable stories came when she befriended an alien named Casey. He was from the planet Lumina and needed to find a special crystal so he could go home.

With help from her superspy mom, Anna, and Frisco Jones, Robin got the crystal back from the evil Faison, and Casey made it home. This isn’t just the craziest thing to happen on General Hospital, it’s widely considered one of the most infamous stories in soap history. Thankfully, it’s one of those things everyone pretends never happened.