High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "Pavor Nocturnus" is the fifth episode of the second season of Canadian television series Sanctuary, and is the 18th episode overall. The episode first aired on Syfy in the United States on November 6, 2009. It was written by Damian Kindler and James Thorpe, and was directed by Brenton Spencer. In the episode, Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) awakens in a future where Earth is devastated by a plague that turned all but a handful of the human population into savage zombie-like creatures.