Bart Sells His Soul

"Bart Sells His Soul"
The Simpsons episode
Promotional artwork for the episode
Episode no.	Season 7 Episode 4
Directed by	Wes Archer
Written by	Greg Daniels
Production code	3F02
Original air date	October 8, 1995 (1995-10-08)[1]
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"I am not a lean, mean, spitting machine"
Couch gag	The Simpsons drive to the couch in motorized clown carts.[2]
Commentary	Matt Groening Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein Greg Daniels Wes Archer David Silverman
Episode chronology
← Previous "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily" Next → "Lisa the Vegetarian"
The Simpsons season 7
List of episodes

"Bart Sells His Soul" is the fourth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on October 8, 1995. In the episode, Bart scornfully dismisses the concept of the soul, and to show he is serious in his skepticism he agrees to sell his soul to Milhouse. However, after several strange events make him think he really has lost his soul, he desperately tries to regain it.

"Bart Sells His Soul" was written by Greg Daniels, who was inspired by an experience from his youth where he had purchased a bully's soul. Director Wes Archer and his team of animators visited Chili's for examples to use in Moe's family restaurant. The episode includes cultural references to the 1968 song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly, which is played during the show, and Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, as well as a parody of Judy Blume's 1970 book Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Writers from the fields of religion, philosophy, popular culture, and psychology cited the episode in books discussing The Simpsons and the show's approach to the nature of the soul.

The episode was critically acclaimed and is regarded as one of the series' best. The creative team of The Simpsons puts the episode among the top five best episodes of the series, and series creator Matt Groening cited "Bart Sells His Soul" as one of his favorite episodes. It has been used by secondary schools in religious education courses as a teaching tool.