Season 8 has a lot to do with Purgatory, the Trials and getting the angels off the trail of the Winchesters. And then we meet the Men of Letters; a group of academics who research and gather information about the supernatural and then share the information with an elite group of hunters. They also cease to exist in the 1950s when they are wiped out by the powerful demon, Abaddon, a knight of Hell. The Winchester boys are connected by blood to this organization and they find this out from their time traveling grandfather, Henry Winchester–who inexplicably pops out of a closet and into Sam and Dean’s motel room in 2013. Family hijinx ensue.
