User:Schwab444/American Horror Story

 Real life American horror stories built into each season: 

Murder House: In the first season of AHS there are two events the show portrays that are based off real life. The first is the Columbine school shooting. The school shooting in this season is in reference to Columbine, one of the most well known school shootings. There is one reference in the show where the shooter asks a girl if she believes in God, and she said yes and is then shot. This is something that happened during the real shooting. After the real shooting it was rumored one of the groups the real shooters targeted was Christians. Another reference the show makes is the Black Dahlia case. The Black Dahlia was a real murder in the 1940s where a young woman was found dumped in the bushes with her body cut in half and a Glasgow smile cut into her face. There is a flashback in this show to the 1940s and it shows this happening to one of the characters.

Asylum: In this season the character Lana Winters, who's a journalist and reporter is partially based on the real life reporter Nellie Bly. Lana goes to the insane asylum hoping to expose them for the mistreatment of patients and gets committed. Nellie Bly committed herself undercover to an insane asylum to learn more about patients and then exposed the asylum for how they treat everyone there. Another character that is based off someone else is the Asylum doctor, Dr. Arden. He cuts up and experiments on the asylum patients, the show also says that he has Nazi connections. This leads people to believe his character was inspired by the infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.

Coven: One of the most sinister characters based on a real life person is portrayed in season 3. The character Madame LaLaurie is based off a real woman from the 1800s. Delphine LaLaurie was an upper-class socialite who owned many slaves and was a well known sadist. She had a torture chamber for the slaves where she tortured them for fun which usually resulted in their death. Things like this are shown in the show and despite the fact they used her real name, not many people know this history and are able to make that connection.

Freak Show: The serial killer clown Twisty in this season is inspired by the real life serial killer John Wayne Gacy. This is because John Wayne Gacy dressed up as a clown when he committed his killings. The conjoined twins in this season, Dot and Bette, were also based on real life people. Violet and daisy Hilton were real life conjoined twins. Similar to Dot and Bette, they were also performers.

Hotel: This season shows many famous serial killers, Jeffrey Dahmer, The Zodiac, John Wayne Gacy, Richard Ramirez, and Aileen Wuornos. These are all obvious because the show uses their real names and doesn't base characters off them, the show just has them as characters for an episode and even casts them to look very similar. The one serial killer the show does base a character on is H.H. Holmes. James Patrick March is the founder of the murder Hotel where the season takes place. H.H. Holmes created a real murder hotel that he used to kill people and get away with it. Since the show does not name him directly you wouldn't know James Patrick March is based on him unless you already know about H.H. Holmes.

Roanoke: This season is the most obviously historical, since the name of the season is Roanoke. The lost colony of Roanoke is an old colony that seems to have one day disappeared. Historians have made assumptions on what happened to them, but nobody knows for sure. This season is based around that history.

Cult: This is a season that everyone understands the reference and inspiration of since it happened only recently. There is no hidden meaning on what this season is. Cult is based on the real events of the 2016 Trump vs Hillary election and the clown sightings and scaring going on at the time. However, the show takes it farther than what happened in real life to up the horror.

1984: 1984 takes inspiration from the real serial killer Richard Ramirez, also known as the night stalker. The show makes him look like the real person and has the same beliefs. You seem him talk about how he worships Satan, as the real night stalker was a satanist. This season is also a tribute to all the 80s summer slasher films.

NYC: NYC has two plots going at once. One is more regular serial killer based while the other plot, this mysterious disease going around and killing gay people seems to be supernatural throughout the entire show since no one seems to know much about it. In the end of the season, it's revealed the mystery disease was aids. This season's plot revolves around the aids pandemic and the mistreatment of gay people in the 80s. It shows how no one cared enough to help the community and how ridiculed they were.

Apocalypse, Double Feature, Delicate, are not based on real life occurrences.

West, T. (2023). The Real Inspirations Behind All 11 Seasons Of American Horror Story (screenrant.com) Screenrant.

(2023). Columbine High School Shooting: Victims & Killers | HISTORY. History.