67 Fun Facts About American Horror Story

Who created American Horror Story?

Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk created the anthology for FX in 2011, pitching it as the dark opposite of the upbeat series they were then running together.

On which network did American Horror Story premiere in October 2011?

American Horror Story premiered on FX on 5 October 2011, drawing about 3.2 million viewers; the network renewed it for a second season within the month.

What is the subtitle of the first season of American Horror Story?

The first season gained the subtitle Murder House only retroactively, once Asylum established the anthology format; on air in 2011 it was simply called American Horror Story.

The Harmon family in season one moves to Los Angeles from which city?

The Harmons leave Boston for Los Angeles after Vivien's miscarriage and Ben's affair with a student, hoping a fresh start in the old house will save their marriage.

What is Ben Harmon's profession in season one?

Ben Harmon is a psychiatrist who sees patients in the house's study, which is how one troubled teenage patient becomes entangled with his daughter Violet.

Evan Peters plays which troubled teenager in season one?

Evan Peters plays Tate Langdon, the ghost of a teenage school shooter who becomes Violet Harmon's boyfriend; Peters returned as Kit Walker in Asylum and Kyle Spencer in Coven.

Which famous real-life murder case is depicted in season one's episode 'Spooky Little Girl'?

'Spooky Little Girl' reimagines the Black Dahlia case: Mena Suvari plays Elizabeth Short, who in the show's telling died in a dentist's chair inside the house in 1947; her real body was found in a Leimert Park lot that January.

Season one was shot on location at which historic Los Angeles house?

The 1908 house was designed by architect Alfred Rosenheim, and later owners sued over the fans it attracted.

The Rubber Man suit in season one was originally bought by which character?

Zachary Quinto's Chad bought the fetish suit to spice up his relationship, before Tate put it to darker use.

Season two, Asylum, is set in which year?

Asylum's main story unfolds in 1964 at Briarcliff Manor, a fictional Massachusetts institution run by the Catholic Church, with framing scenes set in 2012.

Which character does Jessica Lange play in Asylum?

Jessica Lange plays Sister Jude Martin, the whisky-loving nun who runs Briarcliff with a cane and keeps a red negligee in her closet; before taking vows she was Judy Martin, a nightclub singer.

Sarah Paulson plays which ambitious journalist in Asylum?

Sarah Paulson's Lana Winters is committed to Briarcliff for being a lesbian and later escapes to write a best-seller, Maniac, about her captivity by the killer Bloody Face.

Who turns out to be the serial killer Bloody Face in Asylum?

Dr. Oliver Thredson, the seemingly kindly psychiatrist played by Zachary Quinto, is revealed as the skin-mask-wearing killer Bloody Face, who framed Kit Walker for his murders.

Which actor won an Emmy for playing Dr. Arthur Arden in Asylum?

James Cromwell won the 2013 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Dr. Arthur Arden, a former Nazi doctor who experiments on Briarcliff's patients.

How many Primetime Emmy nominations did Asylum receive?

It made the season one of the most-nominated programmes of the year.

Which 1960s novelty song does Sister Jude perform in a musical number in Asylum?

After electroshock treatment, Sister Jude hallucinates leading the patients in Shirley Ellis's 1964 hit 'The Name Game', in the episode of the same name; the number became one of the show's most-shared scenes.

Season three, Coven, is set in which city?

Coven is set in New Orleans, where the witches, descendants of Salem survivors who fled south, run Miss Robichaux's Academy and feud with the voodoo queen Marie Laveau.

Which real 19th-century socialite and torturer does Kathy Bates play in Coven?

The real LaLaurie's mansion on Royal Street remains a fixture of the city's ghost tours.

Which musician plays herself in American Horror Story: Coven, performing at the piano for the witches of Miss Robichaux's Academy?

Stevie Nicks is worshipped by the swamp witch Misty Day, and she plays two of her Fleetwood Mac songs at the piano.

Who is crowned the new Supreme at the end of Coven?

Cordelia Goode, Fiona's daughter (credited as Cordelia Foxx in Coven), passes all Seven Wonders and is crowned Supreme; she then reveals the coven publicly and opens the academy to every young witch in the country.

The Coven premiere set what was then a series record with how many viewers?

Coven's premiere, 'Bitchcraft', drew 5.54 million viewers on 9 October 2013, the series' largest audience to that point.

Emma Roberts joined American Horror Story in Coven as which spoiled movie star turned witch?

Emma Roberts plays Madison Montgomery, a Hollywood starlet sent to Miss Robichaux's Academy; the character returned in Apocalypse, and Roberts went on to play different roles in 1984 and Delicate.

Season four, Freak Show, is set in 1952 in which Florida town?

Freak Show is set in Jupiter, Florida, in 1952, where Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities is one of the last freak shows left in America.

Sarah Paulson plays which two characters in Freak Show?

Sarah Paulson plays the conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler, created with green-screen compositing and a body double; the two heads have opposite temperaments, one sunny and one sour.

Who plays Twisty the Clown in Freak Show?

John Carroll Lynch plays Twisty, the murderous clown with a shattered jaw; Lynch returned as the camp killer Mr. Jingles in 1984 and reprised Twisty in Cult.

Which David Bowie song does Elsa perform in the Freak Show premiere?

Elsa performs David Bowie's 'Life on Mars?' in the premiere 'Monsters Among Us', two decades before Bowie released it in 1971; the season leaned into such anachronistic numbers.

Which actor plays the strongman Dell Toledo in Freak Show?

Michael Chiklis, the star of The Shield, plays strongman Dell Toledo, who is secretly the father of Evan Peters's lobster-boy Jimmy Darling.

Season five is set in which fictional Los Angeles establishment?

Season five is set in the Hotel Cortez, a fictional downtown Los Angeles hotel loosely inspired by the real Cecil Hotel, notorious for its deaths and disappearances.

Which pop star plays the vampiric Countess in Hotel and won a Golden Globe for it?

Lady Gaga plays Elizabeth, the Countess, and won the 2016 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Limited Series; it was her first major acting role, nearly three years before A Star Is Born.

Who built the Hotel Cortez as a place to torture and murder people, in Hotel's backstory?

Evan Peters plays James Patrick March, the 1920s tycoon who designed the Cortez with hidden chutes and sealed rooms for his murders; his ghost hosts the annual Devil's Night dinner.

Which real serial killers attend the Devil's Night dinner in Hotel?

Lily Rabe played Aileen Wuornos; Zach Villa's Ramirez later got a full season in 1984.

Which two cast mainstays were absent from Hotel, the first season without them?

Jessica Lange, who had said Freak Show would be her last season as a regular, and Frances Conroy both sat out Hotel; Lange returned for one Apocalypse episode and Conroy came back in Roanoke.

Denis O'Hare plays which bartender in Hotel?

Denis O'Hare plays Liz Taylor, the Cortez's bartender, a trans woman who took her name from the film star after the Countess helped her come out in a 1984 flashback; the role was among the season's most praised.

The first half of season six, Roanoke, is presented as what?

The first five episodes are framed as a paranormal documentary, My Roanoke Nightmare, with interviews and re-enactments of a couple's ordeal; the second half is found footage of the sequel shoot going wrong.

Roanoke's haunted house is located in which US state?

The Millers' farmhouse is in rural North Carolina, near the site of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, which vanished from the state's coast in the 1580s.

How did FX market Roanoke before it aired?

The network released dozens of teasers, most of them deliberately misleading.

Season seven, Cult, is set in a fictional suburb of which state?

Cult is set in Brookfield Heights, a fictional Michigan suburb that descends into chaos after the November 2016 presidential election.

In Cult, Evan Peters plays Manson, Koresh, Jim Jones and which pop artist?

Evan Peters plays Andy Warhol in the episode 'Valerie Solanas Died for Your Sins: Scumbag', in which Lena Dunham plays Solanas, who shot Warhol in 1968.

Which phobia does Sarah Paulson's Ally suffer from in Cult?

Ally Mayfair-Richards has coulrophobia, a fear of clowns, which the cult exploits with masked home invasions; she also suffers from trypophobia, a fear of clustered holes.

Season eight, Apocalypse, is a crossover between which earlier seasons?

The Antichrist born at the end of season one meets the witches of season three, with a detour through the Hotel Cortez.

Who plays the grown-up Antichrist, Michael Langdon, in Apocalypse?

Cody Fern plays the adult Michael Langdon, the Antichrist who wipes out the coven; Fern went on to play Xavier Plympton in 1984 and Valiant Thor in Double Feature.

How does the world end in Apocalypse?

The Cooperative shelters a chosen few in underground outposts during the nuclear winter.

Which witch travels back to 2015 in the Apocalypse finale and runs over the young Michael Langdon?

Mallory, played by Billie Lourd, is revealed as the next Supreme; she uses the spell Tempus Infinituum to return to 2015 and runs the young Michael down with a car in the street.

Season nine, 1984, is a homage to which film genre?

1984 is a homage to 1980s slasher films, with Friday the 13th and Halloween the obvious templates for the masked killer stalking Camp Redwood's counsellors.

Which real serial killer, played by Zach Villa, stalks Camp Redwood in 1984?

Zach Villa plays Richard Ramirez, the real Night Stalker who terrorised California in 1984 and 1985; in the show he follows Brooke from Los Angeles to Camp Redwood.

1984 was the first season not to feature which two cast mainstays?

Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters, who had each appeared in every season from Murder House to Apocalypse, both sat out 1984, Peters to take a break and Paulson to film Ratched.

Season ten, Double Feature, tells two stories: Red Tide and what?

Death Valley, the second story, follows alien abductions in the California desert across 1954 and 2021; Red Tide, the first, follows vampiric writers in a wintry Massachusetts beach town.

Red Tide, the first half of Double Feature, is set in which Massachusetts town?

Red Tide unfolds in wintry Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod, where black pills called the Muse give struggling artists talent along with a thirst for blood.

Which former child star plays Mickey in Double Feature?

Macaulay Culkin, the Home Alone child star, plays Mickey, a drug-addicted hustler in Red Tide who takes the Muse pills and turns out to have real talent as a screenwriter.

Which real president appears as a character in the second half of Double Feature?

Neal McDonough plays Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in the 1954 storyline strikes a deal letting the aliens abduct Americans for experiments in exchange for their technology.

Season eleven, NYC, is set in which decade?

1980s New York is the backdrop, with a string of killings targeting gay men unfolding alongside the emergence of a new virus.

Which Broadway legend plays cabaret singer Kathy Pizazz in NYC?

Patti LuPone plays the cabaret singer Kathy Pizazz; she had already appeared in Coven as the pious neighbour Joan Ramsey and in Murphy's Hollywood as Avis Amberg.

Season twelve, Delicate, is based on a novel by which author?

Delicate adapts Danielle Valentine's 2023 novel Delicate Condition, the first time the show was based on a book rather than an original story.

Which reality star plays publicist Siobhan Corbyn in Delicate?

Kim Kardashian plays the publicist Siobhan Corbyn; her casting, announced in April 2023, drew as much attention as the season itself.

Delicate was the first season in which the show's creators did NOT do what?

Halley Feiffer ran the season, which was also split into two parts by the 2023 strikes.

The spin-off American Horror Stories premiered in 2021 on which service?

American Horror Stories premiered on 15 July 2021 as an FX on Hulu exclusive; its two-part opener, 'Rubber(wo)Man', returned to the Murder House with a new family moving in.

How many seasons had Sarah Paulson appeared in by the end of season 12, Delicate, tying the record?

Through Delicate, Sarah Paulson had appeared in nine seasons, every one from Murder House to Apocalypse plus Double Feature, tied for the most of any cast member; she sat out 1984, NYC and Delicate.

How many Emmy Awards did Jessica Lange win for American Horror Story?

Lange won two Emmys for the show: supporting actress for Murder House in 2012 and lead actress for Coven in 2014, plus a Golden Globe and a SAG Award.

Which performer, played by Naomi Grossman, appears in both Asylum and Freak Show?

Naomi Grossman's Pepper, a microcephalic performer, is a Briarcliff patient in Asylum; Freak Show, set earlier in 1952, shows how she was committed there after her sister framed her for a baby's murder.

The Cult finale ends with Ally winning what?

Ally wins the Michigan US Senate seat Kai had coveted, with the overwhelming support of women voters, then dons a green cloak of her own as she heads to a meeting of a women-only group.

In the show's mythology, the Antichrist born at the end of season one is the grandson of which character?

Michael is the child of Tate, Constance's son, and Vivien Harmon.

Which character does Angela Bassett play in Coven?

Angela Bassett plays Marie Laveau, the immortal voodoo queen based on the real 19th-century New Orleans practitioner; she runs a hair salon and wars with Fiona's coven before the two sides ally.

Although Asylum is set in Massachusetts, its exteriors were filmed in which rural California area?

Briarcliff's exteriors were shot in Hidden Valley, a rural pocket of Ventura County near Thousand Oaks; Roanoke was later filmed in Santa Clarita, where a colonial farmhouse was built for the show.

Which actor plays Detective John Lowe in Hotel?

Wes Bentley plays Detective John Lowe, who checks into the Cortez while hunting the Ten Commandments Killer, only to learn he has been the killer all along.

Which three American Horror Story seasons were recreated in the 2016 Halloween Horror Nights maze at Universal parks?

Murder House, Freak Show and Hotel made up the 2016 maze at Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando; a second maze followed in 2017 with Asylum, Coven and Roanoke.

Which actress plays Zoe Benson, the Coven newcomer whose touch kills her lovers?

Taissa Farmiga plays Zoe Benson, whose power kills anyone she sleeps with; Farmiga had played Violet Harmon in Murder House and returned as Zoe in Apocalypse.

The spin-off American Horror Stories, telling self-contained tales, premiered in 2021 with how many episodes in its first season?

Seven episodes made up the first season of American Horror Stories, premiering on 15 July 2021; the opener, 'Rubber(wo)Man', was split into two parts.