American Horror Story
Ryan Murphy ’s long - run horror anthology seriesAmerican Horror Storyis well - sleep together for its campy and exuberant approach to its musical style , but what is somewhat less known is the extent to which it draws on real - living inspiration to moil its fantastic narration . Both those seasons fix in the past times and the present often have one understructure in the world of reality and one in the crabwise human race so commonly found in repugnance . Thus , the series has always surpass at tapping into the most frightening and worrying aspects of American chronicle to cast anchor its often bizarre plot .
These real - life inspiration serve to groundAmerican Horror Storythroughout its various season . When spectator find out themselves confronted with ingredient of the real worldly concern that they know , this afford the horror a bite , sometimes lacking in other similar serial . Thus , beneath all the nimiety that so often characterise this series and its approach path to its stories , there is a substantive date with the truly terrifying things that have long haunted the American imagination and the Carry Nation ’s story more broadly speaking .
Murder House
fix in the house of the statute title , American Horror Story : Murder Housefocused on a variety of deaths and murders which take property over a series of years . fill with ghosts and terrors , the serial is made all the more unsettling by the base of many of its stories in on-key account . One of the most notable of these is Evan Peters’Tate Langdon , who , inMurder House , give a quite a little shooting much like the one at Columbine High School . Other historical case inMurder Houseinclude the nurse execution and the Black Dahlia .
Asylum
American Horror Story : Asylumis one of the solid seasons , thanks to the stunningly chilling performance by Jessica Lange as Sister Jude and Sarah Paulson as Lana Winters . Set in an insane asylum , this season is inspired by legion diachronic horror . For example , Paulson ’s intrepid journalist is based partly on the material Nellie Bly , who had committed herself so she could study conditions on the interior from a patient ’s decimal point of opinion . Also notable is James Cromwell ’s villainous Dr. Arden ; with his Nazi connections , he is reminiscent of the monstrous Josef Mengele .
Coven
InAmerican Horror Story : Coven , viewers encounter witches , magic , and voodoo , all set against the atmosphere of New Orleans . The past and the present often clash in this time of year , with real characters such as Delphine LaLaurie - notorious for torturing her slave , and incidents depicted in the series - run across fabricated one such as the seizing witch Fiona ( played by Jessica Lange).Covenalso draw on several figures within voodoo refinement , particularly the " Voodoo Queen " Marie Leveau and the minatory figure Papa Legba .
Freak Show
American Horror Story : Freak Showshifts the series ' focus to the freak show of the statute title , which is run by Jessica Lange ’s Elsa . The season is filled with dark characters . One particularly notableFreak Showintroduction is the murderous goof Twisty , intelligibly inspired by real - life serial killer John Wayne Gacy , who oftentimes dressed up as a clown . In improver to Gacy , the conjoin twins , Dot and Bette , both played by series loyalist Sarah Paulson – were inspire by Violet and Daisy Hilton , who were conjoined at the pelvis and were also performer in a show .
Hotel
Taking place in a hotel in which many ghosts and a vampire have taken up abode , Hotelis also fulfill with legion veridical inspirations . The name of Lady Gaga ’s vampire villain , the Countess , is an allusion to the notorious Elizabeth Bathory , a Hungarian nobleman who mutilate untried char to use their blood . The season ’s big badness , the villainous James March , is inspire by Dr. H.H. Holmes , who likewise opened a hotel and murdered people there . It also include numerous other reference point to the veridical world , including the doer Rudolph Valentino and the in series cause of death Aileen Wuornos and Jeffrey Dahmer .
Roanoke
American Horror Story : Roanokeis arguably the most historically groundedof all the series ' season . It focuses on a young duet who move to a remote house in North Carolina , not realizing until too late that it is stalk by the homicidal and vengeful spirits of the confounded Colony of Roanoke . In real living , historians have no theme what happened to the colonists , though it is primarily arrogate they were kill by either disease or by Native Americans . In the season , by demarcation , they fall quarry to their own dismal impulses , and they were in the end sentenced to stalk the land , take lives with each croak year .
Cult
Many time of year ofAmerican Horror Storytake lieu in the past , butCultis set very foursquare in the present . Airing in 2017 , it draw on the aftermath of the 2016 election , focusing in particular on a charismatic religious cult leader , Kai , who begin a sovereignty of little terror . In addition to stir the election , it also use several key historical inspirations . Kai is based on charismatic and murderous figure , as Charles Manson andCultalso feature the visual aspect of Valerie Solanas , who was mark for set about to assassinate the creative person Andy Warhol .
Apocalypse
Unlike most season ofAmerican Horror Story , which have at least a cornerstone in reality , Apocalypse(and its revisit ofMurder House)takes a more straightforwardly supernatural tone , focusing as it does on the Antichrist and the titular apocalypse . Despite this , it still has several real stirring which drive its story and lineament . For example , a vital part of the season ’s story is a atomic Book of Revelation , which Michael Langdon instigates . Fears of an atomic Armageddon have long been a strong part of American culture in the actual worldly concern , lending this particular season a peculiarly potent family relationship to reality .
1984
American Horror Story : 1984(considered the worstin the serial by many ) is an court to the slasher movie that were such a central part of the movies of the eighties . Its most notable inspiration is the various picture in theFriday the 13thfranchise . Unsurprisingly , it also has several link to existent - humanity atrocities and execution . One of the time of year ’s most sinister character is Richard Ramirez . In real life , Ramirez was a notice serial killer and Satanist , so it is particularly worrisome to see him appear in a season of one of Ryan Murphy ’s most celebrated series .
Double Feature
Unlike previous season , American Horror Storywas dissever into two distinct sections , Red TideandDeath Valley . Death Valley , in special , had many real - cosmos divine guidance , most notably the appearance of Dwight Eisenhower , who first made an concord with the extraterrestrial who were attempt to colonise Earth . Numerous other historic figures come out in the season , most connected to the extraterrestrial , admit Amelia Earhart and Marilyn Monroe , the latter of whom is killed for knowing too much . The time of year even includes an allusion to the conspiracy theory that the moon landing place was staged .
