30+ American Horror Story Connections to Past Seasons
“They’re all connected. We’re just beginning to tell you how they’re connected. They’re all very separate but there’s clues every season that we’re now telling you how the different worlds are intertwined.” – Ryan Murphy
At first, American Horror Story seemed like a disconnected anthology series. Each season had its own story to tell. But as the seasons continued, we came to realize that plenty of characters and sub-plots were in fact, linked to each other. Believe it or not, there truly is a fictional AHS universe where ghosts, aliens, witches, murderous clowns and vampires all live in.
From Murder House to 1984, we connect the dots and tell you exactly how all seasons of American Horror Story are “intertwined”…
Season: Coven
Connects to: Murder House
1. Madison Montgomery
Let’s take it back to season 1, where the Murder House is haunting the lives of many. Keep in mind that the original owners of the Murder House were named “Montgomery”. Two seasons later, and that family name rings a bell. Madison Montgomery. Could Coven’s stone cold bitch be a direct decedent of the Murder House owners? We’d like to think so…
Season: Freak Show
Connects to: Asylum
2. Pepper
Remember Pepper from Asylum? Everyone’s fan-favourite “Pinhead” was a patient in Briarcliff Manor in season 2 but her backstory, including how she was admitted into the sanatorium was then explored in Freak Show. In fact, Pepper was the first character in the American Horror Story series to appear in more than one season.
Asylum may have ended after season 2 but Pepper’s origins and the conclusion to her character were brought up just two years later. In Freak Show (set in the 1950’s, 12 years before the events of Asylum), Pepper was one of the “freaks” in the performing group called Fräulein Elsa’s Cabinet of Curiosities. So how did she land herself in that awful asylum? In Freak Show, Pepper was wrongly accused of murdering her sister’s baby and so she was admitted into Briarcliff Manor and accepted by Sister Mary Eunice. And so her story in Asylum began…
3. Sister Eunice
To complete Pepper’s backstory, yet another renowned character from Asylum appeared in Freak Show. The sweet nun, Sister Eunice, returned to American Horror Story in season 4 to interview Pepper’s sister and welcome Pepper into Briarcliff Manor. As mentioned earlier, Freak Show occurred 12 years before the events of Asylum so this was long before Sister Eunice’s demonic days. At first, Sister Eunice was appalled by Pepper’s appearance but she later grew fond of her when she saw that she was looking for redemption. The nun took Pepper on as a personal rehabilitation project, which led Pepper to organize the hospital’s library.
4. Dr. Hans Gruper
No one can forget that horrid physician in season 2 of American Horror Story. Dr. Arden would often torture his patients in Asylum and perform terrible experiments on them too. Fans watching Freak Show were shocked to see him again in a flashback scene. In the 1930’s, Dr. Arden went under disguise as Dr. Hans Gruper, a Nazi doctor of torture and science. It turns out, he’s the one who amputated Elsa’s leg!
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Season: Hotel
Connects to: Murder House
5. Marcy the Realtor
Thought you’d recognized that realtor who was responsible for selling the Hotel Cotez to Will Drake? Well, you were right, you had seen her before – in season 1. Marcy is the realtor who sold the Murder House to Chad and his lover Patrick. When the couple died, she later sold it to the Harmons.
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But wait, there’s another Murder House overlap in season 5. One of Marcy’s first lines in Hotel was, “I had to put my dog down. He came to me through very unfortunate circumstances.” Here’s a friendly reminder that Marcy adopted the Harmons’ dog after they died in season 1. #Mindblown!
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The iconic realtor’s life came to an end in Hotel though when ancient vampires, Valentino and Natacha killed her.
6. The Murder House
Everything that happened in season 1’s Murder House may seem like forever ago but five years later, we were reminded of it again. Nostalgia hit us right in the gut when the actual Murder House made a comeback in Hotel when the Countess made an appointment to see Dr. Montgomery.
7. Dr. Montgomery
Not only did the house reappear in Hotel, but one of the first season’s notorious, most scariest characters did too. Dr. Montgomery. Here’s the connection – in a 1920’s flashback scene, we saw the Countess go to the Murder House for an illegal abortion appointment. Of course, the twisted doctor performing this abortion was indeed Charles Montgomery. She later gave birth to baby Bartholomew.
8. Billie Dean Howard
Murder House’s psychic, Billie Dean Howard made a comeback in Hotel. She claimed her fame in this series by contacting the ghosts of the Hotel Cortez but was quickly sent away after being threatened by James March and Ramona. She was pretty annoying, anyway!
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Season: Hotel
Connects to: Coven
9. Queenie
Coven fans were treated in episode 11 of Hotel when a certain witch made an appearance. Human voodoo doll, Queenie checked into the Hotel Cortez but was soon killed off by none other than James March. It was great seeing Queenie use her special powers again to take down Ramona. But our favorite moment had to be when she said, “Bitch, when was the last time you went to the dermatologist?”!
Season: Roanoke
Connects to: Murder House
10. Piggy Man
Piggy Man haunts your dreams once more! Remember that sinister butcher who wore a pig’s head in Murder House? Turns out, the monster was the star of the show in Roanoke! Piggy Man had been haunting Matt and Shelby’s house for quite some time but was he the same urban legend from Murder House? Yes, indeed!
In Chapter 8 of Roanoke, Jether Polk tells Lee about Piggy Man’s origins. His ancestor, Kincaid Polk used to to “take hogs to slaughter in Chicago”. At the World’s Fair in 1893 however, he decided he wanted to slaughter people too. And so he put on the head of a pig and the frightening Piggy Man was born. This recital may be familiar to you because it was also told by Derrick back in season 1. OINK EEK!
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11. Croatoan
The word “Croatoan” sprung up several times in Roanoke. Cricket the psychic used it to banish the Butcher and Dr Elias said it to make Piggy Man disappear. In Chapter 4, we learnt that the word “Croatoan” was carved on a tree by the lost colonists of Roanoke and now it is a word of dark power and blood magic that banishes dark spirits. Ring a bell?
As you may recall, the word “Croatoan” was mentioned by Billie Dean Howard back in the 11th episode of Murder House. The psychic told Violet about an exorcism that occurred at the Roanoke Island in the year, 1590. Billie Dean told the story of colonists who haunted the Native Americans and in order to banish the spirits, one of the elders muttered the word “Croatoan” as part of the exorcism. It seems these “spirits” were the very same ones that were haunting Shelby and Matt’s house!
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Season: Roanoke
Connects to: Freak Show
12. The Motts
There’s another character in Roanoke that once again connects this season to its past ones. This time, it was Freak Show. Dr Elias Cunningham reveals to Matt and Shelby that their house was built in 1792 by a man named Edward Mott. We even got to know a little more about him and his death in Chapter 5. That surname calls to mind a certain creepy murderer from Freak Show – Dandy Mott, the psychopath who killed members of Elsa Mars’ freak show!
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Season: Roanoke
Connects to: Coven
13. The Original Supreme
Remember when Cricket told us he “met the bitch with the real power”? It’s hard to forget Lady Gaga’s woodland witch character from Roanoke. Ryan Murphy has admitted that this enchanting lady is in actual fact – “the Original Supreme” – the head witch mentioned in Coven! Now that’s what you call an awesome crossover!
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Season: Roanoke
Connects to: Asylum
14. Lana Winters
Lana Winters made a special appearance in the season finale of Roanoke to interview Lee Harris after a series of murders. The crossover between Roanoke and Asylum was made official by bringing up Lana’s horrific experiences from decades ago.
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Season: Cult
Connects to: Freak Show
15. Twisty the Clown
Twisty the Clown made his deadly comeback in season seven of AHS – but this time, as part of a comic book. As Oz reads through his comic book featuring endless terrors of the legendary Twisty, we relive each scene as though they were real. We see the show’s iconic villain kill a couple and he later returns as part of Oz’s nightmares. Always nice to see a familiar (half) face, right?
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Season: Cult
Connects to: Asylum
16. Lana Winters
Although it was very brief, this teeny weeny reference in the Cult finale still got us pretty darn excited. Ally gets a call from Rachel Maddow asking to interview her about her experience in Kai’s cult. When her new GF, Erica tells Ally to go for it, Beverly, the reporter butts in and says, “If she turned down Lana Winters, what makes you think she wants to talk to Rachel f*cking Maddow?” BOOM! There you have it! If only we got to see Lana return (like she did in Roanoke) to interview Ally. Now, that would have been interesting, considering both characters are played by Sarah Paulson…
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Season: Apocalypse
Connects to: Coven
17. Coven of Witches
Unless you were living under a rock during season 8, I’ll take it you’d noticed the latest series was pretty much Coven part two. Our favorite witches returned in Apocalypse to save the day, bitches! Cordelia, Madison and Myrtle made their epic return at the end of episode 3, right after Ms. Venable and her android murdered everyone. As the episode came to an end, we heard the long-awaited “Surprise, bitch!
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18. Misty & Stevie
Misty is back! The beloved Coven witch was brought back to life in the fifth episode of Apocalypse after being trapped in hell, cutting up frogs. She was later accompanied by Stevie Nicks – that’s right, the star who also appeared in Coven years back, returned to the eighth season to sing Misty a song and heal her back to health. You’ve got to love these awkward and strange AHS moments, right?
19. Papa Legba & Nan
In efforts to trap Michael Langdon (we’ll get on to him next) in the underworld, Cordelia meets Papa Legba, the Gatekeeper of the Spirit World from Coven. When summoning Legba, with him came the unexpected return of Nan, the young witch who was sacrificed and sent to hell by Fiona Goode in season 2. Oh hey girl!
20. Marie Laveau
Hell yeah, the one and only Marie Laveau made a return in the season finale of Apocalypse after escaping the underworld in exchange for Dinah Steven’s soul. We may have seen her killed off at the end, but it was still great seeing that familiar face!
Season: Apocalypse
Connects to: Murder House
21. Michael Langdon
That’s right – Apocalypse took us back 7 years ago to none other than the Murder House. This season’s villain was introduced in episode one as a certain “Michael Langdon”. This name certainly rang a bell for original AHS fans – Michael Langdon was indeed the evil offspring of Vivien Harmon and Tate Langdon from Murder House! Remember when Tate awfully raped Vivien in her bed, she fell pregnant, give birth to twins, one stillborn and the other was adopted by Constance Langdon? Uh-huh, that little evildoer only grew up to be Michael Langdon!
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22. Rubber Man
Rubber Man, it’s been a while. And we haven’t missed you. The silent and creepy, latex figure made a comeback in season 8 at Outpost 3 when he took a liking to Evan Peters’ character, Gallant and ya’ know, they done the deed.
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23. The Murder House
At the end of episode 5, we prepared to journey back to the Murder House! Cordelia wanted to figure Michael out and learn all about his past and there was only one place to do it – at the iconic house from season one, where he was conceived, of course! Episode 6, titled Return to Murder House took us back a bunch of years as we explored the house once more and reconnected with a few of its famous ghosts…
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24. Billie Dean
Apocalypse saw the return of Billie Dean AKA “medium to the stars”. Madison and Behold were greeted by the psychic upon their arrival at the Murder House and she was the one who set the stage for iconic ghosts from the past…
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25. Ben & Vivian Harmon
Boy has it been a while since we saw Ben and Vivian, Murder House’s beloved couple (who went through some serious shi*t). Dr. Ben returned as a “tearjerker” (quite literally) and Vivian showed up to tell us exactly what horrors her son put everyone through to prove himself the Antichrist.
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26. Constance Langdon
Cue the best AHS comeback in history! My oh my has Jessica Lange been missed! She made her one-off return in episode 6 of Apocalypse as none other than Constance Langdon. Entering the scene with “I’m Constance Langdon, and this is my fucking house”, Queen Constance gave us a disturbing insight into Michael Langdon’s upbringing. We also learnt that she killed herself after finding out her grandson was the Antichrist. Thankfully, we also got a tiny glimpse of Constance in the Apocalypse finale.
27. Moira O’Hara
It’s about time our favorite housekeeper got a happy ending! We got to see Moira O’Hara dusting and fluffing the Murder House once more in episode 6 and we also waved goodbye. In exchange for Langdon’s story, Madison and Behold managed to recover the housekeeper’s bones and reunite her with her mother for eternity. Finally, she got the peace she deserved…
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28. Tate & Violet
During Madison and Behold’s visit to the Murder House, we stumbled upon Tate and Violet, season one’s fan-fave couple who didn’t particularly end on a high note. Picking up where we left off eight years ago, Violet was seen crying over heartbreak while Tate was still trying to prove that he wasn’t a monstrous murderer anymore. In a tearjerking scene, Madison managed to put two broken hearts together again and convinced Violet to take Tate back. Fans finally got closure for AHS’ best couple…
29. The Black Dahlia
Watching Michael Langdon’s past unfold really took us down memory lane. In a frightening flashback, The Black Dahlia made a cameo once again in a scene that showed Michael re-enacting her murder.
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30. Beauregard
Among the several ghosts Madison and Behold managed to contact in Return to Murder House was Beauregard, the frightening yet innocent son of Constance and Hugo Langdon who was chained in their attic.
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Season: Apocalypse
Connects to: Hotel
31. Queenie
Remember when Queenie visited (and died in) the Hotel Cortez back in season 5? Well, in Apocalypse we got to find out what happened to her spirit! In a flashback, we saw Cordelia search for Queenie after she went missing. She was pleased to find her spirit playing cards with Mr. March at the Hotel Cortez, but Cordelia soon realized that she was stuck inside this demonic portal and the only one to get her out was Michael Langdon. Before we know it, he done this and brought Queenie back to life. It’s always nice to see a familiar face!
Season: Apocalypse
Connects to: Roanoke
32. The Blood Moon
When Michael Langdon was called to perform the Seven Wonders test, Cordelia stated that it needed to be done at the rise of the “Blood Moon”. Let me remind y’all that in Roanoke, the Blood Moon was a time when spirits were able to cross over and stir some trouble. This small nod to season 6 was no coincidence, guys. Let’s not forget that Lady Gaga’s woodland witch character from Roanoke was the original Supreme. There’s more to all this than we think…
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Season: 1984
Connects to: Hotel
33. Night Stalker
It looks like season 9 of American Horror Story is following the same pattern of connecting one series to another. The Night Stalker may sound familiar to the most loyal fans – in fact he also starred in Hotel! Only he was played by another actor. Remember Mr. March’s Devil’s Night? Richard Ramirez was one of the many ghosts attending his dinner party!
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Season: 1984
Connects to: Apocalypse
33. The Hawthorne School
Listen carefully to “Rita’s” dialogue with the group early on in the series and you’ll notice that she says she works at Hawthorne Hospital. This may be trivial to some viewers, but most will recall “Hawthorne” from season 8. Apocalypse introduced us to none other than The Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men. Could it be that Hawthorne Hospital is connected somehow to The Hawthorne School?
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Season: 1984
Connects to: Asylum
34. Briarcliff Manor
In the 100th episode of American Horror Story, and fifth instalment of the ninth season, we see that Margaret Booth has become an real estate mogul, who’s bought old sites with horrific histories. One of these that stood out was indeed Briarcliff Manor, the Massachusetts insane asylum from season two.
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Season: 1984
Connects to: Hotel
35. John Wayne Gacy
It’s hard to forget John Wayne Gacy’s appearance on Devil’s Night in Hotel. The killer clown (who was inspired by a killer with the same name) was somewhat mentioned in 1984 when, once again, Margaret Booth tells us about the death sites she’s picked up. One of them of course, being John Wayne Gacy’s home.
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Have we missed out any links? What American Horror Story connection have you noticed in all seven seasons that we haven’t? Let us know in the comments below…
