Surprise! The "American Horror Story" Seasons Are Connected After All!

When “American Horror Story” first premiered, creator Ryan Murphy stated that each season consists of its own stand-alone story, and he isn’t wrong about that. What he neglected to inform audiences until now, however, is that all of the seasons are indeed connected in some way and do take place in the same universe. Makes sense, except for the fact that we weren’t afforded any hint of this on-screen in any season prior to its current run of “Freak Show”, with the exception of the inclusion of pinhead Pepper from Season Two, “Asylum”… or were we?

Aside from actress Naomi Grossman reprising her role as fan favorite Pepper, Murphy has alerted audiences that there have been hints the entire time that all seasons take place in the same universe, we just haven’t picked up on them. Well, Mr. Murphy, challenge accepted! Let’s see how many different Easter eggs we can find hidden in “American Horror Story”...

1. The Montgomery Family

To give you a brief synopsis of the Montgomery family, let’s take a look back into Season 1 of “American Horror Story”, AKA “Murder House”. Here we met the original owners of the Los Angeles mansion, Dr. Charles and Nora Montgomery, played by Matt Ross and Lily Rabe. Their tale was not a happy one, and long story short, it ends with a Frankenstein baby and Nora killing her husband before putting the gun in her own mouth and pulling the trigger. They’re the first in a long string of ghostly occupants to haunt the house. Flash-forward to the witchy Season 3, entitled “Coven”, where we meet a big-time Hollywood child star-turned-rehab hopper and resident witch bitch of the coven, Madison Montgomery, played Emma Roberts. To many people, Montgomery probably sounds like a pretty ordinary name, right? Don’t forget, people, this is a television show. There is no reason for them to recycle a last name without a purpose. This means that when Nora and Dr. Charles left their families in Philadelphia for Los Angeles, then certainly some relatives must’ve stayed in Philly. Who knows? Maybe some relocated to Los Angeles after the murder-suicide tragedy, because, let’s also not forget, Madison is from Los Angeles.

2. Ghosts

“”American Horror Story” has proven that they have a very particular mythology when it comes to their ghosts. They appear as full-bodied people who can have total control over when they disappear, become invisible, and can actually pour themselves a glass of water and drink it. They take on the appearance of living so much that, in “Murder House”, Violet (Taissa Farmiga) didn’t even know she was dead for a quite a few episodes. The only things they can’t do that living humans can do is age (not a bad deal), procreate with each other (but they can still have sex), leave the house they died in (except on Halloween), sleep (yikes), and, presumably, have to go to the bathroom (I can “live” with that). In “Coven”, Denis O’Hare plays the role of the coven’s butler, Spalding. He is killed because… it just had to be done.  He returns sometime later as a ghost. Following the mythology from “Murder House”, he does the exact same things all the other ghosts do, like not using the bathroom. But then again, we don’t see many people go to the bathroom on “American Horror Story”, or in TV in general. Wait! Is that that the big entertainment business conspiracy?! Is everybody dead?!

3. Sister Mary Eunice

My favorite actress on “American Horror Story” is set to reprise her role of Sister Mary Eunice from “Asylum” sometime soon in this season of “Freak Show”. We only got to see Eunice when she wasn’t possessed by the devil for two episodes and a couple of moments here and there after that. Since “Freak Show” is taking place nearly ten years before the events of “Asylum”, it is safe to say that we will see her non-possessed self, and who knows, maybe we’ll even see why she became a nun in the first place.

That’s all I’ve got so far, but I think I may have figured out the general location of Season 5 based on the ending of “Murder House”. Given that all of the locations so far are breeding grounds for horrible, heinous, and horrific (that’s a lot of “H” words) events, the rest of the world must not be like this. Since “Murder House” saw the birth of the Antichrist, Season 5 might take place some where in the Pacific Northwest, like Seattle. If it does, then on a map, we will have five different locations that form a (sloppy-looking) pentagon, which would be pretty cool since locations are a huge part of each “American Horror Story” season. Other than that, Ryan Murphy has stated that those black hats on cups we keep seeing throughout “Freak Show” provide a clue as to what Season 5 will entail...

How about you? Are there any other connections between seasons you’ve noticed? Leave a comment below!

(Photo via Adriana M. Barraza/WENN)

- Kevin Donaldson, YH Staff