American Horror Story Season Connections

I can still remember the chill that came from watching the first season of American Horror Story. Groomed on horror movies my whole life by a mother that would take me to the theater to see whatever monster movie she had wanted to see and instructed. "This isn't real, it's people in costumes."; I saw all sorts of grotesque and gory images at an impressionable age- making me have a special love for the supernatural. I hadn't had the channel when the first season debuted, but I binge-watched the entire season in about a day and a half when I could with the help of Netflix.

American Horror Story as a series had done something that had't be done before, delivering a truly frightening product with movie level production to a channel that wasn't HBO and Showtime. For months water cooler talk at work was filled with connections between murder victims, witches, honorable freaks, vampires, and psychotic clowns. As the series now rolls into season seven, at only three episodes in the internet is exploding in predictions of what the connection to past seasons could be.

Season seven: Cult is set in Michigan, which really surprised me. Long time fans of the show know that the location plays a role as one the one of the connections we have seen over seven seasons as powerful as the return of actors playing others in the same universe of the show.

Whereas Los Angeles, Florida, and Massachusetts come up in the backstory of everyone from the Harmon family, Elsa Mars, and Pepper, we have never been outside any of these places except for the season six in Roanoke, but it still has a connection to Freak Show when it is revealed the home was built by a relative of Dandy Mott.

We know from three episodes in, a lesbian couple and their child are being tormented by Ally's fear of clowns and its hinted there is some past trauma that fuels this fear but how this is connected other than the obvious reference to Twisty the Clown from Freak Show, we aren't sure.

There have been several murders on the show including two employees of the couple's restaurant and a counsel man. We also have seen killers in clown costumes responsible for the heinous acts and clued in that so far police, their new neighbors, a reporter, and the mysterious duo of Kai who is running for the now open position on city counsel on a campaign of fear and intolerance; and Winter who may be his...I've heard anything from roommate, sister, perhaps lover, or just a cult underling who is currently a nanny to Ally and Ivy's child, Oz.

Theories for the season include that Oz is the Antichrist and somehow connected to season ones Michael, the child of Tate, that Ivy is part of the cult herself as she never seems to be home when the clowns are terrorizing Ally.

Something I never thought of until I saw it on Reddit; the smiley face calling card left behind by the cult members after the murder seems a reference to Asylum's Bloody Face Killer.

I can't wait to see where this is going.

From Murder House to Roanoke, pieces fall into place connecting characters, references, and locations from season to season. Where I have heard early reviews of season seven saying Cult has heavy ties to both Freak Show, Murder House, and Coven in particular, not much have been revealed in the episodes so far outside mental illness and clowns.

Mental Illness: In Murder House, Dr Harmon as a therapist, Ally sees a therapist in Cult that seems to be on the inside preying on her fears. In the beginning of episode three of Cult, you see him with patients that are murdered within minutes of the episode after discussing a woman's fears of being locked in a coffin- only to come home and be trapped inside a coffin until she suffocates. Coven also had a link to mental illness where several of the young witches had insecurities about their abilities, Cordelia faces depression over her marriage, and the boy zombie next door has to come to grips with sexual abuse. A patient in Murder House that sees Dr. Harmon speaks of the Piggyman, who we meet later in Roanoke.

The witches: From the original supreme being revealed in Roanoke, to a connection to the original owners of the Murder House, maybe it all has something to do with the Montgomery family. Over overlaps are Queenie dying in Hotel Cortez, psychic Billie Dean helping everyone from Murder House's Violet to Hotel's haunted residents, even appearing on Roanoke to talk about the horrors of the house. Freak Show speaks of tarot cards and palm reading. Maybe there is another true witch among the bunch.

Seven deadly sins: Pride, lust, greed, and envy has been main themes of the last few seasons.

Marcy the realtor: Knowing she sold the house where at least forty people had been killed by my count, on Murder House, and taking the Harmon's little dog; Marcy then goes on to sell the Hotel Cortez. I wonder if she has a relative in Roanoke.

Creepy children: Oz isn't the only prime suspect to see the Antichrist. Among seven seasons children have been killed, and abducted. I wonder if the missing alien child is the cult leader and all these kids are now on Cult somehow.

Some characters are actually known to directly cross over between seasons which makes us constantly guessing about the timeline in the AHS universe. While we know Hotel, Murder House, Coven, Roanoke, and Cult take place in 2000 and beyond from the modern technology, some characters seem to make us question the math on how they are still alive.

Jack Colquitt: This time hopping cop is somehow in both Freak Show taking place around the 1950's and still alive and knocking on doors of the Murder House in the 2000's when Dr. Harmon is questioned about a disappearance. Although it is theorized that this is a descendant, other characters we know to crossover from show to show.

Queenie: Leaving the Coven world, Queenie is a guest in the Hotel Cortez and realizes that her witchy powers don't work against the dead.

Sister Mary Eunice and Pepper: The story of Pepper from Freak Show is the one of the saddest tales in the series after a lifetime of love and friendship on season four lands her in Briarcliff on Asylum. Sister Mary Eunice also makes a brief appearance when Pepper is shown being admitted on season four bringing her into the story line of season two.

The Motts: Dandy wasn't the first Mott to be insane it turns out as we find out his family built the home in Roanoke which seems to directly mirror the events in Murder House.

Dr. Arden: The creepy Dr. Arden turns out to have an even more sinister past when it is revealed he is the one that cut off Elsa's legs in a snuff film back in Germany on Freak Show.

Billie Dean Howard: Billie Dean has seen a lot as the go to psychic adviser. She has been everywhere from the events of Roanoke, to Murder House, and Hotel.

Lana Winters: Can someone answer how old Lana Winters is? Directly experiencing the events of Asylum, Lana goes on to be the journalist that investigates events in several seasons to follow. Although she's finally an old woman by the time of Roanoke, will we somehow see her in Cult- especially if its really connected to the Bloody Face Killer, as she was his mother?