TV SERIES · 2011–present · USA
American Horror Story
- Created by
- Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk
- Network
- FX
- Seasons
- 13
- Episodes
- 145
- Studio
- Ryan Murphy Television, Brad Falchuk Teley-vision, 20th Century Fox Television
75 archived facts 6 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Oct 2026
An anthology horror drama series centering on different characters and locations, including a house with a murderous past, an asylum, a witch coven, a freak show, a hotel, a farmhouse in Roanoke, a cult, the apocalypse and a summer camp.
Summary: TMDB
30 Interesting Facts About American Horror Story
- #001
Sarah Paulson's reporter transition scene in "Asylum" was taken directly from real footage of Bill Baldini's exposé at Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, Pennsylvania. Baldini's work led to the closure of Pennhurst and the premiere of all its patients. Pennhurst is now the site of a seasonal haunted house and has appeared in numerous shows due to the excessive paranormal activity reported in its buildings.
- #003
On September 2, 2014, creator Ryan Murphy announced that all seasons are somehow connected to one another.
- #007
To play the conjoined twins Bette and Dot in Freak Show, Sarah Paulson had to wear a prosthetic head on her shoulder, with her own facial features added to that head. This also meant Paulson's filming time was longer than that of the other actors. Paulson stated that Bette and Dot were ultimately the hardest characters she has ever had to portray.
- #009
The character Edward Mordrake (Wes Bentley) in "Freak Show" was mistakenly believed to be a real person, but it turned out to be a hoax. The hoax story goes: he was a nineteenth-century aristocrat said to suffer from a form of diprosopus. On the back of his head he had an extra face that could neither eat nor speak aloud, but this face was described as being able to laugh and cry. Edward was reported to have begged doctors to remove his "demon face" and claimed that it "whispered" to him at night. No doctor attempted the surgery. He later committed suicide at the age of twenty-three. However, this story was proven false. Mordrake was discovered to be a fictional creation of Charles Lotin Hildreth, who made up his own story for a sensational article in the Boston Sunday Post in 1895.
- #010
Co-creator Ryan Murphy repeatedly tried to book Reese Witherspoon for guest spots, but she was never available. He also pursued Michelle Pfeiffer.
- #012
Cuba Gooding Jr.'s role in Roanoke came about because the actor enjoyed working with Ryan Murphy on American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson so much and asked him to continue their working relationship, and therefore took the role in Roanoke.
- #014
In her first directing attempt, Sarah Paulson was planned to direct the eighth episode of the eighth season, but Ryan Murphy decided to offer her the sixth episode instead because it was a truly special episode with Jessica Lange's return and the story of the first season.
- #015
It is the second longest-running FX original series after It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005).
- #017
Ryan Murphy and Jessica Lange became such close friends during the first season that Murphy consulted Lange while writing other characters. For example, Lange wanted to play a big drunk scene and sing in the second season (which is why Sister Jude does these things), and in the third season she wanted to play an elegant woman wearing Chanel (which is why Fiona was impeccably dressed). Lange is also a photographer and was particularly interested in the circus world of the 1950s. The character of Elsa Mars, the owner of a freak show, came from this as well.
- #019
The Hotel Cortez was inspired by the Hotel Cecil, which has a dark past involving many suicides and murders and was stayed in by serial killers including Richard Ramirez, also known as the Night Stalker, and Jack Unterweger. The Hotel Cecil made the news in 2013 with the mysterious death of Elisa Lam (the person to whom the fifth season was dedicated).
- #021
John Carroll Lynch has an appearance in "Hotel." This is his second time being involved in a story about the Zodiac Killer. In Zodiac (2007) he played Arthur Lee Allen, the case's most popular suspect. In "Hotel" he played John Wayne Gacy, who sits opposite the masked Zodiac killer as "Pogo the Clown."
- #023
Evan Peters' character Tate carried out a school shooting on the day Kurt Cobain committed suicide in the first season.
- #025
Denis O'Hare refused to speak while playing the character Spalding (Coven).
- #027
Connie Britton, who played Vivien in Murder House, wanted to take a role in Coven but had commitments to her show Nashville (2012).
- #028
In the fourth season (Freak Show), the characters sing songs released after 1952 (the period in which "Freak Show" is set). Many fans criticized and disliked this, but although it is a simple and obvious anachronism, it was intentional. In an interview, Ryan Murphy said he chose songs made by artists known as "freaks" or who called themselves "freaks." For example: David Bowie, Lana Del Rey, Nirvana and others.
- #030
Taissa Farmiga was sixteen years old while filming the first season.
- #032
Jessica Lange initially turned down the role of Constance in the first season, but eventually accepted after creator Ryan Murphy offered her the role repeatedly.
- #034
The "murder house" featured in the series is actually named the Rosenheim Mansion. It was also used as the location of the fraternity house where the characters' fears manifest themselves in Buffy the Vampire Slayer's (1997) Halloween special, the fourth season fourth episode "Fear, Itself."
- #039
To prepare for the role of Michael Langdon in Apocalypse, Cody Fern read the Bible and the writings of Ayn Rand, and observed various political climates around the world at the time and their effects on society.
- #045
In the fourth season, filming every scene involving Bette and Dot took more than ten hours, because the coverage and the interactions between Sarah Paulson, who played a different role each time, and the other actors and actresses had to be filmed several times over.
- #049
Ben Woolf, who played Meep in the fourth season and Infantata/Thaddeus Montgomery in the first season, died on February 23, 2015, after being hit by a car.
- #051
The Asylum of the second season is actually a courthouse building in Orange County, California.
- #052
Evan Peters played Jimmy Darling in Freak Show. The character was based on the real-life "Lobster Boy," Grady Stiles Jr.
- #054
Jessica Lange did not return for the fifth season because she said doing five seasons of the same show was too much and she wanted to do something different.
- #056
Married couple Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka were offered the roles of Chad and Patrick in the first season, but Burtka turned it down because he did not want to play a constantly bickering couple so soon after A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011). He was afraid people would think he and Harris were a troubled couple. Both later appeared in supporting roles in the fourth season.
- #058
In the "Freak Show" season, the character Clown Twisty (John Carroll Lynch) was disliked by the Clowns of America International because he misrepresented clowns and was thought to have given clowns a bad reputation.
- #061
Because the timeline has now been reversed, "Apocalypse" marks the first season of this series to end with all of its main characters surviving (except Michael and Myrtle Snow).
- #063
The opening title sequence of each season is said to give hints about events that will unfold as the season progresses. "Coven" was the first to include animation, while "Freak Show" was the first to be entirely animated.
- #065
Evan Peters, who usually has a romantic connection with Emma Roberts on the show, actually dated her in real life. The two had a serious relationship for about four years, from 2012 to 2016. Peters would later tell US Magazine that they had a "very toxic relationship."
- #066
Angela Bassett and Gabourey Sidibe had special billing as "special guest stars" in the third season and appeared in twelve of its thirteen episodes.
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