American Horror Story/Connections

American Horror Story stretched out the meaning of anthology series format with a standalone story each season. Since its fourth installment, each season became part of an interconnected universe, and characters and locations began to interact in some capacity, creating an overarching story.

Established Connections

Established connections are confirmed or hinted at within the show, or which creators, actors, and people working on the show have mentioned in articles or interviews.

Connections Between Characters

• In Asylum, Sister Mary Eunice tells Lana Winters that Pepper was admitted to Briarcliff Manor for drowning her sister's baby and cutting off its ears. In Freak Show, it is revealed that prior to being an inmate of Briarcliff, Pepper was an orphan adopted by Elsa Mars, who gave her a home as a performer for her Cabinet of Curiosities, a freak show in Jupiter, Florida. After the death of Pepper's husband Salty, Elsa reconnects Pepper with her long-lost sister Rita, believing it important that Pepper finally be with her biological family during her time of need. Unfortunately, Rita and her husband look upon Pepper with disgust and treat her as more of a servant. After Rita gives birth to a son afflicted with Microcephaly (the same condition Pepper herself has) they murder their own child and frame Pepper for his death, leading to her being taken to Briarcliff Manor.
  • Sister Mary Eunice makes her second (pre-possessed) appearance in the series during the events of Freak Show, two years before the events of Asylum. She overlooks the admittance of Pepper into Briarcliff.
• In 1932 Germany, Nazi scientist Hans Grüper (who would later go on to disguise his true identity as "Dr. Arthur Arden" of Briarcliff Manor in the 1940s, after Hitler's downfall) is responsible for the disfigurement of Elsa Mars. While working as a prostitute in Germany, Elsa's legs were sawed off by Arden and several other unidentified men for a snuff film. It was revealed in Asylum that Dr. Arden keeps pictures of mutilated women at his home for erotic purposes, and he amputates the legs of Shelley when she refuses his advances, just as he had done to Elsa years prior.
• Marcy, the realtor who sold Ben and Vivien Harmon the Murder House during the first season, later transfers ownership of the Hotel Cortez from Countess Elizabeth to Will Drake in 2015 during the fifth season.
  • After the death of the entire Harmon family by the end of Murder House, Marcy adopted their pet dog, Hallie, as her own, but mentions to Will Drake and his son Lachlan that she had to put the dog down and has become saddened by her passing.
• In Murder House, Dr. Charles Montgomery performed illegal abortions in the basement of the house during the 1920s. In Hotel, a flashback of 1926 reveals that Countess Elizabeth visited him at the Murder House to ask for an abortion, only to end up giving birth to her son Bartholomew who, having inherited his mother's vampirism, killed and consumed Charles's nurse.
• In Murder House, Constance Langdon introduces Violet Harmon to Billie Dean Howard in 2011, a psychic medium she met and befriended through Craigslist, who mentions that she is in the process of developing her own television show. In 2022, Billie Dean Howard arrives at the Hotel Cortez during the filming of this very show during the finale of Hotel, interviewing the ghost of the deceased Ten Commandments Killer, John Lowe.
• In Freak Show, Elsa Mars films a commercial in 1960 Hollywood for Campfire Gold-brand coffee, but cuts mid-production to complain about its terrible script and the quality of the coffee itself. After the tragic death of Donovan in Hotel, Liz Taylor cremates his body in the Hotel Cortez's furnace and puts his ashes in a Campfire Gold coffee tin to give to his mother.
• Queenie, one of the witches of Miss Robichaux's Academy from Coven, checks into the Hotel Cortez in 2015 after receiving a ticket to attend the studio audience of The Price is Right in Los Angeles. There, she is murdered in her room by the ghost of James Patrick March and drained of blood by the vampire Ramona Royale, two characters from Hotel.
  • This incident is revisited in the season eight episode "Could It Be... Satan?", showing a flashback of Supreme Witch Cordelia Goode traveling to the hotel in search of the missing Queenie, where she finds Queenie's ghost playing card games with James March in order to cure her eternal boredom. When Cordelia is unable to release Queenie's ghost past the confines of the hotel, Queenie is released a year later by Michael Langdon, the Antichrist from Murder House, as part of his bid to show the Salem witches his power and become their new Supreme. Upon meeting Michael, James March comments, “What a fascinating specimen... Alive, yet so intimate with the dead“, alluding to Michael’s true nature as the son of the Devil, which was first established in the season one episode “Piggy Piggy.”
  • Michael Langdon also releases the ghosts of Madison Montgomery ​​​​​and Misty Day from both of their respective torments in Hell, where they've been trapped since the events of Coven.
  • Upon being questioned by Madison Montgomery on where she had disappeared to for so long, Queenie remarks she had been trapped in a hotel with “the most boring, annoying white people since.…well, since you”, alluding to Iris, Liz Taylor, Countess Elizabeth and various other characters from Hotel.
  • Having met and befriended Misty Day at Miss Robichaux’s Academy during the events of Coven, Stevie Nicks marks her second appearance and return to the series by arriving at Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men to help Misty overcome the trauma she endured from being trapped in Hell, serenading her and inviting Misty to go on tour with her to help her heal.
  • Madison travels to the Murder House with warlock Behold Chablis in search of answers on Michael Langdon, seeing him as a threat to her sister witches. After casting a spirit-revealing spell to prevent the ghosts in the house from staying invisible to them, the duo briefly spot the ghosts of Gladys and Margaret and Angela Harvey, confirming the spell worked. Madison and Behold thereafter meet various characters from the first season, including the Harmons, the Langdons, Billie Dean Howard, and Moira O'Hara, whose remains Behold digs up from the house's backyard to send her to the afterlife. Constance Langdon informs them of Michael’s backstory as thanks to the duo for ridding her of her rival.
  • While digging for the bones of Moira, Madison and Behold come across the skull of Hayden McClaine, who had been murdered by Larry Harvey and buried by Ben Harmon during the events of Murder House. Madison briefly holds the skull until she dismisses it as Moira's, stating it has "a different vibration", and throws it back into the grave.
  • Madison reconciles Tate Langdon and Violet Harmon while in the house, revealing to Violet that all of Tate’s violent actions as the Rubber Man, including the rape of her mother Vivien, were due to the Devil’s influence over Tate to sire Michael. Madison tells Violet that once Michael left the house, all of the house’s evil went with him, prompting Violet to finally forgive Tate.
  • Upon Madison recruiting fellow witch and actress Bubbles McGee back into the coven for her aid in defeating Michael, Bubbles is seen filming an episode of a horror show called "A Christmas to Dismember", which revolves around a serial killer terrorizing victims on Christmas dressed as Santa Claus, with warnings from a radio broadcast revealing he is an escaped patient from an asylum. This is a reference to Leigh Emerson, who was last seen escaping Briarcliff Manor in Asylum.
  • During the events of Coven, Fiona Goode and Marie Laveau team up to drown Nan in a bathtub as a sacrifice to Papa Legba. In Apocalypse, when Cordelia Goode solicits the help of the new Voodoo Queen to summon Papa Legba in a bid to beg for his aid in stopping Michael Langdon and preventing the end of the world, Nan's ghost reappears at Papa's side, having since become his aid and henchwoman in Hell, and has come to enjoy being his helper as a torturer of wicked spirits there since her death.
  • Cordelia Goode strikes a deal with Papa Legba that in exchange for resurrecting Marie Laveau to join her in her fight against Michael, she would give him the life of Dinah Stevens, who has been the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans since Marie’s death in Coven. Upon entering Hell to collect Marie and bring her back to Earth, Marie is still torturing Delphine LaLaurie and her daughters, exactly as she had been doing since her last appearance in Coven.
  • After traveling back in time to 2015 to kill Michael Langdon and prevent the Apocalypse from coming to be, the witch Mallory journeys to Miss Robichaux's Academy in New Orleans, where she overhears Queenie's plans to stay at an old hotel in Los Angeles to attend a live studio showing of The Price is Right. Mallory convinces Queenie to vacation in Venice instead, thus preventing Queenie's murder at the hands of James March and Ramona Royale in Hotel. .
• In Murder House, Billie Dean Howard details to Constance Langdon and Violet Harmon the story of the mysterious Roanoke Colony and mentions the word "Croatoan", a spell which can repel ghosts. Although Violet’s attempt to use the word to banish the spirits of the Murder House proves unsuccessful, psychic-medium Cricket Marlowe, who has gifts similar to Billie Dean, uses it to banish the spirits in the Roanoke House in the sixth season, Roanoke. Season six revolves around the Colony and reveals why they are different from the ghosts of the Murder House, thus explaining why Violet’s attempt to use the spell didn’t work.
  • Roanoke also reveals that the individual responsible for placing the Roanoke Colony ghosts under their curse was none other than the very first Supreme Witch, who predates the witches of Coven by centuries and uses the ghosts' annual human sacrifices to keep herself immortal. 
  • In Apocalypse, when Michael Langdon performs the Test of the Seven Wonders to determine if he is the next Supreme, Cordelia Goode states his trial will take place during the October Blood Moon. In Roanoke, this is the time of year the original Supreme Witch forces the Roanoke Colony commit human sacrifices.
• In Freak Show, Gloria Mott mentions to Dandy Mott that the Mott family has been interbreeding for centuries, resulting in a history of severe mental illness throughout their bloodline. In Roanoke, it is revealed via the TV show "My Roanoke Nightmare" (a show-within-a-show in the American Horror Story universe) that the Roanoke House was built by Edward Philippe Mott, an ancestor of Gloria and Dandy with severe social anxiety, whose behavior strongly paralleled Dandy's.
  • In an interview for "My Roanoke Nightmare", historian Doris Kearns Goodwin states that the Roanoke House was in the Mott family trust for centuries after Edward's mysterious death, passed down through his descendants until Dandy Mott, the last of the Mott family, died in 1952 in South Florida (which was shown in the episode "Curtain Call", the finale of Freak Show).
• After surviving the events of "Return to Roanoke", Lee Miller is able to convince an elderly Lana Winters (from Asylum) to come out of retirement in order to interview her for an episode of "The Lana Winters Special" . When Lana asks Lee why she actively sought her out as her interviewer, Lee confesses to Lana that she felt a connection with her based off of what Lana "had to go through" (a reference to Lana's traumatic experiences with both Bloody Face killers, as revealed in her best-selling autobiography "Maniac" in the 1970s). 
  • It is mentioned in "Great Again", the finale of season seven, that Ally Mayfair-Richards turned down an interview with Lana Winters.
• When the filming crew of the TV show "Ghost Chasers" decide to break into the Roanoke House during the October Blood Moon to determine if it is really haunted, one of the crew remarks that it is "just as creepy as that asylum" (a clear reference to Briarcliff Manor from Asylum, which was featured on a tour of America's most haunted locales, explored by newlywed couple Teresa and Leo Morrison in 2012, where they were savagely murdered by the son of Lana Winters and the original Bloody Face killer, Oliver Thredson ).
• In Murder House, Derrick, a patient of Ben Harmon's, lived with an irrational fear of urban legends due to bullying at a young age from his brothers. In particular, Derrick feared the legend of the Piggy Man. In Roanoke, it is revealed that the urban legend is in fact based off of the real-life Kincaid Polk, an ancestor of the Polk Family introduced in season six. Jether Polk claims that he is the only member of the Polk family to have gained any fame, and looks up to him as his role model.
  • Derrick also feared the legend of the Lady in White. In 1984, the Lady in White's backstory is expounded on, revealing her to be the ghost of Lavinia Richter, a cook at Camp Redwood who lost her son Bobby to a horrible accident and massacred the camp staff after blaming them for his death, donning her white sleeping gown at the time of the murders.
• Donna (from 1984) claims to have interviwed John Wayne Gacy, who made a direct appearance in Hotel as an annual guest of James Patrick March's Devil's Night soiree, having been taught by him how to be a notorious serial killer in his youth. 
  • In 1984, it is later revealed that John Wayne Gacy's house was turned into a true crime tourist attraction by Margaret Booth. Margaret Booth also acquired Spahn ranch, the compound where the Manson family lived, all of whom were featured in Cult. Briarcliff Manor is also revealed to have been purchased by Margaret.
  • Before dying and attending James March's Devil's Night, Richard Ramirez went to Camp Redwood to kill one specific girl.
• In Cult, it is revealed that a comic book series based on Twisty the Clown (from Freak Show) has been created, titled "Twisty: The Clown Chronicles". Oz Mayfair-Richards is a fan of the series, much to the horror of his mother, who is coulrophobic.
  • Pepper, Jimmy and Meep appear on the comic book cover in the ninth episode.
• Shachath, The Angel of Death from Asylum, pays a visit to Gino Barelli during a tarot session in NYC.

Names

• Charles Montgomery and by extension, Nora and Thaddeus, share a surname with Madison Montgomery. Both Kyle Spencer and the Infantata were also stitched back together by Montgomeries - Kyle by Madison, and the Infantata by Charles. Madison, interestingly enough, is already in possession of an ancient spell to resurrect the dead in the season three episode "Boy Parts", taking it out of her purse to read when she helps Zoe Benson bring Kyle back to life, and no explanation is given for where she obtained this. Years later, when Madison travels to the Murder House and meets psychic-medium Billie Dean Howard, the woman is surprised to learn Madison's surname is Montgomery, citing she "knew many Montgomeries in [her] day", directly referencing Charles, Nora, and Thaddeus, possibly indicating these characters are in fact related.
• Harry Goodman shares his surname with Sam Goodman.
• Billie Dean Howard and Timothy Howard share the same surname. Writers originally planned on naming him Monsignor O'Hara, which he would have shared with Moira O'Hara.
• Former Murder House resident and YGTDIT character Stanley Samuel Argento shares his name with Freak Show's Stanley, whose real full name is unknown. The latter's alias, Richard Spencer, could be his real name, which he shares with Kyle and Alicia Spencer.
• Homonymous Detectives Jack Colquitt may be distant relatives of each other.
  • Another detective named Jack makes his appearance in 2016.
• Sister Jude is admitted to Briarcliff Manor under the false name of "Betty Drake". Will Drake is one of the latest owners of the Hotel Cortez.
• An Uber driver named Rhett Snow may be related to Myrtle Snow, a witch.
• Constance Langdon claims to be distant cousins of the DeLongpres of Virginia. "DeLongpre" happens to be the last name of a former Supreme, Mimi DeLongpre.
• Bob Thompson, Brooke and Talia share the same surname.
• Elias Cunningham and Belle Noir, born Sarah Cunningham, share the same surname.

Locations

• Vivien Harmon mentions in Murder House that her family is originally from Florida as her sister, Jo, currently lives there, indicating that she may be related to characters from Freak Show.
• Dr. Arthur Arden and Elsa Mars are both from Germany (specifically WWII Nazi Germany).
• Sally Freeman, one of Ben's patients, reveals that she attempted to commit suicide in a hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. It is possible that this hotel was the Hotel Cortez.
  • Charles Montgomery and Madison Montgomery both have roots in Los Angeles.
• In the late 1920s, Countess Elizabeth pays daily visits to a columbarium where Rudolph Valentino is buried. This is the same crypt where Lana Winters buried Wendy Peyser in the 1960s.
• In Asylum, Teresa and Leo Morrison mention while exploring the ruins of Briarcliff Manor that they are on a tour of the United States' most haunted locations for their honeymoon; it is possible that this tour is "The Eternal Darkness Tour" from Murder House.
• The Hotel Cortez, Miss Robichaux's Academy and the Murder House all appear in the eighth season, Apocalypse.
• In Murder House, Hayden states she likes the seaside community in Marina del Rey, California. In 1984, Trevor Kirchner mentions he taught aerobics there.
• A photograph of Briarcliff Manor is shown as part of Margaret Booth's macabre tour attractions.
• Kit and Alma Walker were married in Provincetown, which would later serve as the main location of Double Feature: Red Tide. Ironically, years later another Alma would also set foot in Provincetown, Alma Gardner.
• Harry, Doris and Alma Gardner all lived in New York City around 30 years after the events of NYC.

Parallels

Along with direct connections between the characters themselves, there are certain scenes, dialogues, and situations which directly parallel each other in different seasons.

• Both Cordelia Foxx and Michael Langdon seem to share an affinity for conjuring up snakes while performing rituals in a circle.
• In 2013, Delphine LaLaurie mentions that a hundred years from then, when people dig her out of her grave once more, the "natural order" of the world will be restored. Wilhemina Venable, 2 weeks after the nuclear apocalypse in 2019, mentions that the natural order of the world has restored itself, as the illusion of people being equal to each other has been swept away. 
• In regard to her acting career, Constance Langdon states "I put that butterfly of a dream in a jar on the shelf". While hers was a metaphor, Ma Petite (who often pretended she was a butterfly) suffered that fate literally.
• Tate asked Violet if she had any Kurt Cobain music. Evan Peters later sang "Come As You Are" as Jimmy Darling.
• Monsignor Timothy Howard cut his wrists in a bathtub. Dr. Alex Lowe attempted to commit suicide in the same way, but was unsuccessful. Dandy Mott relaxed in a bathtub filled with blood.
• Cupcakes are a (poisonous) treat! Constance baked some for Violet, and Stanley offered some to Bette and Dot Tattler.
• Sister Mary Eunice loves "The Sign of the Cross" as much as Legless Suzi doesn't.
• Social outcasts are dismembered regularly by medical staff. Shelley became legless, while Jimmy Darling later had his hands removed.
• Both Fiona Goode and Elsa Mars dismissed men with "lover boy" during arguments.
• In addition to their murderous tendencies, Johnny Morgan and Dandy Mott both share a quirk for suckling. The former from the bosom of a new mother, the latter from a bottle.
• Both Dandy and Myrtle Snow got rid of corpses by dissolving them in acid.
• Delphine LaLaurie, Ethel Darling and Miriam Mead, all characters portrayed by Kathy Bates, lost their heads in their respective seasons. The Butcher also slices Agnesʼ head in half with a cleaver.
• Elsa Mars performed "Life on Mars" by David Bowie several times. Ironically, she later appeared on the cover of Life magazine.
• Denis O'Hare played two characters in (unrequited) love with characters played by Jessica Lange. Larry loved Constance and Spalding loved Fiona.
• In contrast, Elsa and Fiona were romantically involved with Massimo Dolcefino and the Axeman, respectively, both played by Danny Huston.
  • With Fiona only having one month left to live due to her cancer, the Axeman proposed they run away together. The opposite occurred between Elsa and Massimo, when Massimo had cancer and Elsa proposed they run away together.
• Madison telekinetically threw a knife at Joan Ramsey, afterwhich Fiona replied that she had to improve on her aim. In Freak Show, Elsa practiced her knife-throwing skills on Maggie Esmeralda.
• The waitresses' uniform is the same in the episodes "Dark Cousin" and "Monsters Among Us".
• Both Marie Laveau and Desiree Dupree (both played by Angela Bassett) saw their extended family massacred by white men obsessed with characters played by Sarah Paulson. Hank Foxx with Cordelia, and Dandy with Bette and Dot.
• Characters named Fiona are willing to drown people in the bathtub. Murder House's Fiona tried to drown Violet, and Fiona Goode drowned Nan.
• Characters portrayed by Jessica Lange have thus far always possessed some degree of empathy for others. When a demonically-possessed Jed Potter screamed that he couldn't see, Sister Jude ran to help him. When Cordelia screamed because of the acid in her eyes, Fiona ran to help her.
• Finn Wittrock's characters lure gay men to their death. Dandy kills Andy, and Tristan Duffy kills "The Lumberjack".
• Andy (played by Matt Bomer) is killed by Dandy Mott (played by Finn Wittrock) at their first meeting. Karmically, Rudolph Valentino (Wittrock) is killed by Donovan (Bomer) at their first meeting.
• Both Dandy and Tristan are keen to point out that they are definitely not gay... Before having a sexual encounter with another man.
• Prostitutes, particularly gay ones, don't fare very well; a female prostitute was killed by Johnny Morgan, Andy was killed by Dandy Mott, Beefy was killed by Mickey, and an unnamed hustler was killed by Harry Gardner.
• Makeup brand representatives like Avon or Mary Kay are not safe from Serial Killers.  
• Addie and Liz Taylor have similar reactions at seeing their reflections in mirrors after getting makeovers from Violet and Elizabeth, respectively.
• Constance, Iris and Behold Chablis use sage sticks to cleanse unwanted spirits in "Pilot", "Be Our Guest", and "Return to Murder House".
• Zoe Benson, Queenie and Nan drink absinthe to connect with spirits. John Lowe does the same during Devil's Night, and Billie Dean Howard drinks absinthe on the Devil's Night of 2022.
• Wrongdoers' hangings are often averted. Desiree cuts Dell's rope, Mr. March saves John Lowe, and Zoe interrupts Alicia Spencer before she can put a noose around her neck.
• Nora Montgomery and Shelby Miller (both played by Lily Rabe) kill their husbands before killing themselves in the seventh episode of the season they appear in, namely during the episodes "Open House" and "Chapter 7".
• The mask used by Madison to frighten Zoe upon her arrival at the Academy appears in Winter Anderson's bedroom.
• Cordelia and Michael both cover over their smiles with their hands during their respective Test of the Seven Wonders.
• Three out of four characters portrayed by Cheyenne Jackson died after having their throats slit. 
• Just like Vivien, Timothy Campbell received a message written on a blurry mirror. 
• Mallory (played by Billie Lourd) repeatedly ran over Michael Langdon (played by Cody Fern). Xavier (Fern) met Montana (Lourd) when she rear-ended him in traffic.
• At Outpost 3, purple is an elitist color worn by the rich and genetically superior. But at Camp Redwood, this mix of red and blue is frowned upon. Nevertheless, Ms. Venable and Margaret Booth share the same opposition to their subordinates indulging in sexual activities.
• Vampiric beings lurk in the furthest regions of the Western and Eastern United States: the gorgeous immortal Afflicted of Los Angeles feed off unsuspecting human victims seduced by their beauty, while Provincetown is haunted by the fanged Pale who feed on blood to influence their creativity, with bat-like Flesh Phantoms wandering the town's graveyard in search of humans and animals to slake their thirst.
• Vivien Harmon plays the cello, while Alma Gardner plays the violin.
• Mamie Eisenhower and Fiona Goode are both immortality-seekers. Similarly, both died trying to redeem themselves/be better people.
• The red and black color pallet of the Church of Satan, who worship the Devil and Antichrist in Apocalypse, is echoed in the red and black base of operations of the Delicate witches, who also worship the Devil and seek to bring his children into the world.
• Anna Victoria Alcott stumbles upon jars of baby fetuses preserved by the Delicate witches, calling to mind the baby fetuses preserved by Dr. Charles Montgomery.

Quotes

• In "Open House", Nora Montgomery describes the new furniture by saying, “this is wrong, all wrong”. Misty Day quotes her verbatim about alligator carcasses. Both are played by Lily Rabe.
• "Cat got your tongue?" is a recurring question from Jessica Lange's characters. Constance, Fiona and Elsa said it at one point.
• In "Piggy Piggy", Constance said "This house will make you a believer". In "Continuum", Monsignor Howard said "I will make you a believer, Jude."
• Constance believes that “life is for the living”, whilst Elsa “das leben will geliebt werden”, meaning "life is to be lived." 
• Both Larry Gayheart and Fiona Goode referred to drowning their victims as "kill[ing] two birds with a stone."
• In "Unholy Night", Sister Mary Eunice/Satan said, “You're either with me or you're against me. And if you're against me, even God can't help you”. In "Fearful Pranks Ensue", Marie Laveau said, “You're either with me or against me, and if it's the latter you best stay out of my way”.
• Misty Day, Billie Dean Howard and Cricket Marlowe claims they have surrounded themselves with “white spirit light”, "white light of spirit”, and “white light of protection”. The slightly different names have in common their poor effectiveness.
• Dandy Mott said his "car just broke down. Would you mind if I borrowed your telephone? ”Before committing the" Tupperware Party Massacre". Kai Anderson tried to get into Ally's house by saying, "Can I use your phone? My care just broke down."
• Bursting into Briarcliff Manor for her documentary, Lana Winters said, “When we get inside, no matter what happens, or what anybody says, you keep shooting”. Sidney Aaron James echoed her by saying, “the camera never stops no matter what anybody says. Even if I tell you to stop, keep rolling” when filming "Return to Roanoke" mockumentary.
• Both Costance and Michael Langdon torment Larry and Ms. Venable by telling them to show their shame, referring to their physical deformities.
• Medium Billie Dean Howard and Supreme Cordelia Goode (both played by Sarah Paulson) claim to hear screams in the walls of the Hotel Cortez.
• Madison Montgomery likes to address people she dislikes by saying: "Surprise, bitch. I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me".
• Sister Mary Eunice/Satan told Monsignor Howard, "You're mine now. Body and soul." Mr. Gallant pleased Rubber Man by telling him, “I'm yours. Body and fucking soul”.
• Dr. Arden said that, “Cleanliness is, after all, next to godliness”. Margaret Booth shares this very sentiment.
• Ramona said to Donovan, “You're more dumb than you're pretty. And you're very pretty”. Blake said to Xavier, “You're as dumb as you're pretty. And you're very very pretty”
• Adelaide Langdon cheerfully warned Troy and Bryan that they were "gonna die in there" (Murder House). Ed told the same thing to the new counselors on their way to Camp Redwood.
• Medium Cricket Marlowe asked the Uber driver if he “ever heard of the term 'gay-for-pay'”. Xavier did, according to Blake.
• While interrogating Alma Gardner about the rash of murders plaguing Provincetown, wherein each of the victims were found exsanguinated, Chief Burleson asks her "Do you have some kind of virus?" This is a callback to the Afflicted of Hotel, who have a supernatural virus which requires them to feed on human blood.
• While speaking to Steve Jobs, Dr. Calico mentions meeting a woman in the South that could shoot ping pong balls out of her vagina. This was also mentioned by Desiree Dupree in Freak Show, and as both Calico and Desiree were alive primarily in the fifties and sixties (at least, before Calico's abduction), this connection adds up timeline-wise.

Themes

Main article: American Horror Story/Tropes

American Horror Story presents a wide range of recurring themes and tropes throughout its installments. Some of them create bridges across many seasons, while others are more evident in some of the stories.

Rape and its results are often events related to the evilness roaming in a place anchoring ghosts to the brutal place of their death, often at the hands of serial killers. Supernatural occurrences go hand in hand with murder and violence in the horror repertoire — witches, vampires, zombies and aliens all have their own issues. Infidelity, intolerance and fanaticism are not exclusive to humans.

Congenital disorder and prenatal abnormality are far less terrifying than socially praised beauty that hides danger and depravity. Usually, anyways.

Theorized Connections

For the most part, this is a list of connections speculated by fans but which have not been confirmed by American Horror Story's creators, actors, or crew members. However, some of these theories have in fact turned out to be true, and are thus listed as Confirmed.

• There is a theory that Elizabeth, after having gone to Dr. Charles Montgomery for an abortion that ended in the birth of Bartholomew, would have had to explain the presence of her unnatural offspring to her husband, James Patrick March, given that Bartholomew was still alive. It is possible that March, being a serial killer, is responsible for disfiguring Thaddeus Montgomery, Charles's son, as retribution for nearly killing Bartholomew - an act which would ultimately result in Charles resurrecting Thaddeus from the dead as "the Infantata", a bloodthirsty monster of his own.
• If Charles Montgomery and Madison Montgomery are related, then it is possible Charles may have also been a warlock due to witchcraft being a genetic trait passed down through family bloodlines. If this is true, it is possible that Charles used vampire blood obtained during Elizabeth's abortion, coupled with his innate witchcraft genetics, to resurrect his son into the Infantata. This would not only explain why the Infantata is a reanimated being opposed to a ghost, but would also explain why it possesses an unquenchable thirst for blood.
• Billie Dean Howard may be related to Timothy Howard. Because of her possible familial connection with a believer of the Catholic faith, it is possible that Billie Dean's mediumship is a gift from God, akin to historical figures such as Joan of Arc. Ironically, it is through Billie Dean that Michael Langdon is believed to be the Antichrist, an evil figure fated by the Bible to end the world, and it is through her gift that she helps both Constance Langdon and Iris, respectively, communicate with lost loved ones that have crossed over into Heaven.
• Confirmed: If the Demon from Asylum is actually Satan himself, then he is directly linked to Murder House. According to Billie Dean Howard, he is associated with Michael Langdon, the prophesied Antichrist destined to usher in the End of Days. Given that each season has been confirmed to exist in the same shared universe, this may imply that the Demon can return in a future season.
  • Sister Mary Eunice was killed after being thrown from the top of a spiral staircase by Timothy Howard, during which the camera panned from a birds-eye view as she fell to her death. In "Welcome to Briarcliff", Sister Jude refers to this staircase as her "Stairway to Heaven"; consequently, Mary Eunice's descent downward may be symbolic of the Demon's fall from grace. Interestingly, several seasons have featured similar spiral staircases, and all have been displayed from a birds-eye view at least once or more in their retrospective seasons. All of these staircases exist in places known for having dark and sordid histories - the Murder House, the Roanoke House, Briarcliff Manor, Mott Manor and Outpost 3 - implying a possible connection to the Demon. This may be further supported via the as-of-yet-explained demonic murals found painted on the walls of the Murder House , which have a striking resemblance to those painted by Constance Langdon - the adoptive grandmother of the Antichrist . 
  • Confirmed: Interestingly, Miss Robichaux's Academy is the only main location in the series that does not have a spiral staircase, instead featuring an imperial staircase with a large window at its center. Unlike the other locations featured on the show, which are dark and ominous, Miss Robichaux's and all of the furniture within are bright white in coloration, and various forms of light freely stream through its halls. This may be an indication that witches are intended to be "the light in a dark world", metaphorically speaking, and will rise up to defeat the Devil and the Antichrist when the time comes.
• In "Bitchcraft", the pilot of Coven, Delphine LaLaurie mentions vengeful gods of Greek mythology, and Marie Laveau is revealed to have committed human sacrifices to Papa Legba, a Voodoo god, in exchange for immortality. In Roanoke, it is revealed that Scathach descends from the Druids and Romans, and has the Roanoke Colony commit annual human sacrifices in the name of "the old gods" during the October Blood Moon. It is possible that Scathach worships several of the gods referenced in Coven.
• Debunked: In Murder House, Constance Langdon states that she had four children - Tate, Adelaide, Beauregard, and one other unknown child. In a commentary with showrunner Ryan Murphy, he states that a deleted scene would have revealed that Constance's fourth child was afflicted with albinism, and had an unknown fate. It is possible that the albino bodyguard that accompanies Zoe Benson on her first day at Miss Robichaux's Academy is Constance's long-lost fourth child.
• By the year 2022, the entire general public seems to be aware of the presence of ghosts, and several tourists desire to intentionally stay in places which are haunted, as seen in "Be Our Guest", the finale of Hotel. This may be due to several television shows in the American Horror Story universe having exploited locations which are haunted, such as the Hotel Cortez in Billie Dean Howard's TV show and the Roanoke House in both "My Roanoke Nightmare" and "Ghost Chasers". In Roanoke, a fan of "My Roanoke Nightmare" in the UK states via YouTube that the horrific events seen looked far too real to be fake, and voices her concerns over the fact that none of the show's cast were seen again after "Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell" - a video that can be seen steadily gaining attention by the number of likes it's starting to get, indicating that people are starting to become more aware that ghosts are real.
• There is a theory that the Extraterrestrials featured in Asylum are responsible for the creation of the witches from Coven, as their test subjects have been shown to exhibit extraordinary talents which surpass normal human beings. Julia Walker and Thomas Bertrand, two children conceived via alien influence, were able to cure a mentally unstable Sister Jude via unknown means. It is possible that aliens have been experimenting on human beings for many decades, and witches are the descendants of one such experiment. Additionally, it should be noted that aliens have been equated to a position akin to God according to interviews with Ryan Murphy, and some witches are known for worshipping "the old gods" which predate Christianity. The vampires featured in Hotel may also hail from a similar experiment, albeit perhaps a less successful one given their insatiable need for blood.
  • If the Extraterrestrials are in fact the equivalent of God in the American Horror Story universe, then they are direct enemies of the Devil, and may have created witches for the purpose of protecting humanity from the influence of the Antichrist, which the Devil is said to be responsible for creating.
• It is theorized by some fans that Emily from Apocalypse is the long-lost daughter of Lee Harris, who mentioned in Roanoke that she had a daughter named Emily who went missing.