"American Horror Story" is real: the events that formed the basis of the series

The series "American Horror Story" at one time greatly tickled the nerves of millions of viewers, because the events that are described in each season look really terrible. What if we say that many of them actually happened?

Read about who became the prototypes of the heroes of the series and what real stories formed the basis for it in our material.

The plot of the first season of "American Horror Story" is centered around the Harmon family, who moved from Boston to an old mansion in Los Angeles. They do not even suspect that the house they bought is inhabited by the ghosts of the former owners and their victims.

The heroine who appeared in this season under the name Elizabeth Short is a real girl who lived in the period from 1924 to 1947. Elizabeth, also known by the nickname Black Dahlia, is the victim of one of the most mysterious crimes ever committed in the United States.

The mutilated body of a waitress was found on an abandoned plot of land in Leimert Park, located in the vicinity of Los Angeles. The corpse was cut into two parts at the waist, the external and internal genitals were extracted from it. On the victim's face, the killer, who remained undiscovered, cut out a bloody smile, and also removed the girl's nipples.

The second storyline in the first season, based on real events, tells about two nurses who died in a murderous house. In 1996, the maniac Richard Speck, threatening with a weapon, took nine nurses hostage in a dormitory, after which he raped and killed them in turn. The only surviving nurse, Cora Amurao, hid under the bed. The most terrifying was the fate of Gloria Devi – with her the killer practiced necrophilia. So, we can say that everything was not so bad in the series…

Another character of the first season Tate Langdon is almost completely written off from Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. In 1999, these guys opened fire on students and teachers at the Columbine School. As a result of the mass murder, 13 people were killed, another 23 were seriously injured.

Many viewers guessed that the prototype of the doctor Arthur Arden in the second season of "American Horror Story" was the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. He is known for conducting experiments on concentration camp prisoners Auschwitz. Tens of thousands of people have become victims of Mengele's criminal experiments.

Another real character from this season is a maniac nicknamed Bloody Face. This was the name of the American Ed Gin-a famous serial killer, necrophile and body snatcher. During the search of the man's house, the police found masks made of human skin and severed heads of people hanging on the walls. In addition, Gene had a whole collection of various things made from human remains – two pairs of trousers, a suit, a vest, a chair, a belt made of female nipples, as well as a soup plate made of a skull.

Dozens of human organs were found in the psychopath's refrigerator. According to Gene, he dug up the bodies of women who looked like his mother from the graves.

In the third season, the actress Kathy Bates played the role of Delphine Lalaurie, also known by the nickname "The Orleans Saltychikha". Madame Lalaurie is one of the most violent female murderers in the history of New Orleans. She was accused of torturing and sophisticated murders of her dark-skinned slaves.

Delphine Lalori learned about her sadistic tendencies when a fire broke out in her house. It is believed that it was arranged by one of the slave cooks in order to expose her mistress.

When the door of the attic where the slaves were kept was broken open, seven mutilated, emaciated people came out. Some were missing limbs, others had unnaturally elongated necks. One slave had a wooden stick sticking out of his head, with which Madame Lalaurie tried to "stir his brains".

Another real character of this season is a Woodcutter from New Orleans. A serial killer who operated in the city in the period from May 1918 to October 1919, attacked his victims with an axe, and sometimes broke into their homes with the same tool. The identity of the killer could not be established.

The savagery of the Woodcutter's attacks and his bloodthirstiness made the whole city shudder with horror. The man killed everyone indiscriminately-women, children, pregnant women, the elderly. He wrote about his actions in the newspapers. One day, a letter was published in one of the city publications, in which he promised not to kill people listening to jazz. On March 19, jazz was played in almost all homes and entertainment venues, and some musicians played it right on the streets. Surprisingly, the Woodcutter kept his word – there were no victims that day.

The most brutal murder was committed by a Woodcutter on the night of March 10, 1919. Neighbors heard screams coming from the house of immigrant Charles Cortimiglia, and when they entered there, they saw Rosie, his wife, kneeling on her knees, holding the bloody body of her two – year-old daughter in her arms.

Who would have thought that the clown Twisty, who terrifies the viewers of the third and seventh season ("Cult"), is also a real person. This is John Gacy – one of the most famous serial maniacs who killed and raped 33 young people, including several teenagers.

Gacy really worked as a clown, and also ran his own construction business and was actively engaged in charity work. No one could even imagine that this good-natured, smiling man could turn out to be a criminal. However, on December 11, 1978, a 15-year-old boy disappeared, whose mother said that she had last seen him with Gacy.

After searching the suspect's house, the police found the bodies of 29 people in the basement. Subsequently ,the "funny clown" said that he raped them and killed them. Or maybe vice versa, because once, because of suspicions of copulation with corpses, Gacy was fired from the morgue. Despite the fact that the maniac confessed at the trial and helped the investigation in every possible way, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

The creators of the series themselves are sure that "Hotel" is "much darker than previous seasons". This episode is based on the story of a real hotel located in the center of Los Angeles, where sinister events took place.

In 1893, a certain Henry Howard Holmes, who in the future will be declared the first officially registered American serial killer, built a hotel, which the locals called "The Castle". The first floor of the building looked completely normal – it was used for a pharmacy and various shops. But the second floor of the "Castle" was a real maze of dozens of rooms without windows, stairs leading to nowhere, corridors adjacent to blank walls and doors that could not be opened.

Here Holmes lured his victims, whom he brutally tortured and killed. Some he left to die in rooms with a gas supply system, others he simply locked in a soundproof storage room and waited for their death. The maniac dumped the corpses into a special chute, through which they fell into the base of the building. Here, Holmes personally dissected the bodies into skeletal models, which he then sold to medical schools.

The number of victims of Henry Howard is not exactly known. He himself confessed to 27 murders, but, according to some reports, from 50 to 350 people disappeared without a trace in the "Castle".

The Roanoke colony, which is mentioned in the sixth season of "American Horror Story", is something like the Dyatlov Pass in Russia for the United States- a little-studied place where people once died, and no one can say exactly why.

There was once a settlement of 116 people on Roanoke Island, created by a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh. When he returned to the island some time later, he did not find a single soul there – all the buildings were dismantled, and the word "Cro"was carved on one of the trees. Presumably, the colonists were captured by the Croatoan Indians (hence the word "Cro" on the tree). However, some do not rule out a mystical reason for the disappearance of the entire population of Roanoke.

If after all this you still don't have enough adrenaline in your blood, we advise you to read about 11 real murderers, whose bloody crimes have become plots for famous Hollywood films, as well as about the creepy stories that formed the basis of the most terrible films in the "horror"genre.