Yahoo News American Horror Story's timeline ahead of s8 crossover
Warning: Contains spoilers from all seven seasons of American Horror Story.
American Horror Story will deliver its long-awaited Murder House and Coven crossover in season eight and we've already offered our take on what might happen.
But to make sure we've got every angle covered, we thought we'd compile a timeline of American Horror Story to date from Murder House to Cult. It might not be comprehensive as it'd be longer than War and Peace, but we've included the major events that have happened and what could come up again.
So settle in with a cup of tea and catch yourself up on everything that's happened in Ryan Murphy's horror anthology so far.
1500s
Scathach (Lady Gaga), the first Supreme, stows away on a boat from England to America as the English set up a colony on Roanoke Island. She's discovered, but before the soldiers can burn her at the stake, she massacres them all and escapes into the woods. (Roanoke)
A new group of colonists settle in Roanoke, led by Governor John White who heads back to England and leaves his wife Thomasin (Kathy Bates) in charge. Shortly after, the colonists banish her to the woods where she gives her soul to Scathach, becomes the Butcher and returns to the colony to murder the ones who banished her, sparing her son Ambrose (Wes Bentley). (Roanoke)
The Butcher leads the remaining colonists away from Roanoke and starts to engage in human sacrifice, but when her son refuses, she murders them all and they all return as ghosts.
To banish them, Native Americans carried out the 'Croatoan' curse, a word that John White finds on a post on his return to the colony. (Murder House)
1692
In response to the Salem Witch Trials, ailing Supreme Prudence Mather takes her own life as part of the Sacred Taking, allowing a new Supreme to rise in her place and lead the remaining Coven members to New Orleans. (Coven)
1790s
Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies is established as a finishing school. (Coven)
On the site haunted by Roanoke ghosts, Edward Philippe Mott builds the Big Shaker Mansion and is later killed by the Butcher and her colonists. (Roanoke)
1830s
Delphine LaLaurie (Bates) returns to New Orleans with her family and begins to torture her African-American slaves. (Coven)
After hearing them plotting to kill her, Delphine cages up her daughters for an entire year. (Coven)
Delphine turns her slave Bastien into a minotaur by placing a bull's head on to him after he is seen with her daughter Pauline, who tried to seduce him. The transformation later kills him. (Coven)
Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett), Bastien's lover, tricks Delphine into drinking an immortality potion and buries her alive, as well as murdering her entire family and hanging them from their house's balcony. (Coven)
1860s
Miss Robichaux's Academy is turned into a military hospital during the Civil War, before Marion Warton, the reigning Supreme, purchases it in 1868 and secretly turns it into a safe haven for young witches. (Coven)
1890s
At the 1893 World's Fair, Kincaid Polk goes on a killing spree before he is torn apart by pigs, leading to the creation of the Piggy Man legend. (Roanoke) (Murder House)
Edward Mordrake (Wes Bentley), a man with two faces, is committed to Bedlam Asylum, before he escapes and joins a freak show. One Halloween, he kills all of his fellow freaks and himself. (Freak Show)
1910s
Briarcliff Manor – location of Asylum – is built as a tuberculosis ward. (Asylum)
The Axeman threatens the citizens of New Orleans that he'll kill them if they do not play jazz in their homes. After killing eight people, he is lured to Miss Robichaux's Academy and stabbed to death by the witches. (Coven)
1920s
Charles Montgomery (Matt Ross) builds what would become the Murder House for his wife Nora (Lily Rabe). He develops a drug addiction and an obsession with resurrecting dead animals, as well as performing illegal abortions to fund his habit. After someone kidnaps and dismembers their baby Thaddeus, Charles sews him back together and brings him back to life as the Infantata. Horrified by what she sees, Nora kills Charles and herself. (Murder House)
James Patrick March begins construction on the Hotel Cortez, while Elizabeth meets Rodolfo Valentino on set of The Son of the Sheik and starts a relationship with him and his wife Natacha Rambova (Alexandria Daddario). Rodolfo is infected with the vampire virus by the movie's director, passing it onto his wife and then faking his death. Believing him to be dead, Elizabeth marries March. (Hotel)
March begins the Ten Commandments murders and The Countess gets involved, before she visits Montgomery for an abortion, only for her son Bartholomew to survive and she puts him in Room 33 of the hotel. The Countess finds out that Valentino and his wife are alive and they infect her with the virus, but as they all plan to leave, March traps the couple in a wing of the hotel. (Hotel)
Jealous of March and The Countess, one of the hotel's maids, Hazel Evers, who had been helping him cover up the murders, leaves March's handkerchief at one of the crime scenes. With the police closing in, March kills Evers and then himself, leaving the hotel to The Countess. (Hotel)
1930s
Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) is tricked into shooting a snuff movie that results in her legs being amputated by Dr Arthur Arden (James Cromwell), then known as Hans Grüper, before she is rescued by Massimo Dolcefino who creates her prosthetic legs. (Freak Show)
Elsa adopts Pepper as her first "freak" and starts curating her Cabinet of Curiosities, which includes Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters) and his mother. (Freak Show)
1940s
Twisty the Clown starts working at Rusty Westchester's Traveling Carnival, but flees to Jupiter, Florida after thinking the police were after him, later maiming himself by attempting suicide with a shotgun. (Freak Show)
Believing she has killed a child in a drunk-driving accident, Sister Jude (Lange) becomes a nun, eventually leading her to work at Briarcliff Asylum. (Asylum)
1950s
Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) goes on a murder spree and after Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock) is turned down from joining Fraulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities, he becomes Twisty's protégé. (Freak Show)
At Halloween, Elsa unwittingly summons Edward Mordrake after performing live and he goes on to kill Twisty, leading to Dandy taking over the killings after Jimmy Darling and Maggie Esmeralda (Emma Roberts) free the children Twisty and Dandy had captured. Dandy goes on to kill his maid and his mother, among others. (Freak Show)
Stanley (Denis O'Hare) and Maggie infiltrate the Cabinet of Curiosities with the aim of killing the freaks and selling the bodies to the American Morbidity Museum. After Maggie fails to murder Jimmy, Stanley blackmails Jimmy's father Dell Toledo (Michael Chiklis) to kill one of the freaks, Ma Petite. (Freak Show)
Elsa kills Jimmy's mother and, with the help of Stanley, makes it look like a suicide and plans to go to Hollywood with Stanley. However she learns that he's not to be trusted after Dell tells her that Stanley cut off Jimmy's hands, promising that he could afford bail after being framed for Dandy's murders. Elsa also kills Dell after he confesses to murdering Ma Petite. (Freak Show)
Chester Creb (Neil Patrick Harris) becomes the new owner of the Cabinet of Curiosities and during a meal to welcome him, the freaks reveal they know Stanley's true intentions – after Maggie confesses – and kill him. Chester then rehearses a new trick and Maggie volunteers, but he hallucinates his dead wife and saws Maggie in half, before turning himself in. (Freak Show)
Conjoined twins Bette and Dot (Sarah Paulson) warn Elsa that the freaks plan to kill her as retribution for Ethel's murder. Elsa sells the show to Dandy and moves to Hollywood. (Freak Show)
After the freaks quit, Dandy goes on a rampage, killing all of them except Desiree (Bassett), Jimmy and the twins. The twins go on to marry Dandy, but it's only an act to get their revenge as Desiree drugs him and they put him a water-torture tank, drowning him. This leads to the Roanoke house going on sale as the last remaining Mott has died. (Freak Show) (Roanoke)
1960s
Elsa becomes a star in Hollywood and initially refuses to perform a Halloween special on her hit show The Elsa Mars Hour on WBN. However, after a copy of her snuff movie resurfaces and she learns that her freaks had all been murdered, she agrees to the special, summoning Edward Mordrake who kills her and she is reunited with her troupe in the afterlife. (Freak Show)
Briarcliff Manor is bought by the Catholic Church and turned into a mental institution for the criminally insane. Dr Arden is allowed to carry out his experiments on the patients, leading to the creation of "Raspers", mutated former patients who hide in the woods around Briarcliff. (Asylum)
After believing his wife was abducted by aliens, Kit Walker (Peters) is accused of being a serial killer called Bloody Face and is committed to Briarcliff, where he comes into contact with lesbian journalist Lana Winters (Paulson), who is trying to get an interview with him, but ends up getting committed herself because of her sexuality. (Asylum)
Sister Mary Eunice (Rabe) becomes possessed by the Devil after the exorcism of another patient and gets Sister Jude committed to the asylum, taking over control of Briarcliff. After failing to exorcise her, Monsignor Howard (Joseph Fiennes) throws her from the top of the stairs and later Dr Arden burns himself alive while cremating Eunice's body. (Asylum)
Dr Oliver Thredson (Zachary Quinto) is revealed to be the real Bloody Face and holds Lana hostage after she discovers the truth. She escapes after being raped, but is re-admitted to Briarcliff after a car crash and discovers she's pregnant, later giving up the baby for adoption. Lana is released from Briarcliff, exposes Dr Thredson as the real killer and kills him in his home. (Asylum)
Valerie Solanas (Lena Dunham) publishes the SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) Manifesto and after a failed assassination attempt on Andy Warhol, her followers begin killing couples, only for the Zodiac Killer to take the credit. (Cult)
Lana Winters publishes her book Maniac: One Woman's Story of Survival which goes on to be a bestseller. She reunites with Kit who also later checks Sister Jude out of Briarcliff to leave with him and his family until her death. (Asylum)
While it's being used as a Sorority house for a nursing school, the Murder House sees R Franklin kill nursing students Gladys and Maria. (Murder House)
1970s
Lana Winters creates a TV show called Briarcliff Exposed that leads to its closure and Monsignor Howard killing himself. (Asylum)
Fiona Goode (Lange) kills the current Supreme in front of Spalding (O'Hare) and before the Witches' Council can get him to confess that Fiona was the killer, he cuts out his own tongue to protect her. Fiona completes the Seven Wonders and is crowned the new Supreme. (Coven)
B-movie star Ramona Royale (Bassett) meets The Countess and is turned, becoming her lover. (Hotel)
The Chen family move into the Roanoke House and are murdered by the Butcher, while at the Murder House, twin boys Troy and Bryan are killed by the Infantata. (Roanoke) (Murder House)
1980s
Constance Langdon (Lange) kills her husband and the maid in the Murder House, before moving her children Tate (Peters), Adelaide and Beauregard. (Murder House)
Nick Pryor (O'Hare) checks into the Hotel Cortez and after meeting The Countess, transforms in Liz Taylor and is hired to work as a bartender. (Hotel)
Sisters Miranda and Bridget Jane move into the Roanoke House and, you guessed it, are murdered by the Butcher. (Roanoke)
1990s
The Countess and Ramona split up and after Ramona turns Prophet Moses and falls in love with him, The Countess kills him. (Hotel)
Hank Foxx (Josh Hamilton) goes on his first witch hunt with his father. (Coven)
Larry Harvey (O'Hare) moves into the Murder House with his family, but after finding out he's been unfaithful with Constance, his wife kills herself and their children by setting fire to the room they're in. Constance and her children move back into the house. Larry later kills Beauregard for Constance, leading to Tate setting him on fire (although he survives) and going on a shooting rampage at his school, before being killed by SWAT officers. (Murder House)
Sally McKenna (Paulson) inadvertently creates the Addiction Demon. She checks into the Hotel Cortez with Donovan (Matt Bomer), before being killed by Donovan's mother and The Countess then saves Donovan by turning him after he overdoses and his mother becomes a manager at the hotel. (Hotel)
Elias Cunningham films the video about the twisted history of the Roanoke House as he tries to find out what happened to Bridget and Miranda Jane. (Roanoke)
2010
Chad Warwick (Quinto) and his partner buy the Murder House with the aim of doing it up and selling it on, but at Halloween, they are killed by the Rubber Man. (Murder House)
Detective John Lowe (Bentley) visits the Hotel Cortez for the first time and James Patrick March attempts to get him to carry on his Ten Commandments murders. At the same time, The Countess abducts John's son Holden at the carnival. (Hotel)
2011
Ben (Dylan McDermott), Vivien (Connie Britton) and Violet (Taissa Farmiga) move into the Murder House. Vivien is raped by the Rubber Man and falls pregnant with twins by different fathers, with Ben being one and the Rubber Man the other. The Rubber Man is later revealed to be Tate who is trying to get a baby for fellow ghost Nora Montgomery. (Murder House)
After he becomes one of Ben's patients, Tate gets close to Violet and reveals on Halloween that he was a school shooter. Violet then accidentally kills herself and doesn't realise she is a ghost until she can't leave the house. Constance's daughter Adelaide is also run over and killed on Halloween. (Murder House)
2012
Vivien dies during childbirth along with one of her twins, leaving Tate's baby alive. Constance discovers through medium Billie Dean Howard (Paulson) that the child will grow up to be the Antichrist. The ghosts kill Ben and make it look like a suicide to claim the baby for themselves, but Constance takes it away from the house and calls it Michael. (Murder House)
A new family moves into the Murder House, but the Harmons and some of the other ghosts scare them away so they won't be murdered by the vengeful ones. (Murder House)
Cordelia Foxx (Paulson), who runs Miss Robichaux's Academy and is the daughter of current Supreme Fiona Goode, finds Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) and moves her into the academy. (Coven)
Dr Thredon and Lana Winters's son Johnny (McDermott) becomes the new Bloody Face and kills people visiting the abandoned Briarcliff Asylum. He then plots his mother's murder and confronts her after a television interview. Lana persuades him to put the gun down, before shooting him herself. (Asylum)
2013
Zoe Benson (Farmiga) comes to Miss Robichaux's Academy after accidentally killing her boyfriend with her powers, joining Queenie, recovering addict Madison (Roberts) and clairvoyant Nan (Jamie Brewer). (Coven)
After Zoe is raped by members of the fraternity ran by Kyle Spencer (Peters), she crashes the bus they're on, killing the majority of them and Zoe later kills the surviving rapist. With Madison's help, she patches Kyle back together and Madison resurrects him, attracting the attention of Misty Day (Rabe), a witch who has resurrected herself. (Coven)
Fiona discovers she is dying due to a new Supreme rising and kills Madison, believing it to be her and having Spalding help her cover it up. She also frees Delphine LaLaurie and makes her the Academy's maid, starting up a conflict between her and Marie Laveau after killing the Minotaur, eventually leading to Queenie changing sides and betraying the coven by giving Delphine to Marie. (Coven)
In an attempt to contact Madison, Zoe, Queenie and Nan resurrect the Axeman. Zoe then discovers Spalding's secret and kills him, before resurrecting Madison with the help of Misty, who joins the coven. Misty also resurrects Myrtle (Frances Conroy) and she kills the Witches' Council for burning her at the stake. (Coven)
Cordelia is blinded in an acid attack by witch hunters, including her husband Hank, and gains a new ability called The Sight. Hank then tries to kill Marie and her followers, but Queenie uses her powers on him and makes him shoot himself in the head. (Coven)
2014
Marie joins the Academy and teams up with Fiona to kill Nan, removing a Supreme candidate and fulfilling a deal with Papa Legba for a soul. With the help of the Axeman, they kill all the remaining witch hunters. He is later killed by the witches after Fiona makes him believe he has killed her. (Coven)
Queenie returns with Delphine who dismembers and buries Marie, before Queenie kills Delphine after making a deal with Papa Legba to return her mortality. She also helps to release Misty from her tomb where Madison had buried her alive to eliminate Supreme competition. (Coven)
During the Seven Wonders to find the next Supreme, Misty and Zoe die and Queenie fails to revive Zoe. Madison refuses to resurrect Zoe, even though she can, leading to Kyle to kill her for not saving Zoe. Cordelia enters the challenges and brings Zoe back, becoming the new Supreme and regaining her sight. Fiona dies from cancer and is banished to hell with the Axeman. Cordelia reveals the presence of witches to the world. (Coven)
Kai Anderson's (Peters) mother kills his father and then herself, with his brother Vincent (Cheyenne Jackson) agreeing to hide their bodies in their bedroom. (Cult)
Matt (Andre Holland) and Shelby Miller (Rabe) move into the Roanoke House and are tormented by the ghosts in the house, including the Butcher. They escape unscathed and the events are immortalised in TV show My Roanoke Nightmare. (Roanoke)
2015
Constance comes home to discover that Michael, AKA the Antichrist, has killed his nanny. (Murder House)
The Hotel Cortez is sold to fashion designer Will Drake (Jackson) and during a fashion show held at the hotel, The Countess meets model Tristan Duffy (Wittrock) and turns him, dumping Donovan who goes to meet with Ramona with the aim of killing The Countess, along with the help of Iris who he turns after she tries to kill herself. Their plan to kill her children fails and Donovan later tricks Ramona and she is imprisoned at the hotel. (Hotel)
John Lowe checks into the Hotel Cortez to investigate a new series of murders, only to later discover that he is the new Ten Commandments killer. His wife Alex (Chloë Sevigny) is turned by The Countess to be a nanny for her vampire children, but makes a mistake in turning Max who infects his schoolmates and they kill teachers at their school, before being brought to the hotel. (Hotel)
Liz Taylor and Tristan fall in love and The Countess kills Tristan out of spite, before she is reunited with Valentino and Natacha after they break out of the Hotel Cortez. She reunites with Donovan instead though and later marries Will Drake, although he insults her baby and she locks him in with Ramona who kills him. Donovan then kills Valentino and The Countess kills Natacha. (Hotel)
Liz reconnects with her son and is teams up with Iris to kill The Countess and take over the hotel, but their attack fails and kills Donovan, although they manage to take his body outside so he won't be trapped as a ghost. Iris and Liz then free Ramona who goes on to kill Queenie when she checks into the hotel, before she confronts The Countess who apologises and grants her the hotel. (Hotel)
Sally tells John that March has kidnapped his wife to force him to finish the Ten Commandments murders, which he does by killing The Countess, cursing her to spend eternity with March in the hotel. (Hotel)
2016
My Roanoke Nightmare proves to be such a success that a follow-up show, Return to Roanoke: Three Days In Hell, is commissioned that sees the actors of My Roanoke Nightmare and their real-life counterparts head back to the Roanoke House. (Roanoke)
One by one, everyone is killed by either the Butcher and her followers, including Piggy Man, or the Polk family, leaving Lee Harris (Adina Porter) as the only survivor after she was possessed by Scathach to kill the remaining survivors, as well as three bloggers who investigated the site. Audrey Tindall (Paulson) tries to stop her, but is shot by the police before she can do it. (Roanoke)
Ivy Mayfair-Richards (Alison Pill) meets Winter Anderson (Billie Lourd) at a political rally the night before the US election, where Ivy is groped by a Trump supporter. They kidnap him and lock him in a basement, but on the day of the election, Kai persuades him to cut off his own arm to make sure he can vote. (Cult)
Kai begins to build his cult after being persuaded by Bebe Babbitt (Conroy) to become the new leader of SCUM's mission. His early followers include Harrison Wilton (Billy Eichner) and his wife Meadow (Leslie Grossman), broadcast journalist Beverly Hope (Porter) and Ivy. One of their earliest murders is of Serena Belinda (Roberts) who is killed during a live news broadcast. (Cult)
2017
Winter becomes the babysitter for Ally and Ivy's son Oz and Ally starts being terrorised by the cult after being attacked by clowns at the supermarket, who later kill Ally and Ivy's neighbours, the Changs, leading to Harrison and Meadow moving in next door. (Cult)
Kai begins a successful campaign to become a city councillor, including murdering his rival Sally Keffler and a staged assassination attempt by Meadow at Kai's rally, who then kills herself and frames Ally. (Cult)
In order to bring down the cult and get her son back, Ally joins the cult and fatally poisons Ivy as revenge for conspiring against her. Kai becomes obsessed that there's a mole in the cult and Ally frames Winter, leading to her death at Kai's hands, before Ally kills the real mole, Speedwagon. The FBI then arrests Kai on the night that the cult had planned, at his orders, to kill 100 pregnant women. (Cult)
Lana Winters interviews Lee Harris in a live television special which is interrupted by Lee Polk who tries to kill Lee for killing his family, before the police shoot him. A group of paranormal investigators are filming at the Roanoke House when Lee shows up looking for her daughter Flora. Everyone is killed by the ghosts, but Lee and Flora reunite and Lee sacrifices herself to save Flora who is taken away by police as the Roanoke House burns. (Roanoke)
2018
Ally is running for senate when Kai escapes from prison and attempts to kill Ally during a debate, only for Beverly – who is working on Ally's campaign – to kill him. Ally wins a senate seat and is later seen wearing a cloak similar to the ones worn by SCUM members. (Cult)
2022
At Devil's Night, Billie Dean Howard interviews the ghost of John Lowe and he takes her to March's Devil's Night party, successfully scaring her away from the hotel. John and Alex's daughter Scarlett comes to visit and they share some time together, while The Countess meets a new man at the bar. (Hotel)
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