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1: Alma & Kit from Season 2: Asylum and Betty & Barney Hill.
In season 2, Alma & Kit are secretly married due to rampant racism in the US at the time; Alma is black, and Kit is white. They are very happy together until Alma is abducted by aliens and Kit is arrested for her murder.
Barney & Betty Hill, like Alma & Kit, were a mixed-race couple when it was uncommon in the US; Barney was black, and Betty was white. On the 19th of September 1961, they were driving in New Hampshire at around 10:30 p.m., and both observed a strange light in the sky. A World War II veteran and plane enthusiast, Barney assured Betty it was probably just a satellite. The light followed them along the road, zig-zagging across the sky. They stopped the car to try and get a better look, Betty using the binoculars they had in the car. She turned to Barney and said, ‘If you think that’s a satellite or a star, you’re being completely ridiculous.’ Barney recalls seeing a giant flying saucer approaching them and instructing Betty to get back into the car. He retrieved the handgun he kept in the car and tried to raise the weapon towards the vessel but found he couldn’t; it was like he had been paralysed. Eventually, he managed to move and run back to the car. Neither Barney nor Betty could remember what happened over the next 2 hours, and the next thing they knew, they were 35 miles down the road. When the couple finally got home, they both felt peculiar and noticed their watches had stopped working. Barney & Betty later went to see psychologist and neurologist Benjamin Simon, who specialised in hypnosis, in a desperate attempt to recall exactly what happened in the missing 2 hours. It took months of weekly sessions, but eventually, they managed to piece together the events of that night. They told how the flying object they had seen landed on the car and put the couple into some sort of sleep or trance before they were led into the aircraft by grey beings. They were taken to separate examination rooms, stripped of their clothes, and placed on metal tables. Samples were taken of their hair, nails and skin; needles probed their body, including a large one painfully inserted into Betty’s abdomen. There was some excitement amongst the beings that Barney was able to remove all his teeth, and Betty explained to the beings that these were dentures, a concept they didn’t understand. Betty even joked with, what appeared to be the leader of the beings; she asked where the craft was currently situated, and the leader replied, ‘If you don’t know where you are, there wouldn’t be any point in telling you where I am’. The leader then showed her a complicated star map, which she later drew under hypnosis.
When the story of the abduction broke (much to Barney & Betty’s annoyance), it was met with scepticism. People either believed they were seeking attention, were mentally ill or had developed false memories. Benjamin Simon later said, ‘I believe implicitly in the honesty of these people’. Interestingly, experts said no constellation matched the star map at the time. However, a teacher, Marjorie Fish, researched the map and discovered it was very similar to the Zeta Reticuli, a wide binary star system. She said, ‘Since we did not have the data to make such a map in 1961 when Betty saw it, or in 1964 when she drew it, it could not be a hoax. Since the stars with lines to them are such a select group, it is almost impossible that the resemblance between Betty’s map and reality could be coincidental. Betty’s map could only have been drawn after contact with extra-terrestrials.’
2: Grace Bertrand from Season 2: Asylum and Lizzie Borden.
Grace was in Briarcliff Manor and knew Alma & Kit. As a child in France, she was repeatedly raped by her father; when she informed her stepmother of the abuse, she was told to keep quiet and bribed with sweets. Grace realised there was little to no chance of escaping the abuse; her only way out was to murder her father and stepmother with an axe.
Lizzie Borden took an axe,
And gave her mother forty whacks;
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.
Lizzie Borden was born on 19th July 1860 in Massachusetts, US. Her father, Andrew Jackson Borden, was a wealthy man known for being frugal and selfish with his money. Lizzie and her older sister, Emma, were brought up as religious people, and Lizzie even taught at a Sunday School for the children of recent immigrants. Lizzie’s mother, Sarah, died, and three years later, Andrew married Abby Gray, whom Lizzie would refer to as ‘Mrs. Borden’. The majority of accounts I have read state how much Lizzie and her stepmother hated each other, but I have read an account that said Abby was an excellent stepmother to Lizzie (for this story, I will stick to the accounts of them disliking each other). Lizzie believed Abby was only after her father’s money; this idea was further cemented as Andrew started gifting real estate to members of Abby’s family. At the start of August 1892, the whole household, including their servant, Bridget ‘Maggie’ Sullivan, came down with a severe sickness. Some believed it to be food poisoning (which seemed the most likely explanation), but Abby, knowing how unpopular Andrew was, became convinced that someone was trying to poison them.
On the 4th of August 1892, at around 10:30 a.m., Abby went upstairs to the house. There, she was struck in the head with a hatchet; she fell face down on the floor and was hit a further 17 times before she died. There was blood everywhere. Andrew returned home shortly afterwards and was annoyed to find he couldn’t open the front door. He shouted for Maggie, who also struggled to open it; Maggie would later testify that she had heard Lizzie laughing from the top of the stairs (Lizzie strongly denied this). Maggie further testified in court that at 11.10 a.m. the same morning she heard Lizzie shouting ‘Maggie, come quick! Father’s dead. Somebody came in and killed him!’ Maggie rushed in to find Andrew on the downstairs sofa, having been struck 10-11 times with a hatchet. He had been hit so hard that one of his eyeballs was split in two. The police were alerted and instantly questioned Lizzie; while this was going on, Abby’s body was also discovered. The police found two hatchets, two axes and a hatchet head with a broken handle in the basement (these were never removed for evidence). The bodies were taken away for autopsies; as a side note, no poison was found in their stomachs. On the 6th of August, Lizzie was found burning a dress, claiming it had paint drops on it. No one knew if it was the dress she had been wearing the day of the murder. Lizzie was arrested and, during the inquest, frequently contradicted herself and behaved erratically, although at the time she was taking morphine that had been prescribed to her. The trial took place on 5th June 1893. As part of the evidence, the broken skulls of the 2 victims were shown in court, causing Lizzie to faint. After an hour and a half, the jury found Lizzie innocent of all charges. To this day, there are many opposing theories about this case – did she kill them? Or was she an innocent victim that history has unfavourably remembered?
3: Marie Laveau from Season 3: Coven
In season 3, Marie Laveau is the legendary Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. She hates the witches with a passion and considers herself in competition with them. Marie is immortal after agreeing to perform a service for Papa Legba (a Voodoo spirit) once a year. She believes this to be sexual but is later devastated when she finds out what he requires is an innocent soul annually, including the soul of her new-born daughter.
Marie Catherine Laveau was born 10th September, 1801, and was born a free black woman (many were still slaves at the time). She was a practitioner of Voodoo, a herbalist and a midwife in New Orleans. Marie was married to another free black man called Jacques Paris. They had children together, but only two survived into adulthood: Marie Eucharist Eloise and Marie Philomene Glapion. After the death of her husband, she began a relationship with a white man, Christophe Dominick Duminy de Glapion, whom she remained with for 30 years until his death. They weren’t allowed to marry under the law at that time because he was white and her black, but mixed-race couples were common. They went on to have 15 children (but many believe this to include grandchildren as well). Marie was a devoted Catholic who intertwined her beliefs with that of Voodoo and she dominated Voodoo culture in New Orleans and became known as the Queen of Voodoo. The front room of her cottage was filled with altars, candles and holy images, and she would hold meetings weekly, with people chanting, singing, and leaving alcohol & food as gifts for the spirits (there were newspaper reports of drunken orgies, but this was possibly due to people’s racist natures and wanting to slander a powerful black woman). She helped people in the community with advice & comfort and would even post bail for free black women who were in prison. Marie owned a beauty parlour and was a hairdresser, popular with the New Orleans elite. Some of the stories cannot be confirmed; I read she had a tame snake called Zombi (after an African god), but this could just be an embellishment over the years.
Marie died on 15th June 1881, aged 79 and is buried in Saint Louis Cemetery, New Orleans. People to this day still visit her resting place and leave gifts for her. There is a years-old tradition that if you draw an ‘X’ on her tomb, turn round 3 times, knock on the tomb, and shout out your wish, Marie will grant it. Once the wish is fulfilled, circle your ‘X’ and leave an offering for the Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau.
4: The Axeman from Season 3: Coven
The Axeman was a jazz musician based in New Orleans. In 1919, a killing spree occurred in the city, and the Axeman wrote to a local paper, confessing and promising to kill again. He offered an amnesty to those who played jazz music the night he killed again.
There was a real Axeman of New Orleans; he (or she) killed six people and injured a further six between 23rd May 1918 and 27th October 1919. The victims were usually attacked with a knife, occasionally with a straight razor, and left for dead. Nothing was ever removed from the home of the victims, so robbery wasn’t a motive for the Axeman. Some believed the crimes were racially motivated as a lot of the victims were Italian or Italian-American. Colin and Damon Wilson, both criminologists, came up with the theory that he (or she) was deliberately targeting females only. The only reason that any men were attacked or killed by the Axeman, is that they simply got in the way (this is backed up by cases where the female was killed but the male was left alive). On 13th March 1919, a letter supposedly written by the Axeman was sent to a local newspaper, which printed it. It read:
Hottest Hell, March 13, 1919
Esteemed Mortal of New Orleans: The Axeman
They have never caught me, and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman.
When I see fit, I shall come and claim other victims. I alone know whom they shall be. I shall leave no clue except my bloody axe, besmeared with blood and brains of he whom I have sent below to keep me company.
If you wish you may tell the police to be careful not to rile me. Of course, I am a reasonable spirit. I take no offence at the way they have conducted their investigations in the past. In fact, they have been so utterly stupid as to not only amuse me, but His Satanic Majesty, Francis Josef, etc. But tell them to beware. Let them not try to discover what I am, for it were better that they were never born than to incur the wrath of the Axeman. I don't think there is any need of such a warning, for I feel sure the police will always dodge me, as they have in the past. They are wise and know how to keep away from all harm.
Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a most horrible murderer, which I am, but I could be much worse if I wanted to. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night. At will I could slay thousands of your best citizens (and the worst), for I am in close relationship with the Angel of Death.
Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is: I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it out on that specific Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.
Well, as I am cold and crave the warmth of my native Tartarus, and it is about time I leave your earthly home, I will cease my discourse. Hoping that thou wilt publish this, that it may go well with thee, I have been, am and will be the worst spirit that ever existed either in fact or realm of fancy.
--The Axeman
On the night of his threatened killing spree, the 19th of March, all the clubs and music halls were filled with the sound of jazz bands, and amateurs were playing at the many hundreds of house parties going on. No one was murdered that night. To this day, no one knows the Axeman’s true identity.
5 – Jimmy Darling from Season 4: Freakshow and Grady Stiles
Jimmy Darling is the illegitimate son of the circus strong man and the bearded lady. He was born with fused fingers, giving them the appearance of pincers, and he joined Elsa Mars with her travelling sideshow, the Cabinet of Curiosities, as The Lobster Boy.
Grady Franklin Stiles JR was born on 26th June 1937 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was born with a genetic condition known as ectrodactyly, where his hands and feet fused. The condition had run in the family for over a century, and he began performing as The Lobster Boy at the age of 7. Due to his condition, Grady was unable to walk properly and either used a wheelchair or dragged himself by his arms; this left him with extraordinary upper body strength. As an adult, he married Mary Herzog, and they had two children: one had the ectrodactyly condition, and Grady favoured this child. His daughter, Donna, didn’t, and he wasn’t shy in his obvious disappointment that she wasn’t born with the family condition. Grady and his son travelled under the name The Lobster Family. Grady had developed some serious issues with alcohol and his temper, and along with his brute strength, this was a terrifying combination. He would fly into drunken rages and emotionally and physically abuse his wife & children before he eventually kicked them out of the house. Grady married another woman, Barbara Browning, and they had a child with the family condition to Grady's delight. Around this time, his older daughter Donna had become engaged, but Grady had a serious problem with her partner. The night before the wedding, Grady invited Donna’s partner over to the house to talk. Instead of talking, Grady shot him. While Donna held her dying fiancé, her father smiled and said, ‘I told you I would kill him’.
Grady went to trial and pleaded guilty to 3rd-degree murder, showing absolutely no remorse. No prison was equipped to take in Grady with his physical condition; by now, he had also developed liver cirrhosis. Instead, he got 15 years’ probation. Strangely, even after this, his first wife, Mary, remarried him after he promised he was a changed man. Unsurprisingly, he was not, and he once again began drinking and beating his wife. Eventually, she hired Chris Wyant to kill him. He shot Grady in the back of the head and killed him outright. Hardly anyone attended his funeral.
6 – Bette & Dot from Season 4: Freakshow and Abby & Brittany Hensel.
Bette & Dot Tatler were conjoined twins and identical in every way except personality. After Bette kills their controlling mother, they are taken to a hospital, where they are persuaded by Elsa Mars to leave and join her Cabinet of Curiosities as the star attraction.
There are a few debates about who the characters of Dot & Bette are based on. The majority of stories say that Abigail & Brittany Hensel are the inspiration. They were born on 7th Match 1990 and are dicephalic parapagus twins, born with two heads side by side of a torso. Despite this, they have a separate heart, stomach, lungs, and spine. Each twin controls one arm and leg and, using coordinated action, can walk, swim, and drive a car (they had to take the test twice, one for each twin). When doing tasks such as writing or composing e-mails, they respond as one, often anticipating what the other twin is thinking and using the term ‘I’ when they agree on something. They are currently working as fifth-grade teachers in Minnesota.
Another possible inspiration is Daisy & Violet Hilton. They were born on 5th February 1908 in Sussex, England. They were twins, conjoined at the pelvis, sharing blood circulation but no major organs. They were the first conjoined twins in the UK that survived for more than a few weeks. Their mother, Kate Skinner, was young and unmarried and agreed to sell them to her then-employer, Mary Hilton. Mary Hilton, her husband, and her daughter Edith would physically abuse the twins whilst simultaneously training them to sing and dance. They started touring at three years old under the name ‘The United Twins’; they received no money from any tours. When they were older, they escaped and started performing as ‘The Hilton Sisters’ in vaudeville and various burlesque venues. Daisy had dyed her hair blonde, and they started dressing differently so people could differentiate between the two. On 4th January 1969, the twins were found dead at home. Investigations showed they had died of the flu; Daisy died first, and Violet died between 2 and 4 days later. They were 60 years old.
7 – The Countess from Season 5: Hotel and Elizabeth Bathory
Elizabeth Johnson was born in 1904 and was an aspiring actress. As an adult, she entered a relationship with two actors, Rudolph and Natacha, and she loved them both unconditionally. Suddenly, there were reports of Rudolph’s death and Natacha’s disappearance, and Elizabeth tried to jump from the window of the Hotel Cortez. The owner of the hotel, James March, rescued her, and soon the two were married. Elizabeth later finds Rudolph, ‘alive’; he has a ‘virus’ that will give the carrier immortality, but only if they consume human blood. Elizabeth agrees to receive the virus and goes on to live as The Countess in the Hotel Cortez.
The Countess Elizabeth Bathory was born on the 7th of August 1560 in Hungary. As a child, Elizabeth suffered from seizures, possibly epilepsy and possibly as a result of her parent's inbreeding. She was diagnosed with ‘falling sickness’ and one of the treatments was rubbing the blood of a non-sufferer on her lips. At the age of 13, it was alleged that she gave birth out of wedlock, and the child was given away. Elizabeth married Count Ferenc Nadasdy at the age of 15; he took the name Bathory as she was of a higher social standing. They were married for 29 years before he died in 1604. Over the years, there had been whispers of people suffering cruelty at the hands of Elizabeth, but nothing had ever been proven. In March 1610, King Matthias II ordered an investigation of these rumours. By 1611, there were over 300 witness testimonies. These testimonies said that her first victims had been young girls aged 10-14 years and that she had tortured and killed them. The cruelty described included burning hands, beating them, biting the flesh off their bodies, sticking needles down their fingernails, and stories of girls being covered in honey and left to the ants. Eventually, they would either starve or freeze to death. There were even talks of cannibalism. On 30th December 1610, Elizabeth was arrested and detained; later, reports said she had been caught covered in blood, but this is more than likely an elaboration of the original story. It’s important to note that throughout the trial, many witnesses admitted that they hadn’t seen the brutality themselves and had just heard about it. The servants who said she was evil only confessed after being tortured. Despite this, Elizabeth was still found guilty of murder, but due to her position in society, she was placed under house arrest instead of prison for the rest of her life. She had been convicted of 80 murders, but some thought it could be more like 650. She died on 21st August 1614, aged 54, and, to this day, it is still unknown if she did commit these atrocities or if she was the victim of a conspiracy to take down a powerful woman.
8 – Mrs Evers from Season 5: Hotel and The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders
Hazel Evers is the Hotel Cortez laundress, often cleaning bloodstained sheets quite happily. On Halloween 1925, she took her son Albert trick-or-treating, and when she briefly turned her back, he was kidnapped. Later, the police found children on a ranch who had been abducted and kept in the chicken coop; bodies were also found. The whereabouts of Albert was never discovered, and he is presumed murdered.
The Chicken Coop Murders happened between 1926 and 1928 in California. On the 10th March 1928, 9-year-old Walter Collins went missing. His mother, Christine Collins, alerted the police, but they couldn’t find a trace of him. Nelson & Lewis Winslow, who were 10 and 12 years old, went missing on 16th May 1928; for some reason, police didn’t think there was a connection between the 2 cases. In August, Illinois police picked up a child who told them his name was Arthur Kent and that his father had abandoned him. Arthur was placed in a temporary foster family, and while here, he told them his real name was Walter Collins. Illinois police contacted the California authorities, who in turn contacted Christine Collins. When shown a photo of this child, Christine denied this was Walter but, strangely, was talked into ‘trying out’ the child by the police. Three weeks later, Christine approached the same police station with dental records and signed statements, proving that this boy was not her son. Instead of believing her, they accused her of being delusional and a troublemaker, trying to shirk her responsibilities. The police had Christine committed to a psychiatric hospital (that’s a whole different article for the future!).
In September, Winnefred Clark contacted police because her nephew, Gordon Stewart Northcott, had kidnapped her son, Sanford, and refused to release him. Winnefred’s daughter went to the ranch Gordon owned to check on her brother; she found Sanford was being abused and felt Northcott was hiding something more. On the 15th of September, investigators managed to interview Sanford, and the young boy admitted Northcott had abused him emotionally, physically, and sexually. The story got even darker as he told police how he had been forced to watch, and even participate, in the torture and murders of Walter Collins and Nelson & Lewis Winslow, among others. It turned out that Northcott had been abducting young boys to rape them; once he was bored of his victims he would lure them to the chicken coop, promising to show them the newly hatched chicks. He then murdered them with an axe before burying them in a shallow grave. Sadly, these weren’t the only victims; a Latino boy was found and due to his head being removed, he remains unknown to this day. It was speculated that Northcott had raped and killed many more, but there was no proof. Northcott was hanged to death at the age of 23 on 2nd October 1930.
9 – Tomasyn White/The Butcher Season 6: Roanoke and Tomasyn White
Tomasyn White, or The Butcher, as she is known, haunted the Roanoke House, which is based in the area she colonised in the 16th century. She heads a group of vicious spirits known as The Roanoke Community. In her afterlife, she terrifies, tortures, and even kills anyone who walks the grounds she haunts. The Butcher is a powerful murderess connected to witchcraft, and nothing will stop her from continuing her slaughter.
I’ve looked and looked, but there seems to be very little information on Tomasyn White. She was married to John White, and they set sail in 1585 in an attempt to colonise the Chesapeake Bay. They landed at Roanoke Island by accident, only realising when they had disembarked. However, the ship’s captain refused to allow them back on the boat and sailed off in rebellion. Previously, travellers had tried to colonise Roanoke, but all the new settlers could find were human bones. It appeared that the Native Tribes had attacked and killed them, and these same tribes remained hostile towards the new immigrants. The new colony struggled to grow enough crops to keep them all going, so John returned to England to seek help. Due to troubles between England and Spain, it took John years to return, and when he did, he found they had all disappeared. Every single one of them. All that was left was the word ‘Croatoan’ carved into a tree. At the time, accusations of witchcraft were rife. With no accurate information about Tomasyn, the stories seem to have become intertwined over time, leaving us with little chance of ever finding out the truth.
10 – Miranda & Bridget Jane from Season 6: Roanoke and Gwen Graham & Cathy Wood
Miranda & Bridget were both nurses who moved to the Roanoke House in 1988 and, between them, turned it into an assisted living facility. They only took patients with no real family or those whose names began in certain letters. They tortured and murdered their patients, hoping to spell out the word ‘M-U-R-D-E-R’ with the patient's initials. Eventually, they were murdered by The Butcher and her colony. They now haunt the house – oh, and did I mention they were lovers and sisters?
Catherine May Wood was born on 7th March 1962, and Gwendolyn Gail Graham was born on 6th August 1963. They first met in 1986 whilst working as carers at Alpine Manor in Michigan and quickly clicked, becoming friends and lovers. In January 1987, Graham went into the room of a lady with Alzheimer’s disease and smothered her, while Wood watched at the door. They had committed their first murder together, and they genuinely believed that this strengthened their bond and love for each other. They went on to kill another four patients; the victims were all unable to fight back and ranged in age from 65-97. As with Roanoke, they chose their victims based on their initials so they could spell the word ‘M-U-R-D-E-R’. They also referred to the murder as a ‘day’ – as in ‘I will love you forever and a day’ (W-T-F would be more appropriate). They eventually split, and Graham started dating another woman who she moved to Texas with. In 1988, Wood’s ex-husband went to the police; Wood had told him about the murders. There was little physical evidence as only 2 of the bodies hadn’t been cremated, and it can be challenging to find evidence of smothering; despite these minor setbacks, the County Medical Examiner ruled the deaths as homicide. On 4th/5th December 1988, Graham and Wood were arrested. On 3rd November 1989, Graham was found guilty of 5 counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to murder. She received five life sentences and is currently in the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Michigan. Wood was charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. She was sentenced to 20 years for both counts and was released on 16th January 2020.
There are many more characters based on real people in American Horror Story, but these are the ones I was particularly interested in. There are many cases here, especially The Wineville Chicken Coop murders that I would like to go into more detail in the future; do let me know which ones you would like to see me cover! Thank you for reading, take care of yourselves, and I will see you next time.
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