American Horror Story: All the Definite Connections Between the Seasons

This, of course, was one connection we knew to expect going into Apocalypse. Murphy preemptively announced that season eight would be the aforementioned crossover season between Murder House and Coven. So far, the Rubber Man has once again appeared, though we don't know the nature of the spirit. It could be Tate under the rubber, or it could be Ben Harmon. Or perhaps it's possible Michael Langdon simply summoned some kind of Rubber Man demon (like Hotel's Addiction Demon) to do his ill will.

Speaking of Michael Langdon, he's another major connection back to Murder House. Langdon's parents are Tate and Vivien Harmon, the merging of human and spirit. Together, they've allegedly created the Antichrist.

That's it so far. However, we do know, based on behind-the-scenes photos, that the Harmon family will be back in full force and that Jessica Lange will also return.

Another one that was teased in advance, Apocalypse and Coven are perhaps the two seasons that are most closely related. There are a ton of returning characters, including Cordelia, Zoe, Madison, Queenie, and Myrtle!

We also meet the male counterpart to Miss Robichaux's Academy For Exceptional Young Ladies: it's called the Hawthorne School For Exceptional Young Men. This male coven seems to be one of the main plots of Apocalypse, and the place where Michael Langdon develops his abilities.

Then there's the fact that three new witches enter the fold, all of whom are introduced in season eight. We have Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt, Dinah Stevens, and Mallory.

This one's a surprise! We head back to the Hotel Cortez when Cordelia reveals that she wasn't able to rescue Queenie from her fate. In a flashback, Cordelia strides into the hotel to find Queenie playing Gin with none other than James March, the murderous madman who built the Cortez in the first place. Queenie's soul is trapped at the Cortez, and Cordelia is unable to rescue her. The Supreme reveals that it's a sinister place, something called a "Hellmouth." It's essentially a portal to Hell!

Michael Langdon also visits the Cortez, but he's able to successfully remove Queenie and take her back to the plane of the living. Pretty badass.

In the season finale of Cult, Ally is finally on the other side of her terrible ordeal with Kai and his insane following. Everyone wants to interview her about what she went through, including the famous Lana Winters! This means Lana is officially the character who has popped up the most throughout the show's seven seasons.

While this connection is tenuous at best, there's still a good way to reconcile it. In the first couple of episodes of Cult, we reconnect with Twisty the Clown, better known as one of Freak Show's terrifying villains. In Cult, Ally and Ivy's son, Oz, has comic books featuring Freak Show characters; they're part of a series called Twisty the Clown Chronicles. Oz even dreams about Twisty and later gets an action figure from Winter.

While Twisty doesn't actually appear in the flesh, the events we witness through the lens of the comic book are almost exactly what happens in the actual season. Combine that with the fact that the same exact characters appear, and it basically means that the events of Freak Show did happen in the universe of Cult. In fact, the details of those murders are so well known, it was easy enough to turn them into literature.

Ryan Murphy himself confirmed that Asylum's Lana Winters would return, and she showed up in the season finale. Lana conducted an exclusive interview with Lee Harris, the sole survivor of Return to Roanoke.

In the dark, new world of Roanoke, we learn that the Lost Colony of Roanoke ties back to Dandy and Gloria Mott. It turns out the Motts' great ancestor Edward Phillipe Mott built the Roanoke house in 1792.

Ryan Murphy recently revealed that the Roanoke witch Scáthach is the original supreme. As you know, the Supreme is the central focus of Coven. In the modern day, she's the most powerful living witch.

Pepper (Naomi Grossman) is the very first character to cross over between seasons, popping up in the first pictures from American Horror Story: Freak Show. Throughout the season, we find out how she lands in Asylum's Briarcliff.

At one point in Murder House, Vivien Harmon very briefly mentions that she has relatives in Florida. Freak Show, as we all well know, takes place in Jupiter, FL.

After Pepper comes Sister Mary Eunice. Lily Rabe's reprisal of the character was reported early on in Freak Show, although we didn't know how she'd appear. When the time came, though, she shows up to usher Pepper away from the freak show of Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) to the asylum of Sister Jude (Lange).

It's safe to say the name Jack Colquitt is pretty unique, but it pops up twice in the AHS universe. In Murder House, Detective Jack Colquitt visits Dr. Cole Harmon more than a couple times about a missing patient. In Freak Show, Detective Jack Colquitt investigates Elsa and her troupe in the case of a missing police officer. Coincidence? It can't be, right?

Back before Dr. Arden (James Cromwell) assumes his identity as the crooked surgeon at Briarcliff, he's a Nazi doctor named Hans Gruper. In the same way he mutilates Shelley (Chloé Sevigny) in Asylum, Gruper amputates Elsa Mars's legs as part of a twisted snuff film in World War II-era Germany.

We're all familiar with possibly the b*tchiest witch in Coven, Madison Montgomery. And for very attentive viewers, the name should ring a bell. Montgomery is also the last name of the wretched doctor in Murder House. You know, the same Dr. Montgomery who helps The Countess abort her baby in Hotel!

We learned pretty early on that Marcy (Christine Estabrook) — the realtor who sells the haunted Murder House to the Harmons in season one — would return to season five as the realtor for the Hotel Cortez. The hotel also turns into her final resting place.

In the final couple episodes of American Horror Story: Hotel, a special guest checks in: it's Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe), from Coven! She tries to use her voodoo magic to defeat Ramona (Angela Bassett), but she's no match for the establishment's original owner, James March (Evan Peters). That's because he's already dead. RIP Queenie.

Sarah Paulson pulls double duty in the finale of AHS: Hotel. Not only does she conclude her turn as Hypodermic Sally, but she reprises her role as Billie Dean Howard, the well-meaning psychic who first appears as a friend of Constance Langdon's (Lange) on Murder House.

One word: Massachusetts. Although AHS has taken place across the country, this state in particular has popped up, in one form or another, during almost every single season. In Murder House, the Harmon family relocates to LA from Boston. Briarcliff Manor, from Asylum, was also built in Massachusetts. Coven of course takes place in New Orleans, but there are plenty of references to the Salem witch trials, a famous piece of the state's history. And finally, in Freak Show, we learn that Elsa Mars used to work at a Boston circus. Even in Hotel there's a thread, albeit a tenuous one: the accent of Mr. March (Evan Peters) is referred to as a Boston Brahmin accent, placing his origin to the area around 1895.