A Quick Rundown of What Every American Horror Story Season Is About

After Vivien Harmon has a miscarriage and catches her husband, Ben, cheating on her with one of his young students (he's a psychiatrist), the couple moves from Boston to LA with their daughter, Violet, for a fresh start. Once they purchase a gorgeous Victorian mansion, they learn from their real estate agent that the couple who lived there before them died in an apparent murder/suicide. It eventually becomes known that more than 20 violent deaths occurred in the home, which is why people call it "The Murder House." As the family settles in, bizarre things start happening, and they are unaware that they are being haunted by ghosts, including their maid, next-door neighbor, and one of Ben's patients, troubled young teen Tate Langdon.

Zoe Benson is sent to live at Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies in New Orleans after her boyfriend dies in the middle of their makeout session. Her secret power? Magically inducing brain hemorrhaging in any man just by having sex with him. The other girls in the house include Madison Montgomery, a wild child and former film star; Queenie, a descendant of Salem witch Tituba who can inflict wounds on other people by harming herself (without feeling pain); and Nan, a witch who can hear other people's thoughts. All of the girls are hoping to become the next "Supreme," a rare witch who can perform the seven wonders of witchcraft.

The head of Miss Robichaux's Academy, Cordelia Foxx, continually butts heads with her mother, Fiona Goode (the current Supreme), over giving up the title to someone new. But after Zoe and Madison go to a local frat party, where Zoe meets good guy Kyle and Madison is gang-raped by some of his frat brothers, things change. Madison gets revenge by flipping their bus over after they leave, killing Kyle and six others. In addition to trying to prove themselves to Cordelia and Fiona, they also have to worry about Kyle, whom they brought back from the dead by putting together body parts from his dead frat brothers.

Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities, one of the last known freak shows of its time, is still attracting a few visitors in the year 1952 with acts like a bearded lady, her lobster-handed son, a strongman, his three-breasted wife, the smallest woman in the world, and conjoined sisters. But after a string of murders in the local town of Jupiter begin to occur, police believe they are because of the local "freak show," and not because of Twisty the Clown, a deranged serial killer who is actually the culprit.

When a wealthy woman and her son named Dandy come to see the show, he becomes obsessed with joining them as he's bored with his life at home. When they refuse, he joins forces with Twisty the Clown. Meanwhile, while the members of the freak show see themselves as a family, they try to think of everything they can to keep the show alive. Elsa, however, sells the show to Dandy behind their back so she can move to Hollywood and become famous. After they all quit to get away from Dandy, he goes on a killing spree and murders most of the freaks. But, to his surprise, the remaining freaks come up with a plan to get their revenge.

Hotel Cortez is a downtown LA establishment that has been checking people in for years — but never checking them out. Ghosts of former residents and guests haunt the rooms and hallways, including former owner and serial killer James Patrick March, heroin addict Sally, and a demon that represents addiction.

When Detective John Lowe receives a call from a room in Hotel Cortez, he thinks it could be connected to a series of murders he's investigating. But when he finds an empty room, he soon realizes that he keeps coming back to the hotel for other reasons. His son, Holden, was kidnapped five years beforehand, and when he thinks he sees him in a hotel hallway, his obsession begins to grow. Holden turns out to be very real but is now the "child" of an 111-year-old vampire called The Countess, whom every other ghost in the hotel fears. As John tries to unravel the mysteries within the hotel's walls, he soon comes face to face with a horrific reality that he never could have predicted.