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Reality is scarier than fiction... Join us as we count down the most chilling true crime cases that inspired characters and storylines in "American Horror Story!" Our countdown includes the Cecil Hotel, H.H. Holmes, Richard Ramirez, the Black Dahlia, Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, Madame LaLaurie, and more! Did you know these storylines were based on true stories? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at 20 famous true crime cases that inspired
00:05characters or storylines in American Horror Story.
00:08Next up on our tour of Departed Souls, Murder House.
00:15Number 20. The Los Feliz Murder House. The entire premise of season one features a family
00:21moving into an infamous Los Angeles mansion with a horrific past.
00:25Speaking of the last owners, full disclosure requires that I tell you about what happened
00:30to them. Oh God, they didn't die in here or anything, did they?
00:34This core concept draws heavy inspiration from local lore, specifically the notorious Los Feliz
00:40Murder House. In 1959, Dr. Harold Perelson bludgeoned his sleeping wife to death,
00:46attacked his teenage daughter, and took his own life. Following this gruesome crime,
00:50the sprawling hillside estate sat airily vacant and untouched for decades, becoming the stuff
00:55of dark urban legend. Much like the fictional Harmon residence, the real-world property gained
01:01a sinister reputation as a cursed and haunted landmark, where the terrifying echoes of a
01:05doctor's sudden violence seemingly lingered forever.
01:08Holy cow, my heart is beating like crazy right now.
01:15What's behind that?
01:16Number 19. Ed Gein.
01:19The primary antagonist of season two, Dr. Oliver Threadson, hides a profoundly grotesque alter
01:24ego beneath his professional demeanor. He's the serial killer Bloody Face.
01:29Normally by now I would have removed the skin.
01:41And head.
01:42Threadson's gruesome habit of crafting furniture, masks, and household items out of human skin and
01:47bone is a direct nod to notorious Wisconsin killer and grave robber Ed Gein. Gein's macabre,
01:53stomach-churning crimes and severe maternal fixation inspired the psychology and twisted
01:57aesthetics of Bloody Face, not to mention countless other fictional villains. Through Threadson,
02:03AHS delivers its own uniquely terrifying interpretation of Gein's legacy, blending clinical psychiatric
02:08manipulation with the visceral horror of the gothic midwestern crime.
02:12You know, Ed Gein establishes, you know, this quintessentially American figure of horror,
02:18the ordinary middle American guy who turns out to be this monster in disguise.
02:24Number 18.
02:25The Last Call Killer and The Bag Murders.
02:28Season 11 dives into the gritty, dangerous reality of 1980s New York, heavily drawing from
02:34unsolved murders that targeted the local LGBTQIA plus community.
02:37These murders of LGBTQ people have just been kind of brushed aside for decades and that there's
02:44dead ends and no evidence of any sort of attempt to bring justice for them.
02:50The season's primary antagonist, the meticulous Mai Tai Killer, is a horrifying amalgamation of
02:55several real-world criminals. Most notably, his gruesome M.O. is closely inspired by Richard Rogers,
03:02known as the Last Call Killer, alongside the infamous bag murders of the late 1970s.
03:07Both involved dismembering vulnerable gay men and leaving their remains scattered in trash bags
03:12across the city. By highlighting the systemic police apathy that allowed these real killers
03:17to evade capture for so long, NYC crafts an historically grounded narrative about unchecked violence.
03:23He will save us. He will show the world our suffering and will redeem us.
03:28The only one who needs redemption is you, buddy.
03:30Number 17. The Lindbergh Kidnapping. The origins of Murder House's dark, lingering energy begin
03:36when Charles and Nora Montgomery lose their son in horrific fashion.
03:40Murder House. Built by Dr. Charles and Nora Montgomery, they live there with their son Thaddeus.
03:47That is, until the baby was kidnapped.
03:50This excessively grisly plot point is heavily inspired by the heartbreaking and infamous Lindbergh
03:55kidnapping. In the 1930s, Charles and Anne Lindbergh suffered a strikingly similar and highly publicized
04:01tragedy when their infant son was abducted from his second-story nursery and later found dead.
04:06The show uses this devastating piece of American history as the twisted catalyst for Dr. Montgomery
04:11stitching together the monstrous Infantata. Merging a national historical trauma with Mary Shelley-style
04:17gothic horror perfectly sets the grim and unrelenting tone for the very first season of the anthology series.
04:23No one knows definitively what happened in this case. No one knows. And I don't know if we'll ever
04:30find out for sure every last detail of what happened. Anybody who says that they know for sure what
04:36happened is lying. Number 16. The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders. In one of hotel's biggest twists,
04:43it's revealed that Miss Ever's young son was tragically kidnapped and killed on Halloween night 1925.
04:49I'm so envious. You look so lovely. I do feel bad for little Albert.
04:53He wanted an African cheetah costume, but I just never found the time.
04:59Where is he, the little rascal?
05:02This heartbreaking storyline directly mirrors the real-life Wineville Chicken Coop murders.
05:07Much like the show's dark depiction, the real crimes were committed by Gordon Stewart
05:11Northcott and his mother Sarah, both of whom took victims to their farm in Wineville and murdered them.
05:16The devastating loss of her innocent child serves as the psychological foundation for the
05:21eccentric laundress's unending grief and compulsive devotion to cleaning the haunted hotel.
05:26Using this deeply disturbing piece of 1920s true crime history adds a profound and miserable layer
05:31of humanity to a ghost who initially appears to be no more than a quirky side character.
05:37He haunts my dreams.
05:40His woeful lies pierce me with accusations.
05:44Why weren't you careful, mommy?
05:47Number 15. Columbine.
05:49Tate Langdon's darkest moment is a horrific mass shooting that he conducts at Westfield High School.
05:55What the hell, dude?
05:56Somebody's shooting up the school.
05:58I'm just shooting people.
05:59Are you hit?
06:00Where are you hit?
06:01This sequence heavily mirrors the tragic 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
06:05From the distinct black trench coat worn by Tate to him shooting multiple people in the school library,
06:10the show pulls direct chilling details from the real-life tragedy.
06:14It remains one of the most disturbing and grounded moments in the show's early supernatural lore.
06:19By tackling such a sensitive true crime, the series established early on that its horror wouldn't just rely on ghosts
06:26and monsters,
06:26but also on the very real, very human capacity for committing sudden acts of extreme violence.
06:35Why? Why?
06:37Number 14. The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders.
06:40While 1984 serves as a bloody neon-soaked love letter to classic slasher films,
06:45the season's central tragedy is rooted in a very real true crime.
06:49I know you two heard it.
06:51Jingling.
06:52It's probably those annoying wind chimes the 8-year-old made.
06:55The fictional Camp Redwood massacre, where an assailant butchers innocent teenagers in the dead of night,
07:00bears a chilling resemblance to the tragic Oklahoma Girl Scout murders of 1977.
07:05During this horrific event, three young girls were brutally killed inside their tents at Camp Scott during a thunderstorm.
07:11The campgrounds were permanently abandoned shortly after,
07:14much like the haunted, cursed grounds of Camp Redwood.
07:17The show effectively channels the lingering trauma of this heartbreaking case,
07:21reminding terrified viewers that summer camp nightmares are not exclusively the domain of fiction.
07:26Like I said, it is every parent's very worst nightmare, and we've been living it.
07:34Number 13. Infamous Religious and Cult-like Leaders.
07:38Season 7 explores how vulnerable people can be manipulated into committing unspeakable acts of violence by charismatic leaders.
07:45I think in everything that I tell you about Jim Jones, there's going to be a paradox.
07:50Having this vision to change the world, but having this whole undercurrent of his function that was underneath that vision.
07:59To drive this point home, Evan Peters brilliantly played several real religious and cult-like leaders throughout the season.
08:06His versatile portrayals included Marshall Applewhite, David Koresh, Jim Jones, and Charles Manson.
08:12By channeling the extensively documented behavior, speeches, and mannerisms of these historical figures,
08:18the show underscores the very real psychological horror of cult mentalities.
08:22This approach stripped away the supernatural elements of the show entirely,
08:26proving that the scariest monsters in American history are often just persuasive human beings armed with dangerous ideologies.
08:33You're never wrong when you're right.
08:36What would you do if you were me?
08:38Identify the Judas.
08:40Number 12. Lizzie Borden.
08:42Grace Bertrand is committed to the horrifying Briarcliff Manor
08:45after allegedly murdering her father and stepmother with an axe.
08:49You two are far too familiar.
08:52You're drawn to each other like the serpent and the apple.
08:56Are you purposely trying to make a murder baby?
08:59Grace didn't kill anyone.
09:01She told me her story. She was framed.
09:03This bloody backstory is a direct parallel to the infamous case of Lizzie Borden,
09:07another allegedly axe-wielding woman who notoriously faced trial for the deaths of her father and stepmother.
09:13The real Lizzie Borden was acquitted of murdering her parents,
09:16an outcome which is still heavily debated to this day.
09:19I think ultimately came down to the fact that you had a woman being responsible for this particular crime
09:25and you had a jury of 12 men, all men, there were no women at the time of this jury.
09:29I think these 12 men were going to be hard-pressed to send a woman to her death
09:34because at the time if she was found guilty of this crime, she would have hanged.
09:39And that's where AHS detours from history.
09:42While Grace initially plays coy about her guilt upon arriving at the hospital,
09:45a visceral flashback explicitly shows her murdering her father and stepmother,
09:50leaving zero ambiguity for the audience.
09:52Have I opened your eyes, kid?
09:55Are you repulsed by what I am?
09:57Number 11. John Wayne Gacy
09:59The visually iconic Twisty the Clown was inspired in part by the famous John Wayne Gacy,
10:05also known as the Killer Clown.
10:15Gacy was a prolific serial killer who notoriously murdered at least 33 people
10:20and was known to perform at children's parties as a clown.
10:23While he never wore his outfit while committing murder,
10:26the image of him as a killer clown has proliferated throughout pop culture.
10:31The show also cleverly integrated Gacy's horrifying legacy into cult.
10:35In a chilling overarching narrative exploring the psychological grip of murderers,
10:39Twisty is immortalized in a comic book that triggers the intense phobias of the season's protagonist, Ali.
10:45By using Gacy as a foundational inspiration for the creepy killer,
10:49the creator cemented his grim clown-faced legacy deeply within the show's universe.
10:53There's just something horrifically sinister and monstrous about this figure of Pogo.
11:01Just an element that raises Gacy to the level of a kind of mythic American monster.
11:07Number 10. The Axeman of New Orleans
11:10The third season of American Horror Story takes place in the lively city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
11:16Though the main story is set in 2013,
11:19AHS goes back to when the notorious Axeman was actively killing in the city.
11:23The Axeman didn't carry around his own tools.
11:27He simply would chisel his way in, usually through a back door,
11:33find whatever was handy, and go to work.
11:36From May 1918 to October 1919,
11:40the Axeman killed six people and wounded another six.
11:43On March 13th, 1919,
11:46a letter he supposedly sent appeared in the newspaper,
11:49detailing his plan for the night of March 19th,
11:52demanding that everyone play jazz music.
11:54And if they didn't, they would get the axe.
11:57Though he sometimes used razor blades as a weapon too.
12:00His prose could use refinement, but we get the point.
12:03If we don't play jazz music Tuesday night,
12:05we're inviting an attack.
12:06It could not be more clear, sister.
12:08The real question is, what are we to do?
12:10There are plenty of theories out there as to who this mysterious Axeman could have been,
12:15but ultimately, he was never identified.
12:18They have never caught me, and they never will.
12:21They have never seen me.
12:24For I am invisible,
12:26even as the ether which surrounds your Earth.
12:29Number 9.
12:30Antone Tony Costa,
12:32aka the Cape Cod Vampire.
12:34In the first part of this duel season,
12:36TV writer Harry Gardner and his family head to idyllic Provincetown, Massachusetts,
12:41from New York City.
12:42He's offered a cure for his writer's block,
12:45but the catch is that he develops a taste for blood.
12:48Boyd.
12:50And who knows where talent comes from?
12:52No one!
12:52But now I'm draining packages of raw steak to drink the juices,
12:56and sucking the blood out of my wife's finger.
13:00Why?
13:02Metaphorically,
13:04I don't know.
13:04This is likely inspired by serial killer Tony Costa,
13:08dubbed the Cape Cod Vampire for murdering as many as eight women in 1969,
13:13leaving teeth marks on their bodies.
13:15He also blamed his drug use for causing his violent behavior,
13:19much like the black pills.
13:21Will anybody who's taking drugs have that reaction?
13:25Not at all.
13:25But somebody who's already thinking about killing and doing other violations,
13:31once they're on drugs,
13:33their inhibitions have been evaporated for the most part.
13:38Keeping with the East Coast vampire theme,
13:40The Pale People and the character of Tuberculosis TB Karen
13:44is a nod to the tuberculosis pandemic in New England in the 19th century,
13:48which led to a vampire panic.
13:50The disease is what used to be called a wasting disease.
13:54You just get thinner and thinner.
13:56And so if you look at pictures of people who are dying of the disease,
14:01their cheekbones are very prominent,
14:03their eyes seem very large and hollow,
14:05all the flesh has wasted off their face and their throat.
14:08Number 8.
14:09Richard Speck
14:10The second episode of AHS's inaugural season sees a Manson family-esque trio,
14:15Bianca, Fiona, and Dallas,
14:17break into the Harmons' new house,
14:19planning to recreate a crime that happened there in 1968.
14:23Our Franklin was the first.
14:24Before Manson, he changed the culture.
14:27We're paying tribute to him.
14:29A strange man used a ruse to get inside the home,
14:32acting as a dormitory for student nurses.
14:34He then attacks the two students who were home alone,
14:37drowning Gladys before assaulting and killing Maria.
14:41This is based on the mass murder of eight student nurses in Chicago in July of 1966,
14:46committed by Richard Speck,
14:48who also inspired the name of the killer in the series, R. Franklin.
14:51R. Franklin hated nurses.
14:53He had a bad experience with the mercury and a broken thermometer.
14:57Speck was apprehended days later,
14:59and the lone survivor of that night positively identified him during the trial.
15:03He remained incarcerated until his death in 1991.
15:07He took the easy way out.
15:10But I think it's going to be a lot better for remaining members of the family
15:15so they don't have to suffer every year when that sucker came up for parole hearings.
15:20Number 7.
15:21Yosef Mengele
15:22Season 2's asylum centers on the horrors of Briarcliff Manor,
15:26a mental health hospital in Massachusetts.
15:29Chief physician Dr. Arthur Arden conducts twisted experiments on various patients,
15:34leaving them disfigured, dead, or inhuman.
15:37His true identity is Hans Grupper, a former Nazi scientist at Auschwitz.
15:42And when they came back, if they came back,
15:47something had changed.
15:50He had made them sick, whatever he'd done to them.
15:55They'd be afraid to speak out.
15:57They'd be sworn to secrecy.
15:59The evil character seems largely based on German SS officer slash doctor Yosef Mengele,
16:05known and detested for his own deadly experiments at both Auschwitz and Gross Rosen concentration camps.
16:11You're in a wheelchair.
16:13Is that, do you think, related in any way?
16:17I have no way of knowing.
16:19Because you don't know what they injected you with?
16:22I have no idea.
16:23There are also similarities to the extremely unethical hepatitis experiments
16:28conducted at New York City's Willowbrook State School from the 1950s to 70s.
16:33Briarcliff itself is like Willowbrook,
16:35whose horrendous conditions were famously exposed by Geraldo Rivera,
16:39much like Lana Winters does in the series.
16:41The church sold Briarcliff Manor to the state of Massachusetts in the fall of 1965.
16:47Since then, conditions have deteriorated.
16:51These images and sounds are far more powerful than any words that can be spoken.
16:56Number 6, Madame Marie Delphine Lalaurie.
16:59In the first episode of Season 3,
17:01the witchy students of Miss Robichaux's Academy
17:03take a trip to the French Quarter and tour the famous Lalaurie Mansion.
17:07This very house, the center of New Orleans high society,
17:10was also a place of abject horror.
17:13Madame Lalaurie was a respected socialite in early 1800s New Orleans,
17:17known for her lavish parties.
17:19But she was later associated with vicious cruelty,
17:22some of whom she kept shackled and caged in her attic.
17:25The Code Noir, a decree that dictated the conditions of slavery,
17:30did not exist on these grounds.
17:32It was replaced by the Madame's own code of terror.
17:35Her crimes were only discovered when a fire broke out at the mansion on April 10, 1834.
17:40Where fire marshals and police found several people shackled and caged in her attic.
17:45The deaths of multiple victims were also uncovered.
17:48Language is powerless and inadequate to give a proper conception of the horror
17:52which is a scene like this must have inspired.
17:55Lalaurie was a serial killer living in a house of horrors
17:58and evaded capture by fleeing to France.
18:00However, AHS provides a different outcome.
18:04It's been such a busy day.
18:06I forgot to apply my retinée.
18:10You care to make the first cuts?
18:14I'd love to.
18:15Number 5.
18:16Elizabeth Short, aka The Black Dahlia
18:19One of the most famous unsolved crimes in the world is the murder of Elizabeth Short,
18:24better known as The Black Dahlia.
18:26She worked as a waitress and lived in a one-room apartment behind a nightclub.
18:30It was alleged that she occasionally resorted to prostitution to make ends meet,
18:34although this was never proven.
18:35It is also commonly asserted that she was hoping to make it big in Hollywood as an actress,
18:39but she had no acting credits to her name.
18:41After her body was discovered on January 15, 1947,
18:45in an empty lot in the Leimert Park area of Los Angeles,
18:48the case made headlines because of the gruesome scene.
18:51In the series, the aspiring actress visits the house to see Dr. David Curran,
18:56a dentist working out of his home.
18:58Well, I cater mostly to the families in the neighborhood.
19:00Makes it convenient for them.
19:01And for me.
19:02And for your wife.
19:03Oh, I'm not married. Not currently.
19:05Before getting a filling, Short is sedated, but when she doesn't wake up,
19:09ghostly resident Dr. Charles Montgomery steps in to assist Curran with the post-mortem disposal.
19:14I am quite a renowned surgeon. I'm here to help you.
19:18Montgomery is actually inspired by Dr. Walter Bailey,
19:22a surgeon whose family knew Ms. Short
19:24and was deemed a suspect by a Los Angeles Times copy editor in the mid-90s.
19:29There were people that the LAPD interviewed that were doctors.
19:32They actually investigated 300 medical students at USC
19:37to find out if one of them had done it.
19:39Number 4.
19:40The Alpine Manor Nursing Home Killings,
19:43aka The Lethal Lovers.
19:45Two of the many spirits inhabiting the new home of Matt and Shelby Miller
19:49are sisters Miranda and Bridget Jane,
19:51nurses who once used the property to operate their own assisted living center.
19:55They wanted families who were tired of taking care of their relatives,
19:58families who just wanted a place to store them until they died.
20:02But the most bizarre criteria for accepting a patient
20:05had to do with the letter of their first name.
20:07The nurses kill elderly patients,
20:09attempting to spell out the word murder using the names of their victims.
20:13Sadly, this is based on the real murders
20:16committed by Gwendolyn Graham and Catherine Wood in the late 1980s.
20:19The report shows the nurses' aides tried to kill at least 10 patients.
20:23Today, the lead detective revealed for the first time
20:26that more elderly patients were likely killed by the pair.
20:30The two nurses' aides were in a romantic relationship
20:32and allegedly also tried to spell out murder
20:35with the Alpine Manor Nursing Home Killings.
20:37Graham and Wood, called The Lethal Lovers,
20:39were both convicted in 1989.
20:42In 2020, Wood was released on good behavior
20:45before serving her full 20-40-year sentence.
20:49Is it any more of a threat to people in our society
20:54to have a serial killer loose in another community
20:59and just say, just not ours?
21:02Number 3.
21:03Richard Ramirez, a.k.a. The Night Stalker.
21:06From April 10th, 1984 to August 24th, 1985,
21:10Richard Ramirez assaulted and murdered
21:12over a dozen people in California,
21:15breaking into their homes at night,
21:17earning him the name The Night Stalker.
21:19He had no empathy, no feelings, nothing.
21:24He wanted to be known as the greatest serial killer
21:26that ever, you know, ever lived.
21:29A highly fictionalized version of the infamous serial killer
21:32appears in Hotel as one of the deceased Devil's Night guests.
21:35But a younger Ramirez is prominently featured
21:38in 1984 during his active years.
21:41I will find you.
21:43Satan will show me the way.
21:44He ends up at Camp Redwood,
21:46the haunted summer camp littered with other killers
21:49trapped on the premises.
21:50The season leans heavily into Ramirez's interest in Satanism,
21:53going so far as to depict him
21:55with supernatural powers and immortality.
22:05The real Richard Ramirez was convicted in 1989,
22:09eventually dying in 2013 of B-cell lymphoma-related complications
22:13while on death row.
22:15Number 2. H.H. Holmes
22:17In Season 5, Evan Peters takes on the role of James Patrick March,
22:22a rich businessman who built the Hotel Cortez,
22:25where he would go on to murder several people.
22:28Help me!
22:30There's a killer after me!
22:32I'm the killer before you.
22:35Mr. March is partially inspired by Conman
22:38and the man often dubbed America's first known serial killer H.H. Holmes,
22:42as well as his murder castle in Chicago.
22:45How many people he killed is uncertain,
22:48but he was convicted of at least one and executed in 1896.
22:53Holmes was the first person in modern times
22:56who was able to take advantage of the complexities
23:01and anonymity of modern society
23:04in order to kill and kill again without being detected.
23:09While the real Holmes had at least four marriages,
23:12March marries Elizabeth Johnson,
23:14a.k.a. the Countess,
23:15who is very similar to Elizabeth Bathory.
23:18I'd be delighted to host our meal on any night you choose.
23:21We could do it nightly instead of monthly.
23:23Just say the word.
23:25Once a month, James.
23:27That's our arrangement.
23:28I'm far too busy for anything more.
23:31The Hungarian Countess is considered
23:32the most prolific female murderer,
23:34believed to have killed over 600 young women
23:37between 1590 and 1610,
23:40bathing in their virginal blood to preserve her youth.
23:44I'm on a cleanse.
23:46Not anymore.
23:47Number 1.
23:48The Cecil Hotel
23:49Like Mr. March's Hotel Cortez,
23:52the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles
23:54is rife with tales of violence and death.
23:57But the most widely known
23:58is the disappearance and suspicious death
24:00of young tourist Elisa Lam.
24:02She was traveling by herself,
24:05spent a few days in San Diego,
24:06and then came to Los Angeles on the 28th of January.
24:10She was last seen alive in January 2013,
24:13captured in a bizarre surveillance video
24:16that went viral before her body was discovered
24:18in a water tank on the roof in February.
24:20On Devil's Night,
24:22some of the most notorious serial killers
24:24come to the hotel,
24:25including Richard Ramirez,
24:27Eileen Wuornos,
24:28Jeffrey Dahmer,
24:29John Wayne Gacy,
24:30and the Zodiac Killer.
24:32Murder is one part perspiration,
24:34ten parts preparation.
24:36I built this hotel for the sole purpose
24:38of hiding the evidence.
24:40Ramirez and Austrian serial killer
24:42Jack Unterweger
24:43are said to have stayed at the Cecil Hotel.
24:45Elizabeth Short,
24:46the Black Dahlia,
24:48has also been associated with the hotel.
24:50You were the front page news
24:51of every paper for two months.
24:57I really did become somebody.
25:00Did you know these storylines
25:01were based on true stories?
25:03Let us know in the comments.
25:05Let us know in the comments.
25:06You
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