Although each season of American Horror Story has covered a different horror theme, the series has badly overused a ghost trend, and it needs to stop doing so. Even though American Horror Story is an anthology series, the appearance and references of different characters and events in more than one season have made way for the creation of an American Horror Story universe, confirmed in season 8, Apocalypse, which brought together seasons Murder House, Coven, and Hotel. Since then, viewers have looked for more connections between all seasons of American Horror Story so far, and thus various similarities – both good and bad – have come to light.

Every season of American Horror Story (except for season seven, Cult) has included at least one supernatural element, either through sci-fi elements like aliens, mythical creatures like vampires, or entities with a deeper meaning, as was the case of Big Daddy in American Horror Story: NYC. However, some of these supernatural elements have been used more than once, to the point of becoming an overused trend, as is the case of ghosts and haunted places, which have already been used in five seasons, in both main and subplots.

American Horror Story Has Overused Ghosts & Haunted Places

Some seasons of American Horror Story have found a way to add ghosts and haunted places to their stories, but unfortunately, this has become an overused trend in the series. The show’s first season, Murder House, centered on the ghosts that inhabited the title house, named like that due to all the horrific violent acts that took place there and all the people that had died in it. The main characters in Murder House even became ghosts themselves when Violet died of an overdose, Vivien died during childbirth, and Ben was killed by other ghosts, thus leaving them trapped in the house. These themes were used again in Coven in a subplot, as the Axeman was killed and became a ghost confined to Miss Robichaux’s Academy.

Next was Hotel, which introduced American Horror Story’s first version of vampires, but they weren’t the only entities living inside Hotel Cortez, as there were also a variety of ghosts trapped in there, and very much like in Murder House, those who died inside the hotel ended up trapped there. Apocalypse dealt with ghosts and haunted places again thanks to its crossover with Hotel, and 1984 also had its dose of these themes with the ghosts that caused chaos in Camp Redwood.

American Horror Story Season 12 Can Stop The Ghost Trend

Ghosts trapped in the place where they died are some of the most common stories in the horror genre, and they have been used and reused countless times in film and TV – but in American Horror Story’s case, it has already been too much. It’s unknown what the theme for American Horror Story season 12 will be, but it can continue Double Feature and NYC’s example by not having ghosts who are confined to haunted places (though NYC did have ghosts, it skipped the haunted place element). With so many horror themes, creatures, legends, and more to explore, American Horror Story doesn’t need to continue using this trend, instead focusing on telling scarier and more interesting stories.