American Horror Story: Hotel introduced this universe’s first version of vampires, who kept some strange cages with neon lights – and a theory cleverly explains what these cages are for. American Horror Story has explored a variety of horror themes, legends, and creatures, often mixing two or more, and for its fifth season, it took the audience to Hotel Cortez. Appropriately titled American Horror Story: Hotel, this season started the AHS connected universe with links to Murder House and Coven, and it introduced the audience to vampires and ghosts living at a hotel that has witnessed a variety of horrors.

Similarly to Murder House, Hotel’s main setting was the home to a variety of ghosts, as those who died inside the hotel are doomed to spend eternity in it, thus haunting and terrorizing various guests and residents. In addition to that, Hotel Cortez is the home of Elizabeth (Lady Gaga), best known as The Countess, the owner of the hotel and carrier of a mysterious blood virus, which makes her a vampire. Because of this, the hotel had everything the Countess and her vampire children would need, including cages with neon lights that might have been key to keeping their victims strong for feeding.

AHS: Hotel’s Cages Keep The Vampires’ Victims Healthy (& Weaken Other Vampires)

Among the many things The Countess had at her disposal at the hotel were iron maiden cages with neon lights. These were seen at different points throughout AHS: Hotel, such as in the first episode when Iris (Kathy Bates) put the two Swedish tourists in the cages and told them she was going o “flush their system”, and prepared a disgusting smoothie for them made of oysters, chicken livers, kidneys, and more, and again when Donovan (Matt Bomer) put Ramona (Angela Bassett) in one of the cages. The lights are placed outside and around the cage, giving them a strange look that might seem like some bizarre decoration from The Countess, but a theory (posted on Reddit) explains that they had a double use: keep humans strong for feeding and weakening other vampires.

According to the theory, the neon lights on the cages are UV-lights, and as UV-B rays are the ones that produce vitamin D, the cage would help keep humans strong and healthy for the vampires at Hotel Cortez to feed from them, as they would be spending a lot of time indoors and would need vitamin D. However, these cages and lights would also be useful to weaken other people afflicted with the virus that turns them into vampires, as they are weakened by the sun, thus the UV light would have the same effect. This is why Ramona was locked in a cage, so she would be too weak for her encounter with The Countess.

How AHS: Hotel’s Vampires Compare To Double Feature’s

American Horror Story brought vampires back in season 10, Double Feature, though not in the same way as Hotel. Surely, both aren’t vampires in the traditional sense, with those in Hotel being referred to as “afflicted” and Double Feature: Red Tide’s as “pale people”, but both have the need to feed off blood. However, Hotel’s vampires are such due to a virus that spreads in the traditional vampire way, while those in Double Feature are the result of a black pill created by The Chemist. Another big difference is that the vampires in Double Feature can either keep a human appearance or can become pale, monstrous creatures, depending on whether the person is naturally talented or not, while the vampires in Hotel look human. With all that in mind, the iron maiden cages in American Horror Story: Hotel might not have the same weakening affects on Double Feature’s vampires, but they would still be useful to keep their victims healthy and ready.