'American Horror Story' Season 6 News, Updates, Spoilers: Season 6 Premiere Finally Reveals Theme; What Went Down During the Premiere Episode

By Krixia Zhienelle Subingsubing, Friday, September 16, 2016

After months of misdirects and guesswork from an astonishing array of 24 teasers, the theme for Season 6 of the FX horror anthology series "American Horror Story" Wednesday. But while we're certain it's the real deal, it's still just as mysterious as ever, keeping fans on the hook for more! Smart move, AHS.

Titled, "My Roanoke Nightmare," AHS' theme refers to the Roanoke Island in North Carolina, the site of the "Lost Colony" during the 1500s. About 117 English settlers had disappeared during the chaotic period of the Anglo-Spanish war, and had left behind only the word, "Croatoan," the name of a nearby native tribe, carved on a tree.

While the current prevailing theory is that the Croatoans had either assimilated or attacked them, their disappearance remains one of America's greatest mysteries, spawning several conspiracy theories and urban legends: perfect fodder for a horror anthology such as "American Horror Story." True enough, it seems as if the series will be using this real-life event as a backdrop for AHS Season 6, following TMZ-leaked photos of the set showing a tree with the carved "Croatoan" on it.

Chapter One: The Beginning

Meanwhile, the show's premiere is curiously titled "Chapter One," which took on a true-crime documentary format. It followed couple Shelby (Lily Rabe/Sarah Paulson) and Matt (Cuba Gooding Jr). They had been leading perfect lives until both were attacked by a gang. Matt broke his orbital socket and Shelby lost her unborn baby. They decided to leave the city for South Carolina and move into a secluded home. Of course, they immediately found that - surprise! - the house is simply not what it seems to be. (What a groundbreaking horror trope, that was).

Anyway, the house started playing games with the couple. Teeth falling from the sky, dead animals on their doorsteps, "The Shining"-esque hallucinations, random wooden figures, and near-drownings. It all turned exceptionally freaky, so Matt called for backup: his ex-cop sister Lee, who doesn't believe Shelby's stories.

When Shelby left the house, she ran over a woman (AHS regular Kathy Bates), dressed up in colonial clothes. (Lost Colony ghost, perhaps?) While she's lost in the woods, she's haunted by the pig-headed man and several other figures bearing torches, before Wes Bentley appeared from the shadows.

Mixing up AHS Season 6

Looks like their hermetic marketing has paid off immensely, as the premiere was perfectly creeptastic. It's unknown, however, whether the Shelby-Matt story will run for the entire season. Showrunner Stephanie Gibbons teased that AHS Season 6 will be entirely different from the rest of the show's seasons. It's also expected to tie up the mythology across all six seasons, so be sure to catch this one to make sense of the whole series.

"American Horror Story" airs every Wednesday on FX.