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The following discusses topics such as violence, self-harm, suicide, rape, and slavery. Some readers may find the descriptions disturbing.
American Horror Story tackles viewers’ deepest fears in mundane life. Over the years, AHS episodes have drawn inspiration from real-life murders and creepy cases, elevating horror to the next level and making it feel all the more real. The show is known for its deeply disturbing depiction of violence, creepy and complex plot twists, and graphic portrayal of all things that make viewers uncomfortable.
American Horror Story is certainly not for the faint of heart. While many horror shows start strong and gradually decrease in their level of shock and terror, AHS is quite the opposite. Each new season finds the show continuing to push the standard set in the previous seasons as it moves forward, resulting in many scary episodes, some of which are flat-out nightmares.
Updated on July 3, 2025, by Ajay Aravind: American Horror Story Season 12 ended in 2024, and fans are eager for the upcoming 13th season despite no information about the release date. In any case, the 132 AHS episodes currently streaming on Prime Video have always been ripe for rewatching, especially some of the most terrifying storylines. As such, this article was updated with five more entries as well as some relevant information.
20 "Home Invasion" Finds Horror in the Mundane
A Real-Life Serial Killer Inspires Fictional Terrors
«Home Invasion» is one episode in Murder House that is bound to cause nightmares after watching, especially because it features a home break-in, which may already be a recurring nightmare for some. The violence and violation of one’s boundaries take away the characters’ safety and comfort and leave them in highly vulnerable places. In «Home Invasion,» that vulnerable place can literally mean death. «Home Invasion» continues to use the «your body is your home» metaphor and brings this most nerve-wracking horror to life.
The episode begins with a flashback to a 1968 murder where a killer stabbed two nursing students to death. The murder of Maria is particularly disturbing when the killer toys with her fervent Catholicism. This plot is based on a true story. In 1966, Richard Speck broke into a student nurse dormitory and murdered eight women. Despite the gruesomeness of «Home Invasion,» the episode ranks at the bottom of this list.
19 "Feral" Realizes a Conspiracy Theory
National Parks Have a Horrifying Origin
National parks can be scary places for those with a fear of the unknown. There are acres of nature, and not every inch can be explored. Most hikers will only cross a small part of a national park. Serial killers could be hiding in the woods, among other things. The fact that US national parks are a frequent destination for body dumping in many crime shows is scary enough, and in the case of Season 1, Episode 6, «Feral,» this common fear is taken to a new level.
The episode is based on a real conspiracy that cannibals live in America’s national parks. The show follows the disappearance of a three-year-old who was taken by someone, or something. With blood at the crime scene, the parents never gave up finding their son. A decade later, it turned out their son was abducted by cannibalistic creatures in the woods. The family reunion went wrong quickly. After 10 years, Jacob had become the leader of the cannibals, and instead of returning to civilization with his parents, he told the others that his parents were dinner and watched them being consumed.
18 "Checking In" Taps Into Hotel Horror
Lady Gaga Enters AHS with a Flourish
The fear of hotels is real. After all, who knows what happened behind the doors of those rooms? Hotel horror is predominant in every culture. The artificial lights and the suspicious cleanliness of hotels can add up to haunting feelings in the hallways. Hotel Cortez in American Horror Story has some of the worst violence in the show. It’s also based on a real hotel, The Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. In one of her best appearances on television, Lady Gaga plays Countess Elizabeth in this episode.
Countess and Donovan are a resident couple at the hotel. During a foursome, they quickly slit the other couples’ throats and savor their blood. Hotel Cortez is haunted by the spirits of past guests who have died in horrific ways during their stay. Some were brutally raped and murdered, some were drugged, and some died by suicide. The staff serves both humans and other permanent residents. Part of their job is to act normally with new guests and make sure that they are unaware of the real danger.
17 "Bitchcraft" Has Remained a Fan-Favorite
The Episode Highlights an Already Strong Season
If casually using human blood as part of a nighttime skin routine isn’t horrifying enough, the torturing of slaves and turning a man into a beast will have most viewers gasping for air. «Bitchcraft» is quite disturbing to watch, and it’s certainly not for the faint-hearted. This episode sets a new standard for depicting violence in American Horror Story. The scenes show some of the most disgusting things viewers will ever see on TV.
After discovering her daughter was having sex with one of the men she kept restrained, Delphine LaLaurie punished the man by fitting a permanent bull’s head over him to create a Minotaur. The entire season of Coven is filled with vindictive witches, but Madame Delphine LaLaurie is the worst of them all. The most disturbing part is that she’s based on a real-life socialite who also tortured and murdered slaves in the 1800s.
16 "I Am Anne Frank (Part 2)" Reveals Bloody Face
The Episode's Nazi Overtones Make It Worse
Asylum is considered to be among the best seasons of American Horror Story, whose Briarcliff Manor was a fount of nightmares that never stopped giving. The identity of Bloody Face had been a central mystery in the series until «I Am Anne Frank» (Part 2). After Lana escaped the asylum, she realized her savior was the murderous monster who had killed her partner, Wendy. Watching the previously mild-mannered Dr. Oliver Thredson reveal his wickedness was a horrific shock.
At the same time, AHS adds Nazis into the already diverse Asylum mix, strongly hinting that Dr. Arthur Arden was previously a Nazi doctor. Not only did he lobotomize a woman claiming to be the real Anne Frank, but he also lied to cover up his own background. Erasing the trauma of genocide victims is one of the most unacceptable things anyone can do, but the episode is made more unnerving by Grace’s forced sterilization.
15 "The Coat Hanger" Is Heartbreakingly Dark
Abortion Highlights AHS' Social Commentary
This dark episode tackles abortion in a deeply disturbing way. Lana found herself pregnant with Oliver Thredson, aka Bloody Face’s baby, after being brutally raped. She then attempted to abort the child herself by using a coat hanger. Her attempt was unsuccessful. She later tried to coerce Oliver to confess by threatening to abort the baby. She also planned to kill Oliver the same way, with a coat hanger, but all her plans fell through.
Sister Mary Eunice set Oliver free, and his child survived and later lived to fulfill Laura’s darkest nightmares. It also demonstrates the series’ insistence on combining its horrors with social commentary about the all-too-real world. The physical, emotional, and psychological trauma experienced by Lana was magnified tenfold by her miserable situation, making «The Coat Hanger» one of the darkest episodes of AHS. That said, it remains at #15 because it’s more sad than scary.
14 "Chapter 5" Shows How Scary Kathy Bates Can Be
"Chapter 5" Also Links the Polks to a Witch
Season 6 of American Horror Story wasn’t a big hit, primarily because of criticisms aimed at its strange blend of found footage and documentary narratives. «Chapter 5» remains as grisly as ever, though, as one would expect from a seasoned horror actor like Kathy Bates. «Chapter 5» features utterly hair-raising visuals, from mutilations to sacrifices. As viewers discover the fate of the original colonists, the episode jumps straight into grim territory.
Finding out the supernatural cause behind the Polk Family’s cannibalism and bloodshed wasn’t enough to excuse their abominable history. Their ghostly forms are quite fearsome, particularly when they gain strength during the episode’s blood moon event. Although «Chapter 5» ends on a happy note with the Millers’ escape, Shelby Miller’s nightmare highlights that it was not over. The episode’s middle placement in the season allowed it to serve as a leaping point for horrors that were yet to come.
13 "Smoldering Children" Reveals Violet's Truth
Tate's Past Comes Under the Spotlight
Following the big revelation in «Piggy Piggy,» «Smoldering Children» delves even further into Tate’s past, piecing together the events that led to Tate killing the high school kids. The flashback sequence is terrifying to behold, with Tate’s darkness laid bare for viewers to see. And yet, there was a moment that made this episode far more upsetting.
Violet learns the truth about herself in «Smoldering Children.» She initially moves to the restored mansion with her family. Being haunted by ghosts and strange things, she attempts to die by suicide to escape the curse. While viewers are rooting for her to survive, Tate shows Violet and viewers the reality of her rotting corpse, making the episode dark and sad. «Smoldering Children» also deals with self-harm and suicide, which may make it particularly hard to watch.
12 "Monsters Among Us" Kicks Off a Horrifying Season
Freak Show Goes Full Gonzo in the Opening Episode
Season 4 Freak Show, arrived when the series was properly feeling its oats, and had the confidence to really go for broke. The outlandish twists went to another level in the story of a carnival sideshow struggling with prejudice and murder in the 1950s. The season stands as one of the most acclaimed in the series’ history, as well as being the final regular appearance of Jessica Lange. Lange led an avalanche of Emmy nominations for the cast that year — six in total — and indeed the reason that none of them won may have simply been splitting the vote.
The season kicks off in fine form with «Monsters Among Us,» featuring Sarah Paulson as a set of conjoined twins who become a sensation after their mother is mysteriously killed. The episode introduces most of the cast, along with their various unique characteristics and often tragic lives. It also reveals Twisty the Clown, a disfigured serial killer who imprisons a boy and girl in a broken-down bus, as well as the psychotic rich kid Dandy and his disturbing ease at literally buying and selling human beings. Even for a show as extreme as AHS, the combination can take viewers by surprise.
11 "Curtain Call" Shows Many Adorable Freaks Massacred
Dandy Mott Is Punished for His Evil
Freak Show remains excellent through multiple watches, anchored by Lange, Bates, and Paulson as much as the other admittedly endearing freaks. Unfortunately, the final episode of Season 4 had disastrous consequences for them. Dandy Mott, who had slowly been honing his demonic personality, purchased the freak show and brutally massacred nearly all of the poor employees. Dandy is ultimately punished for his evil when he drowns in a Houdini water tank, but that doesn’t diminish the horror witnessed by fans.
Ma Patel’s earlier death was heartbreaking, but she wasn’t the last. The so-called freaks already suffered greatly from society’s prejudice, and they were still doomed to die in such a horrible way. Even if Dandy paid the only acceptable price, these dispossessed individuals did not deserve what they got. The deaths of Amazon Eve, Paul, and Toad Boy were emotional hits that only accentuated the horror of losing them.
