When Ryan Murphy created American Horror Story, he weaved a tangled web of co-mingling characters who are all more horrific than the next. The show, which is arguably one of the most shocking on television, is chock-full of some of the scariest horror movie tropes. With all the gross things that happen on American Horror Story, it seems like the writers’ room is constantly trying to one-up themselves. That’s kind of their M.O.
If you’re looking for the most violent things to happen on American Horror Story, look no further. These are the most disturbing American Horror Story moments found on the show.
The Addiction Demon In ‘Hotel’
Photo: FX
Ryan Murphy warned viewers that a disturbing assault scene was going to happen in the premiere of Hotel. There’s no way anyone could imagine just how grotesque that scene would actually be. At the time, Murphy regarded it as “the most disturbing scene we’ve ever done.”
The scene occurs in the Hotel Cortez right after Gabriel (Max Greenfield) checks into his room. Gabriel shoots up, and as soon as the high hits him, a creepy, wrinkly skinned demon pushes him onto the bed. The demon, dubbed “The Addiction Demon,” wears a strap-on of pointed metal that looks like a drill bit.
Lana Winters’s Self-Given Abortion In ‘Asylum’
Photo: FX
Lana’s (Sarah Paulson) DIY abortion is a cringe-inducing scene. After finding out she’s pregnant with Dr. Thredson’s child, AKA Bloody Face, Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) attempts to give herself an abortion the old-fashioned way – with a coat hanger.
Her abortion is unsuccessful but also unspeakably bloody.
Elsa Mars Losing Her Legs In ‘Freak Show’
Photo: FX
One of the most powerfully disturbing moments in Freak Show is when the reason for Elsa Mars’s (Jessica Lange) missing legs is revealed. In a flashback, viewers learn that Elsa was a dominatrix in Germany. She was drugged and tricked into filming a snuff film. Elsa’s legs are sawed off completely and she’s left to perish.
The kicker is that her legs aren’t sawed off by just anyone. Her precious stems are cut short by Hans Gruper (John Cromwell) seen previously in Season 2’s mental asylum.
Shelley Crawling Into The Playground In ‘Asylum’
Photo: FX
In one of American Horror Story‘s more visually grotesque moments, Season 2’s Shelley (Chloe Sevigny) suffers cruelly at the hands of Dr. Arden (James Cromwell). After undergoing medical testing, Shelley is left at an elementary school where she crawls out into a playground full of children begging for help.
Shelley’s amputated body and rotting skin are gross enough without the added horror of being found by children.
Ma Petite Is Hugged To Death In ‘Freak Show’
Photo: FX
The beautiful Ma Petite (Jyoti Amge) is the rare innocent character on American Horror Story. On Freak Show, she is Elsa’s personal plaything and friend, and her main purpose on the show is seemingly to be the one bright spot in a circus of dark souls. So, of course, she perishes. Dell (Michael Chiklis) asks Ma Petite for a hug and then squeezes her poor little frame.
As if this weren’t bad enough, her body is put into formaldehyde and sold off to the American Morbidity Museum to be displayed.
Violet Finds Her Own Remains In ‘Murder House’
Photo: FX
In a dramatic scene that’s certainly a nod to The Sixth Sense, Violet (Taissa Farmiga) discovers she didn’t exactly survive her own suicide attempt like she thought she did. The house has a way of keeping those who perish there trapped as life-like ghosts, so it’s easy to believe. Tate (Evan Peters) takes Violet down to the basement and tells her his attempts to save her the night she swallowed a bottle of pills were ineffective.
The proof is in Violet’s rotting remains, which are teeming with flies and in full rigor mortis. Violet realizes she never made it out of the bathtub alive and will be stuck at the house forever.
Madame LaLaurie Visits Her Chamber In ‘Coven’
Photo: FX
Madame Delphine LaLaurie may just be Kathy Bates’s best character to date on American Horror Story. She’s definitely among the most deranged characters portrayed. Even though Madame LaLaurie gets an interesting and strangely poignant arc through her time on Coven, she starts the show off with a bang.
In Season 3’s opening sequence, LaLaurie takes a slave from her household up to her secret torture chamber, accusing him of assaulting her daughter. There she puts a bull’s head on the innocent man and chains him up. In the chamber are even more people in various stages of torment, all to serve the dark pleasure of this horrible historic woman.
Mr. Guinea Meets A Microwaved End In ‘Cult’
Photo: FX
Oz, the child of Ally and Ivy Mayfair-Richards in Season 7, is going to grow up to be one messed up adult. It’s bad enough his spooky babysitter, Winter (Billie Lourd), thinks showing him awful videos on the dark web is character-building. When the neighbors give him a guinea pig and his moms say he can keep the cute critter, he’s excited to hurry home to see his new pet.
He arrives just in time to discover that Mr. Guinea has been put in the microwave.
Twisty The Clown’s Suicide Attempt In ‘Freak Show’
Photo: FX
Season 4’s most terrifying character is also the one with the most heartbreaking backstory. In an episode where Twisty the Clown’s (John Carroll Lynch) story is revealed, we see just why he wears his gruesome smiling mask. It’s an emotional and gruesome tale.
In the flashback, Twisty was dropped on his head as a child, leaving him mentally handicapped. He found happiness in making children smile as a clown in a local circus, but a cruel circus-goer spread rumors that Twisty inappropriately touched the children who went to see his act. He was fired from the circus and tried to sell homemade toys to a local shop, but the rumors had damaged his reputation so much, the shop owners wouldn’t buy them.
He tried to take his own life, but it didn’t work.
The Adultery Murder On ‘Hotel’
Photo: FX
While all of the acts committed by the Ten Commandments Killer on Hotel are quite gruesome, the first one shown (although not the first one committed) is probably the worst. When Detective John Lowe (Wes Bentley) arrives on the scene in the hotel, he finds the remains of a man and woman trapped in what looks like an act of coitus. The woman has been speared to the bed’s headboard with her hands nailed to it, as well. She is astride her still-living lover whose eyes and tongue have been removed and his member super-glued inside of her.
They’ve committed adultery and been made to pay in the most horrifying way.
Penny’s Father Tattoos Her Face In ‘Freak Show’
Photo: FX
Penny (Grace Gummer) isn’t the most likable character on Freak Show initially, but she redeems herself over the course of the season. She starts out as a prissy snob who considers herself above the Freaks of Elsa’s show, but after being blackmailed into joining them, she bonds and eventually falls in love with the tattooed man.
Her father isn’t too pleased with this development and his punishment cruelly fits the crime. He drugs Penny and has her face tattooed, hair shaved, and tongue forked, making her a human serpent. Penny gets her revenge later, but the scene – with Penny’s newly tattooed face and split tongue bleeding – is especially shocking.
Audrey And Monet Eat Human Flesh On ‘Roanoke’
Photo: FX
In this grotesque scene, an actress is forced to consume the person she portrays on film. In the episode, we come to find that the Polk Family, a pack of hillbilly cannibals in the TV show My Roanoke Nightmare, are anything but fictional. In this scene, they capture Lee (Adina Porter), Monet (Angela Basset), and Audrey (Sarah Paulson). After discovering that the Polks own a pot greenhouse (and inevitably get the munchies), they oil up and season Lee’s leg.
They reappear with a plate of bloody meat and force Audrey and Monet, who plays Lee in the My Roanoke Nightmare reenactments, to eat the provided leg meat.
Familial Zombies In ‘Coven’
Photo: FX
Earlier in Coven, Kyle (Evan Peters) is stitched together using witchcraft after perishing. Of course, he’s not quite the same Kyle now that he’s undead.
Zoe Benson (Taissa Farmiga) drops Franken-Kyle off at his mother’s house. It turns out Kyle’s mother (Mare Winningham) hasn’t been the best mom she could be. She peeks in on her son in the shower and notices he doesn’t look quite the same. Later, she crawls into his bed and begins molesting him, while he, in his zombie state, is unsure how to react. All that rage tips over the edge and he grabs a nearby trophy and takes her out.
Maggie Esmerelda Gets Cut In Half In ‘Freak Show’
Photo: FX
Though she is technically a con artist, Maggie Esmerelda (Emma Roberts) is overall a nice girl on Freak Show. Even though she bonds with the Freaks and attempts to make good on the crimes she aided Stanley in carrying out against them, she’s certainly not spared an incredibly bloody and nauseating end. She offers to be Chester Creb’s (Neil Patrick Harris) assistant during the ol’ saw-a-girl-in-half routine.
Unfortunately, Chester is out of his mind at the moment and rigs the trick so Maggie can’t escape.
Delphine LaLaurie Feeds The Witches Poop Soup In ‘Coven’
Photo: FX
Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) is a monster plucked out from history and forced to wait on the witches of Coven. She’s none too thrilled with her new afterlife, and when Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts) insists that Delphine flush the toilet after she takes a bowl movement, Delphine lashes out.
She serves the witches soup made from Madison’s handiwork.
Madame LaLaurie Uses Baby Blood As Moisturizer In ‘Coven’
Photo: FX
Madame LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) is one of American Horror Story‘s most diabolical characters. In this scene, one of her slaves has a baby that was allegedly fathered by her husband.
She ends it in revenge, and then brushes the baby’s blood all over her face (like a moisturizer) while forcing the baby’s mother to watch.
Tate Shoots Up His High School In ‘Murder House’
Photo: FX
After it’s finally revealed that Tate (Evan Peters) perished at the hands of the SWAT team because he’d just shot a number of his classmates, the show goes back to fill in the details of that day. Tate isn’t even shown really, except for his feet and his back as he holds a gun to student’s faces.
Instead, the focus is on the students hiding from him in the library.
Suckling In ‘Asylum’
Photo: FX
In this scene, Johnny (Dylan McDermott) is waiting for a post-partum escort, Pandora (Jill Marie Jones), in Dr. Thredson’s apartment. Pandora has given birth just three weeks ago and claims she has “saved up” her milk just for Johnny.
Johnny suckles her and she cracks a joke about his “mommy issues.” He then gets angry and strangles her.
Xavier Is Roasted In The Oven In ‘1984’
Photo: FX
Season 9 was filled with all of the campiness of a 1980s slasher film. Handsome aerobics instructor Xavier Plympton (Cody Fern) tries to do the right thing and warn Bertie (Tara Karsian), the camp chef, that she’s in danger and needs to come with him immediately. They are interrupted by the jingling keys of Mr. Jingles and Xavier tries to hide. Mr. Jingles finds Xavier under the table and places him into the oven to cook.
Although Bertie is able to rescue Xavier from the oven, he is badly burned and eventually killed by Margaret (Leslie Grossman).
Bloody Face’s Reveal In ‘Asylum’
Photo: FX
Asylum had us thinking that Lana (Sarah Paulson) was finally safe when she escaped Briarcliff with the help of Dr. Thredson (Zachary Quinto). Of course, that idea is quickly shattered when Dr. Thredson brings her back to his home and Lana’s safety goes south real fast. Lana notices a lampshade made of human skin and a candy bowl that looks like a human skull.
She starts to piece together the clues and realizes that Dr. Thredson is actually Bloody Face. She discovers his hobby room and falls through a trapdoor into his basement where her girlfriend Wendy lies on the floor.
The Freaks’ Revenge On Stanley In ‘Freak Show’
Photo: FX
Stanley (Denis O’Hare) is a crook who extorts and tortures members of the freak show throughout the entire fourth season of American Horror Story. Even knowing that Stanley deserves what happens to him, his fate is still beyond horrific. In the episode “Show Stoppers,” the Freaks chase down Stanley to finally stop him, and it’s easy to think they simply ended him.
Then, at the very end of the episode, Dandy (Finn Wittrock) has bought out the freak show and hears a noise coming from a chicken coop inside the main tent. He goes to investigate and sees Stanley with his arms, legs, and tongue completely cut off. He’s dressed in a feathery outfit and caged. Dandy simply smiles.
His circular fate is to be the most freakish of all the Freaks.
Vivien Is Assaulted By The Rubber Man In ‘Murder House’
Photo: FX
In this scene, Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) thinks she is making love to her husband Ben (Ryan McDermott) wearing a black latex suit, despite having just had a roll in the proverbial hay with him earlier that day.
In reality, Ben is downstairs in a trance, distracted by the house so this imposter can do his dark deed. It is revealed later that the man in the suit was Tate (Evan Peters), Violet Harmon’s (Taissa Farmiga) ghostly boyfriend.
Teenaged YouTubers Get The Supernatural Proof They Were Looking For In ‘Roanoke’
Photo: FX
As if Season 6’s show within a show wasn’t trippy enough, one episode of the season focuses on three teenage fans of My Roanoke Nightmare who run a fan page for the show and go looking for evidence of the show’s truth.
Unfortunately, they show up on the night of the blood moon. Their body cams and video equipment capture footage of the Butcher and her ghosts showing up to do what they usually do to people on “their land.”
Margaret Is Shredded In The Woodchipper In ‘1984’
Photo: FX
Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman) was the alleged “final girl” of the original Camp Redwood massacre. But not everything is as it seems with Margaret, and it turns out she framed Mr. Jingles and is hellbent on murdering as many people as possible. Since the ghosts of Camp Redwood are trapped on the property, the vengeful spirits of the people Margaret murdered get together, trap her, chop her into pieces and feed her to a woodchipper.
To make sure she will not be trapped with them in the afterlife, they point the woodchipper to spit the pieces of her body beyond the camp property line.
