The latest season of AHS is certainly having some fun.
American Horror Story 1984 is set in the campy and colourful 1980s and is inspired by slasher genre films of the era such as Friday the 13th and Halloween , but is it all just a fictional tale?
The series follows five young counsellors (Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Cody Fern, Gus Kenworthy, DeRon Horton) at Camp Redwood, a traditional summer camp that has a dark history of mass murder at the hands of serial killer Mr. Jingles (John Carroll Lynch).
However, one sub plot involves the backstory of Brooke (Roberts), who is struggling with recent trauma of being attacked by a serial killer known as The Night Stalker (Zach Villa).
This killer arrives at the camp in the first episode too, but events take a surprising turn in episode two when he is hired by camp owner and sole survivor of the 1970 massacre, Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman).
But is there a true story behind this season?
Well, the Summer Camp massacre and Mr. Jingles have little basis in real life, more in the tropes of the horror genre.
However, the Night Stalker was very much a real person.
The Night Stalker
The Night Stalker was an infamous serial killer, rapist, and burglar across California who was active between April 1984 and August 1985.
As he terrorized the citizens of Los Angeles and San Fransisco during the darkness of night, he began to be referred to by this name and media fear and speculation around his identity grew.
The killer himself used multiple weapons in his crimes, including knives, machetes, and hammers, along with inflicting gunshot wounds.
His victims were mostly women who he attacked in or around their homes and beat, mutilated and sometimes raped their bodies.
The villain was eventually identified from a surviving victim as Richard Ramirez - a self-described Satanist who is reported to have left pentagrams and lyrics from heavy metal songs scrawled at the crime scenes.
His victims ranged in age from their early 20s to older than 60.
The capture of Richard Ramirez
On August 30, 1985, Ramirez attempted to see his brother and was unaware that police were onto him and he was now exposed to the nation as The Night Stalker.
When he discovered the situation as his brother failed to meet him and a group of Mexican women shouted 'El Matador' at him in the street, Ramirez tried to steal a car but was chased away by witnesses.
Ramirez hopped multiple fences before nearby residents subdued him and severely beat him until police arrived.
He was later charged with five attempted murders, thirteen murders, eleven sexual assaults, and four burglaries.
Ramirez died from complications due to B-cell lymphoma at the age of 53 on June 7, 2013.
He was on death row for 23 years and never showed any remorse for his actions.
So, where does The Night Stalker fit into AHS 1984?
The inclusion of Ramirez in AHS is both unsurprising and unpredictable.
There is no record of any such events happening to The Night Stalker, and it really does seem that Ramirez is being inserted into a fictional tale.
It is not his first appearance on the horror anthology series, either, having appeared in American Horror Story: Hotel, where the older ghost of Ramirez (played by Anthony Ruivar) attended a "Devil's Night" dinner where the ghosts of various infamous serial killers joined each other for a meal and murder.
So, where will the new season take this tale?
The alliance with Margaret Booth definitely suggests that the apparent survivor is not all she seems, so could we be about to see some double-cross going on?
We'll have to wait and see.
American Horror Story: 1984 continues on Thursdays on FOX HD.
Are you enjoying AHS 1984? Let us know in the comments below.
