You can hear the howls of werewolves. Brooms crackle in the wind as they soar past your ears. Jack O'lanterns illuminate eerie blocks as the ghouls and demons creep from the night shadows. It’s Autumn. Tis the season of nightmares. As if Halloween and all the spooky rituals it entails weren’t enough to leave us tossing and turning in the glow of our nightlights, “American Horror Story” is returning to FX for its third season, titled “Coven.”
To make matters worse, the upcoming season will introduce not one, but two new villains. According to TV Guide, on is a gruesome minotaur with connections to both Marie Laveau and Madame Delphine LaLaurie, all of whom will be introduced during tonight’s premiere. The second villain, however, is based on a real life killer.
“The Axeman was a true serial killer who was the Zodiac killer of New Orleans,” said executive producer Ryan Murphy. “He would write very chilling letters to the press and he would literally take an ax and cut people’s heads in two. He killed women, he killed men, he killed children and he was never caught. He just sort of evaporated into thin air.”
On a light note, series star Jessica Lange touched briefly upon the show’s move to New Orleans for the new season. “There’s a magic to this place,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “Yesterday I came out of my house and there was a tour going by. I heard the tour guide talking about witchcraft, so I stopped and thought, “Oooh, maybe I can get some information here.’ Research!”
Although “Coven” depicts the present day war between the Salem witches and those who practice voodoo, Murphy wanted it steer clear of the bewitched town and took Lange’s advice to shoot in New Orleans. “I knew we wanted to do witches and that they were from Salem, but I didn't want to do it in Salem — we thought about that briefly," Murphy said. "Once [Lange suggested New Orleans], I started to research. You come across Madame LaLaurie and Marie Laveau and the Axeman serial killer and all these great horror legends of that city and it felt like a natural [choice] to me. There's something about that city that's creepy and scary."
“American Horror Story: Coven” premiere tonight, October 9, on FX.
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