‘American Horror Story’ Season 3 Spoilers: Hank's Dark Secret Revealed; What Happened In Episode 6, ‘The Axeman Cometh’? [RECAP]

Close your blinds and lock your doors – “American Horror Story” introduced its season three big bad guy in episode 6 … “The Axeman.”

Episode 6, “The Axeman Cometh,” kicked off with a flashback to New Orleans in 1919. At the time a serial killer named the Axeman was terrorizing the city, but the young witches at Miss Robichaux’s Academy were tired of his antics.

Flashback

In a letter to the local newspaper, the Axeman warned that he was not a human being, “but a spirit, a demon from the hottest hell.” And while no one was safe from his axe, he promised that he’d pass over any house that played jazz music. Not intimated by his threat, the witches rebelled against jazz and instead played opera music … luring the Axeman to their house.

When the Axeman arrived, he was not prepared for what the witches had in store. Pulling out his axe to claim his next victim, he became the victim when the Coven attacked, stabbing him repeatedly.

The Discovery Of Madison And Spalding’s Cover Up

Not ready to give up on Madison, “something” leads Zoe to a hidden room in her closet. Inside Zoe discovered old pictures from Miss Robichaux’s along with a spirit board.

Bringing her discovery to Queenie and Nan, Zoe begs the witches to band together because they can’t afford to lose a single witch. Breaking out the spirit board, Queenie warns that it has the power not only to contact the dead but to release them. Ignoring the warning, the girls get in contact with someone who was murdered in the house – but it's not Madison. Instead it’s the Axeman.

Queenie breaks off contact for fear of releasing the serial killer, but Zoe returns to the board solo. Promising to give the Axeman what he wants, he sends Zoe to the attic. In the attic she immediately smells Madison’s decaying body and discovers her rotting corpse tucked away in a box. But as soon as she discovers Madison … Spalding discovers her.

Using one of Spalding’s porcelain dolls to knock him out, Zoe summons Nan and Queenie up to the attic to question him about Madison. Since Spalding’s missing his tongue and can’t answer their questions, Nan uses her powers to read his mind. But Spalding doesn’t give the girls the answers they want.

Covering for Fiona, Spalding says he killed Madison because he’s a man of “uniquely developed appetite” and “had to have her.” And since the girls can’t get the police involved, Queenie decides to take matters into her voodoo doll hands. Letting Queenie burn Spalding to the point of him passing out in pain, Zoe then reveals to the girls that she doesn’t think Spalding’s the one that killed Madison.

Cordelia’s Power And Hank’s Secret

Cordelia returns home after the acid attack, and despite being blind she begins to see things more clearly. “Who is the red head?” she demands of Hank when the touch of his hand reveals his affair. “Enough bulls**t because I will see it sooner or later.”

Despite kicking Hank out, Cordelia still has more to see. Touching Fiona, she learns of Myrtle’s horrible fate at the stake. And while Fiona claims that Myrtle’s the one responsible for Cordelia’s disfigurement, Cordelia doesn’t believe that “Aunty Myrtle” was the one behind the attack.

As Cordelia starts her road to recovery, Hank shows up on Marie Laveau’s doorstep. But he’s not there looking for help for Cordelia.

“We have a problem,” he tells Marie.

Hank accuses her of making his job “more complicated” with the acid attack, but Marie denies involvement, claiming that she wouldn’t have to leave her house to inflict that type of pain.

“I thought I hired me a professional witch hunter,” she counters.

It turns out that she hired Hank to kill all the Salem descendants and that he managed to weasel his way into the coven six years ago. During his time with Cordelia he managed to kill five Salem descendants – including the redhead he shot in the head a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks to a flashback, “American Horror Story” viewers learned that the redhead, Kayley, was a witch with the power to start fire. She had visited Miss Robichaux’s but decided she wasn’t interested in learning how to control her power. She just wanted to be a normal girl.

Hank used the information that Cordelia had gathered to seduce Kayley and eventually shoot her in the head.

Accusing Hank of playing house instead of cleaning house, Marie tells the witch hunter to “go back there and bring me their heads … all of them … every witch b*tch in that house.”

More Work For Misty Day

Misty’s in her swamp land listening to Stevie Nicks when she gets a visit from a frightened Franken-Kyle. Trying to help the freshly resurrected frat boy, Misty ends up triggering panic in Franken-Kyle during a bath. Kyle freaks out, associating Misty’s bathing with his mother, who sexually abused him. The freakout leads him to trash Misty’s home … driving her to tears when he smashes her 8-track Stevie Nicks tape.’

Zoe finds the pair and after chaining up Kyle, takes Misty back to work on another project – Madison. “What can you do?” Zoe asks Misty. And Misty’s immediate answer is to dig a hole.

“She’s already rotting,” she explains. “And she’s missing an arm.”

But Zoe won’t take no for an answer. Misty tries to work her magic but finds that there is too much dead inside Madison. Enlisting the help of Zoe, they manage to revive Madison, who says her first words … “I need a cigarette.”

‘The Axeman Cometh’

Zoe promised the Axeman his release if he revealed Madison’s location. But unfortunately for the Axeman, Zoe didn’t follow through on her promise.

Angry that the witch lied, the Axeman appears before Cordelia, swinging his axe at her and demanding that she call the witches to release him. Hearing Cordelia’s cry for help, Zoe uses her power to find the right book that holds a spell to force the Axeman to move on. But the spell doesn’t allow the Axeman to move on spiritually … it allows him to move about in the world.

Leaving the Academy for the first time since his death in 1919, the Axeman walks into a jazz bar and hits on a female at the bar … Fiona.

What did you think of episode 6 of “American Horror Story: Coven”? Let us know your thoughts on the Axeman and Hanks’s dark secret.