‘American Horror Story’ Season 6 Has This Odd Thing In Common With The ‘Murder House,’ ‘Asylum’ And ‘Freak Show’

The premiere of “American Horror Story: My Roanoke Nightmare” featured a spiral staircase in the farmhouse. Other seasons of “American Horror Story” have shared similar shots of spiral staircases. FX/ Screenshot

“American Horror Story” may be an anthology series, but every season is supposed to connect to one another. Fans of the FX show have fun every year trying to connect the dots, and Season 6 is no different.

After watching the premiere of “My Roanoke Nightmare” on Wednesday night, we discovered that “American Horror Story” has a history of featuring spiral staircases that pan up towards a skylight. The shot in question came at the six-minute mark in episode 1 during the reenactment of Matt (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Shelby (Sarah Paulson) entering the farmhouse in Roanoke, North Carolina, for the first time.

While it seems innocent enough, similar shots were featured in the Season 1 “Murder House,” Season 2 “Asylum” and Season 4 “Freak Show.” Check out the images below:

This shot of the staircase is from Briarcliff Asylum, which was introduced in the Season premiere of “American Horror Story: Asylum.” It was called the “stairway to heaven.” FX/ Screenshot

American Horror Story Murder House — This staircase was featured in the murder house in season 1 of “American Horror Story.” FX/ Screenshot

Is it simply just an artistic angle? Or does it mean something more? According to DreamMoods.com, skylights can represent “enlightenment” in dreams. It can also symbolize “bright hopes, big possibilities, insight or intuition.” Meanwhile, spirals are known to be very spiritual. They are often associated with “unity and ascension.”

Could it be just a coincidence? Sure. However, there are also a couple of other important things to note.

In the premiere of “Asylum,” Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe) takes Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) on a brief tour of Briafcliff Asylum. She walks her up the spiral staircase to Sister Jude’s (Jessica Lange) office, telling her that Sister Jude “calls this her stairway to heaven.” Sister Mary Eunice ends up possessed later on, and Monsignor Timothy Howard (Joseph Fiennes) throws her off the top of the staircase to her death.

The staircase was also the scene of a major death in Season 1. In the finale of “Murder House,” the dead residents attack Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott) and loop a noose around his head. They push him off the top of the staircase, ensuring that his soul stays trapped in the house forever.

“American Horror Story: Freak Show” featured the shot of the staircase in episode 8 when Gloria Mott (Frances Conroy) returns home with gifts for her son Dandy (Finn Wittrock), who had killed the maid, Dora (Patti LaBelle),earlier. She walks up the stairs, hopeful that a surprise will lift Dandy’s spirits. However, she’s horrified to find Dora’s daughter, Regina (Gabourey Sidibe), upstairs. It dashes her hopes of getting away with burying Dora in the garden. Dandy takes care of that problem, though. He shoots his mother in the head later in the episode and bathes in her blood.

“Coven” doesn’t share a spiral staircase or skylight, but there are still some interesting things to pull away from the season. When Cordelia Foxx (Sarah Paulson) is giving Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) a tour of Miss Robichaux’s Academy she reveals that that the building was built in 1790. “American Horror Story” fans learned in the Season 6 premiere that the farmhouse Matt and Shelby bought was built in 1792.