American Horror Story season 6: What the new theme My Roanoke Nightmare means
And how it may link into the historical mystery of the Lost Colony - in which 117 people mysteriously vanished in 1590
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The great mystery of American Horror Story season 6 has been solved. It's also just begun.
The first episode revealed a very different direction for the anthology show; titled American Horror Story: My Roanoke Nightmare, the premiere episode opted for a faux-documentary style inspired by paranormal reality shows such Paranormal Witness, staging talking heads, dramatic reenactments, and a claim that it's all been "inspired by true events".
The show opens on couple Shelby (Lily Rabe) and Matt (André Holland) recounting to camera their horrifying paranormal experience in a desolate North Carolina farmhouse; in which they come face-to-face with a group of sinister colonialists, after attempting to make an escape from the city in the wake of a sudden tragedy. Their confessions are intermixed with dramatic reenactments of the pair's toils, where they're played onscreen by The People vs. O.J. Simpson's Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr.
The Roanoke of the title references the great historical mystery of the Lost Colony, in which 117 people mysteriously vanished in 1590 off the Roanoke Island - part of what is today's Dare Country, North Carolina. Historians have long theorised as to what occurred on the site; whether the colonists were massacred by the local Native American population, or integrated into their tribes.
Of course, such a strange disappearance has also bred its fair share of supernatural conspiracies, which is inevitably what American Horror Story will be hoping to play off. The first episode hinted little as to what this could be, though the preview trailer which dropped online after its airing has mentions of "human sacrifice" and "devil worship".
Presumably, the farmhouse purchased by Shelby and Matt lies on the same ground the Roanoke Colony once inhabited, attracting the attention of some vengeful supernatural entities. Are these the ghosts of the colonialists? Or have they survived the passing centuries by some mysterious manner?
One of the most intriguing facets of Roanoke mystery is that, when the abandoned settlement was eventually found, the only evidence of the colonists' whereabouts were dismantled buildings and a carving of the word 'CROATOAN'. A word which could either suggest the colonists had moved to Croatoan Island, or that they had somehow become involved with the local Croatoan tribe.
TMZ previously released photos purportedly taken from the set, showing the settlement of the Lost Colony and the 'CROATOAN' carving; which presumes there will either be a flashback, or that Shelby may have travelled back in time at the episode's close. However, what's particularly telling is the fact My Roanoke Nightmare isn't the first time the Lost Colony has cropped up in American Horror Story.
Back in season 1, Billie Dean Howard (Paulson) speaks of how the spirits of the dead colonists were banished by the magic word of ‘Croatoan’. Was this a punishment for their acts of human sacrifice? And where were they banished to - a state in which they must walk the earth for the rest of eternity? Since the word of magic doesn’t appear to work on former Murder House owner Chad (Zachary Quinto), when used by Violet (Taissa Farmiga), it very much suggests the spirits of the colonists may still be around.
American Horror Story airs Wednesdays at 10PM in the US on FX, and airs on FOX UK the following Friday at 10PM.
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