American Horror Story: Murder House truly set the bar for bringing horror to our television screens. It has a haunted house ruled by evil forces, trapped ghosts hell-bent on revenge, and murder galore. What’s even more deliciously macabre is that Murder House drew inspiration from real events and figures from American history. Some of these inspirations are undeniable because the creators confirmed them or directly reference them in the show. Others, however, are more subtle. Let’s get grisly and gory as we dive into the disturbing history that inspired Murder House. This is going to be a multi-parter, so buckle up!
But first, a note on American Horror Story (AHS) and why I’m writing this post now, over a decade after Murder House (Season 1) premiered. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk created AHS as an anthology series for FX. Each season has a different storyline and tone, with the same core cast members taking on new characters.
Filming for Season 13 is currently underway and will premiere in September 2026. So, what better way to prepare for the next installment than to revisit seasons past? Or watch them for the first time if you’re a newbie? I’ll be your history guide for each season, letting you know which aspects are based on true, chilling events.
The Murder House
Let’s start with the murder house itself. The house serves as a central character in the show. It’s a living entity with its own personality and behaviors. As medium Billie Dean Howard explains in Episode 11 (Birth), the house has a paramagnetic grip on the spirits of those who died on the premises. The traumatic events in the house released negative psychic energy, creating an evil force that resides there. That negative energy continues to feed on trauma and pain, desiring to break free into our world. As a result, the house uses the spirits trapped inside as conduits.
Gothic Horror Inspirations
The idea that a house is an entity that manipulates and haunts the living is a staple of Gothic horror. In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839), the decrepit and oppressive ancestral mansion mirrors the physical and mental decay of the Usher family line. Another example is the gothic horror classic, The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James. The story follows a young governess determined to beat the forces of evil running amok in Bly, an English country estate.
A more modern literary take on this theme is Shirely Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (1959). Once again, the story revolves around the ominous Hill House, an entity gathering power to claim the living.
Real-Life American Murder Houses
Although the aforementioned houses strictly belong to the realm of fiction, there are tried-and-true murder houses dotted throughout the American landscape. Let’s take a look at two in particular.
Los Feliz Murder House
AHS: Murder House takes place in the City of Angels, which has its very own house of horrors. The house in question is 2475 Glendower Place in the Los Feliz neighborhood. On December 6, 1959, cardiologist Dr. Harold Perelson brutally killed his wife with a hammer. He then attacked his teenage daughter and committed suicide. Thankfully, his daughter survived, and his two youngest children were not harmed. Despite having several owners, the house has remained vacant over the years.
Amityville Horror House
Perhaps the most well-known murder house in the American psyche is 112 Ocean Avenue, known as the Amityville Horror House. Located in Amityville, New York, the house was the scene of a horrific family annihilation by Ronald DeFeo Jr. On November 13, 1974, this 23-year-old piece of shit went room by room, methodically killing his parents and four younger siblings.
About a year later, George and Kathy Lutz bought the house at a reduced price—much like the Harmons in Murder House—because of its sordid history. They claimed to experience paranormal activity due to the murders. We’re talking oozing walls, weird odors, and levitating wives.
Additionally, George Lutz said he experienced a change in his personality thanks to the house. He even claimed to wake up every morning at 3:15 am, which was around the time of the DeFeo murders. In fact, at a certain point, murderer Ronald DeFeo had even stated that voices from the house made him kill his entire family. It’s bullshit, of course, and perhaps the “voices” were a result of him being high as fuck on drugs.
Haunting or Hoax
The haunting of Amityville became so well-known that infamous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren inserted themselves into the story. As it turns out, the haunting is complete horseshit, at least in my opinion. The Lutz family, however, maintained that it was real despite evidence that it was all a hoax.
Nevertheless, you bet your ass that in Murder House, the spirits of those killed in the house (spoiler alert: there are a lot) haunt the Harmons.
We even see the house manipulating and possessing the living. Ben Harmon and other men who live there frequently go into trances and sleepwalk. They also have a knack for turning on the stove burners while in this state. We can even argue that the house manipulated Tate Langdon, especially when he raped Vivian Harmon to conceive the Antichrist.
The murder house, therefore, draws on Gothic horror literature, real-life disturbing events committed in homes across America, and well-known “hauntings.”
Rosenheim Mansion
AHS: Murder House was filmed at the Rosenheim Mansion, a real home in the Country Club Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the show, Marcy, our favorite real estate agent, describes the house as a classic LA Victorian. She says Dr. Charles Montgomery—surgeon to the stars—built it in 1922 for his wife, Nora. In reality, architect Alfred Rosenheim built the house in 1908. Additionally, it’s more of a Romanesque-Tudor Revival style with elements of Craftsman architecture.
As Marcy notes, the house has real Tiffany glass. She’s referring to the iridescent glass created by Louis Comfort Tiffany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The ghost of Nora Montgomery correctly comments to Vivian Harmon that natural forms—especially butterfly wings—inspired the glass designs. If you want to learn more, the New York Historical has an entire gallery devoted to Tiffany glass.
As far as we know, the Rosenheim Mansion is not a house of horror but rather a gorgeous piece of real estate. It has been a filming location for many popular television shows, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dexter, and The X-Files.
More Murder House Inspirations
The history doesn’t stop here! Check out the next two articles on Murder House for more historical inspirations.
- The True Crime Cases That Inspired American Horror Story: Murder House examines how the Columbine High School Shootings, the Richard Speck nurse murders, and the Black Dahlia influenced the storyline and characters.
- The Disturbing History That Inspired American Horror Story: Murder House explores the influences of illegal abortions in the early 20th century, the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, and the lost colony of Roanoke.
Bibliography & Further Reading
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