Source
r/AmericanHorrorStory•
cloudybean

Ghosts are so inconsistent

Spoiler

Rewatching the whole series right now, and it baffles me how inconsistent ghosts are both within the seasons and the franchise as a whole.

In the Murder House, Nora at first was confused; then she was normal and aware of everything like when she protected young Tate from the Infantata; then she got no idea where she was, asking where is her baby; then she was half-confused while she went to the open house...

But Hayden and others were fine right away, and Violet didn't even know she was dead.

In the 1984, the hitchhiker got no idea what was going on for 14 (?) years. Ray also walked around confused. But Montana and others were aware of being ghosts ("you are doing this purgatory shit all wrong") AND THEN walked around confused and then, for some reason, went back to normal. But Benjamin and Kajagoogoo were fine straight away and stayed this way.

Like what is going on? Is it so hard for the writers to just decide? I understand the inconsistencies in the first season but the 9th?

Posted Dec 14, 2021, 10:09 PM UTC

11341
zombiedude245•

In the case for Nora she shot herself in the brain which makes her constantly confused as a ghost

118
GloInTheDarkUnicornMa Petite•

I always just figured she was delusional, with moments of lucidity.

70
goldfish165•

Yeah, she didn't seem exactly stable in life, then went through the trauma of losing her family, then her brain exploded, so...

8
Nurokatt•

That is a fantastically simple explanation, and I like it. Having played old TTRPGs like the old White Wolf "World of Darkness" system, ghosts were always treated as traumatized by what they've been through, but you've summed her up nicely.

24
lunagirl1177•

literal epiphany moment reading this thank you for that information

11
cloudybeanOP•

I don't think RM meant it that way but I like this explanation so thank you

4
BlancoDelRio•

I’m sure that’s the reason lol

3
Books92•

Also in Murder House, Moira kept trying to get her bones removed from the grounds so she could leave, otherwise the ghosts stay trapped there forever. HOWEVER, although they never showed it happening, im pretty sure several ghosts that are trapped there had their remains removed after dying; Vivien, are we to believe Ben didnt have her body removed after she died? Travis, his remains were found in a totally different neighborhood. Tate, was shot by the police im pretty sure they didnt just leave his corpse there.

i could go on, there’s too many to name but yeah it’s something that ive noticed too after rewatching.

67
lyndluvMisty Day •

I think with Moira's bones it was more about revealing she was buried there since Constance spun the story to the cops that Moira ran away with Hugo. By getting her body found by someone, she'd get a subtle revenge against Constance. Why she couldn't be more direct idk - but they changed this later in Apocalypse for a ... retconned happy ending ig. Bones thing never made sense to me since I would assume like you said Tate's body is buried somewhere else, Travis' was ditched, etc but they're still there too. Doubt Ben's body went without a funeral either.

43
cloudybeanOP•

Yeah I also think she means it more as in "uncover the crime". But it still shouldn't mean she is free to go because like everyone else she died on the property... But Apocalypse take it back either way so she is still trapped :(

13
lyndluvMisty Day •

Yeah, idk what happened in later seasons to the established rules - I think they wanted us to want her to have a happy ending and so maaaybe witchcraft can do stuff? But honestly, I liked it the old way. :(

And then it retcons anyway so it felt like, extra pointless?

1
MrRealHuman•

It was her unfinished business. Nothing was retconned.

3
lyndluvMisty Day •

The whole ending of Apocalypse was retconned when a Subaru hit the Antichrist, is what I meant.

2
MrRealHuman•

Oh I misunderstood. Yeah that was a piece of shit of an ending. Like, why not have The Harmon's not move to Murder House at all? Save some lives.

3
hypnos_surfZoe Benson•

Moira was freed through witchcraft. The thing is that Cordelia's magic had no affect in Hotel Cortez in attempts to free Queenie.

Considering the Hotel has way more of a body count, traumatic history and draws the spirits of notorious serial killers annually, it would be safe to say the energy is way different.

13
MultiFandom•

They also made a big deal about the ghosts making sure Margaret died off the property line in 1984 so she doesn't haunt the grounds, but regardless of when she died she was off the property anyway, so it shouldn't really matter when she died. That really bothered me especially because they had Moira leave when she found her bones in Apocalypse and then contradicted it the very next season.

8
cloudybeanOP•

I just interpreted it as the "you" is your brain. So even if 99% of her body was off the property, her head was still on it and since she died like a second before being threw into the wood chopper, it counts as dying on the property

6
Sun_on_my_shouldersSo we’re the Addams family now.•

Tate is definitely not buried on property. I remember a line where someone says “where is Tate?” And someone else responds “in his grave.”

8
MrRealHuman•

I know the line you're talking about. No one asks "Where's Tate" but Constance says he's in his grave.

2
Sun_on_my_shouldersSo we’re the Addams family now.•

Ah, thank you! I thought I might have been having a mandala effect thing. Haha.

1
MrRealHuman•

Yeah they made a good point that bodies wouldn't just be left there. Sure, maybe the ghosts buried some bodies but not all. I'm sure the people stuck behind have unfinished business, and in many cases, it's too late to do anything about it.

2
Telfaatime•

It's more about them dying in the house. Addy didnt want to die on the property when hit by a car even though Constance wanted it. Dying in the house meant one could never leave. Except Moira and Hayden.

7
MrRealHuman•

Different rules for different ghosts maybe. Moira's bones being discovered was her unfinished business.

1
Alex_Spier1•

Well...as for the inconsistency between seasons,it is an anthology series so there's that excuse...

But for the 1st season... Violet not knowing she was dead could mean that all the others found out later as well,but it could also be cuz she was also the only one that didn't get brutaly killed by bullet or drowning and Tate tried to save her so since she became a ghost right away she remembered it as surviving myb?...,Nora could've been playing dumb considering how smart she got "all of a sudden" abt all the murder house occurences...

Of course there's always the most likely explanation being that the writers didn't pay much attention to those specific details and messed up a little 😂

24
kteerin•

We also saw things from different character’s points of view constantly, so that could be part of it. With Violet, I agree, she may have just remembered herself as a survivor. Great point!

10
cloudybeanOP•

Yeah it kind of makes sense with Violet, especially since Tate has hidden her body. Every other ghost has seen their body right away I think.

But it makes no sense with Nora, she was acting confused and crying alone in the basement so it wasn't pretending. Someone else commented that it is because of her brain injury so I will accept that.

6
BlancoDelRio•

Well the show stopped being an anthology and such things as “in-universe” rules exist now

1
SlayerNutZodiac Killer•

and when you re-kill them, they show up where they first died.

19
MadisonAvenue21•

Lmao are we really surprised at this point that AHS has inconsistencies like this? 😂Honestly though, depending on the scenario, I guess it could change depending on how they died and what time period they're in but I think it really just comes down to a likely a case of "RM does what he wants in order for it to fit the narrative" 🤷🏻‍♀️

14
Pantera42•

I really got tired of the “ghosts stay trapped where they were killed” trope.

11
MrRealHuman•

That's how ghosts have always worked in stories.

4
Pantera42•

Not always. It just felt too recycled in this show.

1
MrRealHuman•

The majority of the time that's how ghosts work in fiction/well nothing because ghosts are only fiction.

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

8
cloudybeanOP•

They are people

Well, not really. If Montana kills someone and says "We are ghosts now, we can do whatever we want" then her walking around confused later is not following her own rules, it is just bad writing.

6
[deleted]•

[removed]

1
Inevitable_Wolf5866Jeffrey Dahmer•

Nora shot herself in the head, so her ghost had some level of brain damage affecting her memory.

The hitchhiker’s death was traumatic so he probably forgot; repressing memories are a thing. I think the same might go for Ray.

5
satanatass•

I agree that some stuff doesn’t make sense for sure, however I’d just like to point out that since AHS is an anthology series, inconsistencies between seasons shouldn’t be much of an issue. (Obviously since they made connections and came back to like Murder House etc I understand your point, I’m just thinking that might be their train of thought as well?)

3
BlancoDelRio•

I love the people in the comments bending over backwards to explain some of these lol Ryan is inconsistent, we don’t have to make up some convoluted story to justify all plot points

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
MrRealHuman•

I tell myself the confused thing was an act to scare people.

1