Episode 1: Part I
1999
The camp sign appears in the dim light of the moon as a scream rings through the forest. A woman is seen running away, and she is screaming for help rapidly. She drops to the ground and turns around, showing a look of terror in her eyes. She gets up and runs while limping to the main office door. Her leg has a huge gash in it, from what looks to be a knife or another sharp object. She bangs on the door multiple times before busting it open. When inside, she screams bloody murder. She finds 8 of her friends strewn across the lobby floor, with their blood seeping from the walls and soaking into the floors. Their limbs were different ways than normal, their eyes filled with terror and worry. She turns around to run away and stops dead in her tracks. Renee Drake seeps the machete into her stomach as she is lifted from the ground and thrown across the gravel parking lot. She lays dead in her own pool of dust and blood. Renee stands over her body and utters "Ave Satanus" before plunging the machete into her skull.
Renee makes the trip to walk to the pool after leaving all the bodies behind at the main office. She leaves of trail of blood on the rocks as police sirens ring throughout the camp. Renee unlocks and opens the gate and steps into the chlorine-filled water with a splash. Blood dispenses through the water as a policeman slowly walks up to her.
"Ma'am? Ma'am please step out of the pool."
Renee stands in the pool as it begins to bubble with fury.
"Ma'am I am going to give you until the count of three"
Renee begins to sink into the pool, the water is becoming increasingly large and waves begin to form.
"1….2…"
Renee jumps out of the water and lunges towards the police officer. The officer shoots her in the shoulder and she falls back into the pool. The officer jumps in the pool and pulls her out of the water. Water trickles from her mouth as she repeats "Ave Satanus" over and over before passing out. From behind the officer after he pulls himself out of the water, two ghost children slit his Achilles heel in both feet, and he falls to the ground. He screams in pain as the ghosts stab him to death, blood seeping through the rifts of the cracked pavement. The children then roll his body into the pool, causing it to stop bubbling. The camp sign then appears again in the shot, with blood running down it. The shot then pans up and shows a final dead body hanging from the sign's pointed arch as more police cars rushing to the scene of the crime.
2009
The camp sign is seen again, with mold and decay rotting from the wooden spears. A maroon van pulls up to the main office and parks horizontally in front of the door. Helena Carlson-Prince and her daughter Kelsey exit the car and enter the front door with frowns. They had been arguing on the way to the camp about Kelsey leaving for college out-of-state and Helena wanting her to stay in-state. Kelsey would be leaving for college after the following weekend, so this would be Helena's last moment to spend time with her daughter before she would be gone for good.
The drive to the camp had been a long one, as the forest had felt encapsulating on the long winding road. Once entering the camp, the first thing both Helena and Kelsey had noticed was the large building to the left of the street. The wooden building looked like a log house from the 1800's and had beautiful steuben glass windows. The doors, unfortunately, did not match the outer exterior as they were made from real wood. The site was overwhelming for the two, as they had come from a poverty-stricken neighborhood where everyone helped everyone, although they had inherited the camp from the past owners. The camp also had a ferris wheel that had moss hanging from the poles, displaying aging from years of rust and decay it had suffered past the main office. Red and white eclipsed off the structure, as a piles of paint chips had grown into the ground. The lake shimmered in the sun, reflecting not only on the happiness the camp had cherished, but the suffering and death that had trapped the souls of the innocent…and guilty. Looking out at the camp were the 20-or-so cabins lined up neatly in little rows for the inhabitants.
Helena opened the front door and let Kelsey walk front of her. Kelsey's scent fragranced Helena's air, which brought back memories for her. It brought back memories of her daughter picking flowers in their garden, memories of her daughter swinging on a swing set at the near-by playground, memories of Helena making breakfast in bed and seeing her sick daughter smile when she saw her.
Kelsey peered through the door and then took in the full experience. The walls were a baby blue color with white boarders along the corners and along the floor. A wooden maple-colored desk sat at the front left side of the room and brochures of nearby events in the area on the other side of the room. In the back of the space stood two Victorian chairs with red velvet seats and a small dark coffee table in the middle. Above the chairs was a painting of Lake Murphy in the camp and the surrounding trees that covered the grounds. On both horizontal sides of the room were two doors, on the left was a small grocery store with empty shelves and flickering fluorescent lights, and on the right was a large family area with multiple couches, chairs and a large industrial-brick fireplace at the entrance of the room. The family area was were the opening ceremony dinner would commence. The flooring was newly furnished, a beautiful dark oak with lines showing the corrosion and aging of the ground. Helena and Kelsey took in the new sites and soon after, exited the office building.
"Don't you like it honey?" asked Helena, "It's kind of homey…something new and different."
Kelsey looked upset as she took in all the sites of the campground.
"What's wrong sugar? It-It's just for the weekend! And then we will be back at home!"
Kelsey still looked sad, but then looked at her Mom and gave her a fake smile.
"Everything is fine, Mom," she said through sadness, "lets go get our bags…I'm exhausted."
"Oh…okay, um… yeah let's get them."
Helena was shocked by her daughter's urge to go to bed, since she was always staying up past the crack of dawn. It wasn't long before Helena begun to question her daughter in the past of her over-sleeping. Months before the trip to Camp Middleton, Virginia, Kelsey was caught sneaking out of the house by Helena after waiting for the front door to close. Helena had known her daughter would go out late once-in-a-while, but every night seemed very extreme.
AHS
A FEW MONTHS AGO
Helena peered through her bedroom window and watched Kelsey sit in a white van with tinted windows and a large black scratch on the right side. A weird man sat in the driver's seat and leaned over, kissing her daughter. The van then drove away fast and Helena wanted to chase after her. Helena ran downstairs and hopped into her red van. She backed out of her driveway as fast as she could and began to trail her daughter and the unusual man.
Helena finally caught up to her daughter at a backroads park. The park was filled with gothic-looking trees and sounds of crickets and creatures scurrying filled the night. The white van was the only vehicle parked in the small parking area, and Helena began to fear the worst. She stops slowly from behind the car and turns off the headlights. Helena sneaked up to behind the white van and then banged on the door three times. Nothing then happened, so she grabbed ahold of the handle and pushed the door open. Smoke ran out of the space and floated throughout the night sky. Kelsey sat with her boyfriend Connor and smoked a bong. Helena then screamed and grabbed Kelsey by her hair. Kelsey was grounded, as she was also put into a Drug-and-Alcohol group session for a month. Kelsey would never forgive her mother.
AHS
Helena set her bag down on the left twin bed in Cabin 10 and began to unpack. She set her freshly-folded clothes into the nearby dresser drawers, set her Bible and newly-autographed copy of "The Secret to a Healthy Lifestyle! 500 FABULOUS Tips on How to Get Fit, FAST!" in the nightstand next to her bed, and her loaded gun underneath the bed, covered in duct tape. Kelsey was in the right twin bed, already fast asleep. She had unpacked her whole suitcase and even made up her bed a little before her nap. It was 4:30pm, and the camp would be opening soon at 7:00pm for all the special guests.
The guests had been coming to the campground for generations. Some had met at the camp and eventually started families, some had ended at the camp and had begun new lives. Helena knew none of the camp's history, since it was dated back to 1850's. Helena made sure all her drawers were in neat arrangement, then she saw something. On the right side of the top middle drawer was 666, carved into the wood. Helena grabbed her sewing needle from atop the desk and scratched out the unholy number.
As Helena left to get started for the evening, Kelsey slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Something had awoken her, the sound of a child laughing. She slowly rose up from her bed as the radio glitched on. A male reporter was frantically speaking into his microphone. Kelsey turned the radio up a little and listened to what the reporter was saying.
"…breaking news for the residents of Virginia…murderess Renee Drake has escaped from Roseground Penitentiary. Ms. Drake was charged for life in prison after murdering 11 at Camp Middleton near Lake Murphy 10 years ago. The murders were what looked to be a satanic sacrifice. Officials say they have no idea how Ms. Drake escaped, but they are doing everything in their power to capture her. We will be following this story later on, on our 6:30pm podcast. In other news, Donal…"
Kelsey sat back onto the headboard of the bed and looked around at her cabin. Renee Drake. She had remembered that case, since she was 8 years old when it had occurred. Kelsey hadn't realized that she was going to be at a murder site for the weekend, as it was even the 10th anniversary.
As she got up out of bed, she screamed and fell to the floor. A child was sitting on the ground, covered in blood playing with organs and intestines. He laughs as he throws them over his head and spins in them. The little boy then stands up and points at Kelsey, he then begins to laugh at her. He disappears with a wisp of dust. Kelsey stayed on the floor by her closet, scared,
Suddenly, a figure jumped out of the closet and grabbed her foot. Kelsey screamed and is dragged into the closet, clawing at the white carpeting. The figure slams its foot down on Kelsey's head, and she becomes unconscious. As the figure claws Kelsey into the closet, a strip of blood follows her. The closet then closes, and Kelsey is gone from her room.
AHS
The campsite was a large square that covered acres of land across the Blue Ridge Mountain Range within the Appalachian Mountains. Roads and sidewalks interconnected with each other, and all lead to the Main Office. The ferris wheel lights flickered on and the campground was renewed for the big finale. The camp had bought the forgotten-about ferris wheel for cheap in the later 1950's from a freak show in Jupiter, Florida. Lake Murphy glistened in the dawning of the moonlight as the time for guests was about to arrive. The first guest to arrive and travel through the campsite one final time was Lizzie Darling.
Lizzie was a young woman in her early twenties who spent many summers at the camp. She had had her first love underneath the ferris wheel, she had skinny dipped in the freezing lake in her high school summer days, and she had been keeping a secret hidden in the camp that she needed to demolish…fast. Her short strawberry blonde bob with highlights bounced as she rolled her suitcase out of her navy Chevrolet Cobalt and opened the door to Cabin 32.
The lights flickered on with the crack of a bulb and rejuvenated the light into the space. Lizzie left her suitcase on her bed and snuck back out to her backyard. Cabin 30 was where she needed to be one final time. Cabin 30 was the unoccupied room that carried her most harbored secret. She closed the backyard door behind her and walked outside, having the feeling of somebody watching her every move.
AHS
The white Toyota Prius slowly came to a stop as Kaitlyn and Calvin Rosenfeld talked in front of the main office.
"Honey…I-I think this will be good for us. I never get to see you anymore an-and this could be out ticket to regaining our happiness back." Kaitlyn said with hope in her eyes.
"I don't know, Kait. Something 'bout this place gives me a weird feeling my stomach." Calvin said, hiding his phone under his leg.
"Don't be such a worry wart! This is just what we need to gain that trust back. And besides…you owe this to me." Kaitlyn then got out of the car and walked slowly up to the campsite headquarters. She hadn't been to Camp Middleton in years, but it felt like days had gone by. She had met Calvin by the lake when she was 9 years old and he was 10. Now they were 25-26 and their childhood love was dwindling ever since the affair.
Calvin pulled his phone out from under his leg and texted back an anonymous that Kaitlyn didn't know about. He was about to send "i 3 u" when his phone suddenly glitched out. He became confused because his phone had been on half-battery the whole 4-hour car ride.
'God dammit. Come on." Calvin said to his phone. Kaitlyn walked back from out of the main office and sat in the car with him again. She had references to what events were happening over the weekend and around the area. There was a pamphlet for the 'Blue Ridge Mountain Trail' and 'Ms. Lovett's Pizza Shop'.
"That old woman gave me these pamphlets for some restaurants and sight-seeing shit. Here, hold them." Kaitlyn hands the papers to Calvin, and he drops his phone. His phone then turns on and suddenly reads "SENT TO L ~ 3". Kaitlyn sees this and looks at him with fury in her eyes.
"Are you fucking kidding me, Calvin?! Again?! You know what, I came here to try and fix our relationship because I love you. And you just don't seem to want me anymore!" Calvin looked at her in shock, but also in anguish. He loved Kaitlyn so much, but she had been the one who called for a divorce. He was just tired of fighting…tired of the bickering and bitching and crying they put up with. He just wanted out as soon as possible.
"Honey…listen. If this doesn't work out between us, I need you to know that we are through. If somehow this weekend ends up being God's fucking saving grace, we are done. I'm tired of listening to you cry into your pillow, and then when I try to comfort you all you want to do is tell me how much of an asshole I am. So, can we please just finish this weekend before one of us blows our brains out."
Kaitlyn wiped away a tear and muttered something underneath her breath. She started the car up again and drove the 10-mph speed limit towards Cabin 12. They both arrived, grabbed their suitcases from the trunk and headed inside their destination haven.
The inside of the cabins had a dark oak feeling to them, like something was hiding the light within. The carpet was a white beige with lines stripped into diamonds. The walls were made of flooring fixtures, with slabs of dark wood lined up neatly in a line. To the right of walking through the door was the all-white bathroom, with a clawfoot bathtub at the far middle of the room. On the opposite end of the bathroom was a cutout for a kitchen area, with a countertop, Mr. Coffee beverage maker, packets of sugar and cream, a microwave and a small refrigerator underneath the counter. Within the largest part of the room were two twin beds, both equidistant from each other. A closet laid to the left of both beds and a television stood towering over the foot of the bedstead. Underneath the television was a 9 drawer-dresser and a card welcoming the new guests into the final week of the rooms. Each bed had a nightstand next to its left and an air conditioning unit on the far right of the beds, underneath the two windows. The windows looked like eyes peering in to check on the inhabitants. Every cabin looked like this, and Calvin and Kaitlyn were ready to begin their final destination together.
AHS
The Howards pulled around the corner to see the entrance sign hanging high above the car, halfway as tall as the trees. Charlie Howards stepped slightly on his brake in his jet-black Toyota Tacoma, as 'Gold Dust Woman' plays throughout the radio. Rita Howards, his wife of 53 years, sat in the passenger seat curled up in a blanket while reading 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' by Stephen King. She was pages away from the end and she became very anxious to find out the ending. Mya and Michelle, the twin sisters, sat in the backseats both asleep. They had always been inseparable since childbirth, and never wanted to be apart in the future.
Charlie parked to the right side of the main office and got out to check in to their cabin. A strawberry blonde-haired woman was walking in as well; so being the gentleman he was, he held the large wooden door open for her.
"Oh, well thank you!" the thin woman said. She smiled politely at Charlie and walked swiftly into the office. Helena sat behind the desk just setting everything up such as picture frames and papers when the woman rang the desk bell.
"Hi, Ma'am. I'm Lizzie Darling and seem to be having some trouble."
Helena looked at her curiously, "Trouble?! Oh, well what seems to be the problem?"
"Cabin 30…is there someone occupied in there?"
"Well…no. When I received this campground, the owners said not to rent out Cabin 30 and…. oh, and Cabin 24."
"Are you sure, miss? I'm hearing these noises of some animal or something in there. It's very ravenous. Do you maybe have a shovel or something?"
"There's a shovel in back…let me grab it for you."
Charlie looks at Lizzie as she turns around from the desk. Lizzie looks him up and down and starts what she calls her 'fuck eyes'.
"So…what's a tall glass of water like you doing here?"
Charlie looks at her, offended.
"Well, the glass of water is here with his beautiful wife of 50 years and his two daughters. That's what he's doing here."
"Oh, well that bitch must be old as hell!"
Charlie looks at her and then begins to rant to her.
"If you've got something to say, look in the mirror and talk to that trash reflecting back at you. You are nothing you little whore. Fuck you and high horse you rode in on."
"CHARLIE?!"
Rita Howards stands in the middle of the office, shocked by what her loving husband had just said to the sweet girl ahead of him in line. Helena walks back out from the door behind the desk and hands Lizzie the shovel.
"That should do it. I would go check for you but so many guests are late and this is the last week anyone legally could be here. Are you sure you can handle it?"
Lizzie grabs the shovel from Helena and turns to leave. She looks at Charlie when turning and says, "I think I can handle a little rabbit. I've handled much worse." When exiting, she bumps into Rita and mutters a derogatory name towards her. Rita walks back out to the car and sits down, still shocked. Charlie grabs the information from Helena and glides back to the truck.
"What the fuck was that all about, Charlie?! What the hell?"
Charlie looks at her and then tells her what the strawberry-blonde woman said. Rita becomes aggravated and lashes out at her husband.
"YOU ARE SUPPOST TO DEFEND ME! Why the fuck did she say that to you?! I want to know!" Charlie looks down at the steering wheel and stays silent before arriving at Cabin 14. Mya and Michelle awoke with the stop of the vehicle and their angry mother slamming the door. The cabin was a very small, almost homey kind of housing. The sleek shine of the light oak boarder encapsulated the cabin.
"Grab the bags, Charlie. I'm going to get something to drink at the office." Rita says to her husband after shutting the car door loudly and walking away. Charlie sighs, and grabs the 7 suitcases in the trunk.
"Dad? Ar-Are you and mom okay?" Mya asked, nervously.
"Of course, darling…your mother is just feeling under the weather."
"Dinner is going to start soon, Dad! I'm going to go get Mom." Michelle exclaims as she starts running in the direction her Mom walked. Charlie looks back at her, and sighs once again.
"It's alright, Dad. Just let them go for now." Mya says, and then hugs her father in the driveway of Cabin 14.
AHS
Guests from past and present begin to arrive left and right to the camp. Dr. Agatha McCroth is the next to arrive, pulling up to the main office in a lengthy limousine. The vehicle comes to a halt outside the large office doors and she steps slowly out of the car. Her dark black hair is slicked back in a tight ponytail, and her cherry red lipstick stained her Lucky Strike cigarette.
"Well…what a shithole." She mutters before heading into the office to gain access to Cabin 38.
The next to arrive was Lily and Andrew O'Hara, the campground sweethearts. Lily's hair was a dark burgundy red, and her husbands was a dark smoky brown. They pulled up in their bright yellow slug-bug and parked horizontally across the parking spaces.
"Honey! Come on let's just go home. I fucking hate this place."
"Babe, we can't go. I promise Auntie Moira in her will that I would take you back to the place we met. We'll leave tonight okay?"
Lily sighs and rolls her eyes. She then smiles and looks at Andrew.
"Okay…one night that's it."
As Lily and Andrew walk up to the main office together, Dr. Agatha McCroth waltz out of the main building. She looks Lily up-and-down and puffs her cigarette again.
"Well," she says after blowing the smoke through her nose, "darling…I didn't know they invited the typical city trash here."
"Excuse me, bitch?! The fuck you think your calling white trash." Lily yells to her, but McCroth just walks away. Lily then turns to Andrew and scoffs.
"What a cunt." They then receive the keys to Cabin 18.
AHS
More guests arrive to the camp. Jazmine and Vanessa Edwards argue with each other while Helena hands them the key to Cabin 16. They had driven 8 hours straight to say goodbye to the love they had for the camp, although it didn't reflect any love they had had for each other. Nick Lavaeu-Lipton and his wife Monique Tumusiime-Lipton hide their marital troubles when they arrive at Cabin 22 almost towards the end of the lot. They flew in from Redding, California and were hoping to fix their marriage somewhat on a nice trip. Audrey Valencia-Collin and her daughter Angie arrive and displayed a loving family household before entering Cabin 36. Audrey was once a counselor in her teens at Camp Middleton in the early 1950's, and Angie was her daughter that had a sickness where she looked younger than she was. Whitney Wilton and her son, Sean create tension within the main office before going to Cabin 20. The Wilton's were a peculiar family that held many secrets, including the death of the monarch, Alexander Wilton.
AHS
Before long, most of the guests arrive, and dinner is ready to be served. The counselors all finally arrive to help out for the one weekend. Diana Winstead was the head leader of the bunch, including Eliza McKee, a short and nervous young woman who just wanted to find love; Tony Cunningham, a cocky son-of-a-bitch liberal who hated women with all of his heart; Ricky Anderson, an unfortunate soul who never knew who he was until it was too late; Ansel Devinsky, an early-20's gentleman who just wanted the best for the world; Justin Montgomery, a scary individual who would do anything to make money and Dr. Richard de la Kingston, an unlicensed doctor after killing three patients drunk on the job and getting away with it. Most people didn't know about the accident Dr. Kingston caused, except Diana. Diana led the group with an iron fist, along with Dr. Kingston. They both had a love/hate relationship with each other. Diana led the group to their cabins, which resulted in Cabin 40 to Diana, Cabin 42 to Tony and Ansel, Cabin 44 to Eliza and Justin, and Cabin 46 to Dr. Kingston and Ricky.
The final guests to arrive were Daisy Billigen and Catherine Esmeralda. They were best friends and had met at the camp 15 years prior when they were 5. Even though the lived hours away from each other, they became inseparable. Helena was about to lock up the main office to begin dinner when they walked up, ready to enter their cabin.
"Miss? Hi, I'm so sorry we're late. The bridge entering into this camp collapsed. We-We had to cross the river on rocks to get here." Catherine said to Helena's backside. Helena turned to them and look horrified.
"Oh, goodness! Of course. You two are the last to arrive. Cabin 34 keys. There you are."
Daisy looks down and thanks her. "Thank you so much, ma'am. This really means a lot."
Daisy and Catherine entered their cabin shivering. They set their small suitcases down and laid down on each of the twin beds. They each took a Marlboro cigarette and lit them up.
"Are you ready for today, Daisy?" Catherine asked as she stood up from the bed and haunted over her friend. Daisy looks up at her and smiles.
"Of course, Catherine…of course."
AHS
Helena hit her fork against a wineglass at the large dinner table where she took the head. The main office became a dinner gala in no time within the social area. The turkey and potatoes smelled divine as she looked out and witnessed all the guests that had arrived for the special weekend getaway.
"Friends, I thank you so much for joining us for this special day. We each carry a baggage from this sacred place. Some of us have been heartbroken here, some of us have found happiness and love here. Some of us buried secrets here. So, for this one final weekend, let's make the most of this place. Wai-Wait…where's Kelsey?"
Charlie and Rita look around. They notice that Michelle is missing as well. Helena started her speech up again, "Camp Middleton is history that is coming to a close…let's go out with a bang."
Suddenly, a gunshot goes off and swings through the large window. Screams fill throughout the room as Eliza McKee falls back in her chair. Blood rushes from her throat as the bullet clogs her airway. Blood pools on the flooring, and she dies. Everyone runs out of the main office and towards their cars and cabins. Lily and Andrew O'Hara find that their slug-bug tires had been slashed and the battery was missing. Helena's van's brakes were cut, and the headlights were busted in. Phone lines were cut, transportation was gone. Everyone was trapped within the camp, and there was no escape.
AHS
Renee Drake was at Camp Middleton when the gunshot rang throughout the area. A cave just south, mere blocks from the camp, was her inhabitance and hide-away from the police. Also, within the cave was Kelsey Carlson-Prince and Michelle Howards. They were bound to the cave's pointy rocks by ropes and tape.
"STOP! PLEASE MISS!" yelled Michelle as Renee looked at her with a twisted smile.
"What do you want with us?! WHO ARE YOU?!" Kelsey screamed with tears in her eyes.
Renee walks up to the two girls and with a wicked smile, says…
"I'm Renee Drake, and I'm the goddam Devil."
Behind Renee, the shadow of a demon rises from the ground, and lunges at the two girls.
END OF EPISODE ONE