The Six-ening Theory Of 'American Horror Story: Roanoke'

If the past five seasons of Ryan Murphy's horror anthology have taught us anything, it is that nothing happens by coincidence. American Horror Story: Roanoke will reportedly tie into all that has come before it more than ever. It is easy to spot the similarities of pig men and witches; but, does the number six have a lot more to do with the sixth season of the show than we first thought? Get ready, things are about to get "six-ening."

Thanks to Redditor apple_martini, who fleshes out the fact that each episode of Roanoke doesn't correspond to a specific season, but the sixth episode of each season in particular, we now see the pattern. "Nonesense!" you cry — or is it? Let's take a look.

Murder House - "Chapter 1"

Remember when Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet was hacked to bits by the Pig Man in the mirror? Way back in 2011, the sixth ever episode of AHS went full Candyman on us. Well the comparison is pretty easy here: Roanoke "Chapter 1" introduced us to the Pig Man dwelling in the woods. Now that we are up to "Chapter 4," we still don't know any more about Mr. Pig, but he appears to be set up as this season's Big Bad.

Asylum - "Chapter 2"

Murderous nurses call parallels with the hospital halls of Briarcliff, but spooky children really link Asylum and Roanoke. The forgettable, but sadistic Jenny appeared in Asylum's sixth episode "The Origins of Monstrosity," while Roanoke's second episode introduced ghost-girl Priscilla. Both were obsessed with luring their playmates into the woods with disastrous consequences. The show may have little Flora back with Matt and Shelby now, but for how long?

Coven - "Chapter 3"

Son of a witch! Roanoke's third outing brought back Leslie Jordan, this time as enigmatic psychic Cricket Marlowe. "Chapter 3" saw Cricket demanding payment for his services, while trying to communicate with the evil that dwelled inside the house. Cut back to Season 3 and Coven, Episode 6 "The Axeman Cometh" was the one where Zoe and the rest of the junior witches accidentally summon Danny Huston’s villainous Axeman. When will this show learn? If it isn't a New Orleans serial killer, it is an angry Kathy Bates - a seance never ends how you want it to!

Freak Show - "Chapter 4"

The latest installment of Roanoke pretty much cements the theory (well, nearly). "Chapter 4" had the return of another AHS alumni, and Denis O'Hare got some well-deserved screen time. Did anyone else shudder when he mentioned that Edward Phillipe Mott used to own the Roanoke house? The Mott family is comprised of those inbred socialites who spawned Finn Wittrock's psycho Dandy in Freak Show. We already know that this season will explore the Mott lineage (with a possible reappearance of Frances Conroy as Gloria Mott), but this was the first real indication.

However, "Chapter 4" offered probably the biggest connection to the theory so far. It introduced the idea of the Blood Moon, meaning that the Roanoke ghosts can only kill during the October lunar cycle. Freak Show's sixth episode,"Bullseye", had demonic Edward Mordrake only able to claim souls on Halloween. That particular Freak Show episode also saw Gloria offer her maniac son some condoms, so as not to continue the doomed heritage. It looks like Gloria's prophylactics could have come in handy after seeing Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Matt get down and dirty with Lady Gaga. Speaking of which...

Hotel - "Chapter 5"

So, next week... vampires? Not really. Let's look at Hotel's sixth episode "Room 33." The synopsis for the episode reads:

Ramona and Donovan enact their plan for revenge. Liz Taylor finds true love. The resident of Room 33 is revealed.

"Room 33" was where Donovan told us how the ghosts are still able to walk the halls of the Cortez, so expect the newly deceased Elias and Cricket Marlowe to reappear — good news for O'Hare and Jordan fans. "Room 33" is when we also met Bartholomew, the deformed demon child of the Countess. Continuing the theme of babies, next week is likely to show Gaga's mysterious wood-witch pregnant with Matt's child. Horror Story sure does love an evil baby storyline, and this season is sure to carry on the tradition, especially given the cryptic "baby in the cot" poster we saw. Sure, it may have only been a week since Matt and Gaga went go-go, but demon babies tend to grow quicker than your average tot.

"Chapter 6"?

This takes us quite neatly up to "Chapter 6," which Murphy has already promised will be a game-changer. The sixth episode is where the Roanoke world is said to come tumbling down, and we will realize that what we are watching isn't actually true at all. Murphy said that he clearly split the season into two halves (1-5 and 6-10), so the "six theory" ties everything together with a big, bloody, red bow. Of course this is American Horror Story and we could be completely off the mark — tune in to find out next week!