American Horror Story Freak Show: 5 Things We Know

5. The Period

Back in January, Ryan Murphy revealed to Entertainment Weekly that the new American Horror Story season would be set in 1950 €“ and said this very tantalising quote:

"If you look historically what happened in the year 1950, there's some more clues in that year. It's a period piece. We try and do the opposite of what we've done before."

So what exactly could Murphy be referring to? Since we now know the freak show setting, could that be a reference to the end of the travelling freak shows? Or could it have some sort of wide ranging and unconnected implication. Fans have speculated on the web that it might be a reference to ongoing nuclear tests following the Manhattan Project €“ and Harry S. Truman ordered the construction of the hydrogen bomb that year. The biggest events in 1950 are the red scare and the start of the Korean War. By the end of the year, Douglas MacArthur was even threatening to use nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula. It'll certainly be interesting to see how those elements are woven into a story about a Freak Show in Florida, if indeed those are what Murphy was talking about.