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Season 10 of American Horror Story has a lot of mysteries surrounding it, still. While the showrunner and creator Ryan Murphy announced the stacked cast list on Feb. 26, he didn’t announce the theme. This is normal; in the past he’s announced the seasons’ official titles closer to summer or end of spring. With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, every film production is delayed, and it looks like AHS is among those. This means a theme reveal is probably further off than usual. Regardless, a new theory pinpoints the location to Massachusetts and connects the season to a real-life, unsolved case. 

Race Point Lighthouse near Race Point Beach on Cape Cod April 15, 2019 near Provincetown, Massachusetts, the place Season 10 of 'American Horror Story' might film.
Race Point Lighthouse near Race Point Beach on Cape Cod April 15, 2019 near Provincetown, Massachusetts, the place Season 10 of ‘American Horror Story’ might film | DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images

Season 10 has a water-related theme, possibly in Massachusetts

In Murphy’s cast announcement in February, he revealed everyone’s favorites are coming back. The list included Leslie Grossman, Angelica Ross, Billie Lourd, Kathy Bates, Adina Porter, Finn Wittrock, Sarah Paulson, and Evan Peters. That’s a pretty great cast and even Macaulay Culkin is making his American Horror Story debut.

But on top of the names, the background of the video showed a gloomy shore with pretty calm waves. While beaches are everywhere in America, this stagnant, downcast beach looks like something outside of sunny California or Florida, which are two settings the show has used before. One place that is on a coast, that the show has used before, is Massachusetts.

According to the site Bleeding Cool, local news outlets are reporting that Ryan Murphy was scouting out Provincetown, Massachusetts as of March 6. There are several things that point to it being American Horror Story-related, like the fact that a cemetery is one of the locations and that “supernatural things” are a part of the show they’re scouting for. It also ties in with a new theory.

A Reddit user pointed out the possibility that the season could focus on a famous, unsolved case

Last week, Reddit user u/lexjxhnn shared a theory that American Horror Story Season 10 could be about the murder of the Lady of the Dunes. “I just watched the new episode of BuzzFeed Unsolved about the lady of the dunes in Provincetown Massachusetts, the team has hinted that season 10 will be in Massachusetts, around dunes & in Provincetown mass,” they wrote. 

The user also points out that in Season 9, 1984, there was a line about people being obsessed with the 1970s, which is when this murder took place (1974). Provincetown is the exact spot this murder happened, and the dunes — where her body was found — were part of their film scouting.

To sum up the case, the Lady of the Dunes’ body was found in 1974 by a 12-year-old girl. The body was deteriorating to the point that experts believe she had died either 10 days to 3 weeks prior to her being found. She was nude, with only a pair of jeans and purple bandana beneath her head. Her hands were also cut off. Despite having intricate dental work, the identity of this woman was never uncovered. The body has been exhumed three times since then for research and no one knows why she died or who she was. 

The Lady of the Dunes case actually has a theory of its own, and it involves ‘Jaws’

One of the biggest “breakthroughs” in her case was in 2015 from Joe Hill, ghost story writer, and son of Stephen King. He wrote in a Tumblr post, and later told USA Today, that he thought he spotted the Lady of the Dunes as an extra in Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws. 

It’s pretty niche, however, if you look at the image of the extra in question, it sort of looks like the composite they have of the victim based on her bone structure. Not to mention, the film shot in the Cape Cod area that summer of 1974 and she’s wearing jeans and a purple bandana. Even weirder is that there is no record of who that woman is and the casting director was dead by 2015. There are a lot of things that add up to the Jaws theory being pretty plausible.

Lady of the Dunes has a lot in common with past ‘American Horror Story’ plots

The Lady of the Dunes would actually work well with what American Horror Story has done before. For one, a little girl stumbles upon the body of the Lady of the Dunes, like the child coming upon the Black Dahlia in Murder House, another real-life case. The Lady of the Dunes case also connects murder and Hollywood, two things the series has done in the past. And it’s something Ryan Murphy seems to really be interested in. AHS’s locations all connect, since all the seasons are in the same universe. And Season 2, Asylum, took place in rural Massachusetts. 

This theme could also incorporate urban legends, another theory about this season. For one, the horrifying shark in Jaws was its own urban legend in the movie. Also, the Lady of the Dunes is considered one, because no one knows much about the case other than how she died and when she was found. Not to mention, a creepy seaside town is such a good playground for more horror. 

While the Loch Ness Monster might not make an appearance because, well, they’re in America and not Scotland, there are plenty other legends to go around. This hunch is definitely a top contender.

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