American Horror Story S6E3 Recap: Chapter 3

Here’s what happened on American Horror Story: Roanoke tonight.

Warning: this post will contain spoilers for American Horror Story: Roanoke episode 3.

On our preview of My Roanoke Nightmare, Lee tells us that she had to get used to searching for a body. In the re-enactment world, we start out with the police bringing Flora’s hoodie down from the tree. Lee, as a cop, tells us that Flora will not be a statistic.

Helping Flora not be a statistic requires splitting up in the spooky woods, as the real Shelby and Matt tell us while their dramatic selves show how creepy it is. Just to emphasize how creepy it is, re-enactment Lee finds the dismembered body of Flora’s doll with a pig’s head and feet as the arms and legs and head.

Then, they find a farm with the rest of Flora’s doll and the pig outside on the ground. The house itself basically smells like death, if the oodles of flies are any indication. The three then go into a barn, which doesn’t strike anyone as a poor idea. To prove that this is a poor idea, they find two boys covered in filth suckling from yet another pig.

They wordlessly yell at our three heroes, and we cut to the title card.

Still from Episode 3 of American Horror Story: Roanoke. Image via FX.

Mason? More like Mas-off

When we come back, Lee tells us the cops took the mysterious boys in and whoever kidnapped Flora made a break for it. We learn the boys can’t speak save for one word: “Croatoan.”

Mason comes to stay at the House of Spooks for the night, since they don’t find Flora. Naturally, he gets mad at Lee, which seems pretty justified considering the fact that Lee basically kidnapped their daughter. At this point, it has been more than 72 hours, so, as Lee tells us, she is likely dead by now. Things get physical, and then Mason storms out.

In the middle of the night, Matt’s phone starts buzzing. He goes to wake Lee up, because the cops have apparently found a body. The body happens to be Mason, and his body is burnt and stretched out on a wooden circle. Thankfully, he does not have any pig parts attached. Lee identifies his ring, and we say good-bye to Mason.

Cricket the Psychic and The Butcher

Matt’s camera tells us that Lee left the house 15 minutes after Mason and returned 4 hours later. Shelby points out she was desperate, but has poor timing, since Lee walks in. Before it gets terrible, Matt has the wise idea of actually leaving.

Then a mysterious old guy, apparently named Cricket, walks in and says he’s been called to help Flora. He says that a spirit whispered in his ear, and we find out he’s helped with abductions before. Using his cane, he taps his way through the house. To show off his skills, he points out the cupboard that Flora once hid in.

Still from American Horror Story: Roanoke episode 3. Image via FX.

Inside of the cupboard is a bonnet belonging to Priscilla, Flora’s ghost buddy. Cricket says that the dead took her.

That night, he does a communication ceremony. He calls out to Priscilla, but someone else comes for a visit instead: a “horrible woman”. Said horrible woman happens to be The Butcher, played by Kathy Bates. Though Cricket tries some protection, The Butcher chops his candle in half.

She tells him that she protects this place and this colony. She doesn’t know where Priscilla and Flora are, because she refuses to leave the grounds, which she insists belong to her. Cricket tries to fend her off, but the windows shatter and he hollers “Croatoan!” (The word was carved into a tree at the lost Roanoke colony. More on that in a bit.)

The Butcher’s Origins

Shelby asks the wise question of what Croatoan means. Cricket ignores that and says he’ll lead them to Flora for $5,000. He does, however, insist his gift is real. Lee, done with all of this, pulls a gun on him. Matt talks her down, then tells Cricket to leave.

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The psychic, however, mentions Emily, Lee’s first daughter. That’s what prompts Lee to visit Cricket…and the producer of My Roanoke Nightmare to ask about her as well. We finally get a brief look at the set of the show.

Then Lee starts talking. Emily, her first daughter, disappeared years ago. During Lee’s visit to Cricket, he tells her that the Butcher once was called Thomasine, the wife of the governor of Roanoke Colony. We get a brief history lesson: 116 people disappeared without a trace.

Another flashback to Roanoke shows a rebellion over Thomasine’s leadership, and she has a spiked mask strapped to her face. Her own son locks the mask on.

Cricket says they then abandoned her in the woods to die. Near-death, encounters Lady Gaga, who offers her a beating heart, breaks off her mask, and tells her to serve. Thomasine eats and returns to Roanoke to slaughter every man who dared rebel against her rule. Her son, Ambrose, gets to live, though.

She now claims dominion over the land Matt and Shelby now live on, and she does not seem very inclined to share.

Let’s Make a Deal

On a nighttime stroll through the woods, Cricket calls out for Priscilla. Instead, Thomasine appears, and Cricket starts cutting deals, including burning the house down. In return, the Butcher will make Priscilla produce Flora. (That’s worth a $25,000 dollar check from Lee, right, Cricket?) When Shelby protests, Lee says that Matt already agreed.

Never mind that Matt has disappeared into the woods. When they find him, he’s engaged in coitus with Lady Gaga, who has an animal skull on her head. Once again, we question how much of the re-enactment is really a re-enactment, because they’re pretty graphic in showing Matt here. His glasses fog up, and Shelby bolts. When he returns to the house and finds her later, she tells him off about letting the house burn down and having sex with a mysterious woman. He has no idea about the sex part, though.

Before Shelby can really wind up into a proper lecture, the cops slap handcuffs on Lee. When Matt asks what Shelby did, she simply says she has no idea what he’s talking about, with the obvious subtext of “Just like you don’t know anything about having sex in the woods with someone else.”

Next: Poldark: 3 Questions for Episode 2

Let’s sum up, shall we? The Butcher will work with Cricket, ostensibly. Matt and Shelby’s relationship looks to be on the rocks.

On the preview, we see that Matt still doesn’t believe Shelby. They also apparently break the deal with the Butcher about leaving, which seems like a bad idea considering her ghostly cleaver.

American Horror Story: Roanoke airs Wednesday on FX.