American Horror Story: Taissa Farmiga had some IRL paranormal activity

Taissa Farmiga had an experience while filming Coven in New Orleans that left her wondering if she had encountered the supernatural.

The premiere of American Horror Story: Apocalypse is drawing nearer (it’s Sept. 12), and Taissa Farmiga is set to appear in this eighth season. She has been confirmed to be returning as Violet Harmon from Murder House and Zoe Benson from Coven. Farmiga also plays a leading role in the upcoming movie, The Nun. Overall, she has shown herself to be an icon of horror in these past few years.

In an interview with Bloody Disgusting, Farmiga talked about her experience filming Coven in 2013. During that time, she was playing the character of Zoe Benson, and she talks about how she had a terrifying night where she feels she encountered the supernatural.

Farmiga suggested that Emma Roberts, another horror star who has featured in both AHS and Scream Queens, started messing with her head and maybe opened the idea up to some sort of haunting event.

"I’m living in this old warehouse that’s been turned into loft apartments… We have to chant in Latin again. And Emma Roberts turns to me in the hair and makeup trailer and she’s like, ‘So are you … are you scared?…I was like, ‘What do you mean? No, like I know my lines, I’m good.’ She’s like, ‘No, no, no. We’re chanting Latin.’ So she’s the one who opened me up to it. I blame her."

This is what Farmiga had to say about the entire experience:

"We finish shooting, I get home, it’s a little after two, and also, to point out, Vera, my sister, just recently told me she was doing research for The Conjuring. She told me that witching hours are around 3 am. So I was excited to go to bed before that. So I’m passing out, I’m lying in bed, I go to sleep. I’m passing out, it’s like when you lay in bed and you can’t fall asleep. So, I’m like, just so close to being in dreamland and all of a sudden I’m wide awake. My eyes aren’t open, but I feel wide awake and I hear some walking. You know, on the wood floors, you hear it creak."

This sounds like the start to a horror movie incident, and there’s nothing as creepy as being alone in the middle of the night and hearing creaky floorboards.

Farmiga went on to explain that as she slept on the bed, she could feel someone grab the covers and pull on them. She started to freak out and hurried to turn the light on, but, when she did, there was nothing there. Naturally, she couldn’t sleep through the rest of the night and ended up sleeping the next night downstairs.

Who can say whether there really were bad spirits around during the filming of Coven, but it sounds like the experience was not a pleasant one. We can imagine that getting in the headspace of these characters in some of these scenes and being in New Orleans to set the mood could really mess with your head.

These kind of stories are always a bit spooky, and we wonder if any other AHS cast members have had similar experiences. Luckily, that was the only creepy experience Farmiga herself had while filming the series — so far. Since she’s playing Zoe again, one has to wonder if that might prompt another possibly-supernatural experience.