<P> The first season of American Horror Story received generally positive reviews from critics . The series drew consistently high ratings for the FX network, ending its first season as the biggest new cable series of the year . The season was nominated for various industry awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series--Drama, and received a total of seventeen Emmy Award nominations . In addition, Lange won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie . </P> <P> Characters from Murder House made appearances in the series' fifth season, Hotel . Christine Estabrook returned as Marcy, the nosy realtor . Matt Ross, who portrayed Dr. Charles Montgomery, appeared in the episode "Room 33" and Sarah Paulson reprised her role as Billie Dean Howard in the season finale, "Be Our Guest". </P> <P> The first season follows the Harmon family: Ben (Dylan McDermott), Vivien (Connie Britton) and Violet (Taissa Farmiga), who move from Boston to Los Angeles to start a new life in a Victorian mansion, after Vivien has a miscarriage and Ben has an affair with Hayden (Kate Mara), one of his students . On arrival, they learn from Marcy (Christine Estabrook), the real estate agent, that the previous owners of their new mansion, a couple named Chad and Patrick (Zachary Quinto and Teddy Sears), died in an apparent murder / suicide . Their neighbor Constance (Jessica Lange) and her daughter Addie (Jamie Brewer) become frequent, and mostly unwelcome, guests . Addie seems to have a connection with the house's mysterious past . Larry Harvey (Denis O'Hare), a former resident of the house who has suffered from terrible burns, also begins inserting himself into the Harmons' lives, giving Ben a cryptic warning about the house . The house also "comes with" Moira O'Hara (Frances Conroy / Alexandra Breckenridge), a housekeeper who appears young and seductive to men, but old and matronly to women . </P> <P> Ben begins seeing patients out of his home office . One in particular, a possibly psychotic teenage boy named Tate Langdon (Evan Peters), takes interest in kindred spirit Violet, who suffers from depression . Ben is unaware that Tate is both a ghost and the son of Constance . As the family settles into the home, bizarre events begin to occur with increasing regularity . It is soon revealed that there have been upwards of 20 violent deaths in the home over the course of its history, so much so that it has come to be known as "The Murder House". The family struggles with their own personal tribulations, oblivious to the reality that their home is haunted by ghosts . While exploring the attic, Vivien discovers a latex bondage suit . She later is raped by a man wearing it, who she believes is Ben, but is actually Tate . Vivien's rape results in the rare occurrence of becoming pregnant with twins by different fathers . It is later revealed that Tate's motive in having sex with Vivien was to conceive a baby for Nora (Lily Rabe), a ghost in the house who lost her own child . Hayden comes from Boston and tries to blackmail Ben into abandoning Vivien, so they can start their relationship over, threatening to tell Vivien that she's pregnant with Ben's baby . She is killed by Larry and buried by Ben in the house grounds, thus coming back as a ghost . Several ghosts in the house, including Hayden and Nora, conspire to drive Vivien mad so that they can raise the babies as their own . </P>

The girl who plays violet in american horror story