Creepy clowns, women with beards, a man with lobster-like hands, and a killer on the loose are just a few freakish characters featured in the first episodes of the latest season of American Horror Story.

Each season of American Horror Story features a different set of actors and setting than the one before. The first season was about a family moving (unknowingly) into a house haunted by murder victims whereas the second season was about an asylum and its strange happenings and characters.

The third season was about a witch coven that is trying to find its next “Supreme” leader. This season is all about the hapless characters that populate a traveling freak show.

Fans rushed to their screens to watch the premier of the fourth season of American Horror Story on Oct. 8. The season premier captured a record breaking 10 million viewers, as reported by the Hollywood Reporter, topping FX’s previous record holder, Sons of Anarchy, which had a record 9.25 million viewers.

“In the first episode they went from zero to a hundred real quick. It was shocking and it was a lot to take in,” sophomore Kiana Walker said.

This season takes place in Jupiter, Florida around the time period of the 1950s. Elsa Mars (played by Jessica Lang) is the leader of one of the last surviving freak shows and is struggling to keep the business going. Strange things begin to happen in Jupiter just as the show comes to town.

Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates) is known as the bearded woman who is apart of the freak show. Eth- el is a headstrong person who Elsa selected as her second in command. She is very respected around the freak show crew and is also the other of Jimmy Darling.

Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters) is one of the characters known for having glove-like hands that closely resemble lobster-like pincers. Even at birth, Darling was presented as a “freak” when his biological father made people pay to watch his bearded wife give birth to him in a “freak birth.”

Bette and Dot Tattler (Sarah Paulson) are conjoined twins who have completely different personalities. Bette is kind and gentle whereas Dot is more guarded and stern. Elsa found them in the hospital after they were hiding in the closet of their home where their mother laid dead a few feet away from the door.

A milkman discovered the twins after entering their home when the mother didn’t come out to receive the milk.

As the episodes are shown, you learn more about the fascinating characters and their interesting lives as the whole story of the freak show unravels.

While some watch the show to be freighted, there is a serious side of the show, as well. All of the characters in fact are based on the stories of real people, which often were born into difficult circumstances, including mental disabilities and physical deformities.

“Each episode has different stories for the characters but at the end of the season it all comes together,” sophomore Monica Alvarez said. “It makes you really think about the characters and what’s happening.”