We appear to be a week away from the Season 1 Finale of American Horror Story and I thought it'd be fun to find out what everyone thinks is going on. This thread is bound to have spoilers, so don't read unless you're up to speed on the show!

First of all, I think the show deals with a couple of themes, among them, are you born bad or is it a nature vs. nurture kind of thing. In my eyes the show is less about the crazy things that have happened in the house and more about our society as a whole. Is our society and the American way of life causing each of us to live our own "American Horror Story"?

Now to my theories:
I think we're going to find out that the baby of the home's first owners is a key element to the show. As we now know, the good doctor was performing abortions for young aspiring actresses and one of the young actresses' boyfriends found out and kidnapped the Montgomery Baby. Authorities searched for the child only to find it, severed into pieces. Dr. Montgomery was a fanatic and believed he could bring his child back to life. He succeeded, but when his wife Nora saw the resurrected child something wasn't right. It attacked her. She tried to kill it, but was unsuccessful. Having failed, she went downstairs and killed her husband and then herself. I think we'll find out that the baby's body was used as vessel to bring some sort of evil into our world and this evil spirit is what has given the house it's ability to keep the "ghosts" of those who've died within its walls alive.

I might be wrong (probably so), but I'm still interested to hear what each of you think!

Chauncey: The show comes on FX on Wednesday nights. Check it out, although I suggest doing so from the beginning.

Jessica: I too have wondered why Moira is the only one who seems to change their appearance. I know she appeared to Ben as the young maid since he had a wandering eye. Now he's truly serious about fixing his marriage, so maybe she appears to him as an old, unattractive maid. She's still the only one who's dead and has clearly aged. Has to be something special about her.

As far as what the girl saw in the basement, I thought it was Tate, but it might be the Montgomery Child. If my theory of one dominant spirit is true, perhaps it changes shapes and we see different Tates, different Moiras, etc. Kind of like the smoke monster on LOST.

Last night's episode seems to confirm that there is more than likely an evil force at work in the house. Where it came from we don't know. The medium claims it feeds on the tragedy and negative energy of the house's past, although we learned that the medium might not be as good as we thought. She communicated with Violet, but her theory to rid the house of ghosts was wrong (either on purpose or because she's a hack). This latest episode, as well as her role in talking Ben out of destroying the house while her son was busy with Vivien in the bedroom, leads us to believe Constance has a key role in the series.

I wonder if she didn't make some sort of deal with the devil for success, but ended up getting some perversion of her dream. Perhaps she dreamed of being famous and having a wonderful family. She might become famous, but only for her evil deeds. Her "perfect child", Tate turned out to hate her. It's what I'll call "The Monkey Paw" effect. You make a wish, but it ends up some perversion of your wish. So the moral is always be careful what you wish for. I wonder if Constance more or less sold her soul for what she desired, only to find out it wasn't worth the price she paid (although she seems pretty damn happy now). This idea of selling your soul for what you want would fit into the show's themes well. I think American Horror Story is very critical of our culture and how self-centered we have become, what better example of this than a woman willing to go to any lengths to get what she desires most, even if it means killing people or having them killed?

If she didn't make a deal with the devil, Constance could in fact be the devil. I doubt it's that (more likely a demon or evil spirit), but I feel confident she controls more of what's going on behind the scenes than we've been shown. An example from last night's show is how she kept Chad and Patrick from getting one of the babies. She only had to mention one was her grandchild and Chad ended up backing off, even saying they weren't getting their child once we found out what was most likely the "normal" baby was stillborn. If the ghosts can kill the living then it can be reasoned that Chad could kill Constance, but for whatever reason he fears her or knows he cannot kill her for some reason unknown to viewers at this time (perhaps she's also dead).

I'm curious to see how the season ends. I read online that Ryan Murphy said the finale contains one of the most shocking scenes they've filmed. I can't wait!

@Jessica: I'm not sure if the baby was really stillborn or not. I did notice the doctor's face, but figured it was more a look of, "man, we lost one of the kids so now we can't each keep one" than "this one's yours"....

I'm surprised Vivien died as well. I wonder what the baby will look like too. Part of me wishes it'd have horns and a tail, but I think it'd be a moment where the show "jumped the shark". Not that American Horror Story is really realistic, but having a demon baby with tail, horns and pitchfork rattle would be a bit much. They've done a good job of keeping it creepy, not hokey. Excited for the finale.