Entertainment

Frank Ockenfels/FX

The ‘AHS: Roanoke’ House Burned Down, So What Does This Mean For The Ghost Colonists?

by Megan Walsh

The ending of American Horror Story: Roanoke was certainly an unexpected one, but one that may have brought an end to the horrors that plagued the Sappony Road house all season long. Or not? The AHS: Roanoke house burned down, so what does this mean for the ghost colonists? Though you'd think the slaughter of Return to Roanoke: Three Days In Hell would have put people off from returning to the incredibly haunted Roanoke house (particularly during the blood moon, i.e. prime murder season), the finale of Season 6 proved that wasn't the case. The first person drawn back was Lee's daughter Flora, who had a strange affinity for the creepy colonist ghost, Priscilla. But there was also the camera crew of a Ghost Hunters-esque show called Spirit Chasers, who got in way over their head during their visit to the house.

There were the usual ghostly jump scares and haunted murders to take care of the camera crew (who presumably were just there to film things so the show could stick to its found footage format), but in the end it was all about Flora and Lee. Lee could never make up for the trauma she had inflicted on Flora and she made the ultimate sacrifice to make things right, in a twisted way. She burned the house down with herself inside it, setting Flora free in the process.

Flora had wanted to remain with Priscilla to protect her from the Butcher, but to do so she would have to die. Instead Lee made a deal with her: Flora would go live with her grandparents and hopefully get a lot of therapy, but Lee would remain to protect Priscilla. She had successfully faced off with the Butcher before, after all, and Priscilla needed a mother figure as much as Lee needed a daughter to care for. And burning the house down was something the ghosts wanted, but why?

The Butcher wanted the land to be hers and hers alone, which was part of why the ghosts were constantly trying to oust the people living in the house. Back when Flora went missing the first time, during the My Roanoke Nightmare portion of the series, Lee promised the ghosts that she would burn down the house for Flora's safe return. Having everyone leave and demolishing the house would make the land solely the Butcher's again, but that does leave the pesky question of sacrifices unanswered. The Butcher had been sacrificing people to the land long before the house was built, so presumably she would need to do so long after, too. Without people in the house — and considering its isolated location — there would be no one to sacrifice.

There were many questions left unanswered in the finale of AHS: Roanoke, but that may be the point. The very format of the show lent itself to unreliable narrators and the found footage aspect left plenty of room for uncertainty and gaps of information. The finale ended with the torch-carrying colonists marching towards the burning house, but to what end? To stake their claim once and for all? To sacrifice any straggling reporters unlucky enough to be caught on the land Without any cameras around to capture it, the audience is left without an answer.