As American Horror Story grows more gruesome, depicting some of the cruelest and graphic villains of all time. Night Stalker was a real-life serial killer who was influenced by his equally evil cousin, as shown accurately in the thrilling horror-drama series.
Richard Ramirez, aka the Night Stalker, terrorized Los Angeles in the 1980s with his cold-blooded murders; he was convicted of 13 murders in 1989.
Surely Richard Ramirez wasn’t born a villain. He had a difficult childhood, adolescence, and, consequently, equally difficult adulthood that was characterized by multiple medical conditions. He externalized his aggression over everything he experienced during his childhood.
Richard Ramirez’s Story
In the second episode of American Horror Story: 1984, Richard Ramirez narrates the story of his life. He tells Booth as she tends to her wounds “…Pain is all I’ve ever known. Pain is how the world has talked to me, so why shouldn’t pain be the way I talk back.”
He explains how he was born with congenital disabilities because his mother used to work at a boot factory where she inhaled toxic fumes while she was pregnant. This fact checks back with A&E. He also had seizures as a result of a swing hitting him in the head at age five. This led to a Temporal Lobe Epilepsy diagnosis.
Following the dramatic injuries and mishaps, Ramirez’s father was physically abusive. He would beat up Ramirez’s elder brother in front of him, which also fact checks back with Philip Carlo’s book ‘The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez.’
Mike – The Influence
Mike was a problematic influence on Ramirez’s life. Mike was a veteran of the Vietnam War. He admitted to torturing and raping women in Vietnam and photographed them while he asked them for sexual favors by putting a gun to their head.
When Ramirez was 13, his uncle killed his wife in front of his nephew. He was no stranger to hearing the stories from his uncle from a young age. The depiction in AHS matches most accounts of Richard Ramirez’s childhood and adolescence, accurately portraying his journey to being a cold-blooded killer.
