WARNING! Spoilers ahead for American Horror Story season 11, episode 4! The tide is slowly running out in New York for the characters of American Horror Story Season 11, Episode 4, “The Choke of Shame”, the Mai Tai Killer who uses darkness to his advantage. As fans stop working, elevators jam and street lamps go out, the growing sense of uncertainty and danger is driving the gay community to take action against those who attack them. As Adam begins to organize, others take it upon themselves to search for the Mai Tai Killer and sinister Big Daddy in the dark.
New York City has had a notable blackout history, with the absence of light adding another disturbing layer to the city’s criminal reputation. As such, American Horror Story: NYC Episode 4 Blackout isn’t just a handy device used to heighten episode 4’s suspense, as the widespread darkness in the city has really led to a rise in crime (via CUNY). While American Horror Story season 11 changes some key details, the 1981 blackout is a relatively accurate historical background for the season’s concerns in the gay community.
Was there really a blackout in New York in 1981?
There was indeed a blackout in New York City in 1981, but it wasn’t as devastating or extreme as American Horror Story season 11 describes. On September 9, 1981, New York City suffered a four and a half hour blackout caused by an explosion and fire at a power plant. The power outage that hit Manhattan spread from Times Square to the battery and was considered one of the first major power outages in New York since 1977 (via The New York Times).
As illustrated in AHS: The Real NYC Event, the 1981 Manhattan blackout caused elevator jams and increased crime. However, American Horror Story seems to exaggerate the heat felt during the 1981 blackout. The September 9 weather report for New York City included a high temperature of only 75 degrees Fahrenheit (via Almanac), so it’s not quite the exact fact that the blistering heat contributed to the panic in the true story of the 1981 blackout in New York.
The history of New York blackouts explained (and when they happened)
New York City has a long history of power outages, many of which resulted in devastating consequences and chaos erupted in the city. The first major blackout occurred in 1965, which left more than 30 million people in the Northeast without electricity for more than 13 hours. However, this hiatus was not as catastrophic as the infamous 1977 hiatus in New York. It appears that the exaggerations of the season 11 episode of American Horror Story were taken from the 1977 event, which took place July 13-14. This disruption led to citywide looting, high crime rates, increased reports of arson and vandalism.
Similar to the panic in American Horror Story: The NYC Blackout regarding Mai Tai Killer and Big Daddy, the real 1977 New York blackout occurred amidst the widespread terror of serial killer Son of Sam. It was also during the 1977 blackout that New York experienced a hot wave that contributed to the mess of the event, not the 1981 blackout of American Horror Story season 11. Although there was a mass arrest that led to the arrest of nearly 4,000 New Yorkers (via NYT), it doesn’t appear that this event has led to more serial killers like Big Daddy in AHS: NYC.
New York City also saw several other major blackouts since the American Horror Story timeline in 1981. The next major blackout was in 2003, which affected much of the Northeast and lasted between two hours and two days in the region. The event also affected transportation, cellular communications and access to water, with the heat wave heightening the city’s concerns. Manhattan suffered another major blackout in 2019, which occurred on the 42nd anniversary of the devastating 1977 blackout. That blackout lasted about five hours, with one of the biggest consequences being people stuck in elevators and subway cars (via NYT ).
What is AHS: New York Right on New York Blackout
When you consider the turmoil and panic of the city during this era in real life, the American Horror Story version of the 1981 New York blackout is still entirely believable. In AHS: NYC Episode 4, several characters are stuck in elevators, lights go out in parks, and some use the darkness to their advantage to commit crimes outdoors. Considering there were major reports of these events during the current 1977 blackout, American Horror Story: New York gets the answer to the blackout right. However, as news of widespread destruction, panic and crime seem to be limited to the 1977 blackout in New York, the 1981 blackout in American Horror Story season 11 is more representative of its era and cultural climate than all of the failures.
New episodes of American Horror Story air Thursday on Hulu.
