Where is the house in American Horror Story 10 Part 1 and is it haunted?

 

If you’ve started watching American Horror Story 10: Double Feature, you know this season is broken into two parts:  Part 1 “Red Tide” and Part 2 “Death Valley.” The first thing the setting of “Red Tide” had me wondering was if the vacation house the Gardeners (Finn Wittrock and Lily Rabe) rent for the winter is haunted in real life.

Especially when Alma Gardner (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and her parents arrive at the beach house. She pauses before entering and comments, “It looks haunted.” (Agreed.)

To which her father replies, “Every house in Provincetown is haunted, sweetheart. It’s the ghosts of all the old whalers drowned at sea.”

All I knew when I first started watching this season was that it would be broken into two parts, one of which had to do with “teeth” and the other aliens. (Initially, I figured the teeth would have to do with sharks given the beach setting. Nope.)

But this is AHS we’re talking about so weaving a haunted house into the plotline would not be out of the question. It was a murder house that launched the series after all. One they revisited in the first season of their spin-off series American Horror Stories too.

It didn’t take long for me to realize, however, that “Red Tide” was tackling vampire horror as only Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk could.

However, after watching the first three episodes and getting to spend time inside the house the Gardners rented, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Is it haunted in real life?”

So I did a little sleuthing and here’s what I found out.

The House in American Horror Story 10

Double Feature was filmed in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and actually features a few of the city’s houses.

The house where Austin Sommers (Evan Peters) lives is located at 5 Bayberry Ave. The house used for Belle Noir’s (Frances Conroy) home is located at 665 Commercial Street. (And can I just say how much I love her character’s name this season? Yes. There. Said.)

Then there’s the Gardners’ vacation house, which is located at 103 Commercial Street —an address that at first got me super excited. Could it be the same house as in Double Feature?

In “Ghosts in P’town intrigue rather than scare,” Wicked Local Provincetown wrote about the former Martin House at Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Street. Rik Ahlberg, the owner of Pedal Ptown who offers a haunted bicycle tour, told them some people have reported having paranormal experiences in the house, which may have Underground Railroad roots. He said among the reports is “a family of slave ghosts that appear every now and then in there.”

They included a photo of the house in their article, which looks very similar to the house in American Horror Story 10. It had the same weathered shingle-style gray exterior.

But it wasn’t an exact match. The front door was different, the neighboring houses looked different, and, most importantly, it wasn’t right on the beach.

Further digging confirmed 103 Commercial Street is a few blocks away from the former Martin House at Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Street.

The house at 103 Commercial Street may still be haunted by the ghosts of dead whalers, but if it is, there’s no public record of anyone reporting paranormal activity there.

It will no doubt be haunted by horror movie and TV “set jetters” now though.

The Creepy Cemetery Connection with an Iconic Horror Movie

Doris Gardner (Lily Rabe ) and Alma take a few strolls through a cemetery in American Horror Story 10. It’s in one of them where they first encounter some of Provincetown’s most haunting residents.

Provincetown has a few cemeteries, including Winthrop Street, Provincetown, and Saint Peters Cemeteries.

I’m not sure if scenes were filmed at one or all of them. The Winthrop Street Cemetery is closest to 103 Commercial Street, however, it’s a grave in Saint Peters Cemetery which has a haunting true crime and horror movie connection.

The headstone simply reads “Unidentified Female Body Found Race Point Dunes July 26, 1974.”

I’m going to be a bit of a tease and end here with the promise that we’ll examine this case and the movie it’s connected to in another post.

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Have you ever been to Provincetown, Massachussets?