All of Lily Rabe’s ‘American Horror Story’ Characters, Ranked

Throughout the multi-season run of the horror anthology series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, Lily Rabe has established herself as one of the franchise’s most versatile performers. From period apparitions to possessed clergy, Rabe has brought a diverse array of personalities to the screen across numerous installments.

Her multifaceted portrayals demonstrate substantial range, moving effortlessly between vulnerable victims and terrifying supernatural villains. This comprehensive overview examines every character the actress has tackled throughout the history of the anthology.

Amelia Earhart

In the second half of ‘American Horror Story: Double Feature’, subtitled ‘Death Valley’, Lily Rabe portrays a fictionalized version of legendary aviator Amelia Earhart. The narrative depicts Earhart being discovered by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954 after vanishing over the Pacific Ocean nearly two decades earlier. She reveals that extraterrestrial beings abducted her and subjected her to horrific medical experiments. Her storyline ends tragically when she gives birth to an extraterrestrial hybrid inside a secret military facility.

Doris Gardner

Doris Gardner serves as the emotional core of the ‘Red Tide’ storyline in ‘American Horror Story: Double Feature’. As a pregnant interior designer, she relocates with her screenwriter husband and young daughter to a bleak Massachusetts coastal town during the off-season. Doris remains completely unaware that her family has begun taking mysterious black pills that provide artistic genius in exchange for human blood. After her husband and daughter orchestrate a psychological campaign to convince her to consume the pill, Doris lacks genuine artistic talent and transforms into a feral Pale Person.

Lavinia Richter

Featured in ‘American Horror Story: 1984’, Lily Rabe plays the vengeful ghost Lavinia Richter, documented in production rosters under the name Larissa Kingsley. As the grieving mother of Benjamin Richter, she haunts the wooded grounds of Camp Redwood following the tragic drowning of her favored younger son. Her unyielding grief and murderous rage give rise to the original curse that traps spirits on the campsite property for decades. Manifesting as the dreaded Lady in White, she actively influences the camp’s ongoing cycle of slaughter from beyond the grave.

Aileen Wuornos

Lily Rabe embodies real-life highway serial killer Aileen Wuornos during the fifth installment, ‘American Horror Story: Hotel’. Wuornos visits the Hotel Cortez as an invited spectral guest for James Patrick March’s notorious annual Devil’s Night dinner. Prior to attending the banquet, she encounters Detective John Lowe at the hotel bar, violently assaulting and restraining him before he manages to break free. Her appearance captures the manic energy, paranoia, and volatility of the historical criminal during her reunion with fellow deceased killers.

Shelby Miller

In ‘American Horror Story: Roanoke’, Lily Rabe portrays the real-life counterpart of Shelby Miller, a woman who survives a nightmarish ordeal in North Carolina. Shelby initially recounts her harrowing encounters with supernatural colonists for the reenactment documentary series ‘My Roanoke Nightmare’. She later returns to the secluded farmhouse to participate in the reality television sequel ‘Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell’ in a desperate attempt to reconcile with her estranged husband. Trapped once more amidst ancestral spirits and hostile forces, Shelby takes her own life after killing her husband during an emotional breakdown.

Nora Montgomery

Nora Montgomery serves as a crucial figure in ‘American Horror Story: Murder House’ as the original mistress of the haunted Los Angeles mansion. Living during the 1920s, Nora pushes her surgeon husband to perform clandestine medical operations in their basement to maintain their lavish lifestyle. Following the abduction and gruesome dismemberment of her infant child, her husband stitches the remains back together into a creature, prompting Nora to shoot him before ending her own life. Bound to the estate as a ghost, Nora wanders the halls in eternal mourning, obsessively seeking a baby to mother in the afterlife.

Misty Day

Misty Day emerges as an eccentric and compassionate necromancer witch in ‘American Horror Story: Coven’. Possessing the extraordinary gift of resurgence, she lives in seclusion in a Louisiana swamp while maintaining a profound spiritual connection to the music of Stevie Nicks. Her tragic arc in the third season culminates during the Seven Wonders trial, where her soul becomes trapped inside a personalized hell loop. Rabe reprises the character in ‘American Horror Story: Apocalypse’, wherein Misty is freed from the underworld by Michael Langdon before reuniting with her fellow witches.

Sister Mary Eunice McKee

Sister Mary Eunice McKee stands as one of the central figures of ‘American Horror Story: Asylum’, initially introduced as a meek and devout nun at Briarcliff Manor. Following an exorcism that goes awry, she becomes possessed by the Devil, transforming into a manipulative and sadistic tyrant who seizes control of the asylum. She systematically corrupts the facility’s staff, torments vulnerable patients, and orchestrates the downfall of Sister Jude until Monsignor Howard throws her over a balcony to her death. Rabe revisits the character’s earlier years in ‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’, depicting Sister Mary Eunice’s gentle, uncorrupted disposition while admitting the patient Pepper into Briarcliff.

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