American Horror Stories Season 1, Episode 6 recap: Feral

American Horror Stories aired its strangest, creepiest episode to date (that’s saying something) with this week’s season one penultimate episode, “Feral”. The episode follows a story about feral cannibals running rampant through national parks which is actually a long-running theory on the Internetverse.

The story begins with a family going on a weekend camping trip which goes very wrong when the young son goes missing. Right off the bat, something seemed off about the three-year-old Jacob (Colin Tandberg), which made much more sense by the end of the episode.

As they arrived at the camping site and set up their tent, viewers see a creepy creature of sorts standing in the background. And from that point on, this episode takes a very weird and disturbing turn. I won’t say that the episode was great by any means, but it was certainly odd especially after learning that people actually think these things exist.

Read more on what happened in this week’s episode of American Horror Stories in our recap below! And be sure to share if you enjoyed the episode in the comments below.

American Horror Stories Season 1, Episode 6 recap: Something wicked this way comes

The following morning Jay (Aaron Tveit) hands Jacob a compass as they set off to go fishing. Addie (Tiffany Dupont) bids her husband and son farewell but notices some blood at their campsite. Following the trail of blood, she winds up finding a dead deer in the tree.

At the same time, Jay and Jacob are playing hide and seek, that is until Jay can’t find Jacob who seemingly goes missing. It’s a traumatizing moment for the parents, but it’s just the start of the story that we see unfold over the next hour.

The episode jumps ten years into the future where we learn that Jacob is still missing, Jay is now living alone and lost in the obsession of trying to find Jacob. He hasn’t given up on finding his son, which even cost him his marriage to Addie.

Jay is approached by a man named Birch (Blake Shields), a hunter who seems to have some information about Jacob’s disappearance. He got his hands on a picture of a young man in the woods which was taken near the trail in the same woods that Jacob got lost in.

According to the hunter, he thinks Jacob was kidnapped by someone running an illegal pot farm. Birch thinks that it might be a human trafficking situation, which makes all the sense to Jay. For him, it’s all the explanation he needs to dive even further into the search for Jacob.

Addie is distraught when Jay approaches her with this new theory and wants nothing to do with any of it. Eventually, she caves in and decides to give Jay the money he needs to pay the hunter, and together, the three of them head back into the woods.

American Horror Stories Season 1, Episode 6 recap: Into the woods

Addie and Jay’s relationship has certainly suffered over the years, and it’s apparent from the get-go once they enter the woods. They’re at each other’s throats to the point that they don’t even notice creatures walking amongst them in the dark.

Jay and Addie are introduced to Ranger Stan Vogel (Cody Fern), who recognizes them from the news. He was actually working on the day Jacob went missing and even saw strange footprints around the station. He recalls being hit on the head and as he came to he saw something that looked like Bigfoot carrying Jacob.

The next day they arrive at the pot farm only to find bloody dead bodies all over the place. Birch obviously lied to both of them and eventually, he confesses that he set everything up. He made his nephew pose for the photograph he showed Jay and Addie so as to get them out to the woods. The plan was for him and the growers to rob them, which seems like a long-drawn-out plan if you’re asking me.

In the middle of his monologue, Birch is bitten by one of the bodies that suddenly springs to life. Shots are fired in the midst of all of this, and in the process, Jay is shot in his side. He and Addie make their way back to the station, and try to get more information out of Ranger Vogel.

American Horror Stories Season 1, Episode 6 recap: Feral cannibals

Vogel eventually spilled the beans on what has been going on in the woods and it’s rather interesting (and scary AF!). He reveals that the creature in the woods is actually a secret of the American government. The national park system was created to keep these creatures, aka Feral Nation, away from the general public

According to Vogel, the government has known about them all this time and chose to stay quiet nonetheless. It all became clear to Jay and Addie when they recalled National Guard soldiers showing up on the day Jacob went missing. It turns out that they were probably there to kill the feral cannibals, more than anything else.

The episode wraps up after the ferals attack the station, kill Vogel, and begin running after Jay and. Addie. Eventually, they’re surrounded by ferals with their king sitting on a throne in the distance. And that king? It turns out it’s Jacob who has fully transformed into one of the ferals is now leading the group who kidnapped him all these years ago.

Did seeing his parents change his sentiments about making them dinner for the ferals? Nope, in fact, he pronounced them as dinner. The ferals attack, and the scene comes to a close.

…And that’s a wrap on yet another weird and interesting episode of American Horror Stories. 

So, that was an interesting episode.

What did you think of this week’s episode of American Horror Stories? Tell us in the comments below!