"American Horror Story: 1984" episode three
photo: FX

American Horror Story is only about a third of the way through its current season, and fans are already concocting the wildest — and totally plausible — theories for what could happen. 

Nothing is ever as it seems on the anthology horror series, so things could get totally crazy in the penultimate season. All of the '80s slasher references are holding strong, but things have already taken a turn toward the paranormal. 

From a totally meta fan theory to an undead one, these are the craziest predictions for what's to come. The fourth episode airs tonight, October 9, at 10 p.m., on FX. 

Something is definitely up with the hitchhiker, and the AHS Twitter account even teased it. 

The hitchhiker is the first taste of something abnormal happening in the Camp Redwood universe. After being killed by Mr. Jingles in episode one, Jonas, the hitchhiker, is being forced to relive his death in various ways. Apparently, Jonas was a counselor at Camp Redwood in the '70s, so he's been playing this game for years. 

One person on Reddit claimed that Jonas could be a time traveler from the Vietnam War, but it's already been revealed that he was an attendee at Camp Redwood. Even though the time-travel theory hasn't been totally disproven, AHS rarely repeats itself, and it already tried out that theory in the season eight Apocalypse finale. 

People on Twitter started hypothesizing after the AHS Twitter account summoned followers, "Tell us what you think is going on with the hiker." 

One person replied, "Pretty sure Camp Redwood is like Murder House and Hotel … once you die there, you stay. I think more characters are actually ghosts stuck there!" Another person thought, "If I were a betting man, I’d put money on it being a Cabin in the Woods type situation meets The Hunger Games. Which, I’m totally here for."

Another popular theory is that all of this is about to get break-the-fourth-wall meta. 

American Horror Story has already tried out the meta twist in Roanoake, when the format of the show changed from a narrative to a mockumentary-style, found-footage series. However, it's been widely theorized on Reddit that 1984 will feature a similar twist. 

They wrote, "I feel like instead of it being revealed that it’s a movie within a TV show, the characters themselves will realize they’re characters in a horror story. Maybe even noticing the camera (us) watching them. That would also validate the 1984 'Big Brother is watching' theme...."

The format of the narrative show could be changing soon, and a theory posed by PopSugar is that everyone is living in a game gone wrong. Another person on Reddit thinks it could possibly be a video game. 

"After watching episode 2, and the hitchhiker dying multiple times and quickly reappearing, saying things like, 'You aren’t supposed to be here' and 'I don’t die here' … what if this is all a video or computer game being created and coded and we’re just getting the 'inside' viewpoint; the Night Stalker being something like a virus or glitch in the game causing things to go awry?"

Episode two featured the incredibly detailed backstories of each character who had dark pasts. 

AHS shared a recap video for episode two that gives glimpses into each character's dark backstory. Plenty of death and gore is present in each of their stories, so it's totally possible that everyone is already dead. But, again, that trope is tried and true for the series, rendering it unlikely. 

One Reddit theory suggests that all of the characters are already dead and will return as a totally new cast. "There's always a big twist in the middle of the season, so my theory is that by episode 3 or 4 everyone we've been introduced to will be dead and will come back as different characters." 

It's already assumed that the hitchhiker is a ghost, though that could be totally disproven, so it's not impossible that the rest of the cast are reliving a hellish nightmare, too. 

Episode three set up the anticipation for the twist that is sure to come. 

Tons of horror cliches were in episode three "Slash Dance," which is named after a 1989 film of the same name. Like when Chet (Gus Kenworthy) and Ray (DeRon Horton) fell into a pit, setting up that the whole camp could be flooded with boobie traps.  

Plus, new villains were revealed, including characters who we thought were one of the good guys — specifically, Nurse Rita (Angelica Ross). Rita is found out to be a psychologist for Mr. Jingles, actually named Donna Chambers, and has worked with other serial killers across the US. Donna/Rita helped Jingles escape so that she could study his slasher habits. 

Mr. Jingles was thought to be the main villain, but there's actually so many more to come. 

"It's all fun and games until the real Mr. Jingles shows up," one person wrote on Twitter. In an episode three breakdown by Game Spot Universe on YouTube, the hosts suggest that every character on the show is out for Brooke (Emma Roberts). Montana (Billie Lourd) was revealed at the end of the latest episode to be a double crosser and is in cahoots with the Night Stalker, who tried to murder Brooke in the first episode. 

No character is ever one-sided, though, so Brooke probably has something up her sleeve too.