SPOILER ALERT! Mystery solved! 'Perfect' couple move into spooky mansion and get attacked by rednecks in new American Horror Story

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It was the show that was a riddle wrapped up in an enigma.

The blood-soaked mystery was finally revealed as the secretive sixth season of American Horror Story: My Roanoke Nightmare premiered on Wednesday night.

The first episode of the hotly-anticipated show saw American Crime Story stars Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr. reunite to be terrorized in an old North Carolina mansion by mysterious figures carrying pitchforks and flaming torches.

Spooked couple: Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr got terrorized in the debut episode of American Horror Story: My Roanoke Nightmare

Murphy himself appeared at the top of the show and talked directly to viewers about Chapter 1 of ‘My Roanoke Nightmare.’

‘Hi I am Ryan Murphy and welcome to the premiere of American Horror Story. Tonight we answer the question that has been haunting everybody. Think you have figured it out? Lets watch and see,’ said Ryan.

The intro to the show ended with a hand-drawn tree with blood red roots running into the soil.

Shelby Miller, played by Sarah Paulson, kicked off the show saying that she and Matt used to be teased by friends for being ‘too perfect’ a couple.

Matt, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., explained they had met at a yoga class before settling down in Los Angeles to start a family.

Dream home: The couple were delighted to have found a spooky abandoned old mansion

'Too perfect: Sarah Paulson's character Shelby Miller said she and Matt used to be teased for being the ideal pair

So happy: And they shared a kiss as they explored the area they would be living in

On the night they found out she was pregnant they went out together and were attacked by a gang as part of a ‘knockout’ initiation.

In the hospital Matt failed to regain consciousness after the attack but eventually squeezed her hand.

‘As soon as we touched he started waking up, that is just the kind of connection we have. He was going to be okay,’ she said.

‘But she wasn’t’ said Matt as blood was seen running down her legs and she lost the baby.

How to make friends and influence people: They were greeted by a group of rednecks

Hillbillies: But they did not get the most welcoming of receptions, even from Chas Bono

Not-so-cuddly: Matt is convinced they are unhappy to see an interracial couple

They explained that the city no longer felt safe and they needed to get out so they moved back east where Matt grew up in North Carolina.

‘It was so quiet and wonderful and calm and we realized that at the end of the day we are not city folks,’ said Matt.

The couple were then shown out in the pine forests on a picnic where they found an old deserted farm house built in 1792.

The 'real' couple: Their story was told documentary style by actors pretending to be the pair

Ahem: But the mansion soon began to look decidedly spooky once they moved in

‘I felt like it was meant to be, like the universe wanted us to be there at that moment,’ said Matt and the couple bought it the next day at auction, beating out some unhappy locals.

‘I loved it and I loved him but form the very first moment I felt danger there,’ said Shelby as a dirt covered shirtless person was seen in the woods watching them.

As the couple had sex in the house they began to hear strange and disturbing noises and knocking on the door.

Things that go bump in the night: The pair indulge in a steamy sex session in their new home

Disturbance: But they are interrupted when they hear unusual noises 

Passion killer: They find it impossible to keep going with the weird happenings

‘What the hell was that? Please don;t go down there,’ Shelly begged.

Matt sent out and found trash cans destroyed, putting it at first down to bears and raccoons.

But Matt soon decided that it was neighbors prejudiced towards the mixed-race couple and possibly the hillbilly whom they had outbid at the auction.

‘We ran away once we were not going to be victims again,’ said Shelby.

Later she was sat in the dining room when a storm blew through and when she investigated it found that it was raining teeth.

Don't go: Cuba Gooding Jr's character hops out of his bed and decides to explore

Specs appeal: But he makes sure he dons his glasses so he can see what he is doing

Animal antics? Matt soon changes his opinion that bears and raccoons were on the rampage

But when she tried to show Matt what had happened the teeth had disappeared.

‘I know what I saw it was nice ice, it was human teeth falling, they were everywhere,’ she explained.

‘I felt pretty foolish, I mean teeth do not fall from the sky,’ she admitted after.

Matt had to go on the road for work and Shelby said she needed the alone time away from ‘suffocating and extra-protective’ Matt.

As she cooked alone in the kitchen the window shutters began to slam closed and as she walked around she saw a pair of women cross in front of her before disappearing.

Doing it themselves: The thrifty couple save some cash by doing their own painting

Relaxing: She later decides to have a nice soak to get her strength back

Disturbance: But she soon gets an uneasy feeling as she enjoys the warm water

Shelby then got into the hot tub with a glass of wine and as she relaxed she was attacked by mysterious figures holding pitchforks and torches who forced her under.

Matt rushed back from Raleigh and found the police skeptical of Shelby’s claims as Matt blamed the ‘ZZ Top wannabes.’

When Matt said they needed protection the officer told him: ‘Get a gun.’

Shelby told Matt she did not know if it was the hillbillies but was adamant about what had happened to her.

‘I wasn’t imagining things. Do you think I was lying to you?’ she asked him.

Having a smashing time: She seems to get pulled under the surface

Mean cuisine: She starts to cook in the spooky abode to keep herself occupied

Too much is at steak: But Shelby gets scared after a knife appears impaled in a cutlet

Giving her a piece of her mind: She chastises Matt's drug addict sister Lee when she discovers she had moved the blade

‘I felt so guilty, I could not tell Matt the truth, I did not want to live there,’ Shelby told the cameras.

Matt then found a bloodied and skinned hog on the doorstep and buried it without telling Shelby.

‘It was proof to me that the white trash gang was trying to scare us away,’ he said.

Matt’s sister Lee, played by Angela Bassett, came to stay with Shelby when Matt went away on business to protect her.

Top cop: In her backstory she is shown cornering a serial rapist after a car chase

Going out with a bang: But her prey decides to blow his own head off rather than be caught

Rumbled: But her career is halted after a colleague finds she has been taking drugs

It was revealed she got hurt on the job as a cop and ended up addicted to pain killers.

Lee, who has a strained relationship with Shelby, lost her job when she chased a serial rapist while on the medication and watched as he shot himself in front of her.

Her addiction was uncovered and her marriage crumbled and she lost custody of her daughter.

Shelby and Lee cooked in the kitchen Lee asked her to not drink wine as she was struggling to stay sober but vowed to do so to ‘protect you from the wild man in the woods.’

Where's your tool? Lee grabbed a hefty spanner after hearing strange noises 

Not again: They discover the strange noises coming from the video recorder and TV combo

In need of some oinkment: A man with a pig on his head emerges in the uncanny clip

‘I may not have my badge but momma is still packing,’ Lee told her as she admitted she did not believe the stories Shelby was telling and put it down to her wanting to move back to Los Angeles.

It did not take long for Lee to start hearing and seeing things as a wine bottled rolled into her bedroom.

She confronted her about it and Shelby told her she had nothing to do with it. 

Video nasty: Matt is convinced the racist rednecks are playing tricks on them

Copping out: Lee is quiet as her brother unleashes his angry tirade

Matt then got an alert on his phone and saw a mob approaching the house carrying flaming torches and bloody knives.

‘When a mob shows up at your house in the middle of the night with torches they are not welcoming you to the neighborhood,’ said Matt.

As the women argued they heard a door creak open and they made their way down to the basement where they heard voices.

Down in the basement unnamed Lee grabbed a tool and they eventually found a TV playing a home movie with the same scary noises Shelby had heard.

A woman with drive: She decides to flee the house due to the scary happenings

Roadkill: A strange woman is wandering on the road as Shelby drives

Cracked: She hits the woman and her windshield is badly damaged

On the video they saw a figure with a pig’s head as the lights went out in the basement and above them they could hear people moving about.

‘We were down there for 20 or 30 minutes but it felt like forever,’ Shelby said.

When the pair emerged from the basement they found hundreds of stick figures hung up around the house.

When Matt got home they watched the video again and he chalked it up to ‘those rednecks trying to get us to leave.’

Responsible driver: She soon pulls over so she can assess the damage

Unbelievable: She cannot believe her eyes when she emerges from her vehicle

And off she goes: Then sees her victim just wandering along into the night

Shelby told him that she wanted to leave and if the neighbors wanted the house they should have it.

When Matt told her they were staying Shelby got into the truck and drove away.

‘At the time it made all the sense in the world. Humans respond to fear in two simple ways, fight or flight, there is no shame in getting the hell out of the way,’ said Shelby.

Uh oh: As she explores on foot she discovers a scary clearing

Open-mouthed: She is shocked when she stares into the trees

Strawman argument: And sees strange effigees made of straw hanging by strings

As she answered a call from Matt, Shelby drove the truck straight into a woman and when she jumped out with a torch to find her the woman walked off with a knife in her hand.

‘I did not understand what happened, I still don’t,’ said Shelby.

She followed the woman into the forest but could find no sign of her and inevitably got lost in the trees.

Shaken and stirred: She puts her hand over her mouth in thinly veiled terror

Calm before the storm: But if she thought that was terrifying she was soon to get a shock

Losing his head: For a man with part of his skull missing then walks towards her

Must affect his coordination: And he ends up falling onto the floor right in front of her

As she tried to find her way back to the truck Shelby saw more of the stick figures suspended form trees.

She tripped and fell and when she looked up the trees themselves seemed to be moving.

Again she tried to run but she found herself surrounded by bloody figures carrying flaming torches with one staggering straight for her.

The episode ended with Shelby screaming in terror as the man fell at her feet.

Perfect ending: In true horror style as Shelby screams in terror

Tree of life: The show ends by showing this mysterious new symbol