A family's dark secrets connected to a "cursed" lake resurface after a major death in American Horror Stories season 2, episode 8's ending.
WARNING! This post contains SPOILERS for American Horror Stories season 2, episode 8! The twist ending of American Horror Stories season 2, episode 8, “Lake,” sees a family tragedy uncover their own dark history. Starring Clueless’ Alicia Silverstone and AHS: Murder House's Teddy Sears, American Horror Stories season 2, episode 8’s cast and characters embark on a chilling mystery for the season finale. As the characters try to find out why their son and brother Jake inexplicably drowned in a local lake, they’re presented with two major twists involving zombies and murder cover-ups.
While out on the lake looking for remnants of a sunken town, Jake is mysteriously pulled underwater and drowned, with his older sister, Finn, looking on horrified. Following Jake’s death, Finn and their mom Erin begin having nightmares and visions imploring them to find him, although their dad Jeffrey refuses to support their concerns. Erin and Finn set off on a mission to find Jake’s body in the lake, which leads them to discover three dead bodies chained to a cement block – but when the local authorities send in divers, they can’t find any proof of such corpses. By the end of American Horror Stories’ season 2 finale, Erin and Finn realize that Jeffrey’s family was responsible for the chained corpses when the lake was first formed.
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The true reason for Jake’s death is discovered to be based on the eternal need for revenge and justice, as the family has been covering up their ancestor’s money-making murders for several generations. American Horror Stories’ season 2 "Lake” ending reveals that dark secrets always come back to haunt those involved, even if that means a son suffering from the sins of his father. Despite the lake finally getting the victim they always wanted, American Horror Stories season 2, episode 8’s zombie twist leaves plenty of unanswered questions about the family.
At the end of American Horror Stories’ “Lake,” Erin and Finn discover that businessman Wrede Prescott chained up several Boone family members to a block because they were protesting the dam he wanted to build. A flashback reveals that Wrede left them chained there as the dam filled and the lake formed, with the Boones’ descendants having tried desperately to destroy the dam for nearly 90 years since. However, their efforts are always stopped by Spengler and Webber, the law firm where Wrede Prescott's trust is held in order to defend the dam.
It’s then revealed that Jake’s dad, Jeffrey, is the leading lawyer on this case and is a Prescott on his mother’s side, with the American Horror Stories season 2 character explaining that all of their family wealth comes from Wrede Prescott’s dam. Moments later, the lights go out of their house as zombies emerge from the lake, taking Jeffrey back underwater with them. As Erin and Finn come to terms with Jeffrey’s family's crimes and the true nature of the lake, they decide that the only way to stop the horrors is to tell the world the truth about the Prescotts.
Erin realizes that the underwater zombies killed Jake as a way to bring Jeffrey to the lake and finally take their revenge on the Prescott family. Jeffrey was seemingly the last descendant of the Prescotts who was upholding their interests in the dam and protecting their century-old secrets, with his career as a lawyer preventing the victims of the lake from getting the justice they deserve after so long. By taking AHS: Murder House actor Teddy Sears' character and drowning him just as the Prescott family had done to them so many years ago, the Boones and American Horror Stories season 2’s other victims are putting an end to the Prescott line that benefits from and continues to cover up their ancestors’ crimes.
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Now that Jeffrey is dead, the litigation against the Boones and those who want to destroy the dam to reveal the truth likely won’t be as strong. Either way, there won’t be any further Prescotts benefiting from Wrede’s murders, suggesting the drowned souls can finally be put to rest. This may also be why Jake, specifically, was killed before Jeffrey, as he may have grown up to continue the family’s interest in the dam and cover up their crimes.
American Horror Stories season 2, episode 8’s ending reveals that the mysterious lake in Ryan Murphy's TV show wanted to take Jeffrey and Jake because they have Prescott blood, but so does Finn. Despite Finn also swimming in the lake alongside Jake, she was never taken, and when the zombies came to collect Jeffrey, they still left Finn alone. The reason why the American Horror Story spinoff’s zombies left Finn is most likely that she was dedicated to revealing the truth about her family’s crimes, and wouldn’t continue their wrongful control of the area for further generations. Instead, Finn aptly ends the Prescott dynasty in the town as she helps her mom get justice for the hundreds of people who died in the lake.
About halfway through the American Horror Story spinoff episode, Erin researches the history of Lake Prescott after Jake’s arm reached out at her through the bathtub. Finn explains that hundreds of people have inexplicably died in that lake over the years, with many assuming that the body of water is cursed. Since the first bodies were the unresting victims of Wrede Prescott, it seems the Boone zombies had been killing those in the lake to try to either get it drained or bring the Prescotts there to exact their revenge. The dam was built nearly 90 years before the timeline of “Lake,” so the zombies would have been causing the deaths of multiple people every year to try to get the Prescotts to return to the scene of their crime. It doesn’t seem there was a curse per se, but the ghosts of chained men and the angry spirits of those murdered in the lake were certainly causing terror in the waters.
The big twist in American Horror Stories season 2, episode 8’s ending reveals that Jeffrey has been protecting the Prescotts’ interests because he is a Prescott himself. Throughout “Lake,” Jeffrey tries to keep Erin and Finn away from the area and even puts Finn in a mental health clinic because of her insistence that something reached out and pulled Jake to his death. Jeffrey had also been distant since Jake’s death and was obsessive over his work, which now suggests that he had been fighting even harder to protect the dam after yet another death in the lake.
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Considering Jeffrey was in charge of legally defending their family name, it’s more than likely that he understood the truth of Wrede Prescott’s crimes. Jeffrey stated that Wrede built this town from nothing and that everything they have they owe to him, indicating the real reason they needed to keep the dam from being drained was passed onto the Prescotts who worked for the law firm that Wrede endowed. The American Horror Stories character mentions that turning the town into a thriving destination was Wrede Prescott’s legacy, so he was tasked with ensuring this legacy prevailed and not the one that labeled Wrede and all Prescotts as murderers.
The lake left Finn and Erin alive in American Horror Stories’ “Lake” ending, seemingly because the zombies understood that they would reveal the truth about the Prescott family. Alicia Silverstone’s AHS character explains that even if the town doesn’t believe them, the truth will come out as the water levels become lower and the corpses resurface. With both Jake and Jeffrey dead and the Prescott name set to be destroyed in the FX on Hulu series, Erin and Finn are apt to lose the family fortune as they bring justice to the hundreds of victims of the lake. It’s also possible that Erin and Finn will be arrested for having a part in Jeffrey’s death after American Horror Stories season 2, episode 8’s ending, as it would be inexplicable that he walked into the lake and drowned so quickly after Jake’s own mysterious death. But, as Erin mentions, the truth will come to light once the lake is drained or dries up – even if nobody wants to believe it.
Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies. Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI's 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.