Ryan Murphy Talks New FX Show American Horror Story: Everyone Was Freaked Out by the Creature

FX has ordered Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story to series, the network announced Monday.
So what is Horror's story? Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott), a therapist, and his wife Vivien (Connie Britton) move to San Francisco for a fresh start after Ben makes a terrible mistake that fractures his family. But their new house ain't exactly home sweet home.

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American Horror Story is Murphy's first series project since Glee. He tells tells TVGuide.com that the new show is a "very different animal" from the Fox musical dramedy. "I think it couldbe a great show because I've never seen it before," he says. "It's a horror genre show, but it's also about something much more particular, which is the things in American society right now that scare us.

"In the writers room, that is the directive. We talk about things that we are personally terrified of, and it can be all different levels of things," Murphy continues. "It's a really cool, interesting zeitgeist show that is about fears, and I love it."

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Thirteen episodes will premiere in October. Production on the show, , begins July 27 in Los Angeles.

And how's this for a tease? Specific details about the pilot are being kept under wraps, but it does feature a supernatural being, of sorts. "What do you think the thing in the basement is? That's my favorite question and I get so many great answers because I know what it is. He's my little favorite creature."

One more hint: Apparently, this creature is based on a real thing, and Murphy had a very specific vision for it. "I knew what he was wearing, I knew everything to a T about what that thing looked like." he says. "It's based on a real thing! When we were shooting, everyone was freaked out by it, even the actors. We had a lot of insomnia. The weird thing is we also had a lot of accidents during the shooting. The house that we are shooting in is supposedly possessed — which I knew when I signed on for it. That was an added benefit."

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American Horror Story also stars Taissa Farmiga, Jessica Lange (in her first series role), Evan Peters and Denis O'Hare. Guest stars for the series include Frances Conroy and Alexandra Breckenridge.

Murphy and Glee's Brad Falchuk wrote the pilot, which was directed by Murphy. They will executive produce along with Dante Di Loreto.