The Westfield High Massacre from AHS vs. the Columbine High School Massacre
An answer for the an anon: I rewatched the whole first season of American Horror Story twice, writing down everything I felt was similar. Here is everything I found.
**If you haven’t watched AHS, Tate Langdon, one of the main characters in that season portrayed by Evan Peters, opened fire in his high school in a fictional event known as the Westfield High Massacre. The director purposefully based this event off of the Columbine High School Massacre. There are just too many coincidences.
To start off, in the Westfield High Massacre, 15 students died. In the Columbine Massacre, 15 people died in total, including the shooters.
Both of the shootings took place in their high school’s library, with an eerily similar layout, but not exactly the same. (video of behind the scenes, fast forward to about 2:50)
Both took place in the 1990’s. However, Westfield took place in 1994 while Columbine happened in 1999.
The Columbine Massacre took place between 11:19 am and 12:08 pm. From one of Tate’s flashbacks or fantasies, he was holding a gun in his school at 11:30 am.
They never stated how many surviving victims there were in the show, but from both shootings, victims were left permanently handicapped with wheelchairs. In Westfield, there was only one we know of, the librarian Mr. Carmichael. He was a witness in the library. In Columbine, Richard Castaldo and Anne Marie Hochhalter were permanently paralyzed. However, Richard and Anne Marie were students while Mr. Carmichael worked for the school. Richard was sitting outside with the first victim of Columbine Rachel Scott for lunch, and the only witness of her death.
There are plaques for all victims in both libraries.
Similarly with the shooters, who wrote very descriptive diaries and several unreleased videos, Tate had fantasies about shooting his school and in general, killing people.
Tate took prescribed pills, specifically Lexapro, just like Eric Harris from Columbine took Luvox. They both didn’t take it as prescribed. Tate took them too much, but Eric didn’t take them enough. However, Harris did not have any drugs in his system during the shooting. Tate did.
They both planned out what they were going to wear. Tate planned on wearing a black hoodie, grim reaper makeup, hair slicked back with a Prussian blue American Civil War Union soldier coat. However, the day of the shooting, he only wore a black tee shirt and the soldier coat, without the makeup and slicked back hair. The coat is a very similar trait between both shootings. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold both had on a black trenchcoat, something they were commonly seen wearing. This is a very controversial subject for Columbine because of the Trenchcoat Mafia, something at the time people believed E&D were a part of that contributed to the massacre. This is Eric’s planned outfit. This is Dylan’s. Both Eric and Dylan ended up changing their planned outfits by taking off their trench coats during the massacre.
Later on, when Tate realized he murdered innocent people, he was very upset and very confused. It looked almost as if he didn’t even know what he was doing. Tate kept asking himself why, because he simply did not know. This is what people still to this day have been wondering about Columbine; why? We seriously don’t know the exact reason, only theories and educated guesses. I think Eric and Dylan would be asking themselves the same thing if they were alive today. Judy Brown, the mother of Brooks Brown who was a very close friend to Eric and Dylan, once said something along the lines of that Eric and Dylan didn’t really know exactly what they were doing and how much of an impact they would create. They were brainwashed.
Tate’s fantasies and feelings began two years prior, similar to Eric and Dylan.
When Stephanie, a fictional victim from Westfield, was hiding behind a bookshelf, Tate tried to scare her by pushing books next to her, that revealed her location which to her death. Eric and Dylan did this too, such saying “peek-a-boo,” banging on the desks above people, etc. Tate taunted and created fear too by whistling and by the eery sounds of his boots pacing around the library.
Some families disappeared after the shooting, similar to some Columbine families who moved out of Littleton or ran away for a bit.
At first, people didn’t realize there was a shooter. Both Kevin Gedman from AHS and Patty Nielson and Dave Sanders from Columbine had to alert people and tell them to seek shelter. Everyone from Columbine didn’t suspect it was a real shooting at first. Most thought it was a senior prank, which was a frequent ritual towards the end of the year.
Eric and Dylan didn’t know most of their victims, neither did Tate.
Chloe, another fictional victim from Westfield, said once “I should been 34 years old. and married, with babies.” The victims today would most likely have had a family of their own and would’ve been around that age too.
Tate was believed to have been targeting the jocks, but shot at random. Eric and Dylan were at first presumed to have been targeting jocks and people with white baseball caps, but really ended up shooting at random too.
Ben Harmon from AHS tried warning the police about Tate and how he may be a possible harm to the people around him. He never got through to the police. Brooks Brown’s father Randy Brown contacted the police, filing reports for Eric Harris for similar issues. However, the police never acted upon his warnings and ultimately ignored him.
When Violet visited the library to ask Mr. Carmichael a few questions, he said “I get four or five of you sickos a year. Usually freshmen.” ‘Columbiners’ visit Columbine High School too.
Both used pump action shotguns.
**If you watch the episode “Piggy Piggy” from season 1 of AHS at around 6:01, you see Violet researching about the WHM on the internet. There are so many Columbine references during this scene because the search results are actual search results for Columbine. Here are all visual articles from Violet’s research:
“Tuesday at Westfield High…”
The first one was based on the Wikipedia article for the Columbine High School massacre. “..that occurred on Tuesday on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County in the American state of Colorado.”
“They weren’t goths or loners. The criminals who killed 15 and themselves at a suburban Los Angeles Westfield High…”
This is from the USA Today article for the 10 year anniversary. The actual words were “The two teenagers who killed 13 people and themselves at suburban Denver’s Columbine High School…”
“Westfield wasn’t about jocks, Goths or Trenchcoat Mafia. Gripping LA Tribune … Westfield myths & reveals killers’ motives.”
This line was from an online review on Dave Cullen’s book about columbine by himself. He states “Columbine wasn’t about jocks, Goths or Trenchcoat Mafia. Gripping NY Times bestseller debunks Columbine myths & reveals killers’ motives…”
Also, one search from AHS said “from an unincorporated and suburban part of LA…” Littleton is both suburban and unincorporated. Notice how the articles talk about more than one shooter. These are actual screenshots from AHS.
Quotes from AHS, by both the victims and Tate, that relate to Columbine.
“I know what’s coming and I know no one can stop me, not even myself.”
“I kill people I like. Some people beg for their life. I don’t feel sad. I don’t feel anything.”
“No, now we should shoot him right between the eyes.”
Just like Daniel Mauser from Columbine.
The victims became famous posthumously. Columbine shocked the nation. Their images appeared over hundreds of news and tv programs like Oprah, newspaper, magazines, they were everywhere.
“We have some questions for you.”
We still are unclear about the motives of the shooters from Columbine. They answered most of our unanswered questions in videotapes they assumed would be released to the public. However only the family members of the victims were able to see the Basement Tapes. They were ordered to be released to the public, but out of fear for copycats, the JeffCo police station in Littleton destroyed the tapes.
“You owe us an explanation.”
“Why did you target the jocks? I didn’t even do anything to you.”
“I could have been valedictorian.”
Lauren Townsend, a victim of Columbine, would have been the valedictorian of the senior class.
“He could’ve been something, and you ruined all that potential.”
This goes for all victims. Each one had big dreams, like going in the navy, becoming an actress, producing records. They were just starting their lives.
“We want to know why. You owe us that.”
Eric and Dylan yelled and harassed their victims before they shot them. Tate appears to not speak to anyone before killing them.
Tate didn’t commit suicide himself at the school like Eric and Dylan did. Instead, he committed suicide by cops at his home.
Tate was the only shooter.
The teacher involved did not die, as being compared to Dave Sanders.
Also, the teacher wasn’t really seen as a hero while Sanders was.
Tate was high on cocaine during the shooting. Neither Eric or Dylan had any traces of drugs or alcohol in their systems.
The Victims of Westfield High
Kyle was one of the victims of the WHM. He was a star football player and a quarterback who even had a scholarship for Georgia Tech. A very small similarity is several victims from CHS played football (Isaiah Shoels and Matt Kechter) and almost all seniors had planned to go to college. Kyle Greenwell was shot in between his eyes and tried to stop Tate, just like Daniel Mauser, who was pushed a chair at one of the shooters for defense, and was shot between the eyes as a result. Kyle was the fourth to be killed in the library.
Amir Stanley:
Amir Stanley was on the computers when the shots began, just like Kyle Velasquez. Amir was the third person killed in the library, also, just like how Kyle Velasquez was the third killed in the whole shooting. Tate shot Amir in the jaw, just like one of the surviving victims from the massacre, Lance Kirklin. Lance went through multiple reconstruction surgeries for the damage to his jaw.
Chloe Stapleton:
Chloe was a cheerleader for the Westfield High Wolverines. At the time of her death, she was in the library studying with Kyle Greenwell. She was the fifth and last to be shot by Tate, making her the last victim in the library. One small connection was when she was shot, she urinated due to her fear. One statement from a person who visited the library after the shooting said that they found feces by one of the library tables.
Stephanie Boggs:
Stephanie was the first to be killed in the library. When Stephanie met Tate on the beach as a ghost, she claimed that Tate asked her if she believed in God. She admits there that she had lied when she said yes, she was actually agnostic or atheist. However, in the real shooting, Tate never asked her. He never spoke to anyone before he killed them. A major Columbine reference was made here. Cassie Bernall was believed to have been asked if she believed in God and answered yes before being shot. In reality, this never happened. Valeen Schnurr had been asked this question. Also, Stephanie apparently was reading a book on witchcraft. Before Cassie was a christian, she practiced witchcraft.
Kevin Gedman:
Kevin is seen as a punk with a leather jacket. He was the second to be killed in the library. He ran into the library, alerting the students there was a shooting. At that time, Kevin was covered in the blood of someone else. Similar to CHS, Patty Nielson, a teacher, ran into the library telling everyone to get under the tables.
