The case of the Lady of the Dunes will factor into the season somehow.
Part of the season is confirmed to take place in Provincetown, Massachusetts as of the season trailer. The show is well-known for using historical cases as either seminal or background details (such as the Black Dahlia and the Roanoke Colony), so using the Lady of the Dunes cold case (where an unidentified woman was found murdered and dismembered on a Provincetown beach in 1974) wouldn’t be unusual for this show. A shot from one of the trailers appears to show a man and a dog finding a pair of severed feet on a beach - similar to how that unidentified victim was found.- Jossed. This case has nothing to do with the season's plot.
The seasons are not as distinct as the creators claim
Near the end of Red Tide, elements of alien presences will be seen, but not elaborated on. Then in Death Valley, evidence of the Pale Persons will show up halfway through. By the final few episodes it will be revealed that both features have been two sides of the same story.- Alternatively, both parts will be completely distinct and unrelated, keeping in line with actual double features of the past rarely bearing any similarity or relationship to one another.
Red Tide is a take on The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Pale Persons are Deep One spawn who have reached maturity, and the creatives who come to Provincetown are actually drawn there by their heritage. The so-called inspiration they receive is a side-effect of transforming into a fish person. It could also explain why Harry and his daughter are effected by it, but Doris is seemingly not.- Jossed. The inspiration is actually just unlocking their true potential via a pill called The Muse, which has the side-effect of giving them vampiric tendencies. Harry and Alma are affected because they took the pill. Doris was not because she had not. Even after taking the pill, she does not get the inspiration, as she had no potential to unlock. She did however transform into a Pale One, a more Orlokian vampiric being.
Death Valley isn't what it appears to be
In actuality, it isn't the story of how aliens impacted American history, but the story of a conspiracy theorist rewriting reality somehow. Think about it; Almost every single popular conspiracy is being presented as "truth", from the moon landing being faked by Kubrick to Marilyn Monroe having been assassinated to Steve Jobs still being alive. At this rate, Obama will drop his fake American accent to reveal a Kenyan one as a pentagram of fire forms around him, the Olsen "twins" will be revealed to be one person who just moves at super speed, and we'll be seeing George Soros and Tom Hanks drinking blood out of goblets made of baby skulls. This is because it's all the ramblings of a conspiracy addicted weirdo that are somehow being made real. Our poor modern day protagonists will discover this, kill the guy, and the world will become "normal" (well, by AHS standards anyway) again.