Camp Redwood (American Horror Story)

In 1970, three camp counselors are about to have a threesome in a cabin but one of the female counselors hears jingling. A mysterious figure enters, and the trio are stabbed to death. As the scene opens more widely, it reveals the sleeping campers have also been killed.

In 1984, Xavier Plympton leads an aerobics class for Montana Duke, Ray Powell, Chet Clancy, and Brooke Thompson. Xavier describes the terror that the Night Stalker is wreaking on Los Angeles and says he is escaping to the re-opening Camp Redwood to avoid the murders. The others are convinced to join him as counselors at the camp. Brooke declines at first but relents after she is assaulted in her home by a man claiming to be the Night Stalker. The next morning, the group goes on a road trip to Camp Redwood. At a rest stop, the gas station attendant, Ed, warns the group that they are going to die; after discovering they are headed to the camp. The group's vehicle hits a man lying in the road. The group agrees to take him with them to get him medical attention.

The camp's owner, Margaret Booth, instructs them to take the injured man to the infirmary, where the camp's nurse, Rita, tends to him. Margaret takes the counselors on a tour and explains the rules. They encounter Chef Bertie Clifford, an original camp counselor who volunteered to re-open the camp with Margaret. That night, the counselors gather around a fire, and Rita tells them of the incident that closed the camp 14 years before. The accused killer was Benjamin Richter, aka Mr. Jingles, a Vietnam veteran who was discharged dishonorably. Rita claims there were 10 victims, but Margaret approaches and corrects her that there were only nine; she was the sole survivor. She was the star witness at Jingles' trial, and he was sent to a mental institution. Brooke finds the amnesiac man awake and guides him back to bed. He is confused about the camp reopening and warns her that something bad is going to happen. Trevor Kirchner, the activities director, arrives in their cabin. Later, he and Montana begin a sexual encounter in the lake but are interrupted when Montana sees approaching car headlights at the edge of the lake.

At a facility for the criminally insane, Dr. Hopple is informed that Richter has escaped. Three hours earlier, Richter, in his cell, lured in an orderly, whom he strangled to death. Hopple finds a newspaper clipping in the cell announcing the reopening of the camp. The same gas station attendant from earlier, Ed, is repairing a car from underneath, and Richter crushes him by lowering the jacks. Richter takes his truck and drives to the camp. In the infirmary, Brooke finds the amnesiac man impaled on a hook and is pursued by Richter. She reaches the others, but they do not believe her; the hiker's body is missing when they investigate. Unable to sleep, Brooke hears the pay phone ringing (despite the hiker having said earlier the lines were down). She answers it and hears the jingling of keys, while being observed by the Night Stalker from afar.