The 1897 Flashback - Baptism of Fire (April-August 1969)
At the Old House, gypsy Magda Rakosi seeks the hiding place of the Collins family jewels in her crystal ball. Seeing the image of a chained coffin, she sends her husband Sandor to the cemetery. When he opens the coffin, a ringed hand grabs him. Barnabas has left his body in the present and traveled back to 1897, inhabiting his body then. But since he wasn't cured until 1968, he is a vampire again. He makes Sandor his slave, and using him to control Magda, Barnabas moves into the Old House.
Elderly Edith Collins' health is failing. Her grandchildren, Judith, Edward, Quentin and Carl, all try to learn the family secret from her. But Edith, knowing that a vampire is chained in the family mausoleum, dies before passing on the secret after meeting the new "cousin from England". Having had trouble with the rest of the family, Barnabas has Sandor rewrite Edith's will so that Judith inherits everything.
Quentin and family lawyer Evan Hanley see Barnabas as a threat, and try to conjure a spirit to deal with him. They are surprised when a laughing woman emerges from the flames. But no one is more surprised than Barnabas when she confronts him - its Angelique. Needing to marry to get out of her service to Diabolos, she is upset at having to deal with yet another "Josette", in the form of governess Rachel Drummond. Trying to get rid of her using witchcraft, Angelique fails when she is caught by servant Dirk Wilkins. When Quentin is stabbed by his insane wife Jenny, Angelique revives him at Barnabas' urging. But she sends his spirit into Edward's son Jamison, bringing his body back as a zombie to menace the hapless Rachel. Though Barnabas and Magda fail to restore Quentin to normal, Reverend Gregory Trask apparently succeeds, though really Angelique does it.
Rachel is worried about the cruelty Jameson and his sister Nora will suffer at the hands of the Trasks at their school Worthington Hall where she used to work. Luckily, their mother, Laura appears to take them away. But Edward is not happy. Laura ran off with Quentin months ago, and he wants her to leave. She refuses, but realizes Quentin will be a problem when he reveals he saw her die on a flaming pyre in Egypt. She causes him to collapse in fiery pain. Once more he revived by Angelique when Barnabas agrees to marry her. Quentin and Evan try to extinguish her life force, but Ra, the Sun God, saves her, sending Dirk to give her the warmth she needs. She finds another obstacle to her plans from Barnabas, who recognizes him as his uncle Jeremiah's first wife and an immortal phoenix. Laura gets hold of Ben Stokes' diary and learns that Barnabas is a vampire. She tries to expose him, but Barnabas intercepts her letter to Judith, and she makes a powerful enemy of Angelique. Though Laura thinks she destroys Angelique, it is only a doppelganger. When Laura tries to take her children up in flames with her, Angelique's magic causes Laura to show her true age, scaring the children away from her. Laura disappears for good.
Meanwhile, Magda finds out that Jenny is locked away at Collinwood and reveals a secret - Jenny is her sister. Jenny overhears Quentin planning to run off with his lover, maid Beth Chavez, and attacks them. Quentin accidentally kills her in self-defense. Magda seeks revenge on Quentin, placing the Curse of the Wolf on him and his male descendants. That night, Quentin becomes a werewolf.
Dirk still knows Barnabas' secret. After he tells Jamison, Barnabas kills him, but the damage is done. Soon Edward becomes aware that a vampire is on the loose. But now Dirk rises as a vampire, and Barnabas sets Edward on his trail. After Dirk attacks Rachel's boyfriend Tim Shaw and Judith, and kills Carl's fiancee, cockney showgirl Pansy Faye and Rachel, Edward stakes Dirk, and assumes the vampire threat to be over.
Gregory Trask has been getting closer to Judith. Blackmailing Evan, he uses magic to make Tim poison his wife Minerva. Though forced to absolve Tim of Minerva's death, he is now free to marry Judith - and her money. But Evan is not able to help Quentin be rid of the werewolf curse. Though when Magda finds out about Quentin and Jenny's children, she is eager that her kin not carry the curse. Unable to undo her own magic, Magda and Sandor go in search of someone who can cure a werewolf.
The need to flesh out Quentin Collins as a three-dimensional character made the writers decide it was a good time "to try the time travel schtick again." Finally viewers would hear Selby speak. Though eagerly anticipated by fans, Selby himself wasn't nearly as excited. He was afraid that his soft West Virginian accent wouldn't fit in with the residents of Collinsport, and he would be fired. He wasn't. Within two months of Quentin speaking his first words, Dark Shadows was the top-rated daytime program on ABC.
The storyline itself also brought in viewers. Fast-paced, with several interesting subplots, including the return of Laura the Phoenix (David's mother in the present. Remember her?), all served to keep DS fans on the edge of their seats. (Though it was unfortunate that no one from the present was around to recognize Laura. The idea that she was Jeremiah's first wife was really a stretch.) Other characters, such as Grayson Hall's portrayal of the wild-tempered gypsy Magda, were just plain fun to watch. But another original star was getting restless. Kathryn Leigh Scott, stuck once again in the helpless ingenue role, wanted a change. Perhaps prompted by Moltke and Crothers' earlier departures, they decided to give it to her. So Rachel, in a scene that was tender and touching, dies in the arms of her love. But in a couple of months, Kathryn would be back - in a role that was a total departure for her.
In fact, the 1897 storyline was so complex that several people would be required to play more than one role. And with others to carry the story, and DS safely at the top of the ratings, Frid wanted a vacation. The higher-ups knew he deserved it, and now it was possible, but the "how" was difficult. They would have to write something into the plot to explain Barnabas' disappearance. With a flair for the dramatic, the writing staff figured out how to give Jonathan Frid his vacation: Barnabas Collins would die.
Credits and characters of Story 9
Portrait Gallery for Story 9