A professor of parapsychology at Dartmouth College, Dr. Peter Guthrie was a very scientific man, with a skepticism born of the need to be objective about the phenomena he investigated. It was early in 1967 that he received a call from an acquaintance of many years, lawyer Frank Garner. Frank told him of several strange occurrences at a house called Collinwood in Collinsport, Maine. Most puzzling was the unexplained illness of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, who seemed to have fallen into a deep coma for no apparent reason. Intrigued by Frank's story, Peter agreed to come to Collinwood and investigate.
Frank had stressed to Peter need for discretion, so he and governess Victoria Winters agreed to say he was a psychologist specializing in psychosomatic illnesses. Upon examining Liz Stoddard, he realized she was in deep trance state, probably induced on a psychic level. Dr. Guthrie convinced her daughter Carolyn to move her mother as far as possible from whatever caused her trance, in spite of Liz's desire to stay at Collinwood. Mrs. Stoddard was moved to a hospital in Boston.
Knowing what was wrong with Elizabeth was a long way from curing it, however. To do that, he needed to discover what had caused her trance. Dr. Guthrie questioned the family with Carolyn's permission. Vicki and Carolyn told him what they could, but Roger Collins took his questions as meddling and refused to answer any of them. The information he was able to collect started to form an interesting pattern; the center of the strange occurrences seemed to be young David Collins.
David enjoyed talking about his experiences, so Guthrie learned quite a bit from him, particularly about the ghost of Josette Collins. At first he thought it might just be the boy's imagination, but Vicki assured him she had also seen Josette. Peter even went to the Old House with David in hopes of seeing the protective spirit. The doctor didn't see anything, but David did: a vision of a portrait of him and his mother in flames. Before Peter could find out more, however, Roger showed up and warned him to stay away from the boy.
The mention of the portrait led Dr. Guthrie to the artist of the original painting, Sam Evans. He was surprised to learn that Sam had painted the picture of Laura Collins almost against his will. Something had compelled him to paint it, though doing so frightened him. Worse, Sam had burned his hands so badly he couldn't paint at all, and they would not heal. Everyone thought he had fallen asleep while smoking, but Sam told Guthrie he thought Laura was responsible because of the mysterious portrait.
So Dr. Guthrie started to focus his attention on Laura. Several things pointed her involvement in what was happening at Collinwood: the strange painting, the odd dreams David was having about his mother, and Vicki's revelation that were had been with Liz just prior to her trance. But she was openly hostile to Guthrie's investigation, dodging his questions and offering up thinly veiled threats. It was clear that she would not tell the good doctor anything.
Yet it became increasingly obvious that one person was trying to say something: Josette Collins. The ghost had led Vicki to Eagle Hill Cemetery, where she found the graves of Laura Murdoch Stockbridge and Laura Murdoch Radcliffe, apparent ancestors of Laura Murdoch Collins. Guthrie was also convinced that Josette was the cause of David's frightening dreams and Sam's compulsion to paint Laura's portrait. But unable to interpret her mysterious message, Dr. Guthrie was able to convince Carolyn to let him conduct a séance. Vicki and Carolyn agreed to cooperate, but Roger's participation required the doctor's promise to leave Collinwood for good if the séance failed. He also invited Laura to join them, but she refused.
With young David tucked safely in bed, Peter began the séance in the drawing room at Collinwood. Before anything could happen, Laura, who said she had changed her mind, interrupted them. Making room for her at the table, they began again. Suddenly, Vicki went into a trance and began screaming in French. Dr. Guthrie understood some of what she said, but it came so fast he was unable to make it all out before Vicki collapsed agony; only that it was something about fire.
But the resourceful parapsychologist had an ace in the hole. He had tape-recorded the séance, and set about transcribing the words of Josette. Unfortunately, the tape was mysteriously ruined, the words replaced by the sound of crackling fire. It did not escape Guthrie's attention that it happened soon after Laura Collins discovered the tape's existence.
Armed with all the information he knew so far, he confronted Laura, who reacted strongly, even threateningly. Only Burke Devlin's timely arrival kept the doctor from questioning her further. Soon after, he began to feel strange - dizzy and disoriented. Vicki found him on the floor, almost unconscious, but he recovered almost as suddenly as he had been afflicted. They quickly realized he had had the same symptoms as Elizabeth. When David came in saying his mother had been acting strangely, it became clear that Peter regained his senses at the same time David interrupted Laura. The pieces were beginning to fall into place.
He only needed one more piece of evidence to confirm his suspicions. Enlisting the aid of Joe Haskell, he went to open the grave of Laura Murdoch Stockbridge. Though the cemetery caretaker and Frank Garner talked them out of it, it seemed Josette wanted them to go through with the exhumation, for the lid of the coffin opened by its self. Examining it, they discovered it was empty. This convinced Frank to help with digging up the grave of Laura Murdoch Radcliffe, which they also discovered to be empty. Dr. Guthrie was now sure that Laura Murdoch Collins was one of the undead.
But what did she want? He found the answer in a 100-year-old newspaper. Found in the cemetery records, the page was so badly faded as to be illegible. (He suspected Laura had something to do with that since the rest of the paper was fine, but he could never be sure.) Luckily, Joe was able to find a copy in the Collinsport library. It told of Laura Radcliffe's death by fire, and how her son David wanted to stay in flames with her. Believing David Collins was in danger, Dr. Guthrie showed the article to Roger. Once Laura's firmest supporter, he agreed to keep David away from his mother.
Needing to find out how to protect David, Dr. Guthrie decided to hold another séance to contact Josette. This time it would be as sympathetic as possible to the spirit. It would be held at the Old House, and the only participants would be people who she had already had contact with: David, Vicki, and Sam Evans. In this way, he hoped to make contact easier.
But the unfortunate Peter Guthrie would never see the results of his planning. Though Josette and David saved him from another attempt to put him into a coma, his luck could not hold out. Returning to Collinsport to get his tape recorder, he didn't know Laura had discovered his plans. On his drive back to Collinwood, a brilliant, fiery light blinded Dr. Guthrie. Knowing Laura was responsible, he was still helpless as his car crashed into a tree and burst into flames. Dr. Peter Guthrie died instantly, a victim of the evil he was trying so hard to defeat.
