(Excerpts from this article were written by Geoffrey Hamell, first published in the "Eagle Hill Sentinel", Issue #7, January 1991.)
Nothing is known of the origins of the warlock Judah Zachery. Though he called himself "the Devil's son", there is no evidence to substantiate that claim. What is known is that Judah arrived in the town of Bedford in that part of Massachusetts that is now called Maine, a powerful sorcerer in possession of the ancient Mask of Baal. It was also purported that he had the Evil Eye, able to control people with his gaze. And some sort of mesmeric powers can be assumed, as he soon had quite a following of "disciples". Taking up residence in a village on the outskirts of Bedford, he corrupted the entire town in which he lived, forming his neighbors into a coven with himself as the master.
Though Judah harshly punished anyone who threatened him, it was inevitable that he was arrested for witchcraft. Satanic rituals and human sacrifices were hard to hide in a small town. Yet the terror he had sown nearly delivered him from his captors; all were in such fear of his vengeance that no one would give evidence against him. But the perserverence of Judge Amadeus Collins succeeded in convincing a member of the sorcerer's coven to turn King's Evidence, in exchange for safe passage out of town. Judah's surprise was evident when servant girl Miranda duVal testified that he had seduced her into the world of darkness. Chained and hooded, Judah listened as he was convicted of 109 counts of witchcraft. Sentenced to beheading, the warlock vowed revenge on the judges and their families. Once the execution was completed, Judah's severed head was placed on public display; the body was taken by the executioner , and buried with the Mask of Baal in a secret crypt at Gallows Hill Cemetery.
The body remained hidden for almost 150 years without being discovered, but the head mysteriously disappeared from Bedford after a rash of strange deaths, including Amadeus, his son, and his daughter-in-law. Whether it was taken by someone who wanted its powers or disposed of by someone wanting to rid Bedford of its evil is unknown; but considering the murders stopped once the head was gone, it was probably for the best. Judah's coven dispersed soon after, at least six of its members returning to "the other faith". Miranda got out of town as quickly as possible (though she did not give up her powers of darkness. Over one hundred years later she would return to Maine calling herself Angelique Bouchard.) It is possible that the rest of the coven got caught up in the executions that followed (a warlock's coven could be executed without separate trial), but no records of the hangings still exist.
However, Judah's influence still resided in the severed head. Wherever it went, murders followed. In 1809, it apparently resurfaced in Bedford, taking control of Otis Green, a descendant of the executioner of Judah Zachery. Under the Head's influence, Otis committed four murders in which the victims were beheaded. Then the Head was stolen by one of his servants, and Otis confessed to the murders. The servant denied any knowledge of the Head, but was found a year later in the Middle East with his throat cut. In 1840 it was found in the Orient by Desmond Collins who unfortunately brought it back to Collinsport. (Maybe the head was controlling him even then.) Back in the sphere of the Collins family, Judah had the perfect opportunity to exact his revenge on his condemners. Under the head's control, Desmond discovered the hidden body and mask. Then possessing psychic Leticia Faye and the time-travelling Julia Hoffman, he made them reunite head and body, and try to bring him back to life. When that failed, the body was destroyed in the resulting fire, and Judah lost his power over the two women.
The greedy Gerard Stiles gave him another option, though. With the help of Charles Dawson, the descendant of an original coven member, Judah took over Gerard's body. Seducing several people into his service (just how literally "seduce" is meant I'll leave to speculation), he framed Quentin and Desmond Collins for witchcraft. Though he encountered resistance from Julia and the vampire Barnabas Collins, the warlock's biggest obstacle came from an unexpected quarter. The woman posing as Barnabas' wife Valerie was actually his long-ago betrayer, Miranda. Getting in his way too often, Judah stripped Miranda of her powers, leaving her human. But he hadn't counted on her resourcefulness. Using brute force, she killed Dawson, and exposed Gerard as the warlock just before Quentin's beheading. When Gerard was shot by Desmond, Judah was driven from his body and banished back to darkness, his head turning to dust forever.
