642

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Number	634
Timeline	1968
Narrator	Nancy Barrett
Writer	Sam Hall
Director	Penberry Jones
Broadcast	December 10, 1968 (Tuesday)
Recorded	December 3, 1968 (Tuesday)
Video	Complete: Disc 67 Collection 11: Disc 3

We have 16 images of Dark Shadows 642

During a seance, held to contact Jeff, a spirit named Magda speaks through Carolyn with a warning, but Chris interrupts before anything else can be learned.

Synopsis[]

There is a storm raging over the great house of Collinwood, a storm that cannot shut out the sounds of the widows wailing, for theirs is a legend that when death is near, the widows rise from the dead and commence their wait for the one who is to die.

Victoria stands at the cliffs of Widow's Hill and contemplates suicide. Professor Stokes and Elizabeth manage to persuade her that there is still hope and lead her back to the house. Carolyn and Chris return from a date and discuss the recent murder at the Blue Whale. Chris is more upset by the death than Carolyn expected.

When Elizabeth and Professor Stokes lead Victoria back into the house, they decide to hold a seance to try and contact Jeff, for Victoria's benefit. Carolyn is contacted by the spirit of a woman named Magda, who spoke of a curse before Chris abruptly stops the seance.

Memorable quotes[]

Carolyn: The house seems so gloomy tonight.

Carolyn: You certainly are very difficult to figure out.

Chris: Don't even try.

Carolyn (to Chris): There's not much point in being both rude and mysterious. They amount to the same thing.

Carolyn: Was Vicki attacked?

Professor Stokes: No, not attacked...except by fate.

Dramatis personae[]

Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
Nancy Barrett as Carolyn Stoddard
Don Briscoe as Chris Jennings
Thayer David as Timothy Eliot Stokes
Betsy Durkin as Victoria Winters

Background information and notes[]

Production[]

Story[]

First mention of the character Magda Rakosi.
Elizabeth is aware Professor Stokes has certain psychic powers.
Professor Stokes meets Chris for the first time. He tells Chris that ghosts want to come through using the same sex.
The seance incorporates all three current storylines: Vicki looks for Jeff Clark, Magda warns of Quentin, and Chris Jennings is afraid the warning is about his lycanthropy. It is rare to have all stories tied into one event this way.
GHOSTWATCH: Jeff's spirit appears through the ticking wristwatch and then as an astral manifestation. Elizabeth, Carolyn, Victoria, Professor Stokes, and Chris hold a seance to contact Jeff Clark. The spirit of Magda Rakosi speaks through Carolyn. Chris claims not to believe in seances and ghosts before taking part.
INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: Victoria: (recalling Professor Stokes' voice, reprised from the previous episode).
TIMELINE: It was yesterday when the Blue Whale waitress was attacked (i.e., the early hours of this day; occurred in 640).

Bloopers and continuity errors[]

During the scene on Widows' Hill, a loud "Oh!" can be heard from someone off-screen. [Addendum: This seems to be a sound among the storm noises and other mysterious noises playing in the background, not a human voice.] Also, a boom microphone appears over Elizabeth's and Professor Stokes' heads.
Professor Stokes calls Vicki "Miss Winters," although technically she is now Mrs. Clark.
When Chris and Carolyn speak in the drawing room, the shadow of a boom microphone hovers over Chris's face. One also passes over Chris previously in the foyer.
Carolyn says the animal (werewolf) "attacked" her mother, but she was not attacked--Elizabeth just heard and saw the werewolf before it ran off when Amy appeared.
Even though Chris is anxious to leave when he returns with Carolyn, it seems odd that he would not visit with his sister, Amy, especially since she has been at Collinwood for only a day or two. No one mentions Amy throughout the entire episode despite Chris's presence there.
After Professor Stokes leaves Vicki's room and Elizabeth is apologizing to her, there is a lot of off-stage squeaking and other noise.
When Professor Stokes is asking Chris to stay for the seance, there is the shadow of what looks like a cable hanging on the left side of the screen.
Professor Stokes asks Vicki to sit at "the end of the table," but it's a round table.
Despite the fact that it is known that Jeff Clark is really Peter Bradford, especially in 1796, when Professor Stokes conducts the seance, he calls upon Jeff instead of Peter.
During the seance, when Professor Stokes is calling Jeff, he says, "We know you were in this room tonight," but Jeff's spirit was in Vicki's room, not the drawing room.
During the seance, Elizabeth breaks the circle, moving her hand to her throat, but no one comments on this. [Breaking the circle during a seance and leaving someone alone when warned not to leave them alone are perhaps the two most common mistakes during the series run.]
When Chris holds Carolyn's head to his own head with his face on the top of her head, Don Briscoe's nose is running.
The end credits sway from side to side.