← 5 → Timeline 1967 Narrator Victoria Winters Writer Art Wallace Director Lela Swift Airdate July 1, 1966 Tapedate June 17, 1966 Home Video VHS: CS V1 DVD: TB C1D1 We have 3 images of Dark Shadows #5

Victoria explains to Carolyn what little she knows about her past. On Widows' Hill, Sam Evans tells Victoria the story of Josette Collins.

Synopsis Edit

Teaser

My name is Victoria Winters. The grey light of early morning brings no relief from the tension that inhabits the old house on top of Widows' Hill. But at least the night has passed, a night that was touched with a fear I'd never known before. And now it would be over, fear would be ended. And so would hope.

Vicki starts packing her things in the morning, when Carolyn comes into her room, upset that she's quitting. She's thought she'd finally found a friend and can't believe Vicki is leaving before she even meets David. Victoria corrects her, telling her about meeting David and hearing just three words, "I hate you." They go down for coffee and David sneaks into Victoria's room.

Act I

David prowls through the bedroom and calls "Mother, mother." He scratches the initials off of Vicki's suitcase and starts beating on it. Downstairs in the breakfast nook, Victoria tells Carolyn about the sobbing she heard around 2:00 AM. Roger comes in and gives Vicki a letter from home before apologizing to her for panicking on her last night. Victoria asks him about the sobbing, but Roger also attributes it to her dreams.

Act II

David starts tossing Vicki's clothes into the suitcase haphazardly. Carolyn is still upset about Vicki leaving. She's jealous of Victoria having a "normal" family to go back to. Vicki shows her the letter from home and tells her she’s an orphan who grew up in a foundling home. She tells her the only family she knows is the note attached to the cardboard box she was found in that reads, "Her name is Victoria. I cannot take care of her." She explains that she's come to Collinsport with the hope of learning about herself. From age two until she was sixteen, Vicki received $50 a month from Bangor, Maine, which is only 50 miles from Collinsport. She also explains that her surname, Winters, refers to the season in which she was dropped off at the orphanage. To show there are no hard feelings, Vicki offers to do the dishes.

Act III

David continues going through Vicki's things. He watches her leave the house on her way to Widows' Hill. Sam Evans approaches Vicki and expresses knowledge about her. He tells her to tell Roger she saw him, then to pack her bags and go home to New York. He recounts the tale of Josette Collins, how she was brought from France to marry Jeremiah, who built Collinwood for her; the family hated her, as did the whole town, because she was an outsider, and different. She jumped from Widows' Hill from the very spot where Vicki stands and sometimes one can hear her crying her heart out. Vicki protests that she does not believe in ghosts, and he calls Elizabeth a walking ghost because she hasn’t left the house in eighteen years, haunting the hallways. He leaves, reminding her to tell Roger she saw him.

Act IV

Carolyn is ironing in the breakfast nook when Vicki returns, asking Carolyn why she didn't tell her about her mother. Carolyn says she thought everyone knew. She explains that her mother hasn't been off the hill since six months before she was born because her father left her and she's decided to wait for him to return. Victoria goes upstairs to pack and Carolyn suddenly connects that eighteen years ago, money started coming to the orphanage at almost the same time her father left Collinwood. She runs upstairs to tell Vicki, who thinks she’s grasping at straws, but entertains the notion. Inside her bedroom, Vicki finds her suitcase full on the bed. David reveals himself and holds her birth note. He continually recites the words on it until Victoria orders him to give it back to her, then he wads it up and throws it on the floor. He tells Vicki that the Widows told him to send her home. She doesn't know what he's talking about and he storms out saying that nobody ever listens to him.

Act V

Carolyn comes into Vicki's room and sees the suitcase mess from David. Vicki tells her that she has realized that if she leaves now, all she has in the world is a crumpled note, and if she is to find out anything about her past, she has to remain there. She resolves to stay, much to Carolyn's delight.

Memorable quotes Edit

• Sam Evans: Some quiet nights, if you listen—listen really carefully—you can hear her cry. Crying her heart out in loneliness.

Dramatis personae Edit

• ← Louis Edmonds as Roger Collins →
• Mark Allen as Sam Evans →
• ← Nancy Barrett as Carolyn Stoddard →
• ← David Henesy as David Collins →
• ← Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters →

Background information and notes Edit

• The slate for this episode mistakenly lists the air date as 6-31-66, though Bob Lloyd correctly reads 7-1-66.
• The first appearance of Mark Allen who plays Sam Evans.
• The first mention of Josette Collins.
• This is the first episode with extended closing credits that scroll.

Bloopers and continuity errors Edit

• David Henesy can clearly be heard pounding on Victoria's suitcase at the start of Alexandra Moltke and Nancy Barrett's scene in the breakfast nook, which should be far away.
• In Act I, David scratches the initials off of Vicki's suitcase, but in Act II they're back on.
• Victoria calls Carolyn "Caroline."
• Ohrbach's is misspelled as "ORHBACH'S" in the closing credits.
• Sy Tomashoff is misspelled as "SY THOMASHOFF" in the closing credits.

End credits announcementsEdit

• Be where the action is! Join top recording stars as they visit exciting locations to sing todays biggest song hits, next on ABC.
• Dark Shadows has been a Dan Curtis production.