Judah Zachary

From The Dark Shadows Wiki

Judah Zachary (?-1692) was a warlock who lived in the Bedford area in the late seventeenth century and was convicted on over 100 counts of witchcraft in a trial which took place in 1692. Ammadeus Collins was the prosecutor in this trial and at first had a very difficult time finding anyone to testify in the trial against Judah, since his victims were so terrified of him, as he was often referred to as "The Devil's Son", making him analogous to the Satanist's "Jesus". Eventually a young woman named Miranda Duval (aka Angelique), who was a follower of Judah's, agreed to give the damning testimony against Judah in exchange for safe escort out of the country. After Judah was convicted he boasted "You'd better choose your form of execution carefully", and implying that if the form was chosen incorrectly, then he would come back and curse the families of everyone involved with his death. Shortly after he was beheaded.

After Judah's death his body was buried in a secret crypt and his head was stolen by one of the followers. For many years after that the head was found by many people, who discovered that it had the power to possess people. The head found its way back to Bedford in 1803 when Otis Greene, under its possession, committed a series of murders known as the "Bedford Attrocities". The head was then taken out of the area and was next seen in the far east, where Desmond Collins obtained it in 1840, and brought it back to Collinsport as a "gift" for Quentin Collins. While at Collinwood this time, the head first possessed Desmond, then later possessed Julia Hoffman and Leticia Faye, who attempted to rejoin the head with the body. During this attempt the body was accidentally destroyed and Gerard Stiles next came upon the head. Stiles took the head and became possessed, this time, with the help of Charles Dawson, the head was able to impose a long-term possession. For several months Gerard, under Judah's possession, committed many heinous acts of revenge toward the Collins family and Angelique for their involvement in his death.

Shortly before the death of Gerard, the possession was ended and the head destroyed, which apparently permanently killed Zachary.