Laura Collins
From The Dark Shadows Wiki
Laura Collins was a Phoenix. As such, she was reborn approximately every 100 years and often involved with the Collins Family. She has been married to three Collins, Jeremiah Collins (1700s), Edward Collins (late 1800s), and Roger Collins (1960s).
[edit] Laura Stockbridge Collins
Laura Stockbridge was the first wife of Jeremiah Collins (740). Jeremiah's nephew, Barnabas Collins was 10 years old when Laura Stockbridge came to Collinwood. He recalled her wearing a flaming orange riding habit that would have looked bad on anyone else, but was magnificent on her. There was a portrait of her made sitting in the drawing room of Collinwood (739). Laura remembers Barnabas following her around, a boy with "sad eyes" (759) who was obviously smitten with her (760). She died in a fire on Jan. 25, 1785 (741) and was buried under the old Meeting House in Collinsport. Barnabas suspected this was not exactly true and that his father had the records changed. She and Jeremiah had no children (740).
[edit] Laura Murdoch Collins
In the 1890s, Laura Murdoch Collins was the wife of Edward Collins, and the mother of Jamison and Nora. In 1896 she had an extramarital affair with Edward's brother, Quentin, a warlock who was exiled from Collinwood for trying to corrupt his nephew, Jamison. Laura followed him to Alexandria, Egypt where Quentin betrayed her to a cult which sacrificed her to their God (729) on March 7, 1896 (741). About a year later, Laura returned to Collinwood, supposedly to reconcile with her husband, but she really came back to take her children, particularly Nora.
Barnabas, having traveled back in time to the nineteenth century and having not met her in the twentieth century, was shocked to see her (738) and recognized her immediately. He and Sandor located the portrait of Laura Stockbridge Collins among Jeremiah's papers and gave it to her. She acknowledged the resemblance to the portrait, and began to become suspicious of Barnabas (who would have been a teenager or possibly in his early 20s when she last saw him) (740). That night she caught Barnabas and Sandor opening her 18th century grave and later that evening had Magda burn the portrait (741).
Once Laura realized Barnabas was her enemy, she began to study the Portrait of Barnabas and then suspected that Barnabas was her young nephew, grown, but still alive. She sent Dirk Wilkins to search through the hidden family papers (757) where he found the diary of Ben Stokes, who hinted at Barnabas' secret, but said he would take it to his grave. He and Laura exhumed Ben's body whereupon they found the remainder of his diary, but Barnabas was there to reclaim it (759). A little more investigation revealed that Barnabas was a vampire, but when Laura went to destroy him, she incurred the wrath of Angelique (757) who enlisted Quentin's help to destroy Laura (759).
At first it appeared Laura had defeated Angelique (758-759), but in actuality Angelique had made a doppleganger for Laura to kill. She then made Laura appear as she really was when Laura went to get Jamison and Nora, causing them to recoil from her before she was consumed by flames (760).
[edit] 20th century
In the 1960s, Laura Collins was the wife of Roger Collins and the mother of David.
Laura used to be good friends with both Burke Devlin and Roger Collins in the mid 1950s. Although she was in fact Burke's girl, the three used to hang out together quite often (13).
One day in 1957, Laura was driving with Roger and Burke in a car that hit and killed a man (7, 43). Roger testified in court that Burke was driving the car and the jury convicted Burke of manslaughter, sending him to prison for five years (13, 17). Burke immediately lost his cool and began threatening to kill Roger. He swore he'd come back to Collinsport and take everything the Collins' owned (21, 24).
The day after the trial, Laura and Roger were married. The two immediately relocated to Augusta, and nearly eight months later, their son David was born (2, 13, 32).
Laura's marriage to Roger was not a happy one. Roger hated David, wanting to send him away. He often questioned whether he or Burke was the boy's father, causing many fights about Burke. Laura eventually didn't want Roger around (10, 32).
When David was five (132), Laura became unwell and was committed to a hospital, where she remained in 1967 (6, 31). It was later revealed that she suffered from alcoholism and mental illness (129). At the hospital, she dried out and underwent psychoanalysis (130). After her release, she left Maine and Roger sent her a monthly check (130). She settled in Phoenix, Arizona (123).
Laura returned to Collinsport in 1967 (123). She registered at the Collinsport Inn under her maiden name of Murdoch (128). After meeting up with Roger, she indicated that she wanted a divorce and sole custody of David (130).
Laura was first alluded to in episode 5, though her name wasn't revealed until 32.
There may be some discrepancy regarding this as she was later discovered to have been involved with the Collins family in the years 1957-1966, ca.1887-1897, and sometime before 1795 - and always named Laura.
When she returned in the late 1960s she came to gain custody of her son David. There was a mystery surrounding her in that she was believed to have died in a fire in the Phoenix, Arizona.
There was contention between her and Josette Collins though it was never explained. There was a mystery regarding a family heirloom that apparently Laura was in possession of, yet also appeared to be in the fire in Arizona. Victoria Winters recognized this locket from a photo in the Collins history that showed it being worn by Josette Collins. The Ghost of Josette attempted to protect David from his mother's diabolical plan of having mother and son die in a fire together, by enlisting the aid of local artist Sam Evans. Sam was compelled to paint a portrait that hinted at Laura's plan. Much mystery surrounds her.
