The name “Barnabas Collins” was first spoken on Dark Shadows by strange and troubled boy David Collins in #205. By the time of his first appearance in #211, it was already clear to the audience that Barnabas was a vampire. Yet the word “vampire” was never spoken on the show in those days. Barnabas was referred to as one of “the Undead,” a title that had previously been given to David’s mother, blonde fire witch Laura Murdoch Collins, and also as “the living dead.” At times avoidance of the word led to a bit of fun. So in #315, mad scientist Julia Hoffman is trying to talk Barnabas out of killing David, and says that the boy must not die “at the hands of a-.” When her voice breaks off, Barnabas smiles, leans in, turns his face towards her, and asks “at the hands of a what, doctor?” He is positively gleeful that she has come so close to blurting out a taboo word. It’s as if he had caught her about to make a fool of herself by uttering a slur, and he all but dares her to say it out loud.
As of today, Barnabas has been a part of Dark Shadows for 41 weeks, the same length of time the show had been running before David spoke his name.* The embargo on the word “vampire” finally ends today. We are in the year 1795, and wicked witch Angelique has cursed Barnabas. The first part of the curse has killed him. His father, haughty overlord Joshua, believes Barnabas died of the plague and has hidden his corpse in the secret room of the Collins family mausoleum lest this news cause a panic at the shipyards. Joshua refuses to tell anyone where Barnabas’ remains are, even Angelique, who was Barnabas’ wife.
Angelique regrets the curse, and tried to lift it while Barnabas was still alive. Now that he has died, she wants to prevent the second part of it from coming true. If she does not drive a stake through Barnabas’ heart before dusk, he will rise as a vampire.
Angelique summons much put-upon servant Ben. Ben had been Barnabas’ loyal friend, and to his great misery Angelique has used her powers to enslave him and force him to help in her evil schemes. Now she orders him to find Barnabas’ body, make a sharp stake out of holly wood, and report back to her.
Joshua violently disapproved of Angelique’s marriage to Barnabas and wants to be rid of her. He offers her $20,000 in gold if she will go away and leave behind a signed paper promising never to return. He leaves the paper and the passbook to the bank account containing the gold, and we see her sign.
It isn’t always very meaningful to compare prices across centuries. You couldn’t get a smartphone or a Lexus or a roll of toilet paper for any amount of money in the eighteenth century. But we can compare the price of gold from year to year. In 1795, the official price of gold in the USA was $19.39 per ounce. So, when Joshua offers Angelique $20,000 in gold, he is offering her 1031.46** ounces of it. As I’m writing this (17 January 2024,) the price of an ounce of gold is $2010.60. So, there is a sense in which Joshua pays Angelique $2,073,852.50 to leave Collinwood.
Ben returns with the stake; he and Angelique go to the mausoleum. There, Ben opens the secret room, remarking that Joshua showed it to him on his first day as a servant at Collinwood. Joshua had explained that he hid guns there for the Continentals during the War for Independence, and he wants Ben to keep it clean so that it will be ready in case it is ever needed again. Ben says that it is hard to believe that Joshua was a patriot during the Revolution, but he supposes he was. That Joshua still thinks it might be necessary to take up arms at short notice during the second term of the Washington administration suggests his politics might have been rather fervent.
In the secret room, Angelique and Ben see Barnabas’ coffin. She introduces Ben to the word “vampire,” then tells him to open the coffin. He refuses, and runs out of the room. He shuts the door, sealing her in the chamber with Barnabas. It is surprising that he can do this- perhaps her power over him is waning. She opens the coffin herself and picks up the stake and mallet. The music plays on the soundtrack, and she moves in time with it. She raises the mallet, we catch a glimpse of Barnabas*** in his coffin, and the episode ends.
*Though he has been in the air for a bit longer than that. We first saw his portrait on the wall next to the front door of the great house of Collinwood in #204, and while the portrait was being painted an elaborate shot was tricked up in #195 to make it look like a portrait was on that spot.
**To be exact, 1031.45951521 ounces.
***A stand-in wearing heavy makeup, not Jonathan Frid.
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