361

Julia is alone at Collinwood and tormented by several forces; Dave Woodard's ghost tells her she will die soon.

Synopsis

Teaser

Storm clouds have gathered in the night sky over Collinwood, and a monumental storm is beginning, a storm so violent that all the elements of nature will rage against one another. For one woman, this will be a night she'll never forget.

Julia Hoffman searches for Sarah Collins' ghost in the Collins mausoleum. When Sarah finally appears Julia asks if she is going to help her as she helped both Maggie Evans and David Collins. However, Sarah is angry with Julia for aiding in the murder of Dr. Dave Woodard. Instead of promising to help Julia, Sarah tells her that "she shouldn't have done it" and then vanishes.

Act I

The door to the mausoleum suddenly closes and locks. Julia is trapped inside. She hears moaning and then a woman laughing. She discovers that Sarah's name plaque is bleeding. Julia is terrified and begins to hysterically cry for help, hoping the Caretaker will hear her. Suddenly the door opens and she is able to leave; the door mysteriously closes behind her.

Act II

Julia returns to Collinwood. She is confronted by Carolyn Stoddard, who promptly informs her that they are alone and that she is going out. Julia begs Carolyn not to leave her alone and tells her about the blood that was on her hand earlier that, "must have washed off in the rain". Carolyn leaves anyway, but lets Julia know that Roger Collins will be home soon. Julia enters the drawing room and tries to play a hand of solitaire. She hears the wind banging on the shutters, and suddenly feels a penetrating cold like she felt in the mausoleum. Julia believes that the ghosts from the cemetery have followed her home.

Act III

The window suddenly bursts open; Julia closes it only to find that the double doors in the foyer have also mysteriously blown open. She tries to tell herself that it is only the wind from the storm. She begins warming herself by the fire, but the flames suddenly expand and she is frightened. Then the piano begins to play London Bridge by itself. Julia rushes to the piano and closes the keyboard, but then notices that Dr. Woodard's ghost is behind the curtains. She frantically leaves the drawing room.

Act IV

Julia locks herself into her room. The electricity goes out, so Julia lights a candle, but the wind blows it out. Terrified, she tries to use the telephone but finds that it is not working. Julia attempts to flee the room but, once again, she is locked in. She begins crying and banging on the door until the curtain begins to billow. Woodard's ghost appears behind the curtains once more, and Julia collapses in hysterics on the floor. The phone rings, even though it wasn't working when Julia tried to use it earlier. She answers and finds that Woodard's ghost is on the phone. Dave threatens her and tells her that, "she is going to die very, very soon." She hears noises in the hall. The door knob begins to turn, and suddenly the door is distorted. Julia is in a complete panic.

Memorable quotes

Dramatis personae

• Grayson Hall as Julia Hoffman
• Nancy Barrett as Carolyn Stoddard
• Sharon Smyth as Sarah Collins
• Peter Turgeon as Dave Woodard (voice only)
• Peter Murphy as Dave Woodard (body only, uncredited)

Background information and notes

Production

• The sound of a woman crying is the same stock sound effect used in early episodes for the mysterious crying in the basement.
• Academy Award nominated ("The Night of the Iguana") Grayson Hall plays this episode almost entirely on her own as Julia Hoffman.
• In 2015, Big Finish Productions used some of Grayson Hall's cries and moans from this episode in The Curse of Shurafa, in which Barnabas tells Harry Cunningham of an adventure he once had in Egypt with Julia and Professor Stokes.

Story

• GHOSTWATCH: Sarah's ghost appears to Julia (continued from previous episode). Later, Julia hears sobbing and cackling. Then Dave Woodard's ghost appears to Julia.
• INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: Julia: Locked in mausoleum / Alone in Collinwood.
• TIMELINE: 9:05pm: Julia alone in Collinwood.

Bloopers and continuity errors

• In the beginning of the teaser Sharon Smyth begins speaking her line too soon; Sarah's first couple of words are cut off as the scene transitions from the opening narration to the scene inside the mausoleum.
• A boom microphone shadow and pole can be seen on the wall of the Collins mausoleum set.
• In Act I, as Julia is calling for help after being locked in the mausoleum, her prerecorded internal monologue that someone will come along to let her out overlaps one of her audible cries for help.
• At the beginning of Act II when Julia is talking to Carolyn about the blood that was on her hand there is a lot of shuffling noise off-camera.
• In the final scene the distorted door is a flipped film where the doorknob and plant are now on the left side instead of the right. (This was accomplished by shooting a mirror or other reflective surface that is distorted. The way to avoid a reversed image is to then flop the image electronically in the control room, but obviously this was not done.)
• Julia has a telephone in her room, although previous episodes have shown that the only phones were in the drawing room, the foyer, the dining room, and the study. Moreover, whenever the phone rang in the past, people have always had to come downstairs to answer it.
• In dealing out her Solitare game Julia builds up the cards from right to left with one card on the right to the pile with seven cards on the left. Most people deal out the cards left to right.
• At the end before Julia sees Dr. Woodard during her taped narrative, she coughs.

External Links 

Dark Shadows - Episode 361 on the IMDb

Dark Shadows Every Day - Episode 361 - The One Where Julia Loses Her Mind

The Dark Shadows Daybook - Episode 361

Dark Shadows Commentary- Episode 361: Julia's rough night in

Dark Shadows Before I Die:- Episode 361: 11/13/67