516

The ghost of Reverend Trask appears to Julia and Willie. They then find Barnabas behind the cellar wall.

Synopsis

The great house in Collinwood is shrouded in darkness, a darkness that hides unnamed terrors. In the Old House, on another part of the Collins estate, two people are undergoing a night of terror, for Barnabas Collins has disappeared, and two spirits of those already dead have risen from their graves, spirits that can save or destroy him.

Willie opens the wall to find Barnabas despite the ghost of Trask's attempt to frighten him and Julia out of the basement. Cassandra makes Elizabeth believe that she is Naomi and shows her where she is to be buried. Trask seeks out Cassandra and tries to destroy her.

Memorable quotes

Reverend Trask: (to Cassandra) Witch!... You are the witch I have been seeking, and you must be destroyed!... Burn witch, burn!

Dramatis personae

• Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
• Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins
• Grayson Hall as Julia Hoffman
• John Karlen as Willie Loomis
• Lara Parker as Cassandra Collins
• Jerry Lacy as Reverend Trask (uncredited)
• Florence Stanley as Sobbing Josette (voice only, uncredited)

Background information and notes

Production

• This episode was recorded out of broadcast sequence. The previous episode to be recorded was 514.
• The sound of the weeping woman is the same one used in early episodes of the series, where it was coming from the basement of Collinwood and later revealed to be that of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.
• There is a tape edit in the teaser while Julia is telling Willie about seeing the ghost of Josette.
• Jerry Lacy is incorrectly credited as portraying Tony Peterson instead of the ghost of Reverend Trask in the credit roll.

Story

• GHOSTWATCH: Reverend Trask's ghost appears to Julia and Willie. Later, he appears to Cassandra.

Bloopers and continuity errors

• Julia and Willie are wearing different clothes in reprise from the previous episode. Willie now wears a cream jacket, and Julia is now wearing an overcoat.
• The brick wall where Barnabas is trapped looks different than in the previous episode and from other sections of the wall. The mortar now looks as if it has dripped over the bricks, as if the bricks were hastily laid.
• When Willie is working to break down the wall in Act I, it's obvious that John Karlen is not touching the wall with the chisel.
• The rope used to pull down the big suitcase is visible.
• Right before the ghost of Reverend Trask appears in Act I, Grayson Hall looks down at the floor and moves slightly, seemingly to hit her mark accurately for the coming Chromakey effect.
• In Act II, when Cassandra is telling Elizabeth that she is Naomi and should drink the sherry, Lara Parker stops at one point and looks straight into the camera, presumably toward the teleprompter.
• The script does not give Josette's ghost proper credit for alerting Julia that Barnabas was immured in the Old House basement.
• What does Barnabas mean when he thanks Julia for saving his life again? Up to this point, Julia has never saved his life. She has helped him out of some tight spots when Maggie's memory of the abduction returned, but she never literally saved his life. Also, it was Josette's weeping ghost that really saved Barnabas' life when she alerted Julia where Barnabas was immured.
• In Act II, after Cassandra says, "Someone is going to die tonight, yes," there is a banging noise from off-stage.
• Naomi's plaque in the Collins mausoleum still has a death date of 1821. We saw in 458 that Naomi died in 1796.
• In a later scene, it is clearly just a grey sheet of paper that covers Naomi's memorial plaque to make it look like it has never been engraved.
• The clock gives a time of midnight when Elizabeth and Cassandra are in the drawing room. However, the time was 1:50am in the previous episode, and the events of this episode follow on directly.

External Links 

Dark Shadows - Episode 516 on the IMDb

Dark Shadows Every Day - Episode 516 - The Unimmured

The Dark Shadows Daybook - Episode 516

Dark Shadows Commentary- Episode 516: Man of God

Dark Shadows Before I Die- Episode 516: 6/18/68