David Winter

David Winter was a film score composer who lived at Woodstock Farm in rural England with his wife, Mary, an actress. David was a hard-drinking, frustrated man, who suspected that Mary was cheating on him with her director (In truth, she was having an affair with David's physician, Charles Henderson). In 1980, David was at his home working alone. His wife telephoned him from a hotel room, saying that she would have to stay on another day and won't be back until the following morning. David knew this was a lie, but there was little he could do.

Shortly thereafter, a tremendous thunderstorm occurred over Woodstock Farm, temporarily knocking the power out. David went out to the horse stables to make sure that Mary's horse, Muffin, hadn't broken out. There he found Lucinda Jessup, a woman who professed to be a three-hundred year-old witch. David didn't believe that that the erratic woman was actually a witch, so he invited her inside the main house for shelter. Lucinda told him that the witch finders tried to execute her back in the mid 1650s. Fearing that the woman was mad, David locked her inside his bedroom then telephoned Doctor Henderson. Charles came over to the house and David explained the situation. When he unlocked the bedroom however to present Charles to Lucinda, the woman was gone. Charles felt that David was overworked and hallucinating so he prescribed him a sedative.

Later that evening, Lucinda returned and seduced David. He wanted no part of her, but was defenseless against her power. Lucinda forced herself upon him, raking his back with her fingernails, thus branding him with her mark.

The following morning, Mary returned home and David tried to explain what had happened. Mary didn't believe him and suspected that David had been drinking too much. Day by day, Lucinda began to exert more power over David. She regarded Mary as a "strumpet" and a threat to her plans, so she tried to have her killed. At one point, Lucinda crafted a voodoo doll of Mary Winter and used it to put her in the hospital for three days. During that time, Lucinda solidified her hold over David and he was completely under her spell.

When Mary returned to Woodstock Farm, the mind-controlled David locked her inside the cellar of the house. He then began constructing a massive bonfire outside the stables where Lucinda planned on burning Mary to death. Mary escaped from the cellar and locked David inside the barn. She fought against Lucinda and ultimately destroyed her. With Lucinda dead, her hold over David was broken and he was able to resume a normal life again.