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Carl Collins[]
Charles Collins[]
Charles Collins was the Collins family patriarch living at the lavish Collinwood estate in the early 19th century. In 1810, Charles Collins had an affair with his brother Gabriel's wife, Angelique. Angelique loved Charles more than she could ever love Gabriel, and the two enjoyed a passionate if albeit brief love affair. Charles learned that Angelique was actually a witch, and that she had cast a spell upon him, which forced him to fall in love with her.
One evening, Gabriel learned of his wife's mystical heritage, as well as her extra-marital indiscretions with Charles. The two brothers came to blows and Gabriel's marriage to Angelique was essentially destroyed. Gabriel alerted a local clergyman named Reverend Strack who promptly had Angelique arrested for witchcraft (he charged her with the mysterious murder of a fellow clergyman named Harridge).
Collins Cannery and Fishing Fleet[]
Collins family jewels[]
The Collins family has always prided itself on it's finery and the jewelry collection has been passed along between both male and female members of the family for several generations. In the 18th century, Naomi Collins - wife of Joshua Collins prided herself on her extensive jewelry collection. Legend has it, that some time prior to her marriage to Joshua Collins, Naomi was involved with an unscrupulous mariner who presented her with his pirate horde of looted gemstones. This finery would later become known as the Collins family jewels. It is said that when Naomi died, she was buried inside the Collins family mausoleum with all of her jewelry. The story itself, though never confirmed, is commonly referred to as "The Legend of Naomi Collins". [1][2]
Joshua himself was known to own several valuable pieces as well. Other parts of the collection were owned by Joshu and Naomi's first child, Barnabas Collins. Some of the pieces, including a black signet ring, can be seen in the Portait of Barnabas Collins, which hangs in the foyer at the Collinwood estate. When Barnabas Collins was made a vampire and chained up in a coffin in a secret room in the family mausoleum, he was buried with some of his jewels.
By 1897, the Collins family jewels were in the possession of aging family matriarch, Edith Collins. They were highly coveted by Edith's spiritual guide, the Gypsy Magda Rakosi. Magda would brag to her husband Sandor about seeing rubies the size of a Guinea hen's egg. When Edith Collins was nearing death, Magda and Sandor feared for their own future, as it was Edith's affection for Magda that allowed them to enjoy Collins family hospitality. Magda sent Sandor to the Great House to search for the remainder of the collection, but he was caught snooping around by Edith's grandson, Quentin. [3]
When Barnabas Collins awakened in 1897, he bartered with Magda Rakosi to assist him in keeping his secret and providing him security during the daylight hours. Seeing as how the Gypsy's greed overwhelmed her own fear of him, he offered her some of the jewels in exchange for her cooperation. [4][5]
In 1967, a petty fortune hunter named Willie Loomis spoke with the Collinwood housekeeper Sarah Johnson, who told him of The Legend of Naomi Collins. [6] Willie began researching the family history and discovered that Naomi was buried at the mausoleum at Eagle Hill Cemetery. Some sources indicate that Naomi's sister-in-law, Abigail Collins, also possessed fine jewelry and was buried with them when she died in 1796. [7][8] He broke into the mausoleum and discovered a secret antechamber behind the anterior wall of the crypt. Inside was an ornate coffin wrapped with heavy chains. Believing this to be the final resting place of the legendary jewels, Willie pried open the coffin to gain his prize. Instead of the jewels however, he found the vampire, Barnabas Collins. [9]
Barnabas Collins ultimately charged Willie with the task of keeping watch over the reanimate known as Adam, who was kept chained up in the basement at the Old House. Knowing where the Collins family jewels were hidden, he took them out from their secret compartment and showed them to Adam. He was relieved to discover that the sparkling gemstones had a soothing effect on Adam. Willie stole a pair of emerald earings from the collection and secretly left them with Maggie Evans as a gift. [10]
Collins family mausoleum[]
The Collins Family mausoleum rests in Eagle Hill Cemetery, a short drive from the family's estate at Collinwood. To the public at large, the mausoleum consists of one chamber containing three coffins sitting upon the floor. Inside the coffins are the remains of Joshua Collins, Naomi Collins, and Sarah Collins. [11][12]
Although small in comparison to a traditional mausoleum, it was one of the oldest structures in the cemetery, dating all of the way back to the American Revolution. The central chamber of the mausoleum contained three coffins, laid side by side to one another, with a placard on the wall behind them, identifying the remains. They contained the bodies of Joshua Collins, his wife Naomi Collins and their youngest child Sarah, who died when she was still a little girl. What few people knew however was that the mausoleum contained a secret room behind the anterior wall. The door was activated by pulling upon a ring housed within the mouth of a sculpted lion's head above the center of the wall. Originally, this secret room was used by Joshua Collins to storage weapons during the war, but later it became the resting place of a single coffin - the one that belonged to vampire Barnabas Collins, who remained chained and imprisoned within the room from 1796 until he was freed in 1967.
Roger Collins brought Elizabeth Collins Stoddard to Eagle Hill Cemetery in the hopes of convincing her to renovate the Collins family mausoleum in lieu of constructing a private mausoleum for herself. As they entered the family crypt, they found a wounded and mentally unstable Joe Haskell. They brought him back to Collinwood to nurse him back to health. (DS 614)
Through the mysticism of the I Ching, Barnabas's consciousness from 1969 traveled backwards in time to the year 1897 where upon he re-inhabited his old body, which was still chained up in the mausoleum. He used his vampire powers to project his will outward, sending an image of the chained coffin to the crystal ball owned by Gypsy fortune teller Magda Rakosi. Mistakenly believing that she was seeing a vision of the hiding place of the Collins family jewels, she sent her husband Sandor to the mausoleum to seek them out. Sandor found the secret room and unwittingly freed Barnabas. Barnabas drank some of Sandor's blood and used his vampiric hypnosis to force the Gypsy knife-thrower to do his bidding. [13]
A would be treasure-seeker named Willie Loomis unwittingly discovered the secret chamber at the back of the mausoleum. Mistakenly believing that the chained coffin contained valuable antique jewelry, Willie opened it, thus awakening the slumbering Barnabas Collins. [14]
Sometime later, Barnabas murdered a con man and extortionist named Jason McGuire and buried him in his own coffin inside the secret room of the Collins family mausoleum. [15]
The caretaker of the Eagle Hill Cemetery always suspected that an evil presence surrounded the mausoleum, but never knew just how correct he really was. [16][17]
Collins fishing shack[]
Collinsport[]
Collinsport court house[]
Collinsport Diner[]
Collinsport Inn[]
Collinsport jail[]
Collinwood[]
Collinwood basement[]
Collinwood caretaker's cottage[]
Collinwood drawing room[]
Collinwood foyer[]
Collinwood gazebo[]
Collinwood playroom[]
Collinwood study[]
Collinwood terrace[]
Collinwood tower room[]
Cyrus Longworth[]
References[]
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 209
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 211
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 701
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 702
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 703
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 208
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 207
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 209
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 210
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 494
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 209
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 210
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 701-Dark Shadows: 702
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 210
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 276
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 209
- ↑ Dark Shadows: 211