417 - January 30, 1968

[bunniefuu]

[narrator] -A séance has been held in the great house at Collinwood,

a séance, which has suspended time and space

and sent one girl on an uncertain

and frightening journey into the past,

back to the year .

There, each member of the Collins' ancestors

resembles a present day member of the Collins family,

but the names and relationships have changed

and Victoria Winters finds herself a stranger

in a sea of familiar faces.

One member of the Collins family has been cursed

and must walk the earth as one of the living dead.

He seeks to end the curse and after this night,

perhaps he will.

- You will come back at sunrise.

I will already be asleep.

- You will take the stake and you will drive it-- - No!

- You will drive it into my heart.

- I can't! I won't!

- You'll do as I say.

- But it'll destroy you forever. - Forever.

- Yes. Forever.

- How can I destroy you?

- I am destroyed already.

What you will do is save me,

free me from this endless torment.

- I can't do it!

- If you are my friend-- - I am.

- Then do it. - No!

- Free me.

Give me peace at last.

Let me return to those who are at rest.

Do not condemn me to wander forever in endless agony.

End my torment.

Please, I beg you.

I beg you.

Let me hear you say the word, yes.

Say the words!

- Yes. - Yes.

- Yes.

Yes.

♪♪

[eerie theme music] ♪♪

- I'm scared, Mr. Barnabas.

- Don't be.

- To do what you want me to do,

drive a stake through your heart,

I don't even like to think about it.

No matter what you are, no matter what you've done,

you've been my friend.

- Think of it this way, Ben.

You will be performing an act of friendship.

You'll be bestowing on me the most priceless gift

one man can give another.

- Gift?

- A gift of peace.

I long for it.

I long to escape from the thing that I have become.

My destruction will be the only way to save me,

my only salvation.

- I'll try to think of it that way.

- I know you won't fail me.

- No. I won't.

- Do everything you can to help Miss Winters. - I will.

- You must help her escape.

You must see to it that she is taken somewhere

where no one will know her or harm her.

- I'll do everything to help Miss Winters.

I don't want any harm to come to her.

- As for you, Ben,

you know where the money is to save Miss Winters.

- Aye.

- Whatever is left over, I want you to keep it for yourself.

Use it to get away from Collinwood,

as far away as possible.

Make a new life for yourself

and try to forget what has transpired here.

- I'll never forget you, sir.

- If you do remember me,

remember what was good about me,

as I hope others will.

- If it's any comfort to you, Mr. Barnabas,

I'm sure Miss Josette will always remember you

- the way you were. - Please don't mention her name.

- I'm sorry.

- To think that I will never see the moonlight again

or the sunlight or anything.

- Better not to think about it, Mr. Barnabas,

better not to think about anything at all.

- Ben, I-- - What is it?

- I must see her once again.

- Miss Josette? - Yes, I must see her.

- But you can't! - I must!

- But you don't want her to know what you are.

- She will never know.

- But she thinks you're dead, Mr. Barnabas,

let her keep on thinking that, for her sake.

- I only want to look at her.

I only want to go to her room while she's sleeping

and look at her.

- And that's all? - Yes, that's all.

- She will never know I'm in the room.

- And if she wakes?

You're taking a terrible chance, Mr. Barnabas.

- Don't do it. - But I must see her.

- I can say goodbye to everything else

but I must see Josette once again.

- What if last night happens all over again?

What if you do the same thing to Miss Josette

- that you did to that girl? - I would never harm Josette.

- You didn't mean to harm that girl, but you did.

- She was not Josette.

- You might not mean to harm Miss Josette,

- but you might not be able to help yourself. - Nonsense!

- It's not nonsense, Mr. Barnabas.

Don't go near her, please! Please!

- You may go now, Ben,

and don't return until after sunrise,

when you know you must do what must be done.

- Stay away from her, Mr. Barnabas, please!

- I said, you may go now.

- All right.

All right.

♪♪

[bat squeaking]

[thinking] -Goodbye, Josette.

My dear Josette.

I mustn't awaken her.

I mustn't go any nearer to her.

I mustn't. I mustn't.

Josette, how can I say goodbye?

How can I ever say goodbye to you?

But I must.

I must.

- [gasps]

Barnabas.

- Who's there?

Aunt Natalie? Is something wrong?

- No. No, no, nothing.

- Why are you here?

Well, what is it? You're very upset.

- No, nothing is wrong.

Josette, I - I've come to a decision.

I've decided we must leave Collinwood.

- Leave?

- Yes, a soon as possible, as soon as it can be arranged.

- You may leave, of course, but you know that I cannot.

- You must!

- You know that I cannot leave!

Before Barnabas died, he told me he was going to return to me

and I believe he will.

- It's nonsense.

- It may seem so to you, but it does not to me.

I feel very close to Barnabas here.

That's why I wish to remain.

But if you do not, then that's your decision

and you may go back to Martinique whenever you wish.

- You know I would not leave without you.

- Aunt Natalie, have you awaken me in the middle of the night

to start this argument again?

- No.

No, I - I've - I've awakened you because I'm frightened.

- Frightened?

You - you should be frightened, too.

Your death has been prophesied by -

by one whom we believe is a witch.

I'm not afraid of that.

- Other prophecies have come true.

Victoria Winters said that Sarah would die

and she did just as the witch said she would!

- I know that, too.

- Still, you're not afraid?

- Perhaps I am.

And yes,

yes, I was afraid when I saw the ghost of Jeremiah

and yet I still cannot leave Collinwood

until Barnabas has made his promise come true

and returned to me.

- He will never return.

- Then I will wait here and die,

but nothing you say will make any difference to me.

- Then - then you force me to tell you something

I did not want to tell you.

- What?

- I - I saw something tonight, something that terrified me.

- What did you see?

- The moment of my own death.

- Your death?

- I saw it in the Tarot cards, tonight.

- You? - Yes.

- So, you see, you are not the only one who is in danger.

I am in danger, too,

and only you can save me, only you!

- How? What do you mean?

- I will die if I remain in Collinwood

- and I will not leave without you. - Oh, Aunt Natalie--

- Now, I know you do not believe in my Tarot cards,

but you have seen things in this house with your own eyes

that you never would have believed possible

before you came here.

- Yes.

- Perhaps my cards lied, perhaps they did not,

but I believe that I saw the future

and I believe I will die unless I leave here.

- Yes, of course.

We will have to leave here as soon as possible.

- Miss Josette?

- Ben!

Oh, what are you doing up?

- I was going to ask you the same question.

- I couldn't sleep.

Are you always up before the sunrise?

- Sometimes.

Miss Josette, is - is everything--

- Yes?

- Is everything all right?

- Yes, of course. Why do you ask?

- Oh, I just thought--

You just said you couldn't sleep.

I thought there might be something wrong.

- No.

- I'm glad to hear that.

- Ben, why are you looking at me like that? - What?

- You were staring at me. - Was I?

- You seem very upset. - Sorry.

- Why did you ask if I was all right?

- Why wouldn't I be?

- I - I've been worried about you, Miss Josette.

- About me?

- I've been worried about all the women folks

around here after what's happened.

- Oh.

Yes, I heard about that poor girl

who was m*rder*d last night.

- That's what I mean.

No woman is safe.

- Please don't worry about me, Ben,

I'm perfectly safe.

I wouldn't dream of going into Collinsport at night.

- I know, but-- - Besides,

- I'm going to be leaving Collinwood soon.

- Leaving?

- Yes.

Aunt Natalie and I will be returning to Martinique

as soon as we can make the arrangement.

- That's good, Miss Josette.

You should leave.

There's something about this house that brings unhappiness

to everyone who lives here.

You will be happier when you get far away from here.

- Ben!

I know you were very close to Barnabas.

- What about it?

- Before he died, he - he told me something,

something that I can't forget.

- What did he say to you?

- He said that he would return.

- He said that?

- Yes.

I can't stop thinking about it.

That's why I didn't want to leave before now.

- He's dead, Miss Josette.

He can't come back.

- I know.

Oh, Ben, I know it's not rational to believe that,

but I can't stop hoping that he will return.

- Miss Josette, you got to stop thinking like that.

He's dead and gone. He will never come back.

Never.

- There are times when I feel so close to him.

I felt that way tonight.

I woke from a sound sleep

and I thought I heard his voice calling to me.

- That's crazy.

- No.

No, I thought I heard his voice.

It was faraway. It was calling my name.

It seemed so real.

- You're imagining things, Miss Josette.

- You got to stop that.

- Yes, I suppose.

- Getting away from Collinwood

and forgetting everything that happened here

is the best thing you can do.

Believe me, it is!

- It's not going to be easy to leave here,

but I do know that I must.

- It's almost morning.

Shouldn't you try to get some sleep?

- Yes.

Good night, Ben.

- What is it?

- Did you just hear something?

- What?

- I - I thought I heard something that sounded

like a... laughter.

- Laughter?

- Yes.

A very soft laughter, coming from far away.

- Didn't you hear it? - No, I didn't

- and neither did you.

It was just the wind and the trees.

You better get back to your room, Miss Josette.

Try to get some rest.

- Yes.

Good night, Ben.

- Good night.

[rooster crowing]

[thinking] In a few minutes, it'll be light

and I'll have to find a stake and drive it through his heart.

I don't want to do it, but I got to.

I got to.

♪♪

[rooster crowing]

[lid creaking open]

[woman laughing] What?

What's that?

Who is it?

Who are you? Who?

[laughing continues]

Stop it! Stop it!

Stop it!

[laughter stops]

Who's in this place?

Who?

- Ben.

- You?

- Did you really think I would allow you to end my curse?

- You can't stop me from doing what I have to do.

- I can and I will. - No!

- Where is your stake?

- It's gone!

- Because I have not lost my power over you.

You will never do what Barnabas has asked you to do

and if you try again,

I will return from my grave to stop you.

- No!

- Go, leave this place and when you return,

tell Barnabas my curse shall be carried out.

- Please!

- I ordered you to go, now!

Did you really think you could escape my curse, Barnabas?

You shall never escape nor shall your Josette.

[laughing]

♪♪

[eerie theme music] ♪♪