261 - June 26, 1967

[bunniefuu]

[narrating] - My name is Victoria Winters.

Nightfall has come to Collinwood

and a cold mist blows in from the sea,

a mist that clings to everything it touches

and hides unexplainable horrors that stalk the earth.

In the subterranean depths of a deserted old house,

there is a girl who dreads the approaching nightfall

for it brings a promise of death.

Yet, hidden within, there is an unexpected hope of escape.

[unlocking cell]

- Maggie?

Maggie!

[shuffling]

Maggie Evans...

I can hear you.

I know you are very close.

You won't escape!

You can never escape.

♪♪

♪♪

[Barnabas] - Maggie!

Maggie Evans!

[recorder playing "London Bridge"]

♪♪

- Oh...

The girl... she's calling me.

[recorder playing "London Bridge"]

♪♪

- Maggie!

Maggie!

- I see a light!

[insects chirping]

Oh...

I'm-- I'm free!

I...

[panting]

- Did you really think you could escape me?

I told you, you could never escape.

Come.

I said come!

- [screaming]

- Who is it? Who is down there?

- [screaming]

- Who is it? What's going on?

Hello!

You all right?

Who is it?

Why don't you answer?

Is it...

Maggie! Maggie!

It is you!

Oh, and I've found you!

Oh, you're not...

No... no, you're breathing.

Oh! Oh, Maggie.

Maggie, you're alive!

And I've found you.

Maggie, Maggie...

Maggie, open up your eyes.

Come on, darling, just-- just open your eyes.

That's right. Yes.

It's all right.

You're going to be all right now.

Nothing to worry ab-- no, no, no, no!

No, don't be afraid.

There is nothing to be frightened of.

Maggie. Maggie?

Maggie, don't-- don't you recognize me?

Why don't you say something, Maggie?

Can't you see me? Can't you hear me?

Maggie, why don't you say something?

Maggie!

What's this?

Where'd you get this little doll?

- [whimpering] - What's--

No, what's-- what's wrong?

Maggie!

Why can't you say something?

Maggie!

♪♪

[exhales deeply]

- How, um... how long is she gonna be this way?

- Oh, there's no telling, Sam.

It could be a matter of minutes, and then again, it could be...

- Go on.

- Well, it could be a matter of hours.

- Even days?

- Possibly. [door opening]

- Sam. - Huh?

- Joe, what are you doing here?

- Oh I-- I called him.

- I thought you weren't going to tell anybody

that you brought her here.

- Oh, I thought he would like to know.

- Maggie?

- [gasping]

- Why'd she jump when I touched her?

- Oh, she always jumps when anyone touches her. Why?

- Mm, probably because somebody

or something frightened her terribly.

The unexpected touch of somebody's hand,

it brings the whole memory of it back to her.

- But who would want to do this to her?

Who?

- Well, only Maggie can tell us that.

I think she is going to be able to sooner than you think.

Look, Sam, I'm still all up in the air about a lot of this.

Will you fill me in?

You say you found her on a--

on a deserted strip of beach underneath Widow's Hill.

Now, to begin with, what were you doing

wandering around Widow's Hill?

- Well...

you-- you won't believe me when I tell you why I was there.

- Well, why?

- [sighing]

Because of a little girl, a strange little girl

who appeared in my living room

when I was painting this afternoon.

- Appeared?

- Yes, I-- I was painting. I happened to look up

from the canvas and... there she was.

Apparently, just walked in through the front door.

She-- she asked me to do a drawing of her.

So I said, all right, I'll do a quick sketch of her.

So, while we were doing it, I got talking

and I happened to mention Maggie, and...

and she said that she thought I might find Maggie

down on that stretch by the beach.

- Did she say anything else?

- Did she say she had seen Maggie down there?

- No. No, but, uh...

just that she hoped that I would find Maggie, and that...

she'd be down on the beach, she thought.

- It seems to me it would be a help to us

if we could locate this child.

She must know something.

Have any idea where she lives?

- No, I-- I never saw her before in my life.

She... just ran off before I even finished the sketch.

- What did she look like?

- She was a nice looking, pretty kid,

about , years old.

- But she didn't tell you her name?

- No, only her first name.

That it was Sarah.

- Sarah... - Yeah.

- You, uh... you said that you still had this sketch

you made of this Sarah.

- That's right.

- I'd like to get a look at that. - Sarah.

- Hey, Maggie's saying something.

- Oh! - Maggie?

- Sarah.

- What did she say? - Sarah.

The name of the little child. She heard you talking.

- Oh, oh. Maggie...

- Sar-- - Do you recognize me? Huh?

- Poppa?

- That's right, sweetheart.

- Poppa! - Oh.

You haven't called me that in a long time.

- Poppa.

- Yes, yes, sweetheart?

- I want my doll.

- Uh-huh.

- Doll? - Yes, it-- well...

she had some doll with her when I found her.

I don't know where she got it.

- All right, here it is. - Here-- here you go, darling.

- Oh...

Poppa, when are we going to go?

- Go? Go where?

- You know, to the fair.

You said we were going. You promised.

We're-- we're going, aren't we?

- Yes, of course, I'm-- I'm taking you.

- Sam, what is she talking about?

- I-- I promised to take her to the fair once,

and then something came up and I couldn't make it

all of a sudden at the last moment.

But that was a long time ago.

She wasn't even years old.

- Can I, uh... can I try talking to her?

- Go ahead.

- Hello, Maggie.

- Who are you?

- Don't you-- don't you recognize me?

- No.

- It's-- it's Joe.

- Joe?

Oh, I don't know you.

Are we friends?

- That's right, we are.

Very good friends.

- Well, then, do you want to hold my doll?

- Sure.

- She's very pretty, isn't she?

- Yes, she is very pretty.

- I only let my friends hold her.

You have to give her back now.

- Okay.

- Joe...

Joe, Sam. - Hmm?

- Let's go in the next room. I'd like to talk to you.

I didn't want Maggie to overhear us.

- What's wrong, Dave?

She's behaving as though she were years old.

- Now look, Sam, I'm no psychiatrist,

but it's my hunch that--

well, that this is what's happening:

She is trying to block out something,

something so terrifying

that she can't even begin to cope with it.

So what she's doing is, she's retrogressing

back into her own past where she feels safe.

- Well, she-- she will pull out of it though, won't she?

- Well, again, I'm no authority,

but I think she will, in time.

You see, as she begins to feel more secure,

the present, I think, will become more real to her again.

Bit by bit, piece by piece.

- I think we've got to get her to a psychiatrist right away!

- Well, at the moment, I am more concerned

about Maggie's safety than her mental state.

- Safety?

- Well, sure, Sam, face the facts,

whoever it was that kidnapped her

may try again and he might be successful.

- Well, we won't give him the chance!

We'll put a guard on her hours a day, she will--

- Shh, shh, shh. Quiet, quiet, now.

I've got a much better idea than that.

- What is it?

- I think we should let it be known...

that Maggie is dead.

- Dead?

- I think I can arrange it so that...

well, so that everyone will believe it--

the proper records, and the-- the death certificate.

They will all be signed so that, well, it will look legitimate.

And everyone in Collinsport will believe

that when Maggie got here to the hospital, she died...

including the person who kidnapped her.

As far as I can see, that's the only way

that we can keep her completely safe.

- Well, no, how can you keep her in the hospital

without people knowing she's alive?

Everyone who works here will know,

the nurses, the orderlies, right down to the--

right down to the janitors. It's bound to get out.

- No, Joe, I'm not planning

to keep her here in the hospital.

My plan is to send her to a nursing home

about miles north of here,

one run by Dr. Hoffman, Julia Hoffman?

Do you remember the doctor that was supposed to examine

her blood sample before it was stolen?

Now, she's already extremely interested in the case,

and I think she can be convinced to cooperate.

- Uh, you mean that we are going to have to stage a funeral?

- No, no, no, no, I think I can spare you that.

Look, what we'll do is this...

we'll let out the story that there was a small,

completely private ceremony.

Uh, we'll say with a minister,

an old friend of yours from another town,

and only you and Joe in attendance.

The important part is this:

we three must be the only three in the world,

outside of Dr. Hoffman,

who knows that Maggie is still alive.

Sam?

Joe?

- Yes.

- All right.

As far as the outside world is concerned,

Maggie Evans is dead.

♪♪

- Maggie...

- Hello, Poppa.

- How are you doing? - Okay.

- Well, uh... I want to tell you something.

- What?

- Well, uh... you're going to take a little trip.

- A trip? - Yeah.

- Where? - Oh, uh, someplace nice.

You're going to like it.

- Are you going to be going along?

- No, there will be some very nice people there

that will be taking care of you,

and I will come up and visit you.

- And so will I.

- You will be very safe there.

- That's right. - Safe?

- Safer than you've ever been before.

- Excuse me. - Yes?

- I believe a Miss Evans was brought here tonight.

May I ask her room number?

- Miss Evans...

oh, yes, she is in , but she isn't allowed visitors.

- I see. May I ask how she is?

- Her doctor is there. He can tell you.

- Doctor Woodard. - Oh, Mr. Collins.

Would you excuse me for a moment.

Miss Packard, would you make sure

that these x-rays are properly filed?

- Yes, doctor.

- Mr. Collins, what are you doing here?

- Well, I heard rumor that

Maggie Evans was found and brought here.

Apparently, it's true.

- Yes.

Where did you hear this rumor?

- Oh, from several people.

Everyone in town is talking about it.

- I'm not surprised.

- May I ask how she is?

- Mr. Collins, I regret to tell you that Maggie Evans is dead.

- Dead?

- When her father brought her here to the hospital,

she was in a severe state of shock.

She never came out of it.

- She never told anyone what had happened?

- No. She never spoke a word.

- Then no one will ever know what happened to her.

- Apparently not.

- What a tragic loss for Mr. Evans.

- Yes.

He and Joe Haskell are in the hospital now.

Is there any message you would like me to give them?

- Yes.

Please express my deepest condolences.

And tell them that if there is anything I can do,

they must feel free to call on me.

- I'll tell them.

- Thank you.

Good night, Doctor.

- Good night.

♪♪

♪♪

[announcer] - "Dark Shadows" is a Dan Curtis Production.