427 - February 13, 1968

[bunniefuu]

[narrator] -A séance has been held in the great house of 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 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.

Not friendly now,

forced almost out of recognition

by the hatred they feel for her.

- Victoria Winters is a witch!

- She must hang!

- Satan will try to rescue her!

- He will not succeed.

The witch has done too much.

There is panic in the town,

nightly, a new attack, a new m*rder.

The witch is not satisfied with what she has done

to the Collins family.

The devil is never satisfied.

The authorities agree.

Ms. Winters must be brought to trial without warning,

without having a chance to contact her master,

Satan.

At this moment, she sits in her cell,

unaware that before the day is done,

her trial will begin.

She is closer to the gallows than she or her master know.

[chains clinking]

- Oh, Peter, I'm so glad to see you!

What's wrong?

What is it?

Tell me, please!

♪♪

[eerie theme music] ♪♪

What's happened?

I know something has, please tell me!

- You're going to court today.

- Today?

- Yes.

- Good.

- Good?

- Well, isn't it?

- I don't know.

- Peter, I'm innocent!

The judges have got to believe me!

And besides, I want to get it over with.

You can understand that.

I'm glad my trial is today.

- Vicki, there isn't much time.

There are several things you have to know.

Josette Collins died last night.

- No.

- She jumped from the cliff on Widows' Hill.

- They couldn't stop her.

- No.

- Poor Josette.

I tried to help her.

I - I told the countess everything I knew.

- The fact that you prophesied her death

isn't going to help you this morning.

- But it was in the book. You know that.

You're beginning to sound as though you're against me, too.

- I'm only trying to prepare you

for what's going to happen today.

- But the judges got to see that I couldn't k*ll.

- We'll try to show them.

- There's no evidence. Everything is so circumstantial.

And - and Mrs. Collins is going to testify.

She promised.

- Vicki.

- She won't?

But she said she would! She promised!

- I got a letter this morning from that Ben fellow.

- From Mrs. Collins?

- From her husband.

He is not even going to let her come to the trial.

- Why?

- He doesn't say.

Do you want to read it?

- No, I can't.

- Hey. I know you were counting on her.

I was counting on it, too.

- He stopped her!

She wouldn't have broken her promise, I know her.

I know that!

Peter, I don't know what I'd do without you.

- It's time.

- Now?

- Now. Are you ready?

- Yes.

Yes, I'm ready.

♪♪

- Victoria Winters!

You have heard the charges of witchcraft

for which you are being tried.

Do you plead innocent to the aforesaid charge or guilty?

- Innocent, Your Honor.

- The Case of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

against Victoria Winters may proceed.

- I should like to give the defendant

one last opportunity to denounce her master

and relinquish voluntarily the powers,

which link her to the Prince of Darkness.

- Your Honor, Ms. Winters does not admit the possession

of any such powers!

- Mr. Bradford is right.

- Whether he is right or not,

possession is the most curious word for him to use.

Because that's what this trial is about,

the possession of innocent souls by a witch.

- Your Honor, Mr. Trask keeps talking as if

this trial were over and Ms. Winters' guilt decided.

- Trask, you will attempt to limit your editorializing,

I trust!

- It will not be easy, Your Honor,

but I shall try.

Now, with the Court's permission,

I should like to call my first witness.

- Proceed.

- Ms. Abigail Collins, please.

Ms. Collins, do you swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth and nothing but the truth

so help you God?

- So help me God.

I've never lied, Your Honor.

As anyone who knows me will be glad to tell you.

- Ms. Collins.

Now, Ms. Collins, will you kindly tell the Court

in your own words

the true beginning of this case,

the arrival of Victoria Winters at Collinwood.

- We were living at the old house then.

- "We"?

- My brother, Joshua, and Jeremiah.

- The late Jeremiah Collins?

- He would be alive today

if that woman had not come to us!

- I object to this, Your Honor!

- Do you, sir?

Well, no more than this -

this noble family objects to the loss

of one of its most illustrious members!

- The Collins family has my sympathy

and Ms. Winters' sympathy

- and I'm sure the sympathy of every-- - Indeed!

- Gentlemen! Gentlemen!

Be seated, Mr. Bradford.

- Trask, no connection has been made

between Ms. Winters and Jeremiah Collins' death.

It has not been established.

- We shall make that connection at the proper time.

You may proceed, Ms. Collins.

On - on what actual date did Ms. Winters first appear?

- It was October th.

I remember because I made arrangements

with our solicitor in Boston

to send us a Ms. Phyllis Wick.

She came highly recommended.

She was to arrive the th on the evening stage.

- And did Ms. Wick arrive?

- She did not!

And I for one hesitate to think

what may have happened to her.

Obviously, some evil force would not permit her to come!

- It may be obvious to you that some evil force

did not permit Ms. Wick's arrival.

It also may be that just by chance,

somewhere between Boston and here,

she changed her mind.

- The stage overturned

and she is missing to this very day!

- Did you try to find her?

- Our solicitor in Boston, a very respectable man,

made all inquiries.

- Mr. Bradford, you will have your--

- Your Honor, she is trying to suggest

that we must accept second-hand testimony.

- You will have your own opportunity

to cross-examine this witness!

- Thank you, Your Honor.

Now, Ms. Collins,

will you tell us the details of Ms. Winters' appearance?

- My nephew, Barnabas, a name, Your Honor,

you shall hear many times in this trial,

was to go to Collinsport to pick up Ms. Wick.

As he waited for his carriage,

he saw coming toward him this - this creature.

He'd never seen her before in his life

and she called him by name.

"Barnabas," she cried, "Oh, Barnabas!"

- He told you that he had never seen her before?

- Of course.

But he came under her spell almost immediately.

Oh, Judge, you should have seen the clothes she was wearing.

- There is an explanation

for Ms. Winters' clothes, Your Honor!

- You must not interrupt the testimony, Mr. Bradford!

Proceed.

- My nephew, up to this time, a very nice young man,

asked Ms. Winters to come into the house

and with that gesture,

sealed his fate

and that of so many of my beloved family.

My sister-in-law, against my better judgment,

insisted that Ms. Winters be allowed to spend the night.

That night began the reign of terror in our home.

- Your Honor, nothing has been established

to connect Ms. Winters' arrival and the subsequent events!

- Mm-hmm. Agreed.

- We shall attend to that connection now, Your Honor.

Will you kindly tell the Court the events of November nd?

- My brother, Joshua, was speaking with Jeremiah--

Oh, this is so difficult to explain,

it's even more difficult to believe.

While Jeremiah had his back turned,

Joshua just disappeared

and in his place was a cat.

The devil's animal!

Now, several days later,

I was in Ms. Winters' room and the cat was on her bed.

Suddenly, there was this ungodly noise.

The room was filled with smoke.

I screamed and there was Joshua before me

and the cat was gone.

- Did your brother have any memory of where he had been?

- None!

Clearly, witchcraft had taken hold of our home.

- Quite clearly.

Now, let us go into the reason you are so sure

that Victoria Winters is a witch.

Will you testify as to the exorcism

of the old house at Collinwood?

- Gladly.

I was convinced that Barnabas

was under the spell of this witch

and that he was hiding her there at the old house.

Finally, he agreed to let you, yourself, Reverend Trask,

exorcise the old house.

- Your Honor, since it was the Reverend Trask

who conducted this exorcism,

I would like you to, for just for the moment,

dismiss Ms. Collins,

so that I may interrogate Mr. Trask

on his actions on that day.

- I certainly have no objections, Your Honor.

- You may be excused, Ms. Collins.

Trask, you may take the stand.

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth

and nothing but the truth so help you God?

- I do.

- Exactly what does exorcism accomplish?

- The evil spirit is unable to stand the presence of the Lord

and flees from the house being exorcised.

On the afternoon in question,

I called upon the powers of goodness

to drive forth the witch,

which was hidden within the house.

I drew a circle upon the ground and within it,

inscribed the initials of the witch, Victoria Winters!

- She is not a witch!

- That's exactly why we're in this courtroom! - I waved the burning fork

- branch before the threshold

and the witch - the witch came forth from the house!

The forces of evil had been conquered!

- She didn't run from that house because of your exorcism!

She ran because there was a fire in her room!

- That is not true!

- Yes, it is! My room was burning!

- It was not! I was in there afterwards!

There was no sign of any fire!

- I saw the flames and I saw the smoke! - Order! Order!

- You saw the flames of hell, that's what you saw! - Order! Order!

- I said, order in this court-- - No! No! No! No! No!

- Order! Order in this court, I say!

♪♪

- When - when I went to Ms. Winters

to ask her to end the spell on Josette,

she refused.

- I understand how painful this must be for you, Countess.

- No. I - I - I want to finish.

I begged her to give me any information she could.

I asked her if I could look at the book again,

the - the book, which told of Josette's death.

- And did she give you the book?

- No.

But she told me what will happen on the day Josette died.

She said she would lose a black onyx ring.

I knew Josette did not have a ring like that,

but when I went back to Collinwood, Josette did.

- Where had she gotten it?

- I never could find out.

She lied to me for - for the first time.

That day, that final day,

when she discovered the loss of the ring,

she - she went into panic, as Ms. Winters had told me.

Suddenly, everything Ms. Winters told me started happening.

- I only knew that because I had read it in the book.

[gavel pounding]

- A lamp shattered,

the wind whistled through the walls of Collinwood

and - and the door - the door opened.

I could not close it.

I took two steps into the hall

and when I came back, Josette was gone.

It was the last time I saw my niece.

- Countess, I...

I'm sure I speak for the entire Court when I say

how grateful we are

that in this hour of your grief, you could come here.

I do have a few more questions.

Now, this book published in ,

according to the front page,

was supposedly brought here by Ms. Winters

when she arrived here from the th century.

- So she told us.

You and your niece actually read

this history of the Collins family?

- Oh, not - not all of it.

It was very disagreeable to read of tragedies

that have not yet happened,

the - the death of friends.

- Tell me, Countess, where is the book today?

- Oh, I do not know.

Yes, yes, I do. It was in my room.

- It is no longer?

- No, the witch took it.

One night, I went to my room to get the book.

I opened the door and she stood there.

- She?

- Ms. Winters. I - I knew she was in jail.

I closed the door

and screamed for someone to come

that - that I had the witch.

When we opened the door, the only door,

she was gone.

The windows were closed

and there was no sign that anyone

had left the room.

Reverend Trask and I went immediately to the jail.

- And was she there?

- She was in her cell.

- This woman has the ability to appear in two places

at the same time.

What further testimony do we need

to prove her guilt?

- There is more that you need to know! - Peter, no!

- I think the Court should take into consideration

the possibility that this misguided young man

is himself under some sort of a spell.

If you continue the way you are going, sir,

your turn in this Court will come,

I promise you.

- Yes, sir. Yes, sir, it may.

- No. - He admits it.

- Because I let her out of jail that night.

- No, Peter!

- You are lying to save her!

- I also know how she got out of the Countess's room.

- He is blinded by her!

- Gentlemen, we will not have this!

- I did not cause this - this incredible confession!

But if it is true,

then this man must be relieved of his position

at the jail at once!

- Your Honor, please!

- He merely brought me there and - and he did bring me back.

Oh, please, Your Honor!

I've done enough without hurting anyone else!

I've done enough!

- You hear? An admission!

- No, I - I didn't mean it that way!

- I swear! - An admission at last!

♪♪

- Oh, I just couldn't let them believe

that you could be in two places at the same time.

- Don't you realize that now you may be arrested, too?

- We don't have time to think about that.

Tomorrow, he's going to bear down on the book,

it's going to be worse.

- He's wanting - gonna want to know where the book is.

What are we going to say?

- We can't admit that we have it.

- But - but maybe it'll make the Judge believe me.

Oh, why can't Mrs. Collins testify for me?

And Barnabas, if - if only he were alive,

he knew I was innocent!

- How did he know?

- I don't know.

He did and Ben does, too.

- Ben, the fellow who brought the letter this morning?

- Yes.

When he was helping me to hide,

he - he said that he knew I wasn't a witch.

- What exactly did he say?

Vicki, it may be very, very important.

- Well, I was hiding from Trask in the stable

and he - he nearly found me.

So, Ben came to bring me back to the old house.

I knew he was putting himself in danger by doing that.

When I asked him why,

he just looked at me very seriously and said,

"I know you're not the witch."

- Didn't you ask him what he meant?

- No.

I didn't think to.

He - he would have spoken up by now.

- It may be that there's something he wasn't telling us.

- Oh, Peter, you're - you're building up a whole case

- out of just a remark! - No, no.

- Perhaps there was something he couldn't tell us.

- Don't do that.

- Don't - don't make so much out of nothing. - Guard!

- Where are you going?

- I'm going to see Ben. Guard!

- Peter!

- Vicki, everything is going to be all right tomorrow.

It's going to seem very, very different.

Ben is going to help us.

Don't worry.

♪♪

[eerie theme music] ♪♪