461

As Victoria is hanged, she is transported to the present day, and the woman who switched places with her at the séance is sent back to 1796 to die at the gallows.
== Synopsis ==
Teaser
: The great house of Collinwood stands in the 20th century as it did in the 18th, a silent witness to the tragedies of the Collins family then and now, for time has been suspended here. The clock's hands have stopped as a result of a séance. And the girl who is missing, whose journey to the year 1795 began in this room, at this table, that girl now is about to die...
At Collinwood in the present day, the members of the séance (Barnabas Collins, Dr. Hoffman, Roger Collins, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, and Carolyn Stoddard) stare motionless at Phyllis Wick in the drawing room.
: ...convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to hang. And now two moments in time are parallel. During one tick of a clock in 1968, months have passed in 1795. Now, only seconds remain.
Victoria Winters is led to the gallows, and as the noose is put around her head, and a hood is placed over her head, she hears in her mind the voice of Peter Bradford telling her that he will somehow find her again.
Act I
: One woman still stands at the gallows, her death nearer and nearer; and two moments in time are parallel, and the great clock suddenly starts again. The members of the séance stare in horror and disbelief for where Victoria Winters sat there is a stranger who was on her way to this estate 170 years ago. A stranger to all except one man who lived then as well as now.
The people in the drawing room in 1968 become unfrozen. Roger runs to the foyer looking for Victoria but can't find her. Barnabas stares at Phyllis asking her why she is here. In 1795, the executioner releases the rope and the woman in the hood is hanged. In 1968, Phyllis Wick grabs her neck and screams, finally collapsing onto the floor. In 1795, the executioner removes the hood from the hanged woman, and it is not Victoria. In 1968, Victoria is on the floor screaming. She is carried to the couch, and Julia starts to examine her. When Elizabeth tells Roger to call a doctor, Julia reveals that she is a doctor. Victoria starts to come to, and when she sees Barnabas, she says that Millicent was right and he isn't dead.
Act II
Thinking she is still in 1795, Vicki calls Elizabeth "Mrs. Collins". Then she notices the clothes and realizes she is back, that she didn't die. Julia notices the rope burns on Vicki's neck and asks for Roger's help in getting Vicki to her bed where she will give her a sedative. While the others carry Vicki upstairs, Elizabeth confronts Barnabas, accusing him of withholding information. She also notices that the Collins family history book is gone. Julia returns to say Vicki is asking to see Elizabeth. When Elizabeth leaves, Barnabas and Julia have words. Julia mocks him because she finds it interesting that he is not in control of everything and everybody as he usually is.
Act III
Later in Vicki's room, Julia lies to Elizabeth and says that she came to Collinwood because she was in danger of suffering a nervous breakdown and needed rest. She apologizes for her deceit but says she is indeed writing a book. Julia describes the bullet wound and wrapping to Elizabeth estimating that it is a few weeks old. Delirious, Vicki calls out for Peter, saying that Mrs. Collins must save him before he hangs. She remembers hearing his voice at the gallows and remembers the words of the executioner. When she is asked who Peter is, she says she does seem to know someone named Peter, but doesn't remember any more. Barnabas is concerned that Vicki knows too much and appears outside her bedroom window as a bat while the dogs howl.
Act IV
As Vicki sleeps, Elizabeth and Julia go downstairs to report to Roger and Carolyn. Barnabas appears in the room and questions Vicki who reveals vague flashes of memory from the past. Julia returns to find Barnabas in the room and sends him away, harshly, promising not to leave Vicki alone. Vicki begins to realize that she has traveled through time and in desperation asks Julia to help her. Downstairs, Barnabas orders Carolyn to divert Dr. Hoffman so that he may question Vicki alone or she will never speak again.
== Memorable quotes ==
: Julia: It is my cross in life that everything I do or say seems definite.
== Dramatis personae ==
* Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
* Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins
* Louis Edmonds as Roger Collins
* Grayson Hall as Julia Hoffman
* Nancy Barrett as Carolyn Stoddard
* Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters
* Roger Davis as Peter Bradford (uncredited, voice only)
* Margo Head as Phyllis Wick (uncredited)
* Howard Honig as Gaoler (uncredited)
* James Shannon as Hangman (uncredited)
* Timothy Gordon as Spectator (uncredited)
* Paul Craffey as Spectator (uncredited)
* Scott Upright as Spectator (uncredited)
== Background information and notes ==
=== Production ===
* The episode is the only instance of the opening narration continuing past the title sequence.
* The character of Phyllis Wick is played here by Margo Head. In 365 she was played by Dorrie Kavanaugh.
* Final episode directed by series creator Dan Curtis until 661.
=== Story ===
* Julia admits to the Collins family that she is really a doctor when she steps forward to treat Victoria after her return from 1796. Julia lies that she had been close to suffering a nervous breakdown in her medical practice and left to write a book about the Collins family.
* SEDATIVE: Julia gives Victoria a sedative.
* TIMELINE: Day 188 begins, and will end in 462. The opening narration states the present year is 1968 and confirms that no time has passed for those in the present since Victoria left. It is at the stroke of midnight when time restarts in the present. Julia estimates that Victoria sustained the shoulder wound a few weeks ago (occurred in 452). 2am: Elizabeth and Julia watch over Victoria.
== Bloopers and continuity errors ==
* The inconsistencies with the re-staging of the séance, previously seen in 365, in the present day can be rationalized as a changed history due to Victoria's presence in past, these include:
** Everyone at the table is seated in different places. For example, Phyllis Wick was previously seated at the back of the room but is now the one nearest the doorway. Also, there was a candelabra behind Roger holding green candles which is now absent.
** Previously, Barnabas got up to turn on a light and was standing behind Phyllis Wick when the episode ended. In this episode, he is standing across the table from her.
** When time is unfrozen in the present day, everyone appears shocked that Victoria is gone and that Phyllis Wick has appeared in her place. However, as seen previously, the family had already questioned her and established who she was.
** It is also not clear why, if the transference between Victoria and Phyllis Wick froze time, the Collins family had several minutes to question Miss Wick in episode 365.
* Sarah Collins' year of death is given as 1795; however, 1796 would be correct as 413 established a year change.
* When Roger asks Victoria about Millicent Collins, he says "Millicent Collins...why, she lived over 200 years ago." However, Millicent was alive in 1796, only 172 years later; over 150 years ago would be more accurate.
* Barnabas angrily asks Phyllis Wick, "What are you doing here?" However, in 366, Barnabas tells his family that the carriage overturned, three people were killed, and the governess was reported missing. No one at Collinwood, including himself, ever met Phyllis Wick. [However, within the next few episodes it is revealed that Barnabas has memories of Sarah's governess Phyllis Wick being hanged for practicing witchcraft the same day he was interred in the secret room in the mausoleum. This calls into question whether Victoria travels into the past and replaces Phyllis or whether she was re-replaced by Phyllis as she was hanged. Another possible explanation is that Victoria traveled not only through time but also to an alternative universe (i.e., parallel time). In other words, the past Victoria visited was not the past of the Barnabas she knows in the present but the past of some parallel time Barnabas. That would explain why the Barnabas of the present remembers Phyllis Wick as the governess hanged for witchcraft since that is what happened in his past.]
* When the present-day Collins family are meant to be frozen in time in the teaser, Louis Edmonds moves his left hand to his right jacket cuff in the shot. As well, Margo Head blinks several times.
* Margo Head, the actress who portrays Phyllis Wick, blinks after the Gaoler has removed the sack from her dead body that had covered the head of Victoria at her hanging.
* A boom microphone hovers overhead briefly as Roger and Carolyn escort Victoria from the drawing room.
* When Julia enters Vicki's room, there is a noise backstage that clearly startles her, causing her to jump slightly. (It sounds like a metal bucket and it is possible that Grayson Hall has kicked an unseen floor light on the other side of the bed in Vicki's room.) [Addendum: Agreed that it is clear that Grayson Hall trips over something metallic as she comes around the bed.]
* When Julia and Elizabeth discuss whether Julia should go downstairs to update Roger and Barnabas, Jonathan Frid can be seen standing in the shadows behind the chair Julia is sitting in, awaiting his entrance into the room later in the scene.
* In Act IV, though Julia is clearly concerned about Barnabas being alone with Victoria from the beginning of the episode, and even though she heard the dogs howl and saw Barnabas as a bat outside Vicki's bedroom window, she agrees to leave Vicki alone and go with Elizabeth to talk to Roger (and supposedly Barnabas). Of course, Barnabas then immediately enters Vicki's room.
* In Act IV, Jonathan Frid seems to flub a line. He tells Carolyn that she must "divert the eminent Dr. Hoffman," and then says "I must be with her alone." "Her" refers to Vicki, but based on how Frid says it, it seems he's referring to Julia. Nancy Barrett saves Frid by saying "With Vicki" to clarify.
==External Links==
Dark Shadows - Episode 461 on the IMDb
Dark Shadows Every Day - Episode 461 - Leave Me Hanging
The Dark Shadows Daybook - Episode 461
Dark Shadows Commentary- Episode 461: Crosses in life
Dark Shadows Before I Die- Episode 461: 4/1/68
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