Possible Origin Of The "Rip" In Time

[Dr. Eric Lang]

Not to over-justify, but it may not have occurred to Quentin and Julia that the PT people can see into their time band the way they see into theirs (which, admittedly, would be rather short-sighted of them). During Barnabas' brief visit back to his own time band he made no mention of this fact when talking with Julia - he was too busy obsessing over and blathering about PT Maggie.

It also seems odd that PT people do not stumble into RT.  I can just see Hoffman in the kitchen washing dishes when Mrs. Johnson ask her what she is doing.  Hoffman looks at Mrs. Johnson and says who the heck are you?  It seems that only RT people can move back and forth and PT people are stuck in their own time band.

I suspect the "rip" or vortex in the time band was caused by PT Angelique practicing her black arts in that room (since the room in unused in RT). Or it may have been a side effect of whatever Stokes did in PT to bring Angelique back to life if no one had ever noticed the phenomenon before, which we assume is the case since the room had been occupied for years in PT. It may be a one-way only door for those in RT to enter and exit.

[Josette]

I suspect the "rip" or vortex in the time band was caused by PT Angelique practicing her black arts in that room (since the room in unused in RT). Or it may have been a side effect of whatever Stokes did in PT to bring Angelique back to life if no one had ever noticed the phenomenon before, which we assume is the case since the room had been occupied for years in PT. It may be a one-way only door for those in RT to enter and exit.

It can't be one way as Barnabas got back, so clearly it worked both ways.  I like your suggestion that Angelique's black arts created it, though.  I never thought of that!    That could also explain why the PT people never got to (or saw) RT before.  Perhaps it had just recently occurred.  Until Alexis came, it was only occasional visits by people talking to the portrait or whatever in there, and so apparently, they were never there when the change occurred.

Even now, look how often they use Angelique's room and RT Julia (and Quentin) go in their room, yet only these 2 transfers of Barnabas and now 1 of Julia have occurred.

[ProfStokes]

I suspect the "rip" or vortex in the time band was caused by PT Angelique practicing her black arts in that room (since the room in unused in RT).

I like this idea, but how do you account for [spoiler]the presence of parallel time in 1840?  Quentin, Daphne, Joanna, Gabriel, Desmond, and Leticia are all witnesses to the phenomenon some 115 years before Angelique moves into Collinwood, and Lamar crosses over well before Barnabas or Julia.[/spoiler]

ProfStokes

[Eleanor_Rigby]

I like this idea, but how do you account for [spoiler]the presence of parallel time in 1840?  Quentin, Daphne, Joanna, Gabriel, Desmond, and Leticia are all witnesses to the phenomenon some 115 years before Angelique moves into Collinwood, and Lamar crosses over well before Barnabas or Julia.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Maybe 1970PT and 1841PT aren't the same worlds ... ?  And maybe in 1841PT it's easier for each world to cross back and forth.  It would have been fun to see both worlds crossing back and forth.[/spoiler]

[Raineypark]

Perhaps all of the goings-on at Collinwood are actually the result of it's having been built on ground that was consecrated to some long-fogotten deity ages before the Collins' arrived from England.

Angelique, after all, has proven herself nothing more than a not-very-profficient dabbler in the black arts.  How much more powerful might an ancient Shaman have been, in calling forth powers from the very same place?  Perhaps the "room" stands upon the port of entry he and his tribe used to travel from one sacred place to another?

If the show were on today, I'd bet money on just such a scenario...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I like this idea, but how do you account for [spoiler]the presence of parallel time in 1840?  Quentin, Daphne, Joanna, Gabriel, Desmond, and Leticia are all witnesses to the phenomenon some 115 years before Angelique moves into Collinwood, and Lamar crosses over well before Barnabas or Julia.[/spoiler]

I wondered if that was a theory-killer too. But then I figured that perhaps [spoiler]if it were possible that whatever spells were cast as part of bringing Angelique back from death ripped a hole in the fabric of time in 1970PT/RT, perhaps the effects could have rippled throughout all of time. We know the PT room allowed travel not only back and forth from RT to the corresponding PT year (1970RT/1970PT, 1841RT/1841PT), but apparently also from PT to a totally different year in RT (Barn and Julia's trip from 1970PT to 1995RT), so who's to say that the spells couldn't have affected the past as well as the present and the furture? It's a very intriguing possibility...[/spoiler]

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Perhaps all of the goings-on at Collinwood are actually the result of it's having been built on ground that was consecrated to some long-fogotten deity ages before the Collins' arrived from England. ... How much more powerful might an ancient Shaman have been, in calling forth powers from the very same place?  Perhaps the "room" stands upon the port of entry he and his tribe used to travel from one sacred place to another?

Another intriguing theory. The thing I wonder about, though, is if the ground had been consecrated and possibly used by the tribe as you describe, why would the port of entry to the rip in time manifest itself in a room on the second floor, and not, say, in the same area located in Collinwood's cellar or even the first floor? Or do you think that, as part of yet more intriguing possibilities, perhaps it does but so far as we know still remains undiscovered?

[Gerard]

In his wonderful year-long continuation of Dark Shadows should the show not have been cancelled, Charles Delaware Troll [spoiler]had the PT phenomenon connected somewhat with Quentin Collins I's time-travel staircase, and the PT cross-overs did occur in many other parts of the house in 1971/72, when remnants of the destroyed staircase sort-of went into a melt-down.[/spoiler]It was a lotta fun to read.  If you haven't read it yet, go to his site and do so.

Gerard

[Raineypark]

..... if the ground had been consecrated and possibly used by the tribe as you describe, why would the port of entry to the rip in time manifest itself in a room on the second floor, and not, say, in the same area located in Collinwood's cellar or even the first floor?

Oh, that's simple.....high places have historically been the sight of worship and magickal ceremonies.  Obviously, back then, ground level was at the height of the current 2nd floor.  No doubt the builders of Collinwood excavated tons of sacred ground  to create that mouldy pile.  Who knows how many spirits they disturbed in the process?  It's a wonder the whole place doesn't shift shape and time on a constant basis.

Are we drifting into the forbidden area of fan fiction here?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Oh, that's simple.....high places have historically been the sight of worship and magickal ceremonies.  Obviously, back then, ground level was at the height of the current 2nd floor.

So, you're envisioning the rip in time as eminating from a particular point in time and space rather than from the actual consecrated ground itself. OK - that works.

Are we drifting into the forbidden area of fan fiction here?

No - theories related to various aspects of the storylines are the sort of discussions we've frequently had on the different incarnations of forum. I've missed them, actually, because they're always a lot of fun. But so long as the discussions stay routed in theory that simply deals with possible explanations to already existing story and doesn't actually cross into developing new story (i.e. the writing of actual scenes or elaborately detailed scenarios that never took place on DS) it doesn't cross into the realm of fan fiction.

[Stuart]

I always took it that Parallel Time was a side effect of the residents of Collinwood tampering with time elsewhere.  In a universe of infinite possibilities, choices are surely life forks in a road we travel down - with different possibilities lying ahead.

If you take the idea of a forked road, time travelling simply changes the course of "main" time onto a different path, leaving the original, unaltered version to run parallel alongside.  With Barnabas and co violently switching the paths of themselves and their community, perhaps Parallel Time is the effect - the chaos of diverse possibilities fighting for dominance in a timeline beset with chaos?  The fabric of it all simply wearing thin enough in places to peer into other possibilities.

One interesting counterpoint to this theory is the notion that Barnabas' various time jaunts never really saved anyone - for every David Collins or Amy Jennings he saves, another will die just as helplessly in another timeline.

[Raineypark]

And then there are those who believe that time is circular, and not linear at all.....that time circles back upon itself eternally, creating the constant of birth, death, and re-birth.

To that way of thinking, the chaos at Collinwood is caused by the un-dead, formerly dead, and not-quite-dead-enough characters who refuse to move on to the Next Realm when they're supposed to! 

[Stuart]

The circular time idea's a nifty concept too - might go some way to explaining so many familiar faces across the ages

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The circular time idea's a nifty concept too - might go some way to explaining so many familiar faces across the ages

It is and it does. But your theory regarding Barnabas' actions is probably the closest to the actual scientific theory of parallel universes/time bands.

As the theory goes, every time we're presented with a choice, the possibilty is that we actually take each option, thus creating an alternate/concurrent band of time where each choice is lived out. Because there are an infinite amount of choices in the universe, there are infinite parallel universes/time bands. However, the bands in which the choices made correspond most closely supposedly exist closest to each other, whereas the ones furthest away would be as different from our own "reality" as they could possibly be. If we were to cross into a band "next" to our own, many more things would appear similar than they would appear to be different. This is why so many of the things in 1970PT are so close to how they are in 1970RT.

Just think of it - in theory there could be a whole slew of alternate universes/time bands where DS never existed - as well as a whole slew where it was never cancelled in 1971 and is a month into its 38th year on ABC. And in some of those alternate universes/time bands there could exist alternate versions of ourselves who've never even heard of DS or couldn't have cared less even if they did, while in others our alternate selves might come to a forum similar to this to discuss the current DS storylines rather than those from over 30 years ago. The possibilities are mind boggling - in theory, anyway.

[Brian]

Interesting to read all these comments.  For those who may be familiar with the DS Concordances published by Kathy Resch, the 1840 Concordance includes a thought-provoking essay by Arthur Warren Oddsson titled "Causality at Collinwood: Time Travels in Dark Shadows."  A section of it called "A Private Hell" focuses on PT.  The 1970 PT Concordance includes an expanded version of "A Private Hell."

I don't know if those books are still available form Kathy;  if  not, you might come across them on eBay.  They make for good reading--and back in the 80s, before DS hit home video and SciFi Channel, they were the only way some of us "old-timers" could relive the series.

Brian