Great episode. Anita Bolster was perfect as Bathia Mapes. Her voice was aged and creepy.
I don't think we ever get a full story on who or what Bathia Mapes was. She just appears out of nowhere and sets to work. To me, she appears to be a living, breathing human being. When she said (though I can't remember the words exactly) that she had herself been tempted to curse someone, she seemed like a live person living a life with other live people. I think she can't have been a resident of Collinsport, because if she were, then surely she would have been either consulted or accused - or both - during Vicky's trial. So she must have come from further away. My impression is that it took less than an hour for her to respond to the Countess's call, so she cannot have come by foot or by horse, but rather by some supernatural means. Imagine her, sitting one night in her home, tending to her herbs or some such thing, when suddenly she is called. And off she goes, whizzing into the night, arriving at Collinwood in both body and spirit.
Or is there some exposition on Bathia Mapes that I have forgotten?
As for Anita Bolster, there must be information about her somewhere or other, but I've never looked her up. Imagine her, sitting one day in her home, tending to her vowel purity or some such thing, when suddenly she is called by her agent. And off she goes, whizzing under the streets of New York City on the subway, to the Dark Shadows studio.
And now, due to the Watching Project's Holiday Hiatus, Barnabas will spend the next three weeks throttling Bathia Mapes. Somehow it seems only right that Barnabas should spend his vacation strangling somebody.