In 1840, could Judah Zachary have placed a spell on the court making them believe a witchcraft trial was legal to ensure Quentin would be hanged?

No.  The only who would've had powers to do that would've been lobbyists and PAC members.

Gerard

What really bugged me was the whole thing about putting Vicki (or Phyllis) on trial for witchcraft.  The Salem incident was just barely over a 100 years old and had embarrassed the heck out of New England, bringing such trials to an end.  To think, a century later, that they would accuse somebody of the capital crime of witchcraft to me was simply ludicrous.  Okay, so it was a good angle, but it was still horrifically historically innacurate.

Now, I could see them still filled with superstitious puritanism and thinking Vicki was a witch, and wanting to deal with her, yet knowing putting her on trial for it would be impossible.  It would've made more sense, in my opinion, if they had charged her with murder, since that was a crime, and said she used witchcraft as the weapon.  That way, they could've had their cake and ate it, too.  They could argue that they weren't trying her for witchcraft, and even though it was no longer considered a crime, that doesn't mean that it didn't exist.  All they had to do was prove that she used it to commit murder or any other illegal mayhem.  That, I think, would have made the whole story more interesting:  she's being tried for murder, and the "weapon" was witchcraft, and there could be a whole lot of arguments between the characters if the accused choice of weapon was real or not.

Gerard

...finding a bathroom in Collinwood.

Gerard

My goodness!  Can you just picture Joan Crawford and Judy Garland working together on Dark Shadows?  Those vodka bottles would've been flying!  Just to add some more spice, they could've asked Bette Davis to do a stint as Mrs. Johnson.  Mmmmeeeeeooooowwwww!!!!!!  Ssssss-ssssss!  "Louis!  Jonathan!  Nancy!  Kathryn!  Quick!  Get into the safe room!  They're at it again!  Wait for the all-clear!"

Gerard

Of course!  Once I again, I had suffered from FDSMS (Faulty Dark Shadows Memory Syndrome).  Maybe it was Joe who was wearing the Mary-Tyler-Moore pants.  That's why he was sometimes cranky when he went on dates with Carolyn.  It had nothing to do with her being sassy.

Gerard

Hi, Lovely Annie!  Hope everything's going great!  Now make sure you do quite a bit of posting - the Q-Man has been missing you!

Gerard

Jean Simmons? You mean that guy from Kizz with the really long tougne was in the 91 DS?! Rockin!
...
Haha. Gotcha didn't I?

Not too far from what once actually did happen!  On some old DS message board or newsgroup somewhere, I was once typing in a hurry and "Jean" turned into "Gene."  Well, several posters, not familiar with the revival series, took it literally and before you knew it, it had taken on a life of its own with people excitedly talking about how "the guy from KISS" was on the '91 version and how they had wished they had seen it.  It took quite a few posts to clean that mess up.

Gerard