Was Joanna Mills a Witch?

[Philippe Cordier]

Joanna Mills seemed to have powers far beyond those of any ordinary dead person or ghost on Dark Shadows.  How do we explain this?  Might Miss Mills, as she is referred to, have been a witch in life?  Her corporeal body reminds me of Angelique's physical body in her returns from the dead, e.g. the 1795 courtroom scene.  Also, Miss Mills and Miss Harridge are sisters -- so why do they have different last names 

[ProfStokes]

Vlad, I always assumed that Daphne and Joanna were half-sisters although that was never stated on the show.

As for Joanna being a witch, that's a possibility that never occurred to me.  I imagine that her love for Quentin gave her the "will to live" as she mentioned to Daphne, much like Carolyn inspired Jeb to keep his human form even when the Leviathan altar had been destroyed.

ProfStokes

[Midnite]

Miss Mills and Miss Harridge are sisters -- so why do they have different last names 

Mrs. Purdy said she knew Joanna was a young widow (#1132), so perhaps Mills was Joanna's married name.

[Connie]

Joanna Mills seemed to have powers far beyond those of any ordinary dead person or ghost on Dark Shadows.

  LOL   "....powers far beyond those of any ordinary dead person or ghost..."
That sentence strikes me as very funny for some reason.

Well, if she had such powers I would think she could have gotten Quentin out of his predicament.

Which brings up something else that bothers me.
Mr. Barnabas Collins, Attorney At Large.
Ya know, he started out with pretty good lawyering skills and then sort of petered out.  What drove me crazy was, here Quentin is getting blamed for all these deaths - even when he's locked up behind bars - and Barnabas doesn't use the most obvious argument in his defense:  If Quentin is a witch and has all these powers, then why hasn't he killed the prosecuting attorney, or the judges, or Trask (hate his guts), or gotten himself out of prison and escaped with all this witchcraft he supposedly practices?

Ugh!!!   The whole thing just makes me so mad.     
Sorry, I get emotional when it comes to 1840 Quentin.   

[Cassandra]

Which brings up something else that bothers me.
Mr. Barnabas Collins, Attorney At Large.
Ya know, he started out with pretty good lawyering skills and then sort of petered out.  What drove me crazy was, here Quentin is getting blamed for all these deaths - even when he's locked up behind bars - and Barnabas doesn't use the most obvious argument in his defense:  If Quentin is a witch and has all these powers, then why hasn't he killed the prosecuting attorney, or the judges, or Trask (hate his guts), or gotten himself out of prison and escaped with all this witchcraft he supposedly practices?

  You're absolutely right Connie!  I have been saying the same things here to my TV since Barn took the job as his defense lawyer!!  And I can't take another day of Trask's needling either!   You know, I've just realized that he's the worst Trask out of all of them!!!  And the others were pretty bad, lol!!!     Anyway, I keep waiting for Quentin to tell Trask to shut up before he puts "a curse oh him!!" lol!  but no such luck.
This whole trial thing makes it look like the people of 1840 weren't all that bright back then.


As for Vlad's question on Joanna Mills being a witch.  Im with Prof Stokes on this one in that the love that Joanna had for Quentin was so strong that it carried over into death as well.
  Along with this, I also feel that it was the hatred that she held for Samantha that gave her this power of fear to hold over her.  Joanna had replied to Samantha when Sam asked her why she still looked so young and beautiful after death, "You saw me the way that I wanted you to see me."  Perhaps these two very powerful emotions, love & hate, as different as they are, nevertheless, still very powerful is what gave her the power to be able to succeed in what she did.

Cassandra

[Mysterious Benefactor]

  LOL   "....powers far beyond those of any ordinary dead person or ghost..."
That sentence strikes me as very funny for some reason.

Well, it's certainly a phrase that only makes sense within the context of a show like DS. 


And BTW, Connie - I'm so glad to see that you've changed your avatar. The one you had been using had to be the single worst capture/photo of Selby that I've ever seen!! 

[Connie]

And BTW, Connie - I'm so glad to see that you've changed your avatar. The one you had been using had to be the single worst capture/photo of Selby that I've ever seen!! 

Well, it didn't start OUT that bad.  The avatars end up looking distorted and different on the board from how they originally look when I upload them.  I keep trying to mess with them.  Granted, he was a bit dirty and unshaven in the picture but I THOUGHT he looked rather cute.   

And I can't take another day of Trask's needling either!   You know, I've just realized that he's the worst Trask out of all of them!!!

ABSOLUTELY the worst.  I wanna bash his head in with a sledge hammer.
(Care to join me?)   

...Along with this, I also feel that it was the hatred that she held for Samantha that gave her this power of fear to hold over her.

Ya know, I saw it differently.  I think Samantha's guilt was what was making her hysterical with fear.  Joanna just had to show her face and Samantha went nuts.

Ya know what I thought was funny??  When Samantha was recounting everything that had happened in the past to Gerard, and she keeps saying "It was an accident!  I didn't mean it!" She's come back to kill me!"
LOL!  Some accident.  She writes a fake note from Quentin to Joanna telling her to meet him on the edge of Widow's Hill.  She goes there for the whole confrontation, then grabs her and starts shaking her and Joanna falls over the edge.  WHOOPS!!!!  Unfortunate accident.  ROFL


 

[Cassandra]

[ABSOLUTELY the worst.  I wanna bash his head in with a sledge hammer.
(Care to join me?)   

 Absolutely!  I honestly think that Trask got off the hook much too easy this time.  You know what I would have loved to see?  The tables being turned so that Trask was the one to be beheaded!  I thought that the judge should have arrested him there on the spot for being in cahoots with Gerard/Judah during the whole trial.  After all, wouldn't this classify him as one of Judah's followers?  The same could have been said for Valerie/Angelique also, but at least she turned evidence against Judah where as Trask just sort of snuck off without saying a word.

Ya know, I saw it differently.  I think Samantha's guilt was what was making her hysterical with fear.  Joanna just had to show her face and Samantha went nuts.

 I never thought of it that way but it does make sense.  Samantha was so full of guilt at what she did that she let her fear get the best of her and Joanna feeded off that fear, gaining more power from it as well.

Cassandra

[Cassandra Blair]

Oy vey!  The 1840 incarnation of Trask is indeed the worst.  I'm totally in agreement that he got off too easily.  IMHO, his father's fate was too mild for him.

Joanna Mills a witch?  Never occurred to me, but it's an interesting idea.  However, I think she was just extra specially motivated by her love for Quentin and her desire for revenge against Samantha.  These factors were enough to bring her back from the other side.

My question is, what do you think ever became of Joanna's ghost?  Or have I just missed the part where she fades away, or goes 'into the light' or whatever?

[Gothick]

In most traditions, the ghost of a person who has suffered violent death at the hands of another displays unusual powers, particularly if said ghost returns to right the wrong(s) that led to her murder.

I felt that Samantha's story, and the scene on Widow's Hill, revealed WHY Joanna came back and with the form and powers she had, as well as her true nature as--One of the Living Dead!!! (bum bum BUM!)

G.

[Raineypark]

I felt that Samantha's story, and the scene on Widow's Hill, revealed WHY Joanna came back and with the form and powers she had, as well as her true nature as--One of the Living Dead!!! (bum bum BUM!)

But NOT a Witch.  Think about it....can you picture Angelique (in ANY of her incarnations) letting a little bitch like Samantha toss her off a cliff?  I think not. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

where as Trask just sort of snuck off without saying a word.

A Trask admit that he was not only wrong all along, but that he was actually in cohoots with the real "devil's son" and his minion Charles?!! Ha! Lamar probably would have preferred to have been beheaded than to have ever admited something like that! 

[Valerie Collins]

I also think that Joanna Mills was a witch.  But, how is it that Gerard/Judah or Angelique didn't know that she was a ghost or possibly a witch?

Joanna had way too much powers as a ghost.

[Midnite]

Joanna Mills seemed to have powers far beyond those of any ordinary dead person or ghost on Dark Shadows.

What powers did Joanna have that the ghosts of Sarah, Quentin, Gerard, Daphne (Joanna's sister!), Beth (and many others) didn't?

Might Miss Mills, as she is referred to, have been a witch in life?

I can't think of any evidence that supports the theory that Joanna was a witch.

Her corporeal body reminds me of Angelique's physical body in her returns from the dead, e.g. the 1795 courtroom scene.

Angelique was a ghost when she testified at Vicki's trial.  You said it yourself-- she returned from the dead.

[Midnite]

And I can't take another day of Trask's needling either!   You know, I've just realized that he's the worst Trask out of all of them!!!  And the others were pretty bad, lol!!!

I agree that Lamar is the most annoying of the Trasks.  But if you mean worst in the sense of the poorest excuse for a human being, I think the honor should go to Gregory Trask-- DS' resident sexual predator and child abuser.