Empty Coffins On DS

[Misa]

These empty coffins might be empty because someone stole the body for a mad scientist (ala Dr. Lang). I always wondered why [spoiler]Joanna's coffin was empty. How did she return to life? They never explain this.[/spoiler]

Misa

[Midnite]

I always wondered why [spoiler]Joanna's coffin was empty. How did she return to life? They never explain this.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I think Joanna was a ghost.  Before she caused Samantha's death, she said, "now you shall see me as my spirit really looks."  Like Leona Eltridge and Sarah Collins, she was able to appear human for a time but was not alive.[/spoiler]

[MagnusTrask]

Coterie... is that you?   You look like a young Frid/Barnabas!

No one should ever be surprised at an empty coffin at Collinwood: they never buried anyone more than 10 inches deep......what's THAT to a vengeful corpse? 

The coffins themselves were pretty shallow.   All the time BC was complaining about [spoiler]Petofi keeping him prisoner,[/spoiler]he must have been concerned mostly with the fact that, had the lid actually been closed, it would've smooshed his face something bad.    The opened coffin only went up to his shoulder, or neck, or ear, or something.   I don't remember.   In any case, discomfort for Barney.

Buzz... like going to the grocery store was at all natural for the Collinses?!

[petofi]

Frid used to like to smoke in his coffin  between scenes.  Apparently, the original coffin he used, and continued to use throughout much of the show, was several inches too short for him!  In some scenes where he is shown in the coffin, his legs are as apart as he can get them to make up the difference.  Here's an example from episode #417 during the 1795 storyline where:

 [spoiler]Ben has been asked by Barnabas to "end his curse" by driving a stake through his heart.  Fortunately for us, if not for Barnabas, he is about to be interrupted by the ghost of The Head of Angelique!  Yes, she appears to Ben as a disembodied head, foreshadowing Judah Zachary's appearance much later!  She gets to laugh a lot, though.[/spoiler]

I remember reading a story from someone on the show, where Frid, during the coundown to taping, actually sat up in his coffin and complained about the size of his coffin.  Only on Dark Shadows! 

Petofi

[BuzzH]

I remember reading a story from someone on the show, where Frid, during the coundown to taping, actually sat up in his coffin and complained about the size of his coffin.  Only on Dark Shadows! 

Yes, I read an article/interview w/Grayson where she said he did that, as a joke, and she said she just busted out laughing for 5 minutes and delayed the start of taping!!  

Another take on this story, although I can't confirm it's accuracy because the person that told it to me turned out to be a little shady, but it's funny anyway so I'll share it, was that for the remainder of that taping, Grayson and Jonathan avoided, as much as possible, making eye contact because they were afraid they'd both crack up on camera.  

[arashi]

One thing that always concerned me about the coffins featured on DS is just how shallow they are! I imaging once the lid was closed the interior cieling would be touching the actor's nose!

[jeffreywj777]

Does the Barnabas Doppelganger in 1897 count as empty or filled?

[LeFanu]

Somebody mentioned Judah Zachary in passing - 

[spoiler]Didn't Leticia help his head find the coffin that held his body?[/spoiler]

that was a time when a coffin wasn't empty.  Of course it didn't get used much after that event.

However, [spoiler]when Liz "died" as a result of Cassandra's curse, didn't Carolyn have a prophetic dream that her mother was still alive, prompting the gang to disinter Liz's coffin from the mausoleum?  And she was in it when they opened it, wasn't she?[/spoiler]

But yeah, it seems like buying a coffin was for the most part a big waste of money in Collinsport.  Or at best, there was only a 50/50 chance it would actually be needed for the long haul.

[petofi]

Technically, although Judah's coffin wasn't empty, it wasn't completely full, either, was it?

Here's two examples of empty coffins; Peter Bradford's and, at least at night, Tom Jennings;

Petofi (who has a nice, warm, if undersized, coffin for a Mr. Collins)

[arashi]

However, [spoiler]when Liz "died" as a result of Cassandra's curse, didn't Carolyn have a prophetic dream that her mother was still alive, prompting the gang to disinter Liz's coffin from the mausoleum?  And she was in it when they opened it, wasn't she?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Carolyn was being chased by Chris the werewolf and ended up back in her mother's tomb, Liz, in her cursed death state knew she had to help save Carolyn and pushed a button specifically placed in her coffin that would cause bells to ring so the others would know she had been buried alive. Barnabas and Julia came to the rescue, Liz was still "dead" in her coffin (though they didn't show her) and she revived by the end of the episode (I believe).[/spoiler]

Click the following link to see the grave of Timothy Clark Smith, a Vermont native so terrified of being buried alive that he had a concrete shaft with a glass top placed over his grave so that if he was buried alive he could call for help with a bell and then see it actually coming.

http://www.vermonter.com/evergreen.asp

[onyx_treasure]

     We go to Vermont often.  I can't wait to go to that cemetery this summer.  Something way out of the ordinary to do.  My kids will love it.   Thanks for the info, arashi.

[Midnite]

Click the following link to see the grave of Timothy Clark Smith, a Vermont native so terrified of being buried alive that he had a concrete shaft with a glass top placed over his grave so that if he was buried alive he could call for help with a bell and then see it actually coming.

"Be there with bells on!"  heheh

[Misa]

Barnabas' coffin is shallow, but the top has room to cover him-- It isn't flat but concave. Tom Jennings' coffin sure looks cheap. Don't you think that Barnabas would get a more comfortable trunk, that didn't look like a coffin, to spend his morning hours in? And how about a lock, one that locks from the inside?

Misa

[Midnite]

Barnabas' coffin is shallow, but the top has room to cover him-- It isn't flat but concave.

If the lid makes the coffin roomier, it would be convex. 

[Misa]

Barnabas' coffin is shallow, but the top has room to cover him-- It isn't flat but concave.

If the lid makes the coffin roomier, it would be convex. 

Yes. I knew I had the wrong word, but I was being too lazy to look it up. I figured that it would be clear enough to understand what I meant. Thank you for giving the right word, as this will make it much clearer.

Misa