Just where was Caleb Collins?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Ah, "old" Caleb Collins surfaces again in today's quote:

Ep #338 (1967) - Vicki - 'You MUSTN'T feel responsible for
old Caleb Collins and his crazy will.'

I've often wondered why dear Caleb never showed up or was referenced during the 1840 storyline. Some people and even a Collins family tree theorize he was one of Gabriel and Edith's sent away to boarding school children. But if one thinks about it, because of what's said in the 1967 storyline, we know Caleb died in 1872. If he was indeed "old" when he died, even if he was only in his 60s or even his 50s ("old" can easily be relative to the given timeframe) he would have been in his 30s or even his 20s in 1840, kind of old to be a child in boarding school. And if he was older than 50s/60s when he died, he would have been even older in 1840. And if he was living at Seaview on the Collinwood estate, well, why did no one ever mention him? Was he a black sheep member of the family, forbidden to be seen or even mentioned? Who knows? 

But then, the most likely reason he was never seen or mentioned is that the writers didn't remember that a Caleb Collins who would have been alive in 1840 had been established, so they never even gave a thought to him in that timeframe. Too bad - it might have been interesting to find out why he was so down on strangers...

[Uncle Roger]

Considering how they screwed up with Edith, perhaps it's just as well that they omitted him.

I do remember that Kathy Resch used Caleb in her ongoing serial called the Collins Story. Caleb is some sort of magus who became a recluse after the mysterious death of his wife and son. The family generally avoided Caleb, except for Desmond and Leticia's twins, a teenage boy and girl. The twins had a weird relationship and had moved on from tormenting their siblings and were ready, they thought, for what Caleb could teach them. Caleb sensed their potential for evil and was quite willing to take them as acolytes. Leticia knew that something nasty was afoot and was determined to save her kids. And the story does confirm that Carolyn is a reincarnation of Leticia.

Intriguing, huh? The Collins story appeared in The World of Dark Shadows and Inside The Old House. Unfortunately, when print fanzines when the way of the dinosaur, the saga came to an unresolved end. I don't know if Kathy ever wrote a resolution. If she did, I'd sure love to read it.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Considering how they screwed up with Edith, perhaps it's just as well that they omitted him.

You probably have a good point there. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Last night I was watching Ep #335 for the "MUST" slideshow, and it's the ep where the whole The-House-Can't-Be-Sold-To-Anyone-Other-Than-A-Member-Of-The-Collins-Family-For-100-Years comes out. But what's more important is that of Caleb Liz says, "He finally ended up a very, very old man all alone in the house except for the things he collected." So, if Caleb lived to be a "very, very old man" who died in 1872, then there was no way whatsoever that he could have been one of Gabriel and Edith's children away in boarding school in 1840. So that solves that issue...

One does wonder where the house storyline might have gone before the writers decided to go with the 1795/96 flashback instead. And one also wonders if any of the things Caleb collected might have had anything to do with it. But, alas, we'll never know. 

[Philippe Cordier]

Considering how they screwed up with Edith, perhaps it's just as well that they omitted him.

That's kind of refreshing to hear someone say that straight out . . . there are so many convoluted theories trying to explain how the Edith of 1897 could be the same Edith in the other story line. It just doesn't work, IMO.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   I haven't read it in decades, but I believe Warren Oddsson wrote a whole essay for the 1840 Concordance is which he laid out how the Ediths could be the same woman. At the time I read it, I remember thinking his theories weren't too outlandish. But that was 40 years ago before I'd reseen 1840 for myself. Who knows what I might think if I reread it now that I'm much more familiar with the 1840 eps? 

[Uncle Roger]

If the two characters shared a more common name such as Mary or Ann, I could accept that they were two separate people. I don't think that Edith was that common a name even back in the 1840's. On the other hand, there seemed to be an awful lot of Quentins on the Collins family tree.