Help! i'm trapped in this coffin!

The following may sound strident or pushy or something, you know, rude.   Wasn't meant that way.

Stop thinking of cliche hypnosis.   That's just one popularized manifestation of this phenomenon.    I was never saying he'd say to himself, "Must hypnotize self.    Imagine medallion.   I'm getting sleepy."    170 years in a box takes the mind into some truly undiscovered country that we will never, ever know.     I didn't imagine there would have been anything conscious or intentional about it at all.     The mind does strange things to survive.  In a sensory deprivation tank you eventually hallucinate.

By "hypnosis" I'm referring to going into any sort of trance or state that is different from lucidity and a connection to the real world.    I believe bits of the same phenomenon we call hypnosis happen routinely every day.    We adjust what we believe to be true about ourselves and the world around us on a daily basis, according to our emotional needs and fears, and what messages we are bombarded with by the popular culture.    Some ideas become unthinkable because we are conditioned not to hear them, by the culture.     Dreams could be part of the same thing that hypnosis is.

He'd go into some sort of "altered state" without trying; we just can never know what that state was.     The mind struggles to escape inescapable circumstances, and often (not consciously) works out some pretty ingenious tricks to do this.     Jung said I think that insanity serves that purpose.   That's all I know about Jung by the way.

You're right, those daytimes would interrupt whatever altered state he had going, but I doubt he'd snap back completely into everyday sane consciousness at the start of each night.

Having been hypnotized before myself (for past life regression) I can vouch for the fact that there is no loss of ANY function, you have all your faculties at your disposal, and your will still dictates what you will or will not do. Being "hypnotized" is just being put into an extremely relaxed state.

I think the idea of sensory deprivation quite scary, as who knows where your mind will take you when you begin to hallucinate? I think my Dad has done this before and he told me you start to hear voices and see things as the mind tries to cope with sensory loss.

The idea of insanity scares me to no end, as does being buried alive and KNOWING it. Trying to imagine what that would be like is just terrifying to me.

Don't know if this has been discussed yet in this thread, and I'm too lazy to go back and read every post, but remember how [spoiler]shocked Barnabas is in 1840 when he's released from his coffin, can't remember now who lets him out, and told it's 1840?  This of course is BEFORE he I-Ching's his 20th Century mind back to his 1840 body.  I just recall him saying something like, "My God!  I've been here over 40 years!" or something like that.[/spoiler]

remember how [spoiler]shocked Barnabas is in 1840 when he's released from his coffin, can't remember now who lets him out, and told it's 1840?  This of course is BEFORE he I-Ching's his 20th Century mind back to his 1840 body.  I just recall him saying something like, "My God!  I've been here over 40 years!" or something like that.[/spoiler]

That's right. so that suggests he was unaware of the passing of time.

As for myself, I prefer to have him awake, experiencing every dark moment of those two hundred years. It explains his behavior once he's released from his coffin in 1967.

Also, it makes for better ideas for the imagination. 

I must be growing even more claustrophobic than I already am.

Every time I read a post in this thread I find myself becoming  breathless....

...do we really know for certain that Barnabas, or vampires in general must "sleep" in a coffin during the day?

[spoiler]When Barnabas and Vicki were in that car accident just after Vicki's return from 1795, Dr. Lang wants to keep Barnabas in the hospital for observation. Julia tries to convince him to allow her to take Barnabas home, but he refuses. She then insists that all windows, and doors be completely covered so that no amount of sunlight can enter the room. Lang agrees.[/spoiler]

I may not have gotten all the details correct, but the gist of it is, that Barnabas was able to remain out of his coffin as long as no daylight entered the room he was occupying.

It's just something to think about...

I have questioned this too. Why do they have to sleep in a coffin? Why can't they sleep in a bed in a room with no windows? It would be fully dark with no daylight. Why does it have to be a coffin?

Alondra

I wonder in the case of Barnabas being in the hospital under Dr. Lang, the fact he was simply in Maine constituted his "native soil"?   

IIRC the "native soil" thing was only mentined in 1897 when [spoiler]Barnabas had Charity go to the Old House and find some soil downstairs and bring it to him. Edward caught her but I think she was able to bring the soil to Barnabas later on.[/spoiler] I don't know anything further about this since I think this is the only time this is even brought up at all.

Alondra

That thing with Lang threw me.   BC could have spent the day in a room with no windoes if the coffin weren't necessary.    The reason for the coffin must be supernatural, since no real-world reason would account for it.  Therefore, since the reasons were supernatural, the coffin having to do with deatrh, you can't just substitute.

We all know Barnabas was chained in his coffin for nearly two hundred years. That's an awfully long time to be confined anywhere, much less a coffin. So what I'm wondering is, once imprisoned in the coffin, was Barnabas conscious every night for almost two hundred years? Or did he go in to a sleep-like state and not realize the passing of time?

Also, during the day, does he "sleep", or is he awake and just sitting there being bored? 

I'll be interested to hear everyone's opinions.

I wrote about this in a fanfic so I had time to think about it. I think during the days, Barnabas was comatose like any other day, his life-force drained from his body.  In the beginning, for a period of time during the nights, he'd wake up and not be able to get out.  At first he'd wonder what's going on and then dream about his life and people in it, rehashing the dreadful events that brought him to this moment.  As time past, without blood to feed, his energy would weaken and eventually he'd go into some type of comatose state to preserve his energy until released.  Of course all of this would drive the vampire crazy, planning the day he got out and NEVER get caught unprepared again.

I think he's a corpse during the day.   Yet, when someone stakes a vampire during the day, he/she sits up a little and glares angrily.    That shouldn't be.

I think I had a lot to say on all this, here or on a very similar thread.   

I think he's a corpse during the day.   Yet, when someone stakes a vampire during the day, he/she sits up a little and glares angrily.    That shouldn't be. 

Of course each story seems to use it's own set of vampire lore, but I read one account about vampires once which said that while they couldn't move in the coffin, they could still use their eyes to try a sort of hypnosis as a last means of trying to protect themselves.

Of course each story seems to use it's own set of vampire lore, but I read one account about vampires once which said that while they couldn't move in the coffin, they could still use their eyes to try a sort of hypnosis as a last means of trying to protect themselves.

He was not able to move because he had a cross afixed either on his chest or on the inside of the coffin, but he was able to use hypnosis or something to get his eyes to glow. That's how he lured Willie to the coffin, his glowing eyes from the portrait and there was the heartbeat also. My question about that (and I always have a lot of questions!) is why did he wait 172 years to to lure someone there to free him? Why didn't he lure someone else long before then?

Alondra

Perhaps Barn did try to lure others to the mausoleum but they weren't as susceptible to his powers.    Greed would seem to be a factor, as that's why both Willie and Sandor ended up there. 

And maybe Willie was the only one who stared at the portrait for hours on end, giving Barnabas the opportunity to use his hypnotizing powers to manipulate Willie's greedy nature.  Others who may have looked at the portrait did it during the day but Willie focused on it day and night.  Just another idea.

And maybe Willie was the only one who stared at the portrait for hours on end, giving Barnabas the opportunity to use his hypnotizing powers to manipulate Willie's greedy nature.  Others who may have looked at the portrait did it during the day but Willie focused on it day and night.  Just another idea.

That's possible but Sandor [spoiler]was lured there and had not been staring at the portrait. Oh gak my memory fails me. I think Magda sent him to the mausoleum didn't she? Something she saw in the crystal ball. Maybe Barn was luring someone through the crystal ball? I just saw this not long ago and I'm disgusted that I've forgotten the fine details already!   [/spoiler]

Cool avatar!

Alondra

I really never gave this much thought.  I just took it for granted that he was in a comatose state, especially because of the need for blood and the lack of it for so many years.  That's why I really liked what they did in the 2004 pilot to explain what happened. [spoiler]When the coffin was opened, he was nothing but a dried up skeleton thing, but when a drop of blood was accidentally spilled onto his body, he suddenly morphed alive sort of like The Mummy in the newer version, how his body was restored, only Barn's restoration was a lot faster.[/spoiler]

Judy