I was just wondering:

If you lived in the mythical New England fishing village of Collinsport, Maine and you were fortunate enough to have received an invitation from Mrs. Stoddard and Roger Collins to come to the great house to enjoy “cocktails at Collinwood,” do you think that Liz and Roger would have put the bite on you for $125.00 to enjoy one or two glasses of the bubbly stuff? I don’t think so. 🤔🥂🍸🍷🍹🍾😈🙄

Let's just hope that someone remembers how unbearably hot Lyndhurst can get in the summer. The "air conditioned" tent was extremely uncomfortable and the stable was even worse.

Of course, the Dark Shadows fans aren’t getting any younger either. Heck, many of us are starting to look and sound just like Ezra Braithwaite, Bathia Mapes, Papa Justin Collins and the Eagle Hill Cemetery caretaker. 🥵🙁☠️

A Dark Shadows-inspired tour of New England, now that sounds very “fascinating” as Carolyn Stoddard-Hawkes once described a book on astrology to the “slightly” condescending Sebastian Shaw, who replied to her that “fascinating” was an adjective frequently used by dilettantes. Ouch! 😏😵

Now, in addition to an apparent dabbler like Carolyn, which other DS characters do you think might be interested in signing up for this upcoming tour? I could possibly see Quentin signing up with the folks at mysteriousadventurestours.com for this particular tour. What the heck! Quentin has always been interested in the arcane and the occult and besides, Quentin has PLENTY of free time on his hands, thanks to Count Petofi and the truly esteemed artwork of the world-renowned Charles Delaware Tate.

Of course, the sage and savant-like Professor T. Elliott Stokes would also likely be an individual who would sign-up for the tour, since the learned academic shared Quentin’s keen interest in all things supernatural and other-
worldly. By the way don’t you think that both Quentin and Professor Stokes would be faithful and nightly
listeners to coast-to-coastam on the radio, tuning in to hear the unfailingly cordial coast-to-coast host George
Noory, discussing ghosts, witches, ufos, poltergeists, NDEs, time travel, the anti-Christ, parallel dimensions, the
Kennedy assassination, the I-Ching, doppelgängers, vampires, spontaneous human combustion (a la Bathia Mapes), Big Foot, the Yeti, werewolves, the Chupacabra, Tarot cards and Astrology with Mr. Noory’s seemingly endless array of informative, knowledgeable and “fascinating” guests? 🤔👹🧛🧜‍♂️🐸🕷🦖🌔🔥🎅🏼🎃😼👽💀😈🤡

Then again, another tour participant might be Doctor Julia Hoffman, a respected medical doctor and researcher with a wide array of eclectic interests, not to mention as another person with PLENTY of free time on her hands, as evidenced by her well-deserved achievement for being named “The World’s Most Persistent House Guest,” a title previously held by the famous radio host/raconteur Sheridan Whiteside, who was memorialized in the classic film, “The Man Who Came To
Dinner.” 👩‍⚕️🥪🍕🍔🍟🍱🍦☕️🍿🍩🍷🥃 😠

On the other hand, which DS characters would NOT be likely individuals to sign-up for this truly unique tour of New England? Well, just off the top of my head, I’d have to say that both Judith Collins-Trask and Sarah Johnson, two of Collinsport’s most notorious skinflints/penny-pinchers, would take just one look at that $2,499.00 cost of a single ticket and, as they say in the great state of Kansas, proclaim, “Sh!t on that!!!” 😮😱
🤑🤑🤑😝😡👿🤡

I hear you on that song, Gerard! 

Maybe the newlyweds would be better off choosing either “I’ll Be With You Always” or “I Want To Dance With You” as their first wedding song? 😍😘

Look-alikes: Noted author and KLS fiancé, Patrick Oster and longtime lead singer and keyboardist for The Doobie Brothers, Michael McDonald. 

Some post-election comments on the 2024 US Presidential Election regarding the state of Maine.

Maine is only one of two states (with Nebraska being the other US state) where the its electoral votes can be divided between two presidential candidates. In this years, election, Vice President Kamala Harris received three (of four) electoral votes and former President Donald Trump received one electoral vote.

I attempted to find a breakdown of how each of Maine’s sixteen counties voted in the recent presidential election. Of course, the town of Collinsport, Maine is said to have been located in Hancock County. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find out exactly who the residents of Hancock County did vote for on November 5. (Maybe only Buzz Hackett knows for sure?) 🤔🧛‍♂️

Another aspect of November 5’s election that I wondered about was whether “The Collinsport Star,” Collinsport’s newspaper of record (and, in fact, Collinsport’s only newspaper) formally endorsed either of the two major presidential candidates? Or, did “The Collinsport Star” refrain from endorsing either Kamala Harris of Donald Trump for POTUS as did such renowned newspapers as “The Washington Post” and “The Los Angeles Times”?

There has also been much discussion and speculation as to why Vice President Harris was defeated by former President Trump. Attorney Sunny Hostin, one of the panelists on the long-running television show, The View,” attributed Kamala Harris’s loss to Donald Trump to “uneducated white women,” who did not possess the insight and intelligence to make an informed selection in the recent election. I wonder if Ms. Hostin would consider Maggie Evans, Sarah Johnson, newcomer Nelle Gunston and Susie, the silent Collinsport Inn coffee shop waitress as all being “uneducated white women,” incapable of making a reasoned choice in the 2024 US presidential election? And, what would such sage and thoughtful women as Elizabeth Stoddard and Dr. Julia Hoffman have thought of Ms. Hostin’s rather dismissive observation?

Finally, one thing I noticed at the Dark Shadows Festivals I attended in New York City over the years, was the absence of any partisan political campaigning by the DS actors at these events, specifically during the years when a DS Festival and a US presidential election both took place. At the 1988 DS Festival at The World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, I don’t recall either Jonathan Frid or Lara Parker expressing a preference for either Vice President George HW Bush or Governor Michael Dukakis in that election. Similarly, I don’t recall any DS actors openly supporting either President George HW Bush or Governor Bill Clinton in the 1992 US presidential election.

However, I do remember there was much discussion here on the Dark Shadows Forums (both pro and con), when a DS actor at one of the later DS Festivals, openly advocated on behalf of Senator Barack Obama of Illinois over Senator John McCain of Arizona for POTUS in 2008. I think that refraining from political discussions at Dark Shadows Festivals, much like refraining from political discussions at family gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas, is the definite way to go.

Anne,

You know, maybe Barnabas eventually became a naturalized American citizen and was eligible to vote after we saw him and Dr. Hoffman exit stage left during their final appearance on DS on January 27, 1971?

Gerard,

Your point about how Barnabas Collins killed many of his victims is well taken. Of course, we never did exactly see how Mr. B. disposed of that group of young hippies after he told of them how much he was impressed and moved by the writings of author Erich Segal (a personal favorite of Buzz Hackett as well, I understand).

Yet, it looked to me as if Barnabas completely “drained” a couple of those construction workers, who accidentally dug Barnabas up. 

By the way, I wonder if Johnny Depp’s Barnabas Collins knocked off more people in that so-so DS film, than Jonathan Frid’s Barnabas Collins did in over three years of DS episodes on the original series?