Hi, Scott,

I think that’s great that you wanted to make a DS reunion film, entitled “Darker Shadows” back during the 1980s. No doubt, the millions of DS fans would have loved to have seen what was going on in Collinsport and how the lives of the DS characters had changed after more than ten years. The closest we got to find out about what had happened to Barnabas, Willie, Dr. Hoffman, Angelique and the rest of those fascinating characters was when the late Sam Hall wrote a follow-up on the goings-on at Collinwood after DS went off the air in April of 1971 in an article published in October of that same year. The piece was entitled, “Here’s What Really Happened to Barnabas & Company.” The late Marcy Robin very kindly mailed me a copy of that article many years ago.

As best as I can recall, Barnabas and Julia did finally get together and marry. However, I think that Roger had discovered that Barnabas was a vampire and almost succeeded in staking him in his coffin, but was stopped by Angelique, who then “sent” Roger to “rest” permanently with his ancestors in the Collins Mausoleum at The Eagle Hill Cemetery. Another tragedy occurred when Chris Jennings, who had previously left town with his fiancée Sebrina Stewart and Chris’s young sister, Amy while Barnabas and Julia had been over in PT Collinsport, escaped from the locked room Sebrina had confined him in and Chris killed her. When Chris discovered the next day that he had murdered Sebrina, he took his own life.

With no one to care for Amy, Carolyn brought her back to Collinwood and assumed responsibility for the young girl. Oh, yeah, after years of complaining about how “difficult” and “unfulfilling” her life was, Carolyn finally got off her pretty, little keester and after obtaining her undergraduate degree, Carolyn began a career (and actually got a job!) as a psychic researcher with Professor Stokes acting as her advisor and fellow colleague.

You know, it’s been wonderful to have been able to discuss DS in all of its incarnations with so many great fans/cousins here on the Dark Shadows Forums over the past twenty-five-plus years. We’ve discussed so many topics regarding DS, from the over 1000 episodes that were filmed during the original series, peoples’s favorite characters on the show and what might have happened after Barnabas, Julia and Professor Stokes returned from their journey to 1840. In addition, we’ve discussed topics and issues from the “real world,” that took place over the past quarter-century. I will always remember the deep and serious discussions we had on this site following the terrorist attacks on our country on September 11, 2001. For those of us, who lived near New York City, those discussions were especially meaningful. I recall reading the thoughtful comments of Cassandra, who lives in nearby White Plains, NY, JoeyTrom who is from Brooklyn and the late, lamented Raineypark, who lived on Long Island. And, I could see the twin towers burn and collapse from across the Hudson River in New Jersey. It was a terrible day which profoundly changed life for us in America.

Another aspect of DS fandom has been the DS Festivals, which many fans have attended over the years. I read that you attended several DS Festivals out in California. I attended several of the festivals in New York City and enjoyed them very much back then during the 1980s and 1990s. Unfortunately, over the past forty years, many of the DS actors have died. And, the “DS kiddies” (as the late, great Louis Edmonds once nicknamed us) are now sexagenarians, with many soon to be venerable septuagenarians. We’ve all aged and many of us now have varying degrees of difficulty in getting around. In addition, as mostly, now-retired individuals, we just don’t have the disposable income available to spend on activities like vacations, concerts and fan get-togethers that we did while we were working. This relates to why I think that it’s time for the DS Festivals to come to an end.

Back in October of 2023, Kathryn Leigh Scott held a DS meet and greet event at the Lyndhurst estate. The admission fee for this event was a very reasonable $30.00. In addition, Ms. Scott had her assortment of books and photographs for sale at the event. And, having this event in October meant that the weather would be cool and relatively comfortable for the DS fans of “a certain age,” who were there, walking around the estate. Ironically, Lara Parker died on October 12, 2023, about a week before KLS’s meet and greet event at Lyndhurst. Ms. Parker’s death must have brought a somber tone to that event.

Then in July of 2025, KLS held another DS event at the Lyndhurst estate. Now, the weather in July along the Hudson River there in Tarrytown, NY can be very warm, hardly suitable weather for aging DS fans to be wandering about the hilly Lyndhurst estate. However, what I especially found to be “problematic” were the fees that Ms. Scott was charging at l this event: a $40.00 admission fee, $125.00 for something called “Champagne at Collinwood” and $82.75 for the opportunity to have your photograph taken in a 19th century tintype-style shot. What was the need to charge the fans for these other expensive “attractions” since Ms. Scott had kept the cost to attend her October 2023 DS event at Lyndhurst very affordable, especially for older DS fans who now have to carefully budget their expenditures? Are the property taxes at Ms. Scott’s new home at Croton-on-Hudson so expensive that she had to charge so much more to attend that July event?

When I first commented on this July DS event several months ago, there were other longtime DS posters, such as Gerard, Annie and Uncle Roger, who also thought that the fees being charged for this July, 2025 DS event were exorbitant and after forty years, that it was time to end these DS events. But, of course, there will always be those individuals, who will rush like blithely enthusiastic lemmings to these events. No price is too great, I guess?

Take care,

Bob

Now that you mention it, Bob, I so remember that. As I recall, I don't think that anyone was especially surprised or disappointed

Uncle Roger,

I do recall that some fans were disappointed that Ms. McKecknie cancelled her appearance at that DS event at the last minute and expressed their annoyance here, especially after she got on a social media site and she just had to share the “exciting” news that she had instead attended the opening of some Broadway show over that same weekend.

 Did Ms. McKechnie really think that everyone would get a vicarious “thrill,” upon hearing about her “wonderful”
evening at the theater? Somehow, I don’t think so. 

At $500.00 a ticket, maybe the event’s organizers will offer a glass of expensive wine to attract potential attendees with something like, “Dom Perignon Vintage 2008 at Collinwood!”? 

Do you think that such noted Collinsport penny-pinchers as Sarah Johnson, Mordecai Grimes and Judith Collins-Trask would shell out the five bills to attend this upcoming event at the Jay Gould estate? 

  Two bathrooms. 

That’s probably two more than Barnabas had in the Old House. 

Maybe Ms. Jackson can come up with some exciting and innovative idea for her many loyal fans like, for instance, “Champagne With One of Charlie’s Original Angels”? 👩🏻‍🦰😇

No doubt, many fans will positively rush to pay the $125.00 fee just to enjoy a glass of champagne with the beautiful and lovely Sabrina Duncan! 😍🍾🍸🤩

Anne and Uncle Roger,

Thanks to you both for your input and kind words.

Uncle Roger, I especially enjoyed reading your excellent points on this upcoming DS event at the Lyndhurst
estate. Yes, it tends to be very warm there in Tarrytown, NY during July. I remember being on my uncle’s boat on a very warm July day several year’s ago, approaching the Tappan Zee Bridge and directly across from the Lyndhurst estate and the heat was oppressive even in the middle of the Hudson River. There was no breeze at all out there on the water.

And, as you are well aware up there in Connecticut, the tri-state area has recently experienced many days of oppressive heat with heat indexes over 100 degrees or torrential and damaging downpours. Several New York
City subway stations were literally flooded out during an especially heavy downpour the other day. And,
tragically, two women were killed in Plainfield, NJ last week after
their car was swept off the road by a flood caused by another heavy rainfall. Only yesterday, a man was struck
and killed by lightning in Jackson, NJ after a sudden lightning storm erupted in central New Jersey. We’re
experiencing some of the horrific weather here in the tri-state area that the residents of Texas and New Mexico
have had to contend with on a much larger scale.

The weather forecast for Sunday, July 20, calls for oppressive humidity and heavy rain storms. Can you imagine
Kathryn Leigh Scott leading a group of DS fans, of a “certain” age on Sunday, to see the spot on the Lyndhurst
estate where Jeff Clark discovered a bleeding and dazed Daphne Budd on a lonely road during a scene from
“House of Dark Shadows” and suddenly, all Hell breaks out with rain, wind and the immediate threat of lightning
strikes? I hope that doesn’t happen this weekend.

I also think your point about Ms. Scott living in a very affluent zip code area (90210), and being indicative of how well off financially she really is, is right on point. I mean, it’s not as if Ms. Scott and her new husband are residing in decidedly less affluent zip code areas like 46401 (Gary, Indiana) or 08101 (Camden, New Jersey)! By the way, it’s kind of hard to imagine seeing Ms. Scott and Mr. Oster taking advantage of early-bird special dinners specials or cutting out store and brand coupons out of the Sunday newspaper in order to save money. 🙄 As to Ms. Scott deciding to charge somewhat exorbitant prices to attend her “champagne at Collinwood” event this weekend, maybe she’s been channeling the insouciant spirit of the late Marie Antoinette for
guidance? 🤔

Patrickm,

I’ll be magnanimous and won’t respond in kind to the personal shots you directed at me in this thread.

You mentioned that you doubted that I had recently been to a “fan festival” and was unaware of the increase in today’s prices for these events. You’re quite right about that, I haven’t been to a “fan festival” in a long time because I have a life.

Although, I do recall standing in the Marriott Hotel near Times Square in New York City in 1995 for that year’s Dark Shadows Festival. As I stood in the conference room of the festival, I noticed KLS and her husband, magazine publisher Geoff Miller, sitting at their table containing Ms. Scott’s assorted books, photographs and other items for sale. I took particular interest in Mr. Miller’s reaction to the people, lining up to speak with Ms. Scott and to purchase various items from her. Mr. Miller had this look on his face that I took to mean, I can’t believe that these grown men and women are actually shelling out twenty to thirty bucks to buy this stuff? Needless to say, I did not purchase any of KLS’s items myself. Heck, I had purchased several of Ms. Scott’s books in the past. And, I really didn’t see the need to buy her book about the 1991 NBC DS series, which ran for a grand total of 12 episodes or the book on the two DS movies, which had been filmed at the Lyndhurst estate in Tarrytown, NY. I understand that Ms. Scott’s later book, Return to Collinwood, which she collaborated on with longtime associate, Jim Pierson, was essentially a re-hash of her earlier books. I didn’t buy that one either. 

I also recall that at a previous Dark Shadows event at Lyndhurst, that were a number of Dark Shadows fans, who were serving as unpaid volunteers at the event. These volunteers were very impressed with the way in which Ms. Scott set-up her goods for sale in such an efficient and precise manner. The volunteers joked among themselves that if Ms. Scott could set-up her table at the gated entrance to the Lyndhurst estate, that she’d probably do it in order to get a head start on her fellow DS actors and the other DS fans, who had set-up their tables with DS-related items for sale inside of the Lyndhurst mansion. Ms. Scott truly is a Dark Shadows Dynamo!

Patrickm, you wrote I committed a “low blow” by stating that Ms. Scott is now an octogenarian. Well, she IS 82-years-old. And, at that age, instead of running another DS event, Ms. Scott and her husband Patrick Oster (husband # 3, by the way) would be far happier sitting on a beach in Santa Monica and enjoying the beautiful ocean view, just like Ms. Scott’s contemporary, the 82-year old former President of the United States, Joe Biden and his lovely wife, Dr. Jill Biden, are, no doubt, enjoying the ocean view right now in beautiful Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, in my opinion.

Patrickm, you must be a guy in, at least, his early sixties with a lot of life experience. And, I’m probably
several years older than you are. As a grown man, do you really believe that Kathryn Leigh Scott continues to run these DS events out of some benign and altruistic sense to preserve the “spirit” and “legacy” of Dark Shadows and that she’s NOT just trying to make an Almighty Buck out these events? If you do, then I just don’t know what to say to you.

All the best, and I hope you have a great time attending these future DS events (if, in fact, there are anymore of them) even though there are, sadly, fewer and fewer of the “Dark Shadows kiddies” still breathing and alert.
fewer