Dark Shadows - Season 1 / Year 1966

Victoria's arrival and quest to discover who she is story arc begins:

           "My name is Victoria Winters. My journey is beginning - a journey that I hope will open the doors of life to me, and link my past with my future. A journey that will bring me to a strange and dark place - to the edge of the sea high atop Widow's Hill - a house called Collinwood. A world I've never known, with people I've never met. People who tonight are still only shadows in my mind, and who will soon fill the days and nights of my tomorrows."

 Victoria Winters travels by train to Collinsport, Maine after receiving a offer to work as a governess for young David Collins. Victoria grew up in a foundling home and has no idea who her parents were. She is on a quest to discover this information along with her new job of teaching David.

Victoria asks Mrs. Stoddard why she was hired and the reply is that Roger knew someone at the founding home. Carolyn antagonizes Joe at the Blue Whale and Roger discovers that Burke Devlin is back in town.

My name is Victoria Winters; Collinwood, strange dark mansion brooding on the crest of a lonely hill. It's my home now and the outside world seems a million miles away. Yet I know there are homes and warmth in Collinsport, there are people with hopes and dreams and fears.

Roger makes a attempt to get a hold of Sam Evans in a panic. Burke starts asking Joe questions about Carolyn at the Blue Whale.

My name is Victoria Winters, the dark night closes in on the crest of Widows Hill as if it were alive, I can almost feel it crushing against the windows, whispering to me telling me to run while I can. I've come too far and too long and the fear of darkness is only for children.

Roger questions Vickie about Burke Devlin raising her ire in the process, then getting her almost to the point of tears. Vickie goes to sleep and then hears ghostly sobbing.

My name is Victoria Winters. The gray light of early morning brings no relief from the tension that inhabits the old house on top of Widows' Hill. But at least the night has passed, a night that was touched with a fear I'd never known before. And now it would be over, fear would be ended. And so would hope.

Vickie asks Carolyn and Roger if they heard the sobbing in the middle of the night, Vickie tells Carolyn about David telling her he hates her in the middle of the night. David messes around in Victoria's room while Victoria is talking to Carolyn about the foundling home. Vickie runs into Sam Evans on Widows Hill.

The top of Widows' Hill is a strange and lonely place, and the great hulk of Collinwood sits like a sleeping monster on its crest. I know I should leave and yet I can't. Not as long as I feel the answers I've been looking for might be here, here in the darkness and the dust of hidden years. Surrounded by the ghosts of the past and the fears of the present, I've decided to search and hope and wait.

Vickie looks for David in the basement and is accosted by Matthew Morgan who accuses her of wanting to hurt Mrs. Stoddard. Matthew tells Vickie about how he came to work at Collinwood.

My name is Victoria Winters. The dead past drifts through the corridors of Collinwood and settles like dust in its corners. Spurred by hope and surrounded by fear, my search continues, as life itself continues. Not only for me, but for everyone else in this strange corner of the world, people who live with their own fears, their own hopes.

Burke Devlin and Maggie Evans run into each other at the coffee shop, Roger has a angry talk with Sam Evans. Burke pays a visit to Sam at home.

My name is Victoria Winters. The devils of a forgotten time have found their home on the crest of Widows' Hill and the great house echoes with their pain. It's a lonely and frightening world, but for me, it's a place of hope. A place where the winds of the past can bring the answers for the future.

Vickie talks with the foundling home trying to find out more information on how the Collins family found out about her. Elizabeth tells Carolyn she is thinking about letting Vickie go, Joe tells Carolyn about his new job.

My name is Victoria Winters. In the short time I've been here, Collinwood has made me a part of its strangeness. A strangeness that seems to reach out and touch everyone and everything that lives within its walls, for the past can be a prison, not only for me but for others, for all those driven by fears of the future.

Carolyn explains the Legend of Widows Hill to Victoria, Burke Devlin being sent to prison 10 years in the past is revealed. Carolyn starts to become infatuated with Burke Devlin.

My name is Victoria Winters. I know I shouldn't be afraid. And yet the great house on Widows' Hill carries the dusty smell of fear. It moves through the paneled rooms and dark corridors. It seeps down from the walls and touches the heart of everyone who enters.

David over hears Roger telling Elizabeth that he should be institutionalized, Carolyn meets Burke at his hotel and Burke gives her mis-information.

My name is Victoria Winters. Collinwood sits, as it has for almost 130 years, in brooding isolation on a crest of its hill. The secrets of the past have not yet been opened to me, but I've come this far and I must wait. It's a strange home for me, but even stranger for those who've spent their lives within its walls.

Burke pays his first visit to Collinwood in 10 years and offers to buy the estate. The hotel clerk tells Sam Evans about Burke leaving with Carolyn and going up to Collinwood.

My name is Victoria Winters. The night wind batters the house on Widows' Hill with the force of a thousand demons. There's no world beyond, it seems; only the waves and the wind. And the terrible loneliness of fear. I've decided to stay and continue my search, and yet there've been no answers.

Sam Evans is very distressed, Roger finds out Burke is at Collinwood and Carolyn brought him there.

My name is Victoria Winters. From the moment I arrived at Collinwood, I've been surrounded by tension. And now the band has grown tighter, until the great, dark house seems alive with ghosts of a past I never knew; ghosts that draw tight fingers around the present.

Victoria visits Matthew Morgan at his cottage, Roger and Burke have a talk in the Drawing Room. It is discovered that Burke had been in prison.

Start of sub story arc about Roger's accident; 

My name is Victoria Winters. The dead past is still here in Collinwood. There's a connection here with my life, I know. And somehow I'll learn what it is, perhaps through the boy I'll tutor.

Victoria comes into her room and catches David in her dresser drawer, he is hiding something in his hand. Burke tries to talk to Joe Haskell at the Blue Whale.

My name is Victoria Winters. The dark threads of the past are tying me to the great house on top of Widows' Hill. My search seems as endless as the corridors of Collinwood, yet I have accomplished something, I think. I have made friends with one small and terribly troubled boy.

Roger prepares to go into town, Victoria has a talk with David, Victoria also tells Elizabeth she saw Burke in the garage near Rogers car. Elizabeth gets an unexpected phone call in the middle of the night.

My name is Victoria Winters. The dark voices of fear are part of the strange world on top of Widows' Hill. Here in the great house that is now my home, I've listened to their murmurs and trembled at their approach. And now tragedy has almost come, and the hidden echoes of the past are moving closer and closer.

Burke Devlin comes under suspicion in Rogers accident, partially due to Vicki having seen him in the garage. Malloy questions Burke Devlin at his hotel.

My name is Victoria Winters. There is no sound in Collinwood. There's only the strangeness of the people around me: the strangeness of the woman who's brought me here; a woman who has not left her house in eighteen years; the strangeness of a small boy and the merciless devils that torment him.

After Bill takes Roger to Doctor Reeves, he examines the car looking for the reason the car crashed. 

My name is Victoria Winters. My past is still a mystery to me, but my future is bound to the great house on Widows' Hill; to a boy whose eyes brim with fear and torment; to the strange sounds and lonely echoes of a small room filled with the memory of long dead years.

David fears Edward or Victoria may find the bleeder valve in his room. He fails at putting it in Victoria's room. Roger thinks that Paul Burke removed the part to cause his death.

My name is Victoria Winters. The tension seems endless. So much has happened since I first set foot in Collinwood and faced the woman who hadn't left its grounds in eighteen years; a woman who has been shocked by an attempted murder; a woman who is torn with concern for the one person she loves most in this world.

Bill calls Elizabeth reporting that Caroline had an argument with Joe and left the Blue Whale with Paul Burke. Maggie is home in bed feeling weak and sick.

My name is Victoria Winters. The road that leads down from Collinwood is steep and winding. It twists and turns like the hidden secrets of my past. And now it has brought a man close to death, a man who is searching for answers of his own.

Roger asks Victoria to wait in the Collinsport Inn diner until he calls for her. Roger goes to Burke's room and accuses him of sabotaging Roger's car.

My name is Victoria Winters. The early morning mist rises from the sea at the foot of Widows' Hill. The great house sits quietly on its crest and the events of a shattering night seem almost like a vague memory of a forgotten dream. But it was no dream and there's no forgetting that a man had almost been killed.

After the failure of Roger's brakes, everyone but Victoria and Carolyn is sure that Burke is behind it. Bill Malloy confronts Burke in his hotel room.

My name is Victoria Winters. I am more certain than ever that somehow, the mystery of my past is entwined with the mystery of Collinwood itself, a mystery that echoes thoughout all of Collinsport, reaching out to others as well, people who are searching for answers of their own.

Burke stops by Sam Evans house and talks with Maggie, he startles her when he tells her that the rumors are, that Roger's accident was attempted murder. Once Sam arrives, Burke asks him to paint his portrait in a effort to keep Sam in town.

My name is Victoria Winters. On the surface, the day at Collinwood seems calm and serene. Nothing could be more normal than my preparing to teach a young boy his school lessons. Yet there is an undercurrent, a tension that is felt everywhere, a tension that reaches out and builds and waits to break free.

The Constable visits Collinwood to get the facts of the car accident from Roger and Roger tells about his suspicions involving Burke Devlin having sabotaged his car.

My name is Victoria Winters. An attempted murder has made the house on Widows' Hill the center of a web of confusion, a web that tugs on many people and draws them closer to its core; a young girl tormented by increasing doubts and uncertainties; a man wavering between the opposite poles of instinct and fact.

The constable goes to Collinsport Inn to find Burke to interview him about Roger's accident.

My name is Victoria Winters. The tension at Collinwood had almost made me forget the purpose for which I had come. But now a letter has arrived, a letter that once again has raised a spectre of my past, a letter that intrudes upon the present and heightens the growing fears of a nine-year-old boy.

David sneaks into Vicky's room and looks through her things but is caught by Roger. Vicky looks through David's things for the letter he took, but finds a piece of incriminating evidence.

My name is Victoria Winters. I have come to Collinwood to unlock the echoes of my past, but the tensions of the present seem almost to obscure my search, tensions that fill the dark corridors, that wait in musty corners, and murmur behind the doors of unused rooms.

David snaps when Vicky says she is going to show Elizabeth the bleeder valve she found in his room. Meanwhile, Roger convinces the constable to search Burke's room at the end for the bleeder valve.

My name is Victoria Winters. The men who founded the Collins fortune were pioneers, and the Great House on the crest of Widows' Hill is a symbol of their strength. But it's different now, for the portraits that look down from the paneled walls see only the horror of unreasoning hatred.

Burke meets with his lawyer as they scheme to financially ruin the Collins family. Burke discovers his room was searched by the constable and a break-in of his room was also attempted by a little boy.

My name is Victoria Winters. A nine-year-old boy, driven by fear and desperation, has disappeared from Collinwood, a boy who holds the key to an attempted murder, a crime that involves the interest and concern of many people.

Burke confronts the sheriff about the search of his room. The sheriff said he has a warrant to search. David hides in the phone booth when his uncle Roger comes to the diner. 

My name is Victoria Winters. The hours tick by in the great house on Widows' Hill and there is still no word. The boy I had been brought here to tutor has not yet been found, and the faint whisper of fear is slowly becoming louder...fear that grips the heart of a woman who suspects a truth she cannot bear to face.

Burke returns to his hotel room and finds David in the hallway outside the door. When Burke leaves the room David hides the bleeder valve in the sofa. When David is out of the room, Burke finds the bleeder valve that he saw David hide.

My name is Victoria Winters. A brewing storm buffets the Great House on Widows' Hill and angry spirits out of the dim past seem to pound against its walls, demanding admission. There is no sound in the house, nothing but the echo of thunder and the whine of the rising wind, yet the emptiness seems alive, alive with fear and tension that build on a single terrifying fact: I am alone.

Vicky tells Roger about the bleeder valve she found in David's room. Burke reminds Vicky that she still needs to leave Collinwood for her own safety.

My name is Victoria Winters. Moment by moment, Collinwood has seen a tight coil of tension drawn closer to the breaking point. And now nothing remains but the explosion itself, an explosion centered on a small piece of metal resting in the palm of a man's hand.

Burke lies in an attempt to protect David, but later warns Victoria in private to beware of the child. Carolyn tells Roger that the times Burke told him about him and David don't line up which just intensifies Rogers suspicions.

My name is Victoria Winters. Here in Collinwood, there is a moment of quiet. Even the wind has subsided, and the threat of a storm is a thing of the past. But there are other storms, the unending chill of fear that sweeps through the silent corridors, always reminding a man of how close he has come to death.

The Sheriff questions Bill Malloy about David Collins; Roger and Elizabeth discuss Laura Collins, Rogers late wife and Davids mother; Later, Elizabeth does her best to protect David when the sheriff arrives at Collinwood.

My name is Victoria Winters. It seems like years since I came here to Collinwood, where the tension holds the flow of time. But the days have passed, and I'm no closer to the answers I'd hoped to find, answers which I feel are rooted within the paneled walls of this great mansion, and in the heart of the woman who never leaves its grounds.

Elizabeth says from Collinwood, Carolyn is the only one who has a chance of happiness in life; Joe starts drinking and getting morose when his boat buying partner's wife has a baby and the boat partnership deal falls through. He then goes to Collinwood and unloads what he has been holding in to Carolyn.

My name is Victoria Winters. I began my search in Collinwood. There in the great mansion on Widows' Hill, surrounded by the ghosts of the past, I'd hoped to unlock the secrets of my beginning. But the key has not yet been found and the search goes on, carrying me to a meeting with a man I wasn't sure I could trust.

Apologies make the go around after Joe's night of heavy drinking; Victoria has a talk with Burke about her past life in the foundling home and how she came to Collinwood.

My name is Victoria Winters. The hand of death brushed close to the house on Widows' Hill then moved away, stirring the musty air with its touch, filling the corridors with the overpowering scent of fear and hatred.

Carolyn shows jealousy about Victoria having met with Burk Devlin; Sam and Burke banter back and forth about the portrait Sam was supposed to have done; Sam Evans gives Joe advice on women; Vickie and Carolyn have a heart to heart.

My name is Victoria Winters. Collinwood is quiet, but the pressures of the past few hours are still around me. Pressures that may finally make it impossible for me to continue my search.

Victoria talks to Elizabeth about leaving because of David; Sam attemps to contact Roger; Roger and Elizabeth discuss David, with Roger being his usual uncaring father to the boy.

Murder of Bill Malloy story arc begins:

After Matthew tries to kill Victoria, she runs to Matthew's cottage not knowing it was him.

Elizabeth goes to Matthew's cottage and finds Matthew trying to kill Victoria.

Matthew goes on the lam after it becomes known that he murdered Bill.

Elizabeth and Mrs. Johnson fail to notice that Victoria has been kidnapped.

The residents of Collinsport realize Victoria has not gone to Bangor as planned.

Matthew holds Victoria hostage in a secret room of the Old House while Joe and Burke look for her.

Burke and Roger quarrel as the search for Victoria continues.

David brings food and cigarettes to Matthew.

David has a moral crisis and is warped by Matthew.

The ghosts of the Old House begin to play games with Matthew in defense of Victoria.

Start of Phoenix story arc; stranger arrives in town, and David makes a discovery in The Old House.

David leaves Victoria for the slaughter while the mysterious woman regales Maggie with tales of the legendary Phoenix.

Matthew decides to kill Victoria while David attempts to procure help for her.

Burke and Roger search for Victoria while the ghosts of Josette and Bill appear to Matthew.

Victoria tells the Collins family of her experience with the ghost of Josette.

Sam tells Roger that Laura has returned.

While drunk Sam paints a portrait of a woman in flames, but does not remember painting it the next day.

David begins to dream of Laura, to the dismay of his father and aunt.

Elizabeth and Roger quibble about how to break the news of Laura's arrival to David, who already knows about it.

(NOTE: There is no episode assigned the number DS-131. This was due to a pre-emption caused by the broadcast of a football game, resulting in that number being skipped in order to keep the production numbers balanced with the calendar, i.e. Friday episodes ending in a 5 or 0.)

Burke and Laura discover their respective plans; Sam resumes work on his strange painting.

David's first meeting with Laura, who is playing both sides of the fence with Roger and Burke.

Laura is invited to stay at Collinwood's cottage in order to help David adjust.