Subj: Crossing Over Time Part 1
Date: 11/25/98 11:31:10 AM Central Standard Time
From: MsAnn

On this night on the Great Estate of Collinwood, Professor T. Elliot Stokes was pursuing the mysteries involving witchcraft at Collinwood during the time of his ancestor, Ben Stokes. He had gone to Elizabeth Collins Stoddard and asked her for permission to "study the architecture" of houses of the period. Elizabeth knew of Stokes' love for studying the ancient architecture of the many old houses in the area so she readily agreed. Stokes feared that if he told the real reason for his visit to the Old House, he would either be branded mad or a complete charlatan. The ceremonies, which Stokes was to perform, required a witness/participant. For that role, he had gone into town and secured the services of a drifter sailor by the name of Willie Loomis at the Blue Whale. Willie initially appeared to be the exact opposite of what Stokes was looking for, but after a few conversations and with the proper monetary encouragement, he was willing to do anything. Night had fallen on the Great Estate of Collinwood. In the sky, the full moon would soon be reaching its peak. Now was the time to begin.

"Are you ready to perform your duty, Mr. Loomis?" asked Professor Stokes.

"Call me Willie, Professor. I do have one question, though. Do you really think you'll be able to conjure up some ghost or somethin'?" asked Willie.

"I don't know if I will be able to 'conjure' anything, but I hope that my ancestors or the Collins ancestors will be able to shed some light on the mysteries of the past. Do you have any other questions, Willie?"

"No."

"Then we shall begin," said Stokes as he opened up an ancient looking book of some sort. "This book is the diary of one Bathia Mapes. She describes herself a witch dedicated to helping those in need. The last entry in her diary states that she was called to help someone at Collinwood destroy an evil witch named Angelique in 1795. She states that she was going to the Old House to destroy a curse. I don't know exactly what happened to her next. I can only assume that she died in destroying the evil at Collinwood. We are going to try to contact her and ask her if she will tell us what happened to her at that time. I need you to sit at the table and concentrate on Bathia, but make no sound as this might discourage her from appearing to us. Our hands must touch at all times. Do you understand, Willie?"

"So we're goin' to have a séance to call this witch Bathia here so she can tell us what happened almost 200 years ago? She ain't gonna try to hurt us or anything like that is she?"

"No. Her enemies died long ago. As far as I know, she has no reason to harm anyone here in the twentieth century."

It was a half-truth, but Stokes figured Willie didn't need to know the real possibilities a séance could bring to them. "Sounds easy enough to me," said Willie. Now that his fears were eased, he could go through with the deal he had with Stokes. Stokes sat down in front of Willie and they both placed their hands upon the table. "We seek to speak to one who worked for the cause of good in this house in the year 1795. We seek the truth of what happened in the year 1795! A great injustice was done to someone in this house during that time and we wish to correct that wrong if we can"

Thunder roared outside the Old House and a sudden unnatural wind appeared from out of nowhere. The candles that had been lit suddenly went out. The thunder grew louder and lightning flashed outside giving the appearance of noonday sunshine for a moment. Then there was silence inside the Old House.

Willie and Professor Stokes looked at each other as best they could in the darkness, both wondering just what had happened, but neither daring to speak at that moment. Then a voice spoke from the darkness.

"Where are we? What happened?" spoke one voice.

"What is going on around here?" spoke another voice, older than the first.

"We were caught in a great disturbance in time. The evil that tried to destroy us has been thwarted for now. But we have been removed from our proper time," spoke a third voice, much older than the others.

Professor Stokes, having decided at this point that what he was hearing was the voices of actual people and not ghosts decided to introduce himself to the new "arrivals."

"Excuse me, but I feel I can shed some light on your current situation. I am Professor Timothy Elliot Stokes. My friend, Mr. Willie Loomis and I were conducting a séance to discover the truth about what happened to you in the year 1795. However, we seem to have accidentally brought you here from the past. For that I must apologize."

"Your mistake may have saved us all. The witch was threatening to destroy me. Your disturbance in time stopped the evil for now. It will return, but I can now prepare."

"I will be most willing to assist you in any way I can, Ms. Mapes," said Professor Stokes as he lit some candles.

"Sir, I am Joshua Collins. I am very grateful for what you have done here."

"As am I. I am Barnabas Collins. You do not know the full impact of your actions here. You have made it possible to destroy the evil witch Angelique in my time. Excuse me for asking this, the manner in which you and Mr. Loomis are dressed suggests that we have traversed a great distance in time. Would you mind telling us where in time we are?"

"You are in the year 1967. In this time, Mrs. Elizabeth Collins Stoddard runs Collinwood. She lives there with her daughter Carolyn, her brother Roger and his son David."

"1967!" Barnabas and Joshua exclaimed simultaneously.

"Yes. Let me give you a brief history of the Collinses after you left and tell you about some of the technological advances of the last few years. I must warn you. You are in for a bit of culture shock."