Year 1795 (MDCCXCV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. Victoria Winters travelled to this year by accident (365), observing the marriage of Josette DuPres to Jeremiah Collins (383), as well as the death of Barnabas Collins (409). Victoria was not aware that Barnabas later rose as a vampire in this time (411). Victoria fell in love with Peter Bradford, but she was executed for witchcraft. As she was hanged, Victoria returned to 1968 (461). Eve travelled back to 1795 to learn more about Peter Bradford through a talisman belonging to Nicholas Blair (623). The spirit of Peter eventually transported Victoria Winters back to this time again to be with him (650).

Barnabas Collins later returned to this time period twice, although it was on those occasions referred to as 1796. The first was to prevent Victoria Winters being executed as she had been in her first visit (661), and the next was to follow Kitty Soames as she faded into the past through the portrait of Josette (885).

Deaths in 1795

• Maude Browning
• Abigail Collins
• Angelique Collins
• Barnabas Collins, who later rose as a vampire
• Jeremiah Collins
• Josette Collins (originally 1830s, often seen as 1796)
• Naomi Collins
• Sarah Collins
• Countess Natalie DuPres
• Lt. Nathan Forbes
• Suki Forbes
• Noah Gifford
• Bathia Mapes
• Ruby Tate
• Reverend Trask
• Phyllis Wick
• Victoria Winters (not shown, referenced in episode 967 as being 1797)

Notes

• There were three lunar eclipses in 1795.
• When Dark Shadows aired, the date for the events in this year shifted from 1795 through 1797. Episodes in 1967 and early 1968 referred to this year as having been 1795 (368/369), while later 1968 and 1969 episodes generally referred to the year as 1796 (663). Episodes from 1970 onward sometimes presented the year as 1797 (938,1112). While it would be possible to assume that Victoria Winters had arrived in 1795 and stayed into the year 1796, no mention of the new year is made until much later (662). In fact, Peter Bradford and Sarah Collins were both stated to have died in the year 1795 after Vicki returned to 1968 (461, 463) even though those events should have occurred in 1796. When Eve travelled to this time period, she arrived, "a few short weeks" after the execution of Vicki, and the year was given as 1795 (623).
• Another clue to dating comes in 419. Millicent Collins says that March 2nd is only a month away, meaning that it is about February 2nd or so. The episode was originally aired on February 1st, 1968, so it can be assumed that they intended time in the past to be relative to the real time that the show aired. If it was 1795 the entire time Vicki was there, that would mean 366-418 all happens in about a month, January of 1795. Both Josette and other characters talk about "weeks" and "several weeks", which seems to fit this theory. This would make January a very eventful month at Collinwood.
• During Victoria Winter's trial, Abigail Collins testifies that Victoria Winters arrived on October 12, 1795, as well as explaining that her brother was transformed into a cat on November 2nd (427) spanning the first twenty episodes of the storyline. By the time of episode 419 as stated above three months have occurred within the series time line. The ghost of Nathan Forbes testifies that his death occurred on March 31, 1796 (512) hinting that this is the definite date of the ending of the storyline.
• In episodes 317-318 Sarah's tomb read: Sarah: 1786 to 1796

External Links

Terror at Collinwood Episode 07: The 1795 Storyline