Dark Shadows Diary, Episode 53

Episode 53: "Murder Forecasts"
Sept. 7, 1966

Not a lot happens in this episode. David returns to act like a little monster, Joe stops by Collinwood to make sure Carolyn still has him wrapped around her little finger and HOLY SHIT, DID MATTHEW MORGAN JUST ADMIT TO DUMPING A BODY IN THE OCEAN?

But I'm getting ahead of myself.
 
David's got his mind on murder, and murder on his mind. With so much drama in Collinwood lately, it's been hard being a little G. But somehow, some way, David keeps coming up with creepy ass shit every single day.

Always hearing and seeing things he's not supposed to (both worldly and otherwise) David heard the screams the night before after Victoria and Carolyn spotted a corpse on the beach near the mansion. He's
surprisingly nonplussed about it. He pesters Victoria about the incident, but seems less interested in whatever horror show was transpiring during the night than in irritating his governess. The more she says tries to distract him back toward his school work, the more insistent be becomes. It's only a matter of time before David plays the murder card in any argument, though.

"Someone is Collinsport is going to try and kill you," he tells Victoria over breakfast. "When you're dead I won't even come to your funeral." He also speculates that, if it wasn't for his Aunt Liz, that his father would "beat" him. I can't imagine why anyone would want to do a thing like that.

These murder forecasts come from the crystal ball given to him by Burke Devlin, a toy that has occupied David's time in between his time spent with Collinwood's ghosts. He maintains that the mansion is haunted, but doesn't seem to care much if anyone believes him. I mean, he still insists everyone thinks he's a liar, but he genuinely doesn't give a shit if anyone embraces his belief in the supernatural. He's much more interested in hearing about the dead man Victoria and Carolyn might have seen. He's also creepily excited by the prospect of his father going to prison for the crime.

Matthew warns Liz to keep Carolyn away from Widows Hill, the spot where Josette, the "first Mrs. Collins," jumped to her death. It might not have been suicide, he says ... "She might have been drawn there by unnatural forces." If he only knew. Josette is the thread that ties the entire series together, which is no mean feat given that she's in just a fraction of the show's 1,225 episodes. But, she's there in the show's first year as a ghost, and even makes an appearance (played by a different actress) in the final story arc set in a parallel timeline that allowed her and Barnabas to be happy.

 Liz doesn't buy Matthew's bullshit about searching the property for the corpse, noting a few omissions that suggest he wasn't telling her the whole story.  "You chose your words very carefully," she says, pressing him to clarify his story. He confesses to it immediately: "There was a drowned man there. I pushed it back into the water and watched the waves carry it back out to sea."

Much to my surprise, Liz calls the cops. Now let's see if they actually arrive next episode.