2000 Dark Shadows Halloween Party
Norwalk, CT-- Lockwood Matthews Mansion-- October 20-22, 2000
Friday, October 20 2000; We had to get to the Lockwood Matthews
Mansion at 7:00 in order to see the two DS movies. Ed Lambese didn't
let us in until 7:30 though, and after that all we did was sit around
waiting for the movies. However, Ed came out into the room we were in
and announced that David Selby was in the foyer signing autographs! I
bought his new book, In and Out of the Shadows. (Mom bought
his poetry book, My Mother's Autumn) While he was signing the
book, he asked me how I spelled my name--and I spelt my own first
name wrong! (I spelt it Meagan--oops! well, at least Mom caught that
before he wrote it!) He got up and sorta half-hugged me :)
Shortly after that, they had a question & answer session with
him, which lasted quite a while! I asked David the second to last
question, which was "How long have you been writing and what do
you like the most about it??" When he answered, he looked right
into my eyes and explained that he'd been writing for about 20 years
and what he liked the most as that he could write down things from
his sub-conscious that weren't meant to be analyized or explained,
just accepted for what they were (It's hard to explain!) It was
really spectacular!
However, Ed then said that David wouldn't be around Saturday or
Sunday because he thought that this event was the next weekend! So,
he had to leave because he had to be at a shoot at 4 am. I panicked,
because I had planned to give my best friend (Amie) an autographed
picture of David for her birthday, and I left the picture in the
hotel room! I had a black notepad and a silver pen in my purse, and
got an idea! I approached David again and said "I have a little
dilemma; you see I was going to give my best friend a signed picture
of you for her birthday, but unfortunately I left my picture of you
in the hotel room! So, I was wondering if you could write her a short
note instead?" Of course, he was gracious and wrote a small
note, and I spelt her name right on the first try! :)
The next morning (Saturday, October 21 ) Mom and I went downstairs
for breakfast. I was already in my Daphne costume. (I always dress
up! In fact, I went as Daphne in 1998.) Chris Pennock and Jim Storm
were already there (in the hotel restaurant) eating breakfast not too
far from us. When I got up for some coffee, Jim Storm looked at me
and said, "Why, don't you look mystical today!" I blushed
and smiled and thanked him :) .
After that we went back to the Matthews mansion and waited in line
forever again before we were let in. When we finally got in, we got
autographs from Diana Millay, Marie Wallace, Chris and Jim! Chris and
Jim of course remembered us from that morning. I had Jim sign a
picture of me and him from 1998, and then showed him another picture
I bought a while back of Kate Jackson and him in nearly the same pose
as the picture of me and him! (I was wearing the same thing, too!) He
said, "Oh look, it's Kate! You know, she broke my heart; but we
had some good times!" Then I had Chris sign one of Mom's 16 magazines from 1970
(he said it was in better condition than the magazine he had! Which
must be pretty sad...considering the cover fell off and everything)
Later on we had lunch (we had to take it outside to the car to eat
because there was NO room where they served lunch!) After that, Roger
Davis showed up and there was a short Q&A session. I talked with
Terrayne Crawford and told her we have the same birthday. She was
shocked and said that only two people have ever told her that. One
was a girl in Africa who didn't speak English, but they were able to
celebrate their birthday together anyways! Chris read from his third
comic book, and Jim sand songs from his CD. At one point he even had
everyone sing along with him! We had a blast. After this, Mom bought
Jim's CD and had him sign it. While he was signing it, I noticed he
was left-handed, just like me! When I pointed it out he said "you
know, we are the chosen ones!"
There were two many people at the banquet that night, which was held
at the mansion, and it took us 2 1/2 hours to get served! By the time
were served the main course, we were already full. Roger was talking
on his cell phone for a long time, and Chris threw some food at him.
(Chris' table was really rowdy, and started chants like "we want
food!" and "go Mets!" ) There was an auction afer
everyone ate, and I got the House of Dark Shadows paperback book!
When we got back to the hotel we decided to go to the bar, to see
which DS stars would be there. Jim was there, and the people who were
sitting next to him we leaving just as Mom and I got there! So, while
Mom went to get something for herself and water for me, I went and
sat next to Jim. Mom came over soon with the drinks and sat down.
There was some guy sitting near us talking to Jim about when he was
living in a mental hospital. Apparently one day this guy had to go
out and walk a dog for some people or whatever, (it was a puppy) and
he ended up tripping and falling on the puppy and killing it! When he
got back to the institution, everyone was mad at him for killing the
dog and didn't believe that it was an accident. He said he was scared
so badly from it that he had to stay at the institution another month!
So Jim turns to me after that and says, "I hope what you're
drinking is alcoholic!" (It was such a riot!) So then this guy
gets up and goes to the woman across from me and takes the drink from
her hands and says "What are you drinking?" and he took a
big gulp of it! Jim got this look on his face and said to the
woman,"Oh I'll bet you REALLY want to finish that now!" So
then the guy spotted the drinks on our table from the people who were
there before us and asked "are these yours?" when Mom said
no, he picked up a dark ale and drank it, then said "Gross, it's
warm!" (the whole next day, that guy couldn't tell Mom and I
apart! He kept thinking I was Mom's mother!)
The next day we went to McDonalds for breakfast, and then up to
Lyndhurst. We had to pay to get on the grounds! (And to go into the
house was a separate charge, so we didn't go in the house.) We walked
around for a long time, tried to find the remains of the Old House,
and walked around some more. We took a horse and buggy ride and
talked with Terrayne some more. Jim was there briefly, but said he
wasn't feeling well and left almost right away. Roger had left in a
hurry that morning because his daughter was in an accident and in the
hospital (we haven't heard anything more), Chris showed up extremely
late, and videotaped Mom and I! It was cool!
Since nothing was really going on, Mom and I left at 3:30 so we could
get dinner in Tarrytown and then go home. That was our weekend!
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