Running Home to Shadows: Memories of TV's First Supernatural Soap from Today's Grown-Up Kids

by Jim Beard, Charles Rutledge, Nancy Holder

School’s out, Barnabas is IN!

They were a generation all their own, the army of children who ran home from school to watch Dark Shadows, TV’s very first supernatural soap. A breed apart, they set aside the worship of mundane pop stars to follow vampires, witches, and werewolves. From 1966 to 1971, they were daytime Monster Kids…and today they have stories to tell.

Writer-editor Jim Beard has gathered these grown-up kids together in this tome to tell those tales. Their experiences are sometimes tragic and terrifying, yet also uplifting and inspirational, but above all, Dark Shadows touched them so deeply as to leave an indelible impression on their lives that lasts to this day.

Return to Collinwood to brave the stormy nights and rainswept days of yore to listen to this coven of writers spin yarns of childhood encounters with Barnabas, Angelique, Quentin, Vicky, Maggie, and their compatriots. Cross the threshold of the Old House, take a seat by the crackling fire, and make yourself comfortable to the strains of maudlin music issuing forth from the gramophone—the ghosts of the past are about to arise in RUNNING HOME TO SHADOWS. Won’t you join us?

Edited by Jim Beard with Charles R. Rutledge

Cover Illustration by Mark Maddox with Logo Design and Formatting by Maggie Ryel

Foreword by Kathryn Leigh Scott

Featuring Essays by Greg Cox, Mark Dawidziak, Dave Dykema, Bob Freeman, Ed Gross, Nancy Holder, Tina Hunt, Katherine Kerestman, Mark Maddox (with Ed Catto), Elizabeth Massie, Kimberly Oswald, Martin Powell, Dana Pride, Mark Rainey, Michael Rogers, Charles R. Rutledge, Chris Ryan, Frank Schildiner, Duane Spurlock, and Jeff Thompson.

Afterword by Rich Handley

Genres: Nonfiction

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 4, 2022

About the author

Jim Beard became a published writer when he sold a story to DC Comics in 2002. Since that time he's written official Star Wars and Ghostbusters comic stories and contributed articles and essays to several volumes of comic book history. His prose work includes SPIDER-MAN: ENEMIES CLOSER, an original novel; co-editing and contributing a story to PLANET OF THE APES: TALES FROM THE FORBIDDEN ZONE; a story for X-FILES: SECRET AGENDAS; GOTHAM CITY 14 MILES, a book of essays on the 1966 Batman TV series; SGT. JANUS, SPIRIT-BREAKER, a collection of pulp ghost stories featuring an Edwardian occult detective; MONSTER EARTH, a shared-world giant monster anthology; and CAPTAIN ACTION: RIDDLE OF THE GLOWING MEN, the first pulp prose novel based on the classic 1960s action figure. Jim also currently provides regular content for Marvel.com, the official Marvel Comics website.

Reviews

[Ben A · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an enjoyable collection of reflection essays on the Dark Shadows TV series from a wide variety of writers. It really made me nostalgic about my own experience with the show and the fond memories I had discovering this wacky vampire soap opera in my mid-High School years. It also kickstarted a rewatch for me (just from where Barnabas shows up though).

[Andrew Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Stories of those Who Ran Home to Shadows

This is a brilliant collection of reflections by a group I proudly consider myself a member of those who ran home from school to watch the incredibly innovative groundbreaking daytime gothic series Dark Shadows. Each of the chapters in this well written and organised volume is a love letter to the show that included vampires, werewolves, witches, Leviathans, time (and parallel) travel and the incredible acting talents of a group of players who took on multiple roles in different time-bands with characters who the viewers who ran home from school grew to love and learn from and later, like this reader, got to meet at conferences. Over 50 years on the gothic world of Dark Shadows continues to grow and it was thanks to many of the founding fans who have contributed to this must read volume that the ‘dark Brigadoon’ of Collinwood took hold and grew in viewers imaginations thanks to all the contributors for making this book possible. Hope more fan memories are forthcoming!

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I was not one of those kids who ran home from school to watch Dark Shadows. Well, not during the original run of the show, anyway. The show debuted two months before I was born in 1966 and went off the air in 1971 when I was a mere four years old. But my mother must have been a among the viewing audience in our apartment in Astoria, NY. Because when the show came back in reruns in the NYC area (by which time, we'd moved to Mahopac NY), I remember my mother saying "you should watch this. You'll like it." And she was correct.

So this book full of essays by now-adults who did (mostly) run home to catch each episode is great fun for a later-formed DS fan like myself. While many of the essays tread the same ground, the small personal details (where the show was watched, and who with; favorite characters or storylines; sometimes, least favorite characters or storylines as well) make each essay individual and interesting.

Highly recommended for anyone who loves Dark Shadows!

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a 6 year old who chose to cut through the woods on foot to make it home BEFORE the bus just so I could catch DARK SHADOWS in the afternoons from the start of each episode rather than just the last 10 minutes, I found this book endlessly charming as my memories became shared and intertwined with the lives of these others who I never knew.

But now we are connected forever by the dark shadows of Collinwood and a magical but frightening time in our lives that would be lost but for books like these preserving not just the show itself but the experiences of those who were there safely in their homes but were daily transported to a world where everything awful was possible and our heroes had fangs and claws and might....just might...turn on us.

[Dana Pride · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Shadows still lives in the hearts of many of the now grownup kids who ran home from school to watch it from 1966-1971. This collection of essays was a blast to read, since I, too, was one of those kids, and I can identify with them. It’s not a book for everyone, but for anyone who has watched Dark Shadows and has been captivated by the vampires, werewolves, witches, zombies, time travel and even parallel time.

The essays are a joy to read, especially as they bring back so many memories from my childhood. It’s amazing to see how kids from different neighborhoods and different parts of the country had similar experiences, many which led them to their future careers.

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is about how students would hurry home from school to see the latest episode of Dark Shadows. It's a neat book about the series and how much it was like by students at the time of its initial airing.

There's a lot of references and places to check out on the web. It's all a good look back at the series in its original run.

[Richard Byers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good indeed.

If you loved the show as a kid like I did, this book will bring back memories and make you smile.

[Vicki Texeira · Rating 5 out of 5]

total love for this book

Made me so happy remembering a beloved piece of my childhood

Who knew, I wasn’t alone running home at 3:00

[George Priftakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say, as a 24-year-old man from Greece, I never had the chance to watch dark shadows. The way I found about it was big finish's Audio dramas and I started the series mostly as second screen content and I didn't plan to watch more than 10 episodes. 1 Week later I had watched 201 episodes in 7 days (59 in the last day) and I had fallen in love with the show.

I already had an interest in old shows, mostly because of the twilight zone, doctor who and the original Star Trek so it's not surprising I enjoyed the show but because of the 1225 episodes I never expected to actually love it so much, and I have to say until Angelique was introduced I was intrigued by the show, but I didn't consider myself a big fan of it. The moment she got introduced, and the 1975 arc ended was the moment I knew I really became a big fan of dark shadows and I proceeded to watch all of the show, the movies and I have bought all the Lara parker novels and about 23 big finish releases.

If you told me 2 years ago that I would watch all of that show and fall in love with it, I wouldn't even believe you, but I have reached the point where I am reading this book which is my 4th non-fiction dark shadows book and I have to say even though I feel I missed a lot by not having watched this show in my childhood this book throughout its essays which is full of people who loved this show as children and inspired them to be writers through their lives, gave me small glimpse on what this feeling of nostalgia would have been and for that reason I can not recommend it enough for anyone who wants to experience even a little of this feeling.

[Sabrina Frang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe making one of my reading challenges for 2024 to be to read one nonfiction book a month... during an election year...was a terrible idea. I have nonfiction books that have been sitting on my bookshelves for ages ranging in topics from the Korean War, Chernobyl, Russia under Stalin, McCarthyism and various Erik Larson books. Instead, I keep reading lighthearted nonfiction books, like this one.

What is this book about? It is a collection of essays by-mostly authors and academics-who were once among the kids who ran home after school to watch Dark Shadows. Most of the essays in this collection are exciting essays about how Dark Shadows impacted the life of the writer. Most of the stories are lighthearted, or even funny. One story is tragic-about a young boy and his sister who had 30 minutes each weekday to escape from the reality of an abusive home life, and Dark Shadows was that escape. One essay basically reads like a resume. And at least two essays were rambling. That said, the majority of the collection of essays are fun and insightful.

This is not the book you would read if you were looking for behind-the-scenes information on Dark Shadows. I would recommend this to old and new fans of Dark Shadows who want to feel like they are visiting friends to discuss the beloved gothic soap opera and pop culture phenomenon that they both love.

[Toni Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not yet born in 1966, I wasn’t one of these kids, but what a great experience to have had! I do remember watching Creature Feature. I guess I never thought of my generation of kids being the ‘monster’ generation, but we certainly were.

This book brought back so many memories from the late 60s and early 70s. And, as a fan of Dark Shadows, I think it is amazing how many fans watched the show religiously. But, even more so, how it affected the contributors lives. What a great impact it had.