Immurement

Immurement is a process of execution and torture which involves concealing someone behind a wall or some other enclosure where they are left to die of either starvation, dehydration or asphyxiation if there is no viable air supply available.

Immurement was used twice in the 1960s daytime Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. In the year 1795, the evil vampire Barnabas Collins sealed up the equally evil Reverend Trask behind a brick wall in the basement of the Old House to punish him for his ongoing efforts to have the innocent Victoria Winters sentenced to die for witchcraft. Reverend Trask died, but his spirit lived on and spent nearly two centuries awaiting the chance to exact his revenge.

His opportunity arose in 1968 when his ghost appeared before Barnabas Collins, who was still alive, but no longer a vampire. Trask held a mock trial in which he summoned forth the ghosts of Barnabas' victims from the 18th century to testify against him, blaming him for their untimely deaths. Trask's ghost had Barnabas immured in the wall in the basement in the same place where he died.

Barnabas likely would have died at this time, but for a series of strange circumstances that saved his life. Due to a spiritual and chemical connection that he shared with the reanimated corpse known as Adam, Barnabas' friend Julia Hoffman discovered what had happened to him and was able to set him free.