Lucinda Jessup

Lucinda Jessup was a fictional witch and an antagonist in the British television series Hammer House of Horror. She was played by actress Patricia Quinn and appeared in the pilot episode, "Witching Time".

Biography
Lucinda Jessup was a witch who was born at Woodstock Farm in the year 1627. In 1652, the witch finders of the community learned of Jessup's existence and attempted to execute her by trial of ordeal. Lucinda managed to escape and used her powers to propel herself more than three-hundred years into the future.

She re-emerged in the year 1980 in the barn at Woodstock Farm. A tremendous lightning storm signaled her arrival. David Winter, the present owner of the farm, discovered Lucinda and offered her shelter. Lucinda told David the truth about herself, but he didn't believe that she was an actual witch. Modern conventions such as electricity and running water frightened Lucinda, but David tried to keep her calm. Fearing that she was a mad woman, David locked her in the upstairs bedroom, then contacted his personal physician, Doctor Charles Henderson. When Henderson came over, David told him about the young woman, but when he took him up to the bedroom, Lucinda was gone. Henderson felt that Charles was overworked at gave him a sedative.

That evening, Lucinda returned to the house and seduced David. During their love-making, she raked her fingernails across his back, leaving her mark upon him. David's wife, Mary, came to the house the following morning. Lucinda was nowhere to be found and David tried to explain what had happened. Like Charles, Mary felt that her husband was over-worked, but yet, she could not explain how he managed to get the scratches across his back.

Lucinda saw Mary as a threat and sought to do away with her. She made several attempts to kill her, which included mysterious wounds appearing on Mary's face, and a falling statue, which would have killed Mary had it landed on her. At first, Mary suspected that it was David who was trying to kill her, but she learned the truth when both David and she were trapped in the bedroom while Lucinda used her powers to generate a miniature hurricane throughout the room.

Lucinda later used her powers to make Mary fall off her horse, Muffin, leaving her bedridden in a hospital for three days. During that time, Lucinda cemented her hold over David, taking complete control of him. When Mary returned, she found her bedroom in shambles, the word "strumpet" painted across the door. The mind-controlled David locked Mary inside the cellar then began preparing a bonfire in which he planned to burn her.

While trapped, Mary found a Voodoo doll of herself and realized that this was how Lucinda was able to harm her. She escaped from the cellar and confronted Lucinda outside the barn. She tried to re-mold the doll to make it resemble Lucinda, but the witch knocked it out of her hand. Mary discovered that Lucinda feared only one thing -- water. She grabbed her and threw her into a water trough, drowning her. Afterward, she tossed the re-molded voodoo doll into the bonfire and Lucinda Jessup was gone forever.

Notes & Trivia

 * The character of was created by director Don Leaver and teleplay writer Anthony Read.

Appearances

 * Hammer House of Horror: Witching Time