Poltergeist: The Legacy is a Canadian horror television series which ran from 1996 to 1999. The series tells the story of the members of a secret society known as the Legacy and their efforts to protect humankind from occult dangers. Despite bearing the Poltergeist name, there is no real connection between the show and the Poltergeist trilogy aside from the title.
Poltergeist: The Legacy debuted on Showtime, and all first-run episodes of the first three seasons premiered on that network, though they were later syndicated. After the third season, Showtime cancelled the show, and the rights were purchased by Sci Fi Channel which continued the series for another season. This same pattern was followed by Stargate SG-1, which also debuted on Showtime, was also sold into syndication, and was rescued from cancellation by Sci Fi.
The fourth season of Poltergeist: The Legacy featured an episode starring WWE wrestler The Undertaker as a being from Hell who collected souls, a deliberate[original research?]crossover with RAW, which was also airing on the USA Network at the time and earning the network some of the highest ratings on cable TV. It was hoped that this cameo would help boost awareness of the new show, and thus generate a larger audience (just as USA had attempted to do by having Shawn Michaels appear on Pacific Blue).
After getting a slumlord placed under house arrest in his own tenement, Alex learns that an evil force inhabits the building. Guest star: David Cubitt.
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5
"The Twelfth Cave"
Allan Eastman
Robert Masello
17 May 1996 (1996-05-17)
An old friend and ex-member (David Ogden Stiers) returns for Derek's help in translating an ancient scroll. But soon Derek begins acting strangely... and it has to do with the scroll...
The Legacy is called into investigate the theft of a bell that can raise the dead.
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13
"Fox Spirit"
Allan Eastman
William Bleich
19 July 1996 (1996-07-19)
A ghost begins to murder non-Asians after being released. Derek contacts an old friend, Lee Tzin-Soong, for insight into the case. Lee Tzin-Soong's daughter Mei Ling is who Derek knew as a young girl is now grown and beautiful and just as educated in the history of the Chinese folklore and language. Alex's research reveals that three men were lynched in the late nineteenth century during a time of prejudice against Chinese immigrants and the Fox Spirit is the ghost of one of the men's fiancée who is now seeking revenge against those who disrespect or harm Asian people. The Legacy rushes to locate the man's grave to properly put him to rest to give the Fox Spirit peace.
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14
"The 13th Generation"
Brad Turner
Garner Simmons
26 July 1996 (1996-07-26)
A witch's curse begins to target the descendants of the man who drowned her. 300 years ago, Reverend Josiah Blood drowned a suspected witch Sarah Browning, who cursed him to the thirteenth generation as she was sunk in a local pond. Derek goes to Boston to read the diary of Josiah Blood to a Professor Jordan Slater's class. Cora Jennings, a young woman in Slater's class seems particularly affected by the reading and begins to see visions of local murders, linked only by an old coin dropped at each scene. The Legacy team back in California research Josiah Blood's family tree and the DNA of the victims to learn that they are all descendants of Blood. Derek works with Cora to discover who else might be involved in the killings and how to stop them.
Meanwhile, Nick shares with Rachel a little about why he left the Navy Seals.
During a fundraising party at the Legacy House for their cover as the Luna Foundation, two brothers, Tom and Stan Davace steal a medallion that belonged to their father, Levon Soltar, a satanist leader from the sixties. Stan is interested in selling it for cash, but Tom chants and becomes a vessel for the Dark Priest. Using the guise of an illusionist, Tom begins executing women on stage (including guest star Sarah MacLachan). Meanwhile, at the Legacy, the team is hunting for the missing artifact while Nick is particularly upset about the women who were the victims. Eventually Nick investigates the hot, new magic show in a local bar where he sees an execution. He pursues the brothers, but loses them.
Derek lets him know that Nick's father was the one who killed Soltar originally and Soltar swore revenge on him and the Legacy. The brothers show up at the house, one to wreak revenge with the other shortly behind to try to stop him. Both brothers wind up dead in the foyer. Derek decided that the medallion will never again see the light of day.
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16
"Revelations"
Allan Eastman
Frank Abatemarco
16 August 1996 (1996-08-16)
Rachel is invited to her old boarding school to help a girl, Patty Greer, who is injured one night and accuses a teacher, Constance Merrick, of attacking her and accuses the school of evil doings. Patty's mother Monica is afraid she will lose custody of her daughter because of this. Rachel begins to experience flashbacks and suffers psychic attacks.
Derek goes to visit his sister, a nun called Sister Ingrid Rayne, in her convent. He believes that she is hiding in the convent and only praying. He eludes that he has lost faith and she encourages him to forgive their father.
Nick and Alex learn that former students end up dead or arrested due to practicing the occult. Monica is coerced by Constance into bringing Patty back to school. Rachel tells the rest of the Legacy that she is beginning to remember terrible things about her time at the school. When night falls the Legacy sneaks into the school while a coven gathers to enact a black magic ritual on Patty with her mother. Rachel remembers that she was indeed part of the coven, but couldn't go through with sacrificing another girl and tried to rescue her. The team interrupts the ritual; Rachel confronts the headmistress of the school, the true leader of the coven. She gathers enough strength to condemn her to hell. As she and Derek discuss, he concedes that his sister's prayers may have been helping them.
A dream causes Alex to reunite with an old acquaintance.
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20
"The Reckoning"
Michael Robison
Garner Simmons
13 September 1996 (1996-09-13)
Sequel to "The Inheritance": The spirit of Rachel's grandfather returns.
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21
"A Traitor Among Us"
Brenton Spencer
Richard B. Lewis, Bill Froehlich
20 September 1996 (1996-09-20)
Clip show: Derek is put on trial when a Legacy member accuses him of evil.
Season 2 (1997)
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1
"The New Guard"
Michael Keusch
Michael Sadowski
9 March 1997 (1997-03-09)
When Derek pulls a gun on Alex and Nick, and is landed in the hospital, the two must work with visiting London head William Sloan to take up Derek's investigation.
Rachel goes undercover as a mental patient to find out the source of supernatural goings-on at a psychiatric ward her friend works at.
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19
"Someone to Watch Over Me"
Brenton Spencer
Robert Masello
25 July 1997 (1997-07-25)
Derek and Sloan encounter the Lord of the Underworld in a replica of Alexander the Great's reflecting pool.
41
20
"Let Sleeping Demons Lie"
Gary Sherman
Stephen J. Feke
3 August 1997 (1997-08-03)
The team comes to the aid of Sloan and his group when their plane crashes in the mountains while transporting the remains of a supposed sorcerer.
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21
"Trapped"
Graeme Lynch
Michael Sadowski
10 August 1997 (1997-08-10)
Clip show.[1] Derek is possessed by the spirit of his evil father, Winston.
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22
"The Choice"
Michael Robison
David Tynan
17 August 1997 (1997-08-17)
Clip show. Rachel must make a choice between leaving the Legacy or staying.
Season 3 (1998)
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1
"Darkness Falls"
Michael Robison
Michael Sadowski
23 January 1998 (1998-01-23)
Alex reunites with her college friend Justine, who is now a vampire. After being bitten, Alex starts slowly turning into one herself.
45
2
"Light of Day"
Michael Robison
Michael Sadowski
30 January 1998 (1998-01-30)
Continued from the previous episode: Derek, Rachel and Nick must try to stop Alex from being completely transformed into a vampire, which will happen upon the death of her first victim.
46
3
"The Enlightened One"
Graeme Lynch
Grant Rosenberg
6 February 1998 (1998-02-06)
A member of the Boston Legacy House (Kristin Lehman) comes to San Francisco to find her younger brother, who has been abducted by a cult that is suspected of being behind various arson attacks on churches.
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4
"Stolen Hearts"
Michael Robison
Garner Simmons
13 February 1998 (1998-02-13)
Rachel makes the mistake of falling for a man who has made a bargain with the devil.
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5
"Father to Son"
Graeme Lynch
John Benjamin Martin
20 February 1998 (1998-02-20)
The ghost of Nick’s murdered father returns to ask his son to find his killer.
49
6
"Fallen Angel"
William Fruet
Chris Black
27 February 1998 (1998-02-27)
The Legacy find themselves up against the forces of evil when they side with an angel on Earth to save a soul from Hell.
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7
"Dream Lover"
Jim Kaufman
David Tynan
6 March 1998 (1998-03-06)
A malevolent and long-dead spirit escapes from an urn and possesses the fiancée of Derek's friend.