The horror-comedy series Widow’s Bay just dropped its biggest twist yet. Episode 6, titled “Our History,” takes viewers all the way back to 1702. The episode explains why the island is cursed, why no one born there can leave, and what Richard Warren, the town’s founder, did to keep everyone alive.
The Apple TV+ show has been teasing the island’s dark past for weeks. But this time, the show stops holding back. Betty Gilpin and Hamish Linklater guest star in this flashback episode. They play Sarah Westcott and Richard Warren. And what viewers learn is both terrifying and sad.
The Episode Jumps Back to 1702 to Show How the Curse Started
On September 16, 1702, Sarah Westcott arrives by ship to Widow’s Bay. She is there to marry Richard Warren, the widowed founder of the town. Right away, Sarah senses something is wrong. The townspeople look scared. People whisper. And no one gives her straight answers about what is happening on the island.
The wedding feels cold and awkward. On their wedding night, Richard leaves Sarah alone when the church bell rings. Later, Sarah finds him unconscious with blood dripping from his hand. The blood came from the chain he wears around his neck.
The next morning, Sarah sees workers taking away a dead body. A local woman tells her a plague is spreading through Widow’s Bay. The sickness makes people go crazy before they die. Sarah also meets Richard’s three children. She gives the youngest daughter, Frances, a brooch. Fans will recognize this same brooch from earlier episodes.
Sarah Watches Her Husband Commit Murder
The real horror begins when Sarah overhears a conversation. A man named Ezra Lowery confronts Richard. Ezra accuses Richard of communicating with the devil. He says the only reason the town survived its first winter was because of a dark deal. Richard loses his temper. He beats Ezra to death with a cane while Sarah watches from hiding.
Sarah runs back to bed and pretends to be asleep. The next morning, the hallway looks completely clean. No blood. No body. But Sarah finds the bloody cane hidden in a secret room under the house. That is when she knows her husband is dangerous.
She runs to Pastor Collins for help. The pastor tells her the whole town suspects Richard of murder. Many believe he also killed his first wife. The pastor asks Sarah to leave the front door unlatched that night. The townspeople plan to kill Richard.
Richard Warren Refuses to Die
That night, attackers enter the house. They stab Richard many times. But he does not die. Instead, Richard kills the attacker and acts like nothing happened. Sarah realizes her husband has some kind of power protecting him.
The next morning, Richard locks Sarah inside the house. While he is gone, she explores the secret tunnels beneath the home. She finds blood on the walls, hair stuck to surfaces, and a terrifying underground room. The room has a chair with ropes nearby. It looks like a place where someone performed sacrifices.
Sarah escapes through a hidden passage and runs back to the pastor. The townspeople give her a liquid to knock Richard unconscious. They promise to send her and the children away on a merchant ship. All she has to do is poison her husband’s drink.
The Escape Plan Falls Apart
Sarah tries to slip the drug into Richard’s brandy. But he sees her. He forces her to drink it herself. When she spits it out, Richard knows she betrayed him. He starts choking her. One of his sons knocks Richard out just in time.
Sarah grabs the children and runs to the docks. The merchant ship already left. But they take a small boat to catch up. On the dock, a sick woman named Abigail attacks Sarah. Abigail is covered in blood and seems possessed. Sarah fights her off with an oar and escapes into the sea with the children.
Richard Explains the Pact Before Being Buried Alive
Back in town, the villagers capture Richard. They tie him up and prepare to bury him alive. Richard panics and starts screaming. He yells, “The pact must be honored!” He explains that the pact saved the town during the brutal first winter. People were starving and dying from the cold. Then Richard found black mushrooms growing under the frozen ground. A voice spoke to him through the mushrooms.
“The pact which spared us in that first winter. The voice spoke to me in the mushrooms. The sacrifices must continue or the terrors will not cease. They will only deepen.” – Richard Warren
Richard says he has carried this burden alone for years. He made the deal to protect everyone else. But the villagers do not listen. They bury him alive behind his house. Before they finish, Richard warns them that the island will not let anyone leave. He screams that the children will die because they tried to escape.
The Present Day: Richard’s Grave Holds a Shocking Secret
The episode jumps back to the present. Wyck (played by Stephen Root) reads Sarah Westcott’s diary. He learns about the locket around Richard’s neck. Wyck believes the locket holds answers about the curse. So he decides to dig up Richard Warren’s grave.
Tom (played by Matthew Rhys) joins Wyck and Patricia at the cemetery in the middle of the night. They open the coffin. And what they find changes everything. Richard Warren is still alive. The centuries have aged him terribly. But he is not dead.
Richard tells Tom he wants to talk only to the current mayor. He explains that he made a deal with something evil to save the town from famine. He ate the same black mushrooms that Tom ate earlier in the season. The entity promised survival in exchange for sacrifices. Since Richard made the covenant, his life is what binds the town to the curse.
Richard believes that if he dies, the curse will break. But he cannot die by normal means. Violence and aging do not work. So he has a plan. The town’s folklore says that anyone born on the island can never leave without dying. Richard wants to test that rule on himself. He asks Tom to take him out to sea and cross the border.
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The Plan to Kill Richard Warren Begins
Tom agrees to help. Wyck joins them on the boat. Richard stays in his coffin for most of the trip. But Tom feels bad and lets him out. For a while, everything seems fine. Richard eats food and sings on the deck. But then he changes his mind. He does not want to die anymore.
Richard attacks Tom and Wyck. A fight breaks out on the deck as the boat rushes toward the border. Tom and Wyck manage to get Richard back inside the coffin just in time. The coffin crosses the border. Richard Warren finally dies. Wyck does not cross the border. Tom kicks him off the boat with a life preserver to keep him safe.
What the Episode Reveals About the Widow’s Bay Curse
Episode 6 answers many questions. The black mushrooms called Truesight connect people to the evil entity on the island. Richard Warren made a deal with that entity to save the first settlers from starvation. In exchange, he had to perform human sacrifices. The entity also placed a curse on the island. Anyone born there cannot leave without dying. That is why Tom’s wife died when she tried to leave earlier in the series.
The curse survives because of Richard’s immortality. As long as he lives, the deal remains active. Now that Richard is dead, the town’s future looks brighter. But viewers should not celebrate too soon. The episode also shows that the entity is still hungry. And someone else may have to take Richard’s place.
Fans React to the Dark Historical Twist
Social media is buzzing about Betty Gilpin’s performance as Sarah. Many viewers call her the highlight of the episode. Hamish Linklater also gets praised for playing Richard Warren as a creepy and tragic villain.
“Betty Gilpin in Widow’s Bay Episode 6 is everything. She sells every moment of fear and determination. Best episode of the season so far.” – Fan reaction on social media
Fans also appreciate how the episode connects the historical events to the present-day storyline. The brooch, the diary, the underground chair room, and the mushrooms all appear in earlier episodes. Episode 6 finally explains what those objects mean.
Widow’s Bay Episode 6 and Episode 7 were released together on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. Episode 7 continues the story as Tom and Wyck deal with the aftermath of Richard’s death. New episodes drop every Wednesday on Apple TV+ at 3 AM ET / 12 AM PT. For viewers in the UK, that is 8 AM BST. For viewers in India, that is 12:30 PM IST.
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