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Barnabas Collins Gallery
Barnabas Collins
Production Information
Portrayed by

Jonathan Frid
Andrew Collins

First appearance

211

Last appearance

1198

Episode count

565

Audio appearances

The House of Despair
The Book of Temptation
The Christmas Presence
The Rage Beneath
Kingdom of the Dead
The Night Whispers
Bloodlust
The Curse of Shurafa

Biographical Information
Name

Barnabas Collins

Age

25 (1795)
201 (1971)

Date of birth

1770

Year of death

1795

Manner of death

Turned into a vampire by Angelique Collins

Origin

Maine, New England, USA

Profession

Vampire

Supernatural abilities

(As a vampire)
Immortality
Possession
Teleportation
Shape-Shifting
Telepathy
Summoning
Inhuman strength
Hypnosis
Sorcery
Will domination

Family members

Joshua Collins (Father)
Naomi Collins (Mother)
Jeremiah Collins (Uncle)
Sarah Collins (Sister)
Abigail Collins (Aunt)
Angelique Collins (Wife)
Laura Collins (Aunt)

We have 16 images of Dark Shadows Barnabas Collins

Barnabas Collins (1770-1795) is a vampire from the town of Collinsport, Maine. Having bridged the centuries, he has been both an adversary and an ally to his extended family members over the course of several generations.

18th Century []

Early Life[]

 Barnabas Collins was born the son of Joshua and Naomi Collins in 1770 (1012). As a young boy, he became active in the family business traveling to China and the Caribbean. He developed close ties with his uncle, Jeremiah Collins (some sources indicate that Jeremiah and Barnabas were brothers due to the closeness of their ages, but this has since been proven erroneous). Barnabas grew up with a cousin named Niall Bradford, who died in London in 1837 (293). Whilst in Barbados, Barnabas met an Indian imprisoned as a warlock, who taught him magic (358). After the Revolutionary War’s conclusion in 1783, a man called Ben Stokes, who had been sentenced to prison for attempting to break into a house, came to work for his father, Joshua to work off the rest of his term. Barnabas took a liking to Ben and taught the older man to read and write (372); Ben would remain a lifelong friend of Barnabas.

When he was young, Barnabas formed a group of friends who practiced the occult. One man of Barnabas' group, Silas Bradshaw, and his entire group had a score to settle with Barnabas. As days passed, a curse began, and many people of his group, including Jacob Moxley, died. Soon everyone knew the curse of Celasta had begun, causing Barnabas to kill the last man of his group to end the curse.

Josette[]

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Josette DuPres the daughter of Andre DuPres.

In 1792, Barnabas travelled to the island of Martinique, to expand the Collins' business interest, where he met Josette DuPres, the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, Andre DuPres. Originally his job was to teach her English; those nights he spent with her in Martinique were the happiest times of his life (239).  The two instantly fell in love. During their courtship, however, Barnabas had a brief affair with Josette’s maidservant, Angelique Bouchard, because he was not certain that Josette felt the same way as he (368/369). Angelique fell obsessively in love with Barnabas, but Barnabas spurned her affection – an act that would have disastrous consequences in Barnabas' future (368/369). Barnabas asked Josette to marry him and the two arranged for the wedding to take place at the family estate known as Collinwood (Note: In the future, this version of Collinwood will come to be known as the Old House). Barnabas returned to Collinsport to inform his family, while Josette returned to her home in France to collect her belongings and family.

The Duel[]

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The Duel between Barnabas and Jeremiah Collins.

In the winter of 1795, Josette and her family, the Countess Natalie DuPres and her brother Andre DuPres arrived at Collinwood. First, Josette's aunt, Countess Natalie DuPres arrived with her servant, Angelique. The Countess was quite unaware of the woman's indiscretions with Barnabas (368-369). Angelique pleaded with Barnabas to abandon Josette and marry her instead, but Barnabas was adamant and completely dismissed Angelique (368-369). One of the Countess' favourite pastimes was reading the tarot, and she saw that her niece was safe, as long as she was at sea, but the cards showed that once she was on land, a "wicked woman" would prove to be her enemy. 

What Barnabas didn’t know at this time, was that his jilted lover was actually a powerful witch. Enraged by his behaviour, Angelique used her magic to choke Barnabas Collins, forcing him to fall gravely ill (370-371). When this failed to force Barnabas to abandon Josette, Angelique used her power to make Josette fall in love with Jeremiah Collins (374). She used the same magic on Jeremiah and before long, Josette abandoned Barnabas to marry his uncle instead (382). Barnabas was furious and challenged Jeremiah to a duel. Angelique secretly supplied Barnabas with a good luck charm that protected him, and Barnabas dealt Jeremiah a fatal wound (383-384, 391).

Death[]

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Barnabas Collins in his death bed.

After the death of Jeremiah, Sarah fell mysteriously ill. Angelique claimed to know a "herbal" remedy for her illness and used this to coerce Barnabas into marrying her (397). Joshua disowned Barnabas over this, but his mother, Naomi, knowing nothing of the nature of Barnabas' marriage and wanted nothing more than for Barnabas to be happy, gave him the Old House as a wedding gift (395), much to Joshua's consternation. On their wedding night, Barnabas learned of Angelique’s true nature. He discovered that she was the secret cause of so much misery at Collinwood. Barnabas tried to kill Angelique, but she miraculously survived the gunshot wound. Believing she was dying, however, she cursed him, telling him that he would never rest and that whoever loved him would die. A large bat then attacked him (405). Despite desperate efforts to save him - including by a repentant Angelique - Barnabas soon died of what his doctor thought was a plague. Not wanting to explain to the village that his son died - and possibly of the plague, which would damage both the family's reputation and business interests - Joshua announced to the family that he was going to keep his death a secret. The official story would be that Barnabas went on a business trip in England and never came back (409). Unknown to Joshua, this story would prove very useful to Barnabas in the future.

The Vampire[]

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Barnabas dripping in blood, after killing a local villager.

Barnabas was secretly buried in a hidden room of the family mausoleum (which had been created during the Revolutionary War to hide the family fortune, guns and ammunition (453, 676) at Eagle Hill Cemetery on his father's orders. Shortly afterwards, Barnabas woke to find Angelique about to drive a stake through his heart. After she confirmed that he had become one of the living dead who could only walk at night, he remembered the other part of the curse - that all who loved him would die. Thinking Angelique wanted to get rid of the curse because she knew she would be its first victim, he strangled her. However, after attacking his first victim (an unknown villager) Barnabas began to regret killing his wife, wishing she had managed to destroy him instead (411).

By 1796, Barnabas continued to plague the town of Collinsport, feeding indiscriminately off various women. Several people, including his own mother and father, learned about Barnabas’ resurrection and his true nature. He made enemies as well, including the opportunistic Nathan Forbes and the puritanical Reverend Trask

He abducted Reverend Trask, and sealed him up inside a wall in the cellar of the Old House (442), and strangled Nathan after the latter failed to destroy him with a crossbow bolt (460).  He also  tried to make his love, Josette, into a vampire, but she jumped off Widows Hill as she did not want to become what he was (425).

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Joshua discovering his son is a vampire

Joshua Collins was horrified to see what had become of his son. However, he did not have the strength to end Barnabas’ life – even when Barnabas begged him to do so. At Barnabas' request, Joshua kept him secured in the tower room at the newly constructed Collinwood. However, his cousin Millicent Collins and mother Naomi both discovered Barnabas’ great secret – a discovery that would lead to the insanity of the former and the suicide of the latter (457, 459). Joshua even went to the extraordinary lengths to study all he could about vampires, and with Countess DuPres, held a ceremony to summon assistance from the supernatural world. Bathia Mapes, a white witch, showed up at Collinwood (449) and attempted to cure Barnabas, but the sudden appearance of Naomi Collins caused her to lose concentration and she was consumed by supernatural flames (451).

With the deaths of most of his family, including Sarah (who had died of a chill after hiding from her vampire brother in a storm (415)), Barnabas pleaded with Joshua to destroy him and end the curse. Instead of killing him, Joshua had Ben Stokes seal Barnabas within his coffin in the secret room of the Collins family mausoleum, which only the three of them were aware of. Ben put a cross on the inside lid and secured the coffin with thick chains so that Barnabas would remain trapped for all time (460).

19th Century (Alternate Timeline)[]

Barnabas Collins spent most of the 19th century chained in his coffin. Only later when Barnabas travelled back to the past from 1969-1970 did he exist outside of his coffin in that century. In both cases, Barnabas used the I-Ching wands to send his mind back to the past, which then possessed his physical body in his coffin. What became of his host body's mind and memories of his activities during those periods remains unknown.

1840-1841[]

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Barnabas Collins Talking to Will Loomis In 1970 Parallel Time

Barnabas was first released from his coffin in 1840 by Dr Julia Hoffman - his friend and ally from the 20th century - who had travelled from 1970 to the past using the Stairway into Time and was hoping that her friend's future consciousness had managed to possess his body. Unfortunately this had not yet happened, and he failed to recognise her. Only the intervention of the now-elderly Ben Stokes convinced Barnabas to let Julia go (1112). Deciding to take Roxanne Drew as his vampire bride, Barnabas nearly killed Julia when she intervened to stop him. Fortunately for both of them, Barnabas' future consciousness finally possessed his body (1114-1118). Once this had occurred, Barnabas introduced himself to the 1840 Collins family - Julia had previously introduced herself as the original Barnabas' daughter waiting for her brother, their father's namesake, to arrive from England (1118).

Barnabas encountered the warlock Judah Zachery (working through Gerard Stiles' body) who was the so-called 'son of Satan', and the one who originally bestowed powers on Angelique in 1692. After having her powers revoked by Judah, Angelique made an alliance with Barnabas and together they eventually defeated him, and in doing so averted the disaster in 1970. At this time Barnabas realized that he truly loved Angelique and he professed this to her, but she died from a gunshot wound inflicted by Lamar Trask without hearing his eleventh-hour declaration (1198). Broken-hearted, Barnabas returned to 1970 along with Julia and Professor Stokes (who had joined them in 1840), asking Desmond Collins to destroy the Staircase after they had gone.

1897[]

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Barnabas Collins sees Kitty Soames in 1897.

In 1969, Barnabas used the I-Ching wands to will himself back to 1897 to discover why the ghost of Quentin Collins was haunting Collinwood, to learn of Chris Jennings' connection to Quentin, and perhaps find a cure for Jennings' lycanthropy (700). As he was "alive" and trapped in his coffin in that year, he appeared as a vampire, forcing him to manipulate Sandor and Magda Rakosi to release him (701). Once released, Barnabas again claimed to be his own descendant from England (703).

During his time in 1897, Barnabas was exposed as a vampire, forcing him to go into hiding until he was seemingly staked by Charity Trask/Pansy Faye (845). In reality, Angelique used her powers both to cure Barnabas and to place a doppelganger in his coffin where it was destroyed (871). In this way, Barnabas was able to continue his masquerade as a cousin from England who had been "abducted" by a "lookalike" vampire (868). Soon afterwards, Barnabas encountered Lady Kitty Hampshire, née Soames, who was the reincarnation of Josette (844). Kitty was engaged to Edward Collins, but broke off the engagement to marry Barnabas for reasons she did not completely understand. One night, at the Old House, Kitty found herself putting on Josette's wedding dress and disappeared into Josette's portrait, re-emerging in 1795. Barnabas was able to follow her, and here he became the pawn of the Leviathans (886), who returned him to the present day as one of their agents.

20th Century[]

Resurrection[]

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In 1967, a petty criminal named Willie Loomis broke into the Collins mausoleum in search of the fabled Collins family jewels, which he had heard of thanks to his "association" with Jason McGuire. He discovered the secret antechamber in the rear of the Collins Family mausoleum and released the chains binding Barnabas to his coffin. Barnabas' hand rose from the coffin and attacked Willie (210).

Barnabas donned modern clothing and introduced himself to the current family members living at Collinwood. He claimed to be a descendant of the original Barnabas Collins who, said the family history, moved to England to sire a European branch of the family in the late 1700s. In truth, Joshua had changed the family history to avoid it being known that his son had died of "plague" (and later that he had been cursed with vampirism, after he learned the truth), and Barnabas made use of the legend for his own ends.

Although everyone at Collinwood was astonished by the resemblance between him and the likeness of his ancestor, no one felt that Barnabas was anything other than what he claimed to be – a distant cousin come to visit his relatives after his own branch of the family died out (211-212). This was, in fact, the truth (Daniel Collins having been Barnabas' cousin, not a sibling), and Barnabas' direct line really had died out - he simply neglected to say just when it had happened.

With the permission of the head of Collinwood, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Barnabas moved into the Old House. He revealed that Willie Loomis was now working for him as his personal handyman, and assigned him the gargantuan task of returning the Old House to its former glory (220-221).

A new Josette[]

JosettePortrait

Maggie Evans was a waitress who lived in a seaside cottage Collinsport Inn with her widowed father Sam Evans, an artist. Her mother had passed away when Maggie was a little girl. Maggie's father was a constant source of worry to her, as he had a drinking problem and had never gotten over his feud with the Collins family.

Her life changed forever when she was bitten by Barnabas (227), who saw her as the image of his long-lost Josette (221). As a result of her loss of blood, Collinsport physician, Dr. Woodard requested a blood transfusion to save her life (231). Later she was kidnapped by Barnabas, who tried (unsuccessfully) to brainwash her into believing herself to be Josette, intending to eventually transform her into his vampiric 'bride'. After attempting (and failing) to destroy Barnabas, Maggie was locked in a secret room, where she discovered a little girl playing with a ball and singing "London Bridge". She learned this was the ghost of Sarah Collins, Barnabas' beloved sister, and they became friends; Sarah later helped Maggie to escape (235-260).

After her escape, Dr. Woodard sent her to Windcliff Sanitarium because she had lost her memory and mentally regressed to a child (261). There, she was put into the care of Dr Julia Hoffman, a psychiatrist and doctor with knowledge of blood disorders. Doctors Woodard and Hoffman, together with Sam Evans and Joe Haskell, agreed to inform everyone in Collinsport that Maggie was dead so that her mysterious captor would not seek her again (262).

Believing the report that Maggie had died, Barnabas decided to select another potential Josette. This time, however, he intended to be far less hasty than he had been with Maggie - this woman would be gradually manipulated into becoming his lost love. His choice: Victoria Winters (274). To begin his plan, he arranged a costume party at the Old House to celebrate its renovation, his guests attending as 18th-century ancestors; Victoria was "cast" as Josette. Barnabas, of course, would attend as his "namesake". Unfortunately, the party didn't go quite as planned, with a spontaneous séance calling up Josette reliving her frantic flight to her death; Barnabas deliberately interrupted the séance to conceal his involvement, claiming he couldn't let her die again (281). He then made a peace offering to Victoria: Josette's music box, which quickly had the same mesmerizing effect on her as it had had on Maggie. Before long, other Collinwood residents were expressing worry that Victoria was becoming obsessed with Josette.

The Serum[]

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Dr. Julia Hoffman realized while treating Maggie for her trauma that the likely culprit was Barnabas Collins. Suspecting Barnabas' true nature - but keeping it to herself - she had Dr. Woodard arrange an introduction for her to the Collins family, posing as a family historian, in order to further investigate Maggie's case (284), and was allowed to stay at Collinwood. She then managed to sneak into the Old House one morning and find Barnabas resting in his coffin (289), before deliberately provoking the vampire to make a late-night visit the following evening to try and kill her for knowing too much (290).

Confronting Barnabas in her room, Julia managed to save herself by claiming that she might be able to cure him of his vampirism. Intrigued, Barnabas allowed her to start work, but was shocked to learn that Maggie Evans was still alive, albeit suffering traumatic amnesia; Julia offered to use her hypnotic skills to keep her patient from remembering in return for Barnabas' cooperation (291). This cooperation suffered when Maggie escaped from Windcliff and made her way back to Collinsport (294-295), and by Julia's attempts to keep Barnabas away from Victoria (especially after she became engaged to Burke Devlin) (301).

When Maggie and Sam Evans decided to pretend that Maggie's memory was returning in order to trap her kidnapper, Barnabas became desperate and told Willie of his plans to kill Maggie (321). Not wanting Maggie to die, Willie went to her house to warn her about Barnabas. In trying to get into her bedroom, he inadvertently sprung the trap meant for the kidnapper, was shot five times in the back, and fell into a coma (322). Barnabas and Julia decided to use Willie as the scapegoat for Maggie's kidnapping, and planted evidence to convince Sherriff Patterson of his guilt (328). Barnabas had planned to kill Willie, but when Willie awoke, he had gone insane and was sent to Windcliff (329).

Increasingly desperate to win Victoria, Barnabas willingly submitted to Julia's experiments (302), but began feeling increasingly weak as the serum began to take effect (305). This weakness, however, did not suppress his vampiric powers, which he used to confront Dr. Woodard when he stole Julia's journal and realized what Barnabas really was. To stop him from revealing the truth, Barnabas killed the doctor with an injection that made it appear that he had suffered a fatal heart attack (341). He then forced Julia to accelerate his treatment in order to win Victoria, which Julia reluctantly agreed to (346), but doing so caused Barnabas's appearance to match his chronological age, turning him into an old man (347-348). He returned to his apparent age after attacking Carolyn (who had stumbled into the Old House cellar) (350-351), but this also reversed the effect of the serum, leaving him as he had been before the experiment started - fully vampiric.

Barnabas then used the mystical bond between himself and his victim Carolyn to use her as an instrument of his revenge against Julia, believing she had sabotaged the experiment for her own reasons. This campaign ended as he almost killed her before being stopped by the appearance of the ghost of his little sister Sarah (363-364) - the first time he had seen her since her death in 1795.

With Sarah now being revealed as a ghost, the Collins family decided to hold a séance to contact her and find out what she wanted, despite Barnabas' protests (fearing what might be revealed). As the séance progressed, Victoria was snatched through time and replaced by Sarah's governess Phyllis Wick (365).

The First Cure[]

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Like the rest of the participants in the séance, Barnabas was frozen in time until Victoria was thrust back to 1967 as she was being hanged (Phyllis Wick replacing her on the gallows) (461). Although her memories were damaged in the transfer, Barnabas was desperate to stop her revealing what had really happened and bit her (462), before arranging to take her away from Collinwood to marry (465) (her fiancé, Burke Devlin, had died in a plane crash some time earlier (345)). However, Vicki crashed the car upon seeing someone on the road who looked just like Peter Bradford, her lost love from 1795, leaving both herself and Barnabas in a hospital (466).

Their doctor, Eric Lang, realized what Barnabas was (despite Julia's desperate attempts to hide the truth as dawn approached), and decided to try and cure him. Although he wasn't entirely sure how he managed it, Dr. Lang managed to fully cure Barnabas, who gratefully vowed to help the doctor in the future (467). This proved to be helping in Dr Lang's experiments to create a man from human body parts and bring it to life using Barnabas' own life-force as a means to permanently escape from Angelique's curse. Although Lang died before the experiment was concluded (486), the being called Adam was brought to life (490).

As Barnabas had feared, however, Angelique reappeared in the guise of Roger Collins' new wife Cassandra, determined to overturn the cure. To do so, she initiated a dream curse that passed through multiple people before affecting Barnabas himself, ending with his being attacked by a bat (535). Because of his link with Adam, however, Barnabas did not become a vampire again, frustrating Cassandra's/Angelique's plans.

Soon afterwards, warlock Nicholas Blair transformed Angelique into a vampire herself as punishment for her failure (555), and she bit Barnabas multiple times to put him under her power and, eventually, turn him back into a vampire (605, 606 (twice), 612, 615, 618, 620). Julia arranged for Barnabas to be moved to Windcliff so he could recover and to stop him going to Angelique (621), which proved successful.

When Chris Jennings, the brother of the late Tom Jennings (who had been turned into a vampire by Angelique, then staked by Barnabas) arrived in Collinsport, Barnabas learned that Chris was a werewolf and arranged for him to be confined in the Collins mausoleum's secret room during the full moon to prevent him from hurting anyone during his transformations (676). Although initially successful, the appearance of the ghost of Quentin Collins at Collinwood somehow caused Chris to transform outside of the usual cycle and remain in that form (687, 698-699). After Quentin's ghost forced the evacuation of Collinwood's residents to the Old House (694), Barnabas used the I-Ching wands to mentally travel back to 1897 in order to discover what had happened to cause the haunting and perhaps discover why Chris' transformations were influenced by the ghost (699). In doing so, he possessed his vampire body chained in his coffin at that time (700).

See 1897 (above) for Barnabas' activities in that time.

Return to 1969[]

Barnabas - at this point mortal again, thanks to Angelique's actions in 1897 - was returned from 1795 by the Leviathans, who used him to carry the essence of their leader to the 20th century because he had mastered time travel (886-887, 938). As the cult took over the people of Collinsport and Collinwood, a few remained immune to Leviathan control thanks to a genetic quirk, including Julia Hoffman and Quentin Collins (who was now immortal thanks to a mystical portrait that also prevented him physically transforming into a werewolf). When Barnabas' close ties to Julia made him refuse an order to kill her for her interference and decide to destroy their altar, Leviathan leader Jeb Hawkes cursed him with vampirism again (950). For unknown reasons, this new vampire curse caused Barnabas' thirst for blood to almost overwhelm him, leading him to attack Sabrina Stuart (977).

Following the discovery of the East Wing's Parallel Time room, Barnabas fled there to prevent hurting anyone when he felt his vampiric urges return (980).

1970 Parallel Time[]

In the parallel time band that Barnabas found himself in, his counterpart was never cursed with vampirism and was happily married to Josette, siring four sons, including Bramwell. There were, however, reports that one of those sons had died in Peru, which the Barnabas of the main timeline was able to claim as an ancestor. In addition, various people Barnabas knew lived completely different lives in this parallel time band:

  • Quentin was the master of Collinwood, recently remarried to Maggie Evans after the death of his first wife Angelique six months earlier;
  • Carolyn was married to William H Loomis, an alcoholic author;
  • Julia was not a doctor/psychologist, but the housekeeper who was strongly attached to Angelique;
  • Elizabeth and Roger were near-penniless members of a cadet branch of the family living at Collinwood with Quentin's permission;
  • Angelique was the stepdaughter of Timothy Stokes and had an identical twin, Alexis (but was still an evil witch).

Shortly after arriving in Parallel Time, Barnabas was confronted at his coffin by William wielding a cross, who chained him in planning to write a new book to follow on from his last success, The Life and Death of Barnabas Collins (982). Before long, Barnabas had managed to overpower and bite William, making him his slave and forcing him to destroy his manuscript, before revealing himself to the family as a descendant of his "namesake" (1012). Angelique returned from the dead, masquerading as her identical twin Alexis, and plotted revenge against whomever had killed her (1001, 1003).

Julia managed to cross over to Parallel Time soon afterwards and killed her counterpart, who was about to stake Barnabas in his coffin, before masquerading as the housekeeper to fool Angelique (1035, 1036) . Together, they realised that not only did Angelique need to drain a person's body heat from time to time to remain alive, she was dependant on the life-force of a woman called Roxanne Drew; if Roxanne began to regain consciousness, Angelique weakened (1038). Eventually they were able to enable Roxanne to fully regain consciousness, and Angelique died (1056). Angelique's stepfather Timothy Stokes - who had created the method used by Angelique to return from the dead - set Collinwood on fire to avenge her second death. Trapped in the Parallel Time room, Barnabas and Julia were thrown back to their own time band (1060).

1995[]

When they emerged from the Parallel Time room, however, Barnabas and Julia found themselves in 1995 - twenty-five years in their future (1061) - and Collinwood was in ruins. Some of the household members from 1970, such as Carolyn, Mrs Johnson, and Professor Stokes, had survived, but they were all aged and insane, and the name "Collins" had become something of a curse to Collinsport locals. Despite being unable to get much information from the survivors, Barnabas and Julia were able to discover that Professor Stokes had attempted to exorcise the ghost of one Gerard Stiles in 1970, angering the spirit and leading to Collinwood's destruction (1067). The ghost of Carrie Stokes, who was also haunting the mansion, was able to lead Barnabas and Julia from the playroom to the Stairway into Time, allowing them to return to 1970 (1070).

Return to 1970[]

After Barnabas and Julia returned to their own time, they desperately tried to prevent the destruction of Collinwood as they had seen in 1970 (1071-1109). Unfortunately, the ghost of Gerard Stiles summoned zombies to destroy Collinwood, leaving both David Collins and Hallie Stokes dead. As the zombies overran the mansion, Julia was able to escape to 1840 using the Stairway into Time, but Barnabas was captured (1109).

See 1840 (above) for Barnabas' activities in that time.

After returning from 1840 to 1970, Barnabas, Julia, and Stokes found that they had managed to change history and that Collinwood had not been destroyed after all. Barnabas was last seen leaving with the others for a gathering at the Collinsport Historical Society, where Elizabeth was to donate a journal of Flora Collins' (whom he had met in 1840) (1198).

Final Fate[]

In a TV Guide article written after the end of the series, head writer Sam Hall discussed what might have happened had the series continued. The article described Barnabas finally declaring his love to Julia after she nearly died treating him for an illness being suffered by Adam (and thus himself). After she (again) cured him of vampirism, the pair were married in Singapore, far away from Collinsport and the threat of the resurrected Angelique. The 2003 audio play Return to Collinwood echoed this scenario, with Barnabas and Julia reported to be in the Far East on a spiritual retreat and unable (or perhaps unwilling) to return to Collinwood for the reunion that formed the core of the play.

Barnabas' prized possessions[]

There are several items of note that have always been very important to Barnabas Collins. Some of his prized possessions that he has owned or coveted over the years include:

Barnabas's Known Victims[]

Note: Jeremiah Collins is the only known victim who was killed prior to Barnabas becoming a vampire. It should also be noted that Barnabas shot and mortally wounded Angelique Bouchard Collins before becoming a vampire, but due to her being immortal, she never died.

Willie Loomis is the only known victim to be bitten on the right wrist.

Characters in italics were bitten but not killed.

Personality[]

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Barnabas Collins, as portrayed by Jonathan Frid

Charismatic and passionate, Barnabas was well-liked by his family and friends. Barnabas was both intelligent and manipulative.

Barnabas proved himself to be a man of contradictions many times. Although capable of great kindness and foresight, he could also be vindictive, cruel, and sufficiently passionate to commit severe blunders for purely emotional and selfish reasons, as well as to conceal his true identity and nature.

His most complex emotional relationships were with Julia Hoffman and Angelique Collins. With both, he was at various times a bitter enemy and a devoted friend. The former proved over time to be his greatest single ally. Yet although he was willing to go to extraordinary lengths on Julia's behalf, and clearly viewed her as his dearest friend (the order to kill her broke the hold the Leviathans had over his mind, for example), he never seemed to reciprocate her romantic feelings for him, although he did confess to Willie Loomis that he cared for Julia more than he appeared to (570) and threatened to destroy Angelique if she ever harmed Julia again. He inexplicably professed to love Angelique as she lay dying after she lifted the curse from him and gave herself up to save Quentin Collins, even though she had been both, directly and indirectly, responsible for the deaths of most of his immediate family in 1795 (as well as himself) (1198).

However, as noted above, Sam Hall's TV Guide article indicated that Barnabas would finally declare his love for Julia and marry her in Singapore (to avoid Angelique's wrath) after she (again) cured him of vampirism. Similarly, in the 2003 audio play Return to Collinwood (which was approved by Dan Curtis), the couple did not attend the family reunion at the core of the play, being on a spiritual retreat in the Far East and unable (or perhaps unwilling) to return.

Background information and notes[]

  • In the script for 205 Barnabas' portrait is described as the “Jered Collins portrait in the foyer.” In the same script, the name “Jeremiah” is crossed out and “Barnabus” (misspelled) is written in by hand. Even as late as 209, the script still lists the name of the character as “Jered,” although “Barnabas” was always the name spoken on the show.
  • For reasons that were never adequately explained, Barnabas Collins has no recollection of meeting Victoria Winters in 1795 when he encounters her again in 1967 (212).
    • This can be attributed to the time travel paradox. Since Vicki's jaunt into the past takes place after her initial meeting with Barnabas, the timeline does not sufficiently correct itself to account for Barnabas' memories in 1967 (212,365-366). The same explanation accounts for changes made when Barnabas travelled back to 1796 (661-667), where he and Vicki were both aware of their future lives and what to expect in the near future.
  • After returning from Parallel Time in 1970, for some reason Barnabas is not known to have attacked anyone for their blood until traveling back to 1840. This was a period of several months.
  • In Parallel Time, there evidently was no affair with an obsessed Angelique as Barnabas and Josette married, siring a very hot-headed son named Bramwell Collins along with three others. However, in that timeline, Barnabas lost most of his money and died relatively young, survived by Josette.
  • Another paradox of time that was never explained occurred when Barnabas and Julia returned from 1840. If the vampire curse had been lifted from Barnabas in 1840, rendering him human again, why did he not crumble to dust upon his return to 1971? He would have been well over two hundred years old! And if he had been mortal since 1840, why did the Collins family even recognize him as their "British cousin" since, logically, he would not have been in his coffin for Willie Loomis to have released in 1967? Was Barnabas, in fact, a vampire again and it was simply never addressed?
    • This is possible when considering Sam Hall's TV Guide article on planned storylines, which had Barnabas and Julia marry overseas after she had (again) cured him of vampirism. It should also be remembered that the end of the 1840 storyline marked Barnabas' final on-screen appearance (Jonathan Frid, having tired of the role, had moved on to play Bramwell Collins), and we only see Barnabas and Julia back in the present for part of the final act of that episode - not nearly long enough to establish what had happened to him.
  • Although Barnabas' date of birth (1770) would have made him twenty-five years old upon his transformation into a vampire in 1795-96, in real life Jonathan Frid was in his mid-forties when he was first cast in the role, and nearly fifty when the character made his last on-screen appearance. Frid was also only one year younger than Louis Edmonds, who played his on-screen father Joshua Collins, and only fourteen years younger than Joan Bennett (his on-screen mother Naomi Collins).
  • Initially Barnabas was only meant to be a short-term (ie 13-week) character, but his rapid popularity with viewers meant that he became a central character for the rest of the series. Presumably, if this had not happened, Barnabas' attempt to transform Maggie into a vampiric copy of Josette (225-261) would have ended with his exposure and destruction, as would happen in the film House of Dark Shadows.

Source Material[]

  • The original inspiration for Barnabas was based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Appearances[]

Present Day (Part I)[]

210, 211, 212, 214, 218, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225/226, 227, 230, 232, 233, 234, 236, 238, 239, 240, 241, 243, 245, 247, 248, 250, 251, 253, 255, 258, 260, 261, 264, 267, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 299, 300, 301, 302, 305, 306, 309, 310, 311, 312, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 325, 326, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 343, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 353, 354, 355, 356, 358, 359, 362, 363, 364, 365

1795/6[]

366, 368/369, 370, 371, 374, 375, 378, 379, 380, 381, 383, 384, 385, 386, 388, 389, 390/391, 392, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 429, 430, 431, 432, 435, 438, 439, 440, 442, 446, 447, 449, 450, 451, 457, 458, 459, 460

Present Day (Part II)[]

461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 475, 476, 477, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, 487, 488, 490, 491, 492, 493, 495, 496, 498, 500, 501, 505, 506, 511, 512, 516, 520, 521, 522, 530, 531, 532/533, 534, 535, 536, 538, 542, 546, 547, 548, 549, 551, 552, 553, 554, 556, 557, 558, 560, 561, 562, 564, 565, 566, 567, 568, 570, 571, 572, 573, 579, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586, 587, 588, 589, 590, 591, 592, 593, 594, 595, 596, 597, 599, 600, 601, 604, 605, 606, 608, 612, 613, 614, 615, 616, 618, 619, 620, 621, 630, 631, 633/634, 635, 636, 637, 645, 650, 651, 652/653, 654, 656, 657, 659, 660, 661, 662, 663, 664, 665, 666, 667, 672, 673, 674, 675, 676, 677, 678, 682, 683, 684, 685, 686, 687, 688, 689, 694, 695, 696, 697, 698, 699, 700

1897[]

701, 702, 703, 704, 705, 706, 708, 709, 711, 712, 713, 717, 718, 720, 721, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727, 728, 732, 738, 739, 740, 741, 742, 743, 744, 746, 747, 754, 755, 756, 759, 760, 761, 764, 765, 766, 767, 768, 769, 770, 771, 772, 775, 778, 779, 780, 781, 782, 783, 784, 787, 794, 795, 796, 797, 798, 803, 804, 805, 807, 814, 815, 817, 821, 825, 827, 834, 835, 837, 839, 841, 842, 844, 845, 867, 868, 869, 870, 871, 872, 873, 874, 875, 876, 882, 883, 884, 885, 886

Present Day (Part III)[]

887, 889, 890, 891, 892, 894/895, 897, 900, 901, 904, 905, 906, 907, 912, 915, 916, 926, 929, 930, 931, 935, 936, 937, 938, 939, 940, 941, 942, 943, 944, 947, 948, 950, 951, 952, 954, 955, 957, 961, 963, 965, 966969, 970, 971, 972, 975, 977, 978, 980

1970 Parallel Time[]

981, 982, 1011, 1012, 1013, 1015, 1016, 1017, 1018, 1020, 1021, 1024, 1026, 1027, 1029, 1031, 1032, 1033, 1034, 1035, 1036, 1038, 1039, 1041, 1043, 1044, 1045, 1046, 1047, 1048, 1051, 1052, 1053, 1055, 1056, 1057, 1058, 1059, 1060

Present Day (Part IV)[]

1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065, 1066, 1067, 1068, 1069, 1070, 1071, 1072, 1075, 1078, 1081, 1082, 1090, 1091, 1092, 1095, 1097, 1098, 1101, 1102, 1104, 1105, 1106, 1107, 1108, 1109

1840[]

1112, 1113, 1114, 1115, 1116, 1117, 1118, 1121, 1122, 1124, 1129, 1130, 1131, 1133, 1134/1135, 1136, 1137, 1138, 1139, 1143, 1144, 1148, 1149, 1159, 1163, 1164, 1168, 1169, 1171, 1172, 1178, 1179/1180, 1181, 1185, 1186, 1195, 1196, 1197, 1198

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