Occupation: College Professor

Known Relatives: father, mother, brother (names unrevealed, deceased), Hallie Stokes (niece), Benjamin Stokes (18th Century ancestor, deceased)

Base of Operations: Collinsport, Maine

First Appearance: Dark Shadows (“Episode 468”)

Final Appearance: Dark Shadows (“Episode 1198”)

History: Professor Timothy Eliot Stokes is a history and folklore professor from Bangor, Maine. He is a direct ancestor of Benjamin Stokes, who lived in the Late Eighteenth Century Maine and was a servant to the the Collins Family of Collinsport, Maine. He was also a close friend to Barnabas Collins, the family heir. Ben lived at the family estate of Collinwood well into his later years, his descendants enjoying some prosperity long after his death

Not much is known about Professor Stokes’s early life, but it is known he excelled in American history and folklore, becoming a Professor of high regard at the University of Bangor. In 1967, he was contacted by Dr. Julia Hoffman, a medical doctor, to investigate reported deaths of vampirism in the area of Collinsport. Although he was disinterested at first, he became intrigued when he heard the case might be connected to Collinwood, his ancestor's former home. Presenting himself at the estate, he combined his research with Julia with deducing the local reputed vampire's identity. Their research led them to suspect the vampire might be Barnabas Collins, whose appearance in Collinsport preceded the attacks. However, their conclusions became folly when the attacks ended and Collins failed to fit their description of a vampire.

Eventually, Stokes chose to remain in Collinsport, taking an apartment on Arrowhead Road in Collinsport, and, over time, Hoffman and himself often joined forces with Collins to explore and research the legends and paranormal activity around Collinwood. He became a benefactor and protector to Barnabas's sheltered nephew, Adam Collins, who was targeted by Nicholas Blair and Angelique Bouchard, Barnabas's estranged wife. As these events were unfolding, the known haunting activity turned dark and malevolent, and Stokes tried to explain the phenomenon. His suspicions were that David Collins, the son of patriarch Roger Collins, and his best friend, Amy Jennings, had unknowingly stirred up activity in one of the mansion's unused bedrooms. His suspicion was proven correct when he brought in psychic Janet Findley, who died of an alleged heart attack after exploring the estate. He tried to exorcise the malevolent spirits, which resulted in him being confronted by the ghost of Quentin Collins, who had died on the estate in 1895. The Collins family briefly abandoned the estate for the time, but David went into a coma shortly thereafter.

In exploring Quentin's old room, Stokes found and became intrigued by the discovery of I-Ching Wands in Quentin's old possessions. Believing this might be a way to break Quentin's hold on David and the house, Barnabas implored him to let him use the wands to confront Quentin on the astral plane, but the wands instead trapped Barnabas in a trance-like coma for several months. While he was comatose, the hauntings stopped, and David woke up from his coma. When Barnabas came out of his coma almost a year later, he started associating with individuals from the Cult of Leviathans, a religious snake cult moving into positions of prestige in the local community. With the help of Quentin's descendant, who was also named Quentin Collins, Stokes and Julia broke the cult's hold on Barnabas, and after the death of Jeb Hawks, their leader, the sect broke up.

Stokes also became fascinated by a phenomenon in the East Wing of Collinwood that revealed doppelgangers of the living members of the Collins family living on the estate. He theorized the spectral energies of the house as well as the structure of the mansion was allowing brief glimpses of a precise quantum reality ("alternate time") to overlap with the Collinwood of their reality. (It is entirely possible it was also caused by research and mystical knowledge of the occult arts dabbled into by the Quentin Collins of 1840 who became fascinated by the concept of traveling through time.) Fascinated by the phenomenon, Barnabas became intrigued by the activity after getting access to a book about his ancestor from this reality. He soon vanished for several months, believed to have entered this reality, but when he returned with Julia having gone in search of him, the two told Stokes about being trapped in a possible future where Collinwood had been destroyed by its ghosts. Using their sketchy details of the future, Stokes tried to stop the events from happening, but their efforts actually resulting in causing it.

Stokes's research soon helped him to tie the activity to the spirit of Gerard Stiles, a close friend and acquaintance of the 1840s Quentin Collins. When he tried summoning this Quentin's spirit for help, a new doorway appeared in Quentin's workshop in the form of a stairway that lead to Julia and Barnabas somehow trapped in 1840s Collinwood. Although the experience initially bewildered and disconcerted him, he became acquainted with Carolyn "Carrie" Stokes, the niece of his ancestor, and became convinced that the way to exorcise Stiles's ghost in their time was by changing the fates of the 1840s Quentin Collins, framed for a murder he hadn't committed, and Gerard Stiles, the main witness in the prosecution. Their involvement possibly altered history to a greater degree than they expected, but when Barnabas, Hoffman and Stokes reused the "stairway" to return home, they found the estate was no longer haunted by malevolent spirits, the activity somehow abating a few days after they had departed.

Shortly thereafter, a string of new vampire attacks occurred in Collinsport, and Stokes and Hoffman once again tried to stop them. The activity was linked to a figure named William Collins, who claimed to be the incarnation of Barnabas and Angelique's son from their future. Although the two had resolved to get back together by this point, Stokes remained dubious of the stranger's claims, but Angelique was convinced of his identity. Once again, paranormal activity flared up on the estate as the ghosts of Quentin Collins, Gerard Stiles and others returned, provoked by Nicholas Blair out of revenge on the family. During these events, Stokes learned that Barnabas and Angelique were the same individuals known by his ancestor, only with prolonged life-spans. Williams Collins soon slew Blair to lay the reactivated spirits to rest, giving his life in the process, and Stokes changed his mind on the young man's identity, believing he was who he claimed to be  the whole time.

In 1972, Stokes was still alive when Barnabas and Angelique sired the infant William Collins, and his sister, Sara Elizabeth Collins in 1975. Influenced by Stokes, David Collins and Quentin Collins's exaggerated distortions of the previous paranormal activity on the estate, the youth became a paranormal researcher and horror novelist.

In actuality, when Stokes, Hoffman and Barnabas return to the present (1970), they would have returned to the future of the alternate 1970 they had created as their counterparts in this reality would not have had a reason to travel back in time in the first place to face Stiles and Judah Zachery in the past. In fact, all of the mechanics for time-traveling in the "Dark Shadows" are frequently askew. It is theoretical, however, that within Collinwood all realities are happening at once, keeping extraneous alternate timelines from happening, and allowing Stokes, Hoffman and Barnabas to return to a version of their reality, while excluding some parallel timelines (i.e. Collinwood of the "Parallel Time" story-line.