Dracula Territory

Bram Stoker arrived in Whitby in July 1890, having been recommended to visit the Yorkshire coastal town by the actor Henry Irving. He spent a week exploring Whitby alone before being joined by his wife and baby son for a family holiday. Stoker quickly became enchanted by the winding cobbled streets, dramatic cliffs and red rooftops.

From the Royal Crescent where he was staying, to the dramatic Abbey headland, Stoker gathered ideas and inspiration everywhere he went. In fact, the name of Dracula’s first victim, Swales, is taken from one of the weather-beaten gravestones which cluster around St Mary’s Church.

Stoker created the famous vampire based on a 15th-century prince Vlad Tepes, known as Dracula the ‘son of the dragon’ as it was said he impaled his enemies on wooden stakes.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula arrives on the shores of Whitby aboard a shipwrecked boat, all the sailors are found dead including the captain who has been tied to the helm. The only living creature aboard is a fierce black dog which bounds up the 199 steps leading to the Abbey: Dracula ready to inflict terror on the unexpecting town. This too is based on real life events; 5 years earlier a Russian boat had run aground on Tate Hill Sands, rearranging the name, Stoker created Demeter from Varna, the novel’s doomed vessel.