Bram Stoker found three things in Whitby that ended up in Dracula: a shipwreck, a black dog and the count’s name. He spent time in the Yorkshire port in 1890, and the town still shows in the novel’s early chapters.
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How Stoker came to Whitby
At the end of July 1890, Stoker was the business manager of the actor Sir Henry Irving. His theatrical company had just finished a difficult tour of Scotland. Irving suggested a month’s holiday, and he named Whitby as a place to try.
Stoker took rooms at 6 Royal Crescent. His wife Florence and their son Noel joined him in August, but he had about a week and a half alone first. That was when he roamed the port and talked to locals.
The BBC adds that he was weighing up whether the town would suit a family holiday. It says the red roofs, the abbey, the churchyard and the bats all charmed him.
The ship, the dog and the coach
In the novel, a Russian schooner called the Demeter runs aground with all hands lost, and the count comes ashore. The Guardian says this drew on a real event from 1885, when a ship called the Dmitry beached on Tate Hill Sands.
Harry Collett, who leads Dracula-themed night walks in the town, links the black dog to a legend of a dark hound brought by the Vikings. He also says the black coach that carries Jonathan Harker came from a local tale about the lord of Mulgrave Castle.
A name from a library book
The BBC points to the town library, which once stood near the Quayside. Stoker noted that he had found a general history book there. His notes from it come from William Wilkinson’s 1820 work on Wallachia and Moldavia.
Those notes hold the only mention of the historical Dracula in all of Stoker’s papers. The BBC writes that there seems little doubt Whitby is where he found the name.
What came from elsewhere
Whitby was not the only source. The BBC says Stoker also used the British Museum in London, and his notes list over 30 books on subjects such as Transylvania and folklore. The Guardian adds that he visited the crypts of St Michan’s Church in his native Dublin, where mummified bodies lie.
The story began as a play called The Undead. After a test performance, Irving reportedly said he never wanted to see it again, and Stoker turned it into the novel published in 1897.
If you visit, the 199 steps up to the East Cliff are still there. Many visitors ask where Dracula’s grave is, the BBC says, but he is a work of fiction.
