seat was placed over the grave of one George Can- non – a suicide buried as an accidental death. There are no traces of his grave today, unsurprising given those tombstones that still remain are weather- beaten and splintered, with their inscriptions all but eroded away. In all, the Whitby Dracula Trail is a stimulating walk
“around” part of a novel, with historic asides to enrich the experience and evoke the atmosphere of Victorian Whitby. My interest was piqued enough to undertake further research into Stoker’s stay there, revealing an interesting set of stories. One account suggests that at dusk the room in which he lodged would be visited by pigeons. Occupying the windowsill, they would peck at their own reflections. This sharp, cracking noise would later be used by the author to describe the Count’s tapping on Lucy’s bedroom window with his long, sharp fingernails. Another story posits that the bats within the lodging’s stables suggested to Stoker that the Count could physically transform into a bat, a wild dog and mist. While these may be nothing more than fanciful
elaborations, another has the potential to be grounded in fact. As Stoker continued his research into the myths of the vampire, he visited the Whitby library, where he found An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia by William Wilkinson (1820). Prior to reading this book, Stoker had intended to name his count “Wampyr,” but through this text he discovered Vlad Dracula. Attracted to the name, Stoker (apparently mistakenly) established that Dracula translated as “Devil,” which led him to change his an- tagonist’s name. It would seem that amongst Whitby’s modern
houses, historic sites and gift shops, the town has a dark and immortal heart. One that can be found in the narrow cobbled streets, on its windswept beach, in the climb of 199 steps, in a little guidebook and in the pages of a classic horror novel.
The Whitby Dracula Trail is published by the Scar-
borough Borough Council Department of Tourism and Leisure Services and is available from the Whitby Tourist Information Centre for 50p. The Tourist Infor- mation Centre can be found on Langbourne Road. It is open daily May, June and September 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., July and August Saturday to Thursday 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Oc- tober to April 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is closed December 24 through 26 and January 1.
Step Into Stoker’s Story: (clockwise from top) The remains of Whitby Abbey, the Tate Hill sands where the au- thor set the crash of The Demeter, Whitby viewed from the Bram Stoker Memorial Seat, the 199 steps, and (op- posite) a plaque commemorating the author and his famous novel, located at the Memorial Seat.
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