Dracula's Whitby

Following my newly discovered passion for fossil hunting, a few days ago we decided to go on a trip to Whitby. It is small town on the North Yorkshire coast, about 50 miles from York, reachable by road through the heather-covered beautiful North Yorkshire Moors.

(The ruins if St Hilda's Abbey founded in 657 AD)

Whitby is known for its well preserved ammonite fossils, which can be found on the seashore or purchased from stalls or shops in the town. Whitby's skyline is dominated by the ruins of St. Hilda’s Abbey, high on Whitby's East Cliff. Spreading below Whitby, a maze of alleyways and narrow streets run down to the busy quayside.

(St Mary's Church and its graveyard)

From the old town of Whitby, 199 steps lead up to the parish church of St. Mary, whose churchyard on Whitby's East Cliff gave Bram Stoker the inspiration to write his world famous book, Dracula. Part of the novel was set here, and incorporated various pieces of Whitby folklore, including the beaching of the Russian ship Dmitri, which became the basis of Demeter in the book. Furthermore, it was at the original public library on Marine Parade in Whitby that Stoker discovered the name "Dracula”.

Chapter 6 of Dracula begins with a description of Whitby, recorded by Mina in her journal. Mina has just arrived to join her friend Lucy for a summer holiday, and admires the beauty of the town:

"This is a lovely place. The little river, the Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near the harbour … The houses of the old town – the side away from us – are all red-roofed, and seem piled up one over the other anyhow, like the pictures we see of Nuremberg. Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes and which is a scene of part of ‘Marmion’, where the girl is built up in the wall. It is a most noble ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows. Between it and the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is a big graveyard, all full of tombstones. This is to my mind the nicest spot in Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the harbour and all up the bay, to where the headland called Kettleness stretches out into the sea"

(The 199 steps)

The church and the graveyard feature prominently in the Whitby chapters of Dracula. It is here that Mina and Lucy spend time sitting on their favourite bench. Here they meet the old fisherman, Mr Swales, who regales them with stories gleaned from inscriptions on the headstones. This is also the spot where Dracula first attacks Lucy. As Mina climbs the 199 steps and approaches the bench she sees “something long and black, bending over the half-reclining white figure” and catches a glimpse of his “white face and red, gleaming eyes.”

Amazingly, many visitors to Whitby ask where Dracula's grave is located, forgetting that he is a work of fiction. The Count's devotees search St Mary's Church graveyard, after scaling the 199 steps, in search of his last resting place!