A BLOODY TALE

Bram Stoker would have been pleased with how his neck-biting tome Dracula is still going strong 170 years after its publication.

The book has spawned hundreds if not thousands of films, TV series, documentaries, songs, paintings, video games and comics. How his horror story is used varies, though. Sometimes it’s retold faithfully while others, such as the 2014 movie Dracula Untold, ‘draw inspiration’ from its key themes. Others, on the other hand, can be gloriously silly. For example, the author was probably turning in his grave – rather fittingly – when the lurid 1990s cartoon series Count Duckula aired its first episode on ITV. But there’s a place in Yorkshire where Dracula has always been taken seriously.

Whitby is where Stoker holidayed for several weeks in 1890 and was subsequently inspired to write his vampire tale, helped by the bleak headland that surrounds the fishing port. He also came across the original Eastern European legend of Dracula while reading in Whitby’s public library. And he also heard of a recent Russian shipwreck near the town, a tragedy that he included in the book.

Whitby’s connection to Stoker has also led to an annual Gothic festival in the area, held at the end of April.

While holidaying in Whitby Stoker stayed at a guesthouse in the centre of the town with his wife and young son, a property that stands today.

It’s No.6 Royal Crescent and it contains an apartment that can be rented for approximately £750 a week. Garlic is not provided.

More information from cottages.com