In the novel Dracula, the ship Demeter runs aground on Tate Hill Beach during a violent storm. Similarly, the form of the large black hound that Dracula takes as he enters Whitby is taken from a legend that can still be heard in some of the old taverns of the area. The cargo of silver sand wrecked on the beach at Tate Hill Sands. These conversations revealed the story of a recent wreck of the ship, Dmitry, a Russian schooner sailing out of Narva.

As Stoker roamed around the graves at the top of the East Cliff, he chatted with local fishermen and the coastguard. This tale was told to him during his stay and is based on an incident that happened earlier in the 1800s. The novel starts with Dracula travelling from Russia to London on a schooner that becomes shipwrecked off the coast of Whitby. Whitby Royal Crescent Photo © Mike Smith ( cc-by-sa/2.0) Of course, a few things have changed over the last century, but you can easily relate the novel’s descriptions to Whitby’s beautiful scenery. If you stand outside the Royal Hotel on the West Cliff today, you can get the same view as Stoker would have got 125 years ago. At the height of the Victorian era, Whitby had become one of the most popular resorts in the UK. The Stokers stayed at number 6 Royal Crescent, which is one of the most prestigious addresses in the town. Stoker was directed to the town by a good friend in 1890 after he became exhausted from work.

This seat is where Lucy is first attacked by Dracula, referred to by Mina as the ‘suicide seat’. A St Mary’s Churchyard seat was a favourite spot for Stoker to sit, looking out to sea. Many of the notes that Stoker made during the visit were included in the dialogue of Mina Murray, one of the novel’s main characters. It is on the furthest bench that can be seen from the Whale Bone Arch. I could not tell what it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell.” Bram Stoker’s memorial bench is located on Khyber Pass. Then as the cloud passed, I could see the ruins of the Abbey coming into view and as the edge of a narrow band of light as sharp as a sword-cut moved along, the church and churchyard became gradually visible… It seemed to me as though something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone and bent over it. “For a moment or two, I could see nothing, as the shadow of a cloud obscured St. If you have visited Whitby, you can imagine St Mary’s Churchyard on Whitby’s windswept headland, with the dramatic Abbey ruins towering over it, surrounded by swooping bats! Or just us? St Mary’s Churchyard’s connection to Dracula

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