In Whitby, the second section of the Dracula story takes place. The Vampire arrives here aboard a seemingly unmanned ship and manages to get to Lucy Westenra. This wealthy young lady, adored by three suitors simultaneously, happens to spend her holiday in this romantic little harbour place, together with her mother and her best friend Mina Murray, Jonathan Harker's fiancée. Mina follows the sleepwalking Lucy to the graveyard where the first encounter with Count Dracula takes place, but cannot stop her from being further entangled in his web.
Bram Stoker's description of the town and its Gothic abbey was inspired by his own holiday trip to Whitby and the research he did on local myths and incidents. In our Guide Book, we will provide all the necessary background information for understanding how Bram's narrative was intertwined with such local facts.
While travelling the UK in 2012, Dacre visited Whitby and was interviewed by the Whitby Gazette. The Bram Stoker and Gothic Transformations conference was hosted by the University of Hull nearby.
Hans, by contrast, tackled the issue of finding the exact locations mentioned in Dracula, especially the reconstruction of Mina's nightly tour, from analyzing Stoker's text and studying old Ordnance Survey maps. He was helped by David Pybus of the Whitby Literary & Philosophical Society and by Andy Struthers, a long-year Dracula fan who had visited Whitby several times with the same purpose.
Read more about the Whitby Literary & Philosophical Society.