6. This wouldn’t be a history of vampires without mentioning Bram Stoker
In 1897, the manager of London’s Lyceum Theatre published the definitive vampire story. Bram Stoker said he came up with Dracula after having a nightmare caused by bad crab meat. He then spent years researching Slavic folklore and travelogues, especially Emily Gerard’s essay, ‘Transylvania Superstitions’. He also drew heavily on novels such as The Vampyre, Varney the Vampire, and Sheridan le Fanu’s Carmilla. Although he never visited Transylvania, Stoker did spend his holidays in Whitby (above), which features prominently in the novel. Far from original, and far from perfect, Dracula is still a very entertaining and oft-terrifying novel.
