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"But, strangest of all, the very instant the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below ... and running forward, jumped from the bow on to the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard hangs over the laneway to the East Pier ... it disappeared in the darkness." from Dracula by Bram Stoker, 1897

Looking across the harbor toward East Cliff you can see the view that inspired the fertile imagination of author Bram Stoker, who stayed in the Royal Hotel on the western side of Whitby while writing his famous novel.

The above extract where the Russian schooner Demeter races across the harbor before the blast of the storm with a dead man at the helm and crashes into the pier, whereupon the immense dog leaps onto English soil, begins the Whitby segment of the horror tale. The dog was one of many forms into which a vampire could transform itself.

So, where is Whitby?

This ancient seaport and fishing village on the north-east coast of England has been a haven for holiday-makers since Victorian times and has played a significant role in English history. Its harbor, once the sixth largest port in Britain, lies where the River Esk reaches the North Sea.

In 1980 the Bram Stoker Memorial Seat was dedicated, its setting carefully chosen to give visitors the same view the author had. From this point the tourist trail takes you to places mentioned in the novel.

The streets on the western side of the harbour are full of hotels and B&B's. It was in one of these in East Crescent that Mina and her friend Lucy stayed. In another lived the solicitor engaged by Count Dracula to handle the cargo of the Demeter, fifty cases of soil from Transylvania.

Steps lead down to Pier Road past the fish-market to the bridge across to the eastern side. Mina ran down these steps on the fateful night to save the sleepwalking Lucy.

The bridge was built in 1908, replacing The Drawbridge referred to in the book, which was an iron swing bridge. From here you can see the fishing vessels. Like everywhere else in town you can hear the cry of the gulls circling overhead, adding to the nautical atmosphere.

Once on the east side you'll reach Grape Lane with its 17th century buildings characterized by overhanging upper storeys. In the attic of an old sea captain's house young James Cook lived as an apprentice, lodging with seventeen others. The house is now the Captain Cook Museum. His memory as Whitby's famous son is also recognized in the statue on the western cliff.

Next is Church Street, the main street of the Old Town, the eastern side of which retains its irregular medieval layout. Shops here sell the jet jewelry famous in Victorian times. Though many of the public houses of earlier times have disappeared, the quaint yards and passages still remain as they were in the Dracula period.

But back to the story?

Looking across from the western side, the heroine Mina had seen her friend Lucy reclining on their favorite seat in the yard of St Mary's Parish Church, but was fearful of what she saw behind the seat. Having run down the steps and across the bridge, she reached Church Street, running its darkened length as fast as her trembling legs would carry her.

At the end of this street are the 199 stone steps to the church and graveyard, up which Mina tears while gasping for breath. Near the top she sees her friend and says:

"There was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, 'Lucy! Lucy!' and something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face and red, gleaming eyes."

By the time she reaches her friend the black shape is gone, but Lucy has those pin-prick marks on her neck and a drop of blood on her nightgown.

St Mary's Church is well worth investigating. It has a three-deck pulpit with ear trumpets behind, dating from 1778. There are closed-in pews complete with graffiti from the 1600's. Cook worshipped here as an apprentice.

The graveyard has headstones, which have collapsed and being sandstone the inscriptions on many of them have been erased by the weather.

It's an eerie place at night. Friends couldn't believe I went there to take photographs of the graves after dark! All because I wanted to write a story!

Beyond the church is one of the most spectacular sights, the ruined Abbey overlooking the town. The Abbess Hilda presided over the Synod of Whitby here in 664AD, which successfully united the Celtic and Roman Churches in western Europe and fixed the date for Easter.

The buildings visible today are mostly from the 12th to 15th centuries. As in the rest of England its ruin came about after the monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII, the Abbey being surrendered in 1540.

So in the evening, after dinner and my graveyard photo session, I walked back to my accommodation on the western side, pausing a moment where Mina and Lucy paused a few days after her apparent rescue (she was not to live much longer). Here Mina had followed Lucy's eyes as she looked to the east side:

"She appeared to be looking over at our seat, whereon was a dark figure seated alone. I was a little startled myself, for it seemed for an instant as if the stranger had great eyes like burning flames."

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