dracula

[rich]

....was he Scottish?

[bettedaviseyes]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Dracula

[weefee]

i thought he was from Romania, something to do with Vlad the Impaler,

[Aaldtimer]

I read somewhere that Stoker was inspired with the idea on a visit to Slain's Castle in Aberdeenshire. :eek:

http://www.aboutaberdeen.com/slainscastle.php

[Whitewater]

Dracula probably was, there are a lot of blood suckers in Scotland, particularly some local contractors.

[Kathy@watten]

I worked in cruden bay in Aberdeenshire and Dracula was apparently penned whilst Bram Stoker stayed there and if you have been there on a stormy night you would see where the inspiration came from, the doo cote and castle is very awinspiring and spooky!

[ciderally]

Noooooooooooooooooooooo

[Tom Cornwall]

Perhaps if Dracula was a true vampire and Scottish, would that mean that he wore nothing under his cape

[Mik.M.]

It`s Draclia! Ask Steve Wright in the Afternoon. His friend is Frankingstein.

[butterfly]

I worked in cruden bay in Aberdeenshire and Dracula was apparently penned whilst Bram Stoker stayed there and if you have been there on a stormy night you would see where the inspiration came from, the doo cote and castle is very awinspiring and spooky!


I was there and your right, it was really spooky.

[joxville]

I believe he was Transylvanian.

[Aaldtimer]

I worked in cruden bay in Aberdeenshire and Dracula was apparently penned whilst Bram Stoker stayed there and if you have been there on a stormy night you would see where the inspiration came from, the doo cote and castle is very awinspiring and spooky!


He didn't stay there Kathy...."The locals of Cruden Bay fondly call Slains Castle Dracula's Castle. It is believed that Bram Stoker was so inspired by the Castle that it formed the basis for his most famous novel Dracula. Bram Stoker stayed in the nearby hotel, The Kilmarnock Arms, whilst he wrote his novel. Early drafts of his novel had Dracula coming ashore at Cruden Bay after his sea voyage from Transylvania. However, this was changed to Whitby in Yorkshire for the final published work."

That from the link provided.:)

[Tugmistress]

You can see why it'd be spooky on a stormy night

http://www.tugmistress.co.uk/images/stories/slain%20castle%2001%20-%20copy.jpg

http://www.tugmistress.co.uk/images/stories/slains%20castle%2003%20-%20copy.jpg

http://www.tugmistress.co.uk/images/stories/slains%20castle%2006%20-%20copy.jpg

just wish i had some of whitby to compare, might have to have a day trip one day to get some

[teenybash]

I believe Dracula had a Scottish connection.....his mother was a Midgie, hence the blood sucking habit.;)

[Alice in Blunderland]

....was he Scottish?

You would think he was a Gael the way some portray how much Gaelic is drawing the life out of all the other services in Caithness. ;) [lol]

[scorrie]

You can see why it'd be spooky on a stormy night

http://www.tugmistress.co.uk/images/stories/slain%20castle%2001%20-%20copy.jpg

http://www.tugmistress.co.uk/images/stories/slains%20castle%2003%20-%20copy.jpg

http://www.tugmistress.co.uk/images/stories/slains%20castle%2006%20-%20copy.jpg

just wish i had some of whitby to compare, might have to have a day trip one day to get some

I don't think it's scary at all. I've seen modern housing schemes that are worse.

Dracula actually came from Thurso and wasn't actually a Count. He was a Viscount who used to annoy people by asking to be called Lord Dracula. For some reason, certain locals would insist in stating "Yer no' a Lord pal, never will be. Yer faither wis but yer No. Fae now on yer known as "e' biscuit" to us!!"

He moved away from the County because of his well known allergy to Gaelic and reports that Harrold Bros sold the best stakes in the country.

[Invisible]

I believe he was Transylvanian.

i second that

[rich]

The Irish can claim to have a share in Dracula because his creator, Bram Stoker (1847-1912), was Irish. Stoker came from a family of distinguished physicians; his family home was in Merrion Square, Dublin. (I think there's a plaque) .

Stoker suffered paralysis of the lower limbs until he was seven years old when he quite simply got out of bed and commenced normal life.

He was a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and was a great friend of Oscar Wilde's who was also a student at Trinity. About a ten minute walk from the College there is the churchyard of St. Michen where the vaults contain the preserved bodies of the Shears brothers both of whom were notable Irish revolutionaries and who had been duly hanged. There is also preserved body of a crusader.

Are we getting on the trail of Dracula?

Enter Sir Henry Irvin. He was one of the great actors of the age and he hired Stoker as his personal assistant. Irvin was not an easy person to work for. He was also a tall, menacing kind of a man. At the end of the theatre season each summer,Stoker, exhausted and bullied, would go to Cruden Bay to golf. (At that time there was a special train that took holiday makers to Cruden Bay. I doubt if it runs today.)

And Castle Dracula?

Undoubtedly Slains castle. The local laird whose castle it was, just loved to have Bram Stoker over for dinner. You can see the repayment he got for his hospitality - his lovely home turned into an abode of vampires. Fangs a lot! (Sorry, I had to get that one out.)

Slains is a ruin today but not because the muttering peasants assembled with burning torches and arson in their minds. (That's Frankenstein!) The castle was sold to a business-man who found he couldn't afford the tax on it. So he had the roof removed which made the place tax-free. And also reduced the castle to its present state.

Disclosure: I got most of this info. from Wikapedia (or should that be WICKopedia) I can vouch for the bodies in St. Michen's because I have been there. As for the rest, it came from a yellowing newspaper article from the 60s which I happened to read while checking in to the hotel. One final note, the first time I approached the castle ruin there was a black tent flapping in the wind - a couple of campers - but I swear that tent looked like a giant bat......

[scorrie]

I believe Dracula had a Scottish connection.....his mother was a Midgie, hence the blood sucking habit.;)

I found the exact street he lived in:-

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i237/scorrie57/count_l.jpg

[Rheghead]

I found the exact street he lived in:-

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i237/scorrie57/count_l.jpg

ONE Caithness.orger huh huh huh huh huh