dracula tour dublin

Bram Stoker's CASTLE DRACULA Experience Dublin

• Experienced guide
• Entry/Admission - Bram Stoker's Castle Dracula Dublin
• Not wheelchair accessible
• Near public transportation
• Confirmation will be received at time of booking
• Not recommended for travelers with back problems
• Not recommended for pregnant travelers
• No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
• Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
• For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.

• Nynaeve88 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Brill! Had a great time on the interactive night during Halloween, made our halloween and the Bram Stoker Festival Read more Written May 11, 2022
• pietrix79 0 contributions 4.0 of 5 bubbles Great fun for kids and adults I was there quite a long while ago, but remember it as a good fun! Roughly an hour full of surprises, scary figures, sounds and joking staff. I liked it a lot! ;) Read more Written February 12, 2020
• A-crawford19 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Highly recommend Great experience from start to finish, does not make a difference if you are a die hard Dracula fan or not have seen it before you will still enjoy the tour. Read more Written November 8, 2019
• Tatiana M 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Great experience Fantastic acting by a great team of actors, make it very real. Great show .Very good experience. Highly recommend it. Read more Written October 25, 2019
• Joe G 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Terrifying! Great experience from start to finish! Simultaneously frightening and fascinating. Would highly recommend to everyone! Be prepared to be scared! Read more Written October 22, 2019
• I182VWdeans 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Trip The actors were very good, quite scared would definitely recommend to anyone who's even slightly interested in vampires Read more Written October 21, 2019
• jjy510 0 contributions 3.0 of 5 bubbles More like an amusement Park ride than Castle but Cute A theatrical account in a Fun House atmosphere, you feel more like you entered a Halloween Experience but dont expect a real Castle its a facade but the actors are serious about their roles and it was Fun to experience the story behind Bram Stoker. That part was interesting. If you are in the area, it's worth the experience, Old Movie posters and a palce to eat are also what you will find there.If you like to be scared a bit ( Just a bit) go see it. Read more Written September 30, 2019
• ConorMcMahon 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles A unique experience I really enjoyed this evening. Was a fun tour, with a good mix of jokes, scares and illusion. The actors were really good and had a sharp wit that kept the crowds attention through out the journey. Great to see this part of Irish culture is still alive and well. Read more Written September 1, 2019
• Sara S 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Fun Fun Fun Honestly I booked the tour without really knowing what to expect and baaaam absolutely delighted. Was funny, bit spooky. It felt like to end up on a movie scene, and the people working there are absolutely amazing! you feel that everyone is doing a great, professional job and myself and my friend really end up the night with a big big smile. Big Thanks to all the stuff : )) Read more Written September 1, 2019
• Siobhan M 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Castle Dracula. A night to remember A Fantastic fun and thrilling experience. A must see for anyone looking for a fun, exciting, educational and something different night. A great experience. Laughed,screamed amd cried from the laughter. Amazing staff who are professional and amazing actors who play their parts amazingly and very realistically. A must see. Do not leave Dublin without visiting Castle Dracula. Read more Written August 13, 2019
• mick h 0 contributions 4.0 of 5 bubbles Five stars for the show. Sorry i went VIP.. Great show,Great actors, Very amusing and funny, Just sorry i paid for VIP tickets, VIP seats were giving to someone else by a staff member at the interval we tried to ask why and we were told to sit in the seats behind them, the only thing extra we got for VIP was two books and one pen at the end. Read more Written July 20, 2019
• Neill P 0 contributions 4.0 of 5 bubbles Jumped out of my skin 3 times and im in my 20's. Great fun for the whole family, plenty of scares and jumps along the way, but a fantastic way to bring such a classic story to life. Read more Written July 10, 2019
• bethh246 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Amazing Really impressive experience, well worth the money! Staff were brilliant! Gives one a good scare! 10/10 would recommend. Read more Written July 6, 2019
• Alison M 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Castle Dracula Very poor, cheap props. Not very scary very predicable what was going to happen. The worse bit was the singer,he seemed to be on just to waste time. Very poor show Read more Written July 2, 2019
• ClaireSullivan 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Good night out Myself and all my family booked VIP tickets to this. It was a laugh. We LOVE this sort of thing and Love the Edinburgh Dungeons and Fright Night in the north (which is terrifying at Halloween). It wasn't as scary as that but it was very good. You can really tell they have put a lot of effort into the event and the scene setting. The setting was superb! The actress was brilliant. Renfield was very very good. We had an interval (FYI there are no refreshments included with the VIP ticket booked Groupon). We sat at the front on pre- allocated VIP seats. Really good! I love the illusionist. He was great. Loved the audience participation. He was the right mix of funny and spooky. We all said it made the night and we had no idea what to expect in the second half so that was a treat. A couple of tips if you want any ideas (organisers) (and of course you can ignore them): At interval play some atmospheric music, or play Irish readings of Bram Stocker Story (instead of pop music). I think your American visitors would love some Irish readings or at least Irish atmospheric music (It was packed with Amercians!). I'd throw in a couple more scary people hiding and jumping out. That stuff gets us every time but there were props popping up here and there and they were great. A good night :) Read more Written June 23, 2019

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Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Bram Stoker's CASTLE DRACULA Experience Dublin provided by Bram Stoker's Castle Dracula Dublin

Explore the Dublin Destinations That Inspired ‘Dracula’

Follow in the footsteps of Bram Stoker and see how his hometown inspired him to write his famous horror novel

Jennifer Nalewicki

Travel Correspondent

When Bram Stoker penned “Dracula,” arguably the Irish author’s most recognizable piece of writing, little did he know how much the blood-hungry protagonist would become embedded in pop culture years later. Today Dracula is easily one of the most recognizable characters in literary history, not to mention a staple at Halloween costume parties around the world.

Growing up in Dublin, Ireland, Stoker took much of his inspiration for his horror novel, which was released in 1897, from his hometown and points nearby. From the crypts tunneling beneath a medieval church in the center of Dublin to the crumbling façade of a former monastery in a seaside town where he would go on holiday, inspiration was all around him. And there’s no better way to experience the man behind the book in person than to follow in his footsteps.

In addition to being a wealth of inspiration for the author, the city is also the location of the annual Bram Stoker Festival . Now in its seventh year, the four-day event (October 26-29) celebrates all things Stoker and will include a “gothically inspired program of events” such as live performances, readings and guided tours. While many of his haunts will serve as venues during the festival, the following places are a must visit for any "Dracula" fan.

Bram Stoker’s Homes

The small, Georgian-style house located at 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, Dublin 3, is everything one would expect from the birthplace of the literary legend. In an article published in “The Irish Times,” the author describes Stoker’s childhood home as an old house that “creaks and groans at night” with crucifixes displayed prominently on the walls and black wooden beams crossing the ceiling. Stoker lived there until adulthood, eventually moving into a house at 30 Kildare Street, Dublin, 2, an historically landmarked building. While both properties are not open to the public, they’re still both worth visiting just to be able to walk in the author’s footsteps.

Trinity College Dublin

During his college years , Stoker was better known for his athletic prowess than his academic abilities, competing in weight lifting and speed walking competitions. Between studying and events, he also worked as a civil servant at Dublin Castle and juggled roles as auditor of the school's historical society and president of the school's philosophical society, making him a well-known figure around the campus. In 1870 he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, claiming that he graduated with honors, however Trinity College refutes that claim.

Saint Ann’s Church of Ireland

Built in the early 18th century, Saint Ann’s has been an important landmark in Dublin for centuries and is notable for both its Baroque style of architecture and its many contributions to the community (since 1723, the church has had a bread shelf near the altar that offers freshly baked bread for anyone in need). The church is also where Stoker and Florence Balcombe were married in 1878. Interestingly, before tying the knot, Balcombe was dating another local legend: Oscar Wilde.

Dublin Writers Museum

Much like Stoker, many of the world’s most celebrated writers have lived in Dublin, including James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and Brinsley Butler Sheridan. Perhaps one of the best places in the city to experience their literary accomplishments firsthand is at the Dublin Writers Museum . Housed inside an 18th century mansion, the museum contains a comprehensive collection of books, portraits and artifacts belonging to these late writers, including a first edition of Stoker’s “Dracula.” Other holdings include business letters penned by Stoker, a portrait by painter Aidan Hickey and a bust created by sculptor Bryan Moore given to the museum earlier this year in the presence of several members of the Stoker family.

St. Michan’s Church Crypts

As one of the oldest churches in Dublin (it dates back to 1095), it’s no surprise that this medieval place of worship gives off a bit of an eerie vibe. But it’s what rests beneath St. Michan’s that’s truly creepy. Located past a metal-chained doorway and limestone stairway sits the burial vaults of some of the city’s most notable residents, including the Earl of Leitrim. Precariously stacked, many of the coffins have given way to the hands of time, revealing the skeletal remains of its occupants. It’s said that Stoker regularly visited the crypts and used them as inspiration when writing “Dracula.”

Whitby, North Yorkshire, England

Although not in Dublin (it’s located 300 miles to the east in England), Whitby played a key role as inspiration in the creation of “Dracula.” In 1890, Stoker went on holiday to the seaside town, spending time exploring its medieval architecture, including Whitby Abbey, a crumbling Benedictine monastery founded in the 11th century. Stoker mentioned the abbey in his book along with Swales, one of Dracula’s victims, which Stoker took from an inscription on the headstone from a nearby graveyard. But perhaps the author's biggest epiphany was during a visit to the local library, where he flipped through a book about Vlad Tepes, a 15th century prince who killed his enemies by driving a wooden stake into their hearts, thus earning the nickname Vlad the Impaler—or simply, Dracula.

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Jennifer Nalewicki is a Brooklyn-based journalist. Her articles have been published in The New York Times , Scientific American , Popular Mechanics , United Hemispheres and more. You can find more of her work at her website .

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Dublin celebrates 125 years of Bram Stoker’s Dracula

As Bram Stoker’s gothic masterpiece Dracula reaches its 125th anniversary, Dublin prepares to paint the town red with vampirish bloodthirsty antics.

This October the  Bram Stoker Festival  returns to Dublin (28 –31 October) after a two-year hiatus to celebrate Count Dracula and his creator in a weekend of ghastly thrills, spine-chilling spectacles and fun-filled frights.

The world’s most famous vampire was the creation of Dubliner Bram Stoker, who was inspired by the city and Ireland’s tales of the neamh-mairbh, the walking dead.

This year his book reaches its 125th anniversary having given rise to countless films, TV programmes and spin-off stories over the years. Among them is the silent film masterpiece, Nosferatu, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

Although the festival programme is still under wraps, it promises to be even bigger and better than before as it celebrates the novel’s milestone anniversary.

There will be multiple opportunities to dress up in ghoulish garb to watch film screenings, discuss the novel or simply stroll through the city on a walking tour of Dublin’s dark side or to visit the buildings that fired Stoker’s imagination.

These include the architecturally imposing Trinity College Dublin, which Stoker attended, Marsh’s Library, the oldest public library in Ireland, Dublin Castle with its spectacular gothic Chapel Royal, and St Michan’s Church, which houses mummified remains in its vaults.

Theatre, art, music, drama, comedy, talks, walks and even vampire feasting will all play a part in creating a fabulous festival packed with activities for young and old.

Among the events that the Bram Stoker Festival has presented over the years are major outdoor spectacles and installations; intimate experiences on hallowed grounds; award-winning theatre productions; an outdoor circus at night; and elaborate banquets in sacred crypts.

Taking over outdoor spaces and indoor venues across the city, the festival spreads its mischief right across Dublin.

In the run up to the festival, to get into the undead spirit of Dracula, you can watch and listen to  Bram Stoker Festival at Home Treats , a curated collection of podcasts, videos and audio content about Stoker, vampires and their influence on modern culture.

The full festival programme will be announced in early October.

www.ireland.com

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Bram Stoker's Castle Dracula Dublin

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BRAM STOKER'S CASTLE DRACULA DUBLIN: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Dracula: A Journey into Darkness

Venue: The Abbey Theatre, 26/27 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1

Sunday 29 October at 6.30pm

Tickets: €25/€20 concession (incl booking fee)

Enter the macabre world of Bram Stoker’s Dracula at the Abbey Theatre this Hallowe’en, at a staged reading of the opening chapters to Bram Stoker’s gothic horror masterpiece. Presented by Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival, this marks the first time Stoker’s original text, that has captivated audiences for over a century, has been presented on our national stage.  

Dracula: A Journey Into Darkness: A Staged Reading of Dracula Chapters 1 – 4 , promises a night filled with suspense and punctuated with terror highlighting the literary brilliance of Stoker’s gothic horror masterpiece. 

The first four chapters, the haunting diaries of Jonathan Harker, will be read live by Andrew Bennett with Barry McGovern as the unseen voice of Dracula. Directed by Joan Sheehy , Dracula: A Journey Into Darkness will draw audiences into “the land of phantoms” in a once-off literary and dramatic experience featuring Suzie Cummins ’s lighting and Tom Lane ’s soundscape; a collaboration amplifying the unsettling atmosphere and creating a theatrical event dripping with intensity and intrigue.

Dracula’s opening chapters contain many of the novel’s most memorable and dread-filled moments: Jonathan Harker embarks on his treacherous journey to meet Count Dracula, encountering terrified locals along the way who warn him of the malevolent presence that dwells within his destination. After his initial welcome to the Castle, Harker descends deeper into darkness, experiencing a series of alarming visions that hint at the Count’s true horrors and intentions. Soon, finding himself a captive, he bears witness to a savage wolf attack, leaving him with the certain knowledge of his own fate and the urgent necessity to escape the clutches of the diabolical Dracula. As the Count’s coffins are packed for his journey to England, Harker summons his courage and attempts his daring escape…… 

Tickets for this unique experience are on sale from Monday September 25th on the Abbey Theatre website 

Presented by Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival  Directed by Joan Sheehy Starring Andrew Bennett (reading live the diaries of Jonathan Harker) and Barry McGovern (voicing Dracula) Soundscape by Tom Lane Lighting by Suzie Cummins

Note : These chapters contain some descriptions of a violent and disturbing nature.

Age Suitability: 14+, under 18s must be accompanied by an adult.

Duration: 3 hours including a 30 minute interval

Accessibility: The Abbey is wheelchair accessible. There is access to a wheelchair accessible toilet. Neckloop receivers, headsets and stethosets are available – For further info visit Abbey website here .

The Abbey Theatre on Google Maps. Click here for a map link to the Abbey Theatre

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Beware of Dracula! Halloween Family Tour

• Family friendly

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 - Friday, 3 November 2023

Event times :

Event location :

Event price :

About this event

This tour includes a walkthrough of EPIC where working with a guide who plays the role of Bram Stoker, you and your family will locate clues hidden in their galleries to Dracula’s whereabouts. You’ll discover more about Bram Stoker’s life and the famous novel Dracula. You’ll also stop off for a Storytelling session, where Bram will bring to life some tales of creatures from Irish history and folklore that may have inspired his creation, and work together to create your very own vampire myth!

Dress up in your scariest Halloween themed outfit to complete the theme!

Dates and times: Nov 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at 10am, 11.30am, 1.30 pm, 3 pm, 4.30 pm

Prices (include entry to museum)

Child: €14.50

Suitable for families with children aged 6 – 12 years

Wed, 1 Nov - Sat, 18 Nov

Pallas Projects/Studios

Sat, 28 Oct - Sat, 25 Nov

SO Fine Art Editions

Sun, 19 Nov - Sun, 10 Dec

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 - Mon, 1 Jan 2024

Dublin - 3 Locations

Sat, 11 Nov

National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology

Fri, 10 Nov - Sun, 12 Nov

Dublin City

Dublin.ie – https://dublin.ie/whats-on/listings/beware-of-dracula-halloween-family-tour/

Beware of Dracula! Halloween Family Tour

This event has ended

EPIC Museum, Wednesday 1st November - Friday 3rd November

Irish author Bram Stoker needs your help! His famous character Dracula, a notorious vampire, has somehow escaped from his book in our Storytelling Gallery and into the vaults of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum. Can you and your family help track him down and spell him back from whence he came?

This themed tour includes a walkthrough of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum where working with our guide, you and your family will locate clues hidden in our galleries to Dracula’s whereabouts. Along the way you’ll discover more about Bram Stoker’s life and the famous novel Dracula that shaped how the world imagines vampires today. You’ll also stop off for a Storytelling session, where Bram will bring to life some tales of creatures from Irish history and folklore that may have inspired Bram’s creation, and work together to create your very own vampire myth, suitable for the Ireland of today.

Dates and Times • Wednesday 1st Nov (10.00am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, 3pm, 4.30pm) • Thursday 2nd Nov (10.00am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, 3pm, 4.30pm) • Friday 3rd Nov (10.00am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, 3pm, 4.30pm)

This tour is suitable for families with children aged 6 – 12 years.

Prices above include entry to museum, so families can explore the museum after the storytelling event.

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Bram Stoker's Castle Dracula Dublin

Top ways to experience nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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BRAM STOKER'S CASTLE DRACULA DUBLIN: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Hunting Dracula in Dublin

The bram stoker festival offers intense experiences for the fans of the king of vampires and his creator, as it traces the footprints of both in the irish capital.

Following Dracula’s bloody trail in Dublin — a city more associated with Joyce, Beckett or Michael Collins — may seem strange to some. The obvious thing would be to hunt him down in his Transylvanian lands , or perhaps in the English settings of his story (Whitby and London). But it is in the Irish capital, the city where Bram Stoker (1840-1912), the literary father of the vampire, was born and spent his youth, and where he forged many of his literary obsessions, where one of the essential events for fans of the dark count and the novel that breathed immortal life into him is held every year.

Attendants to the Bram Stoker Festival (which has been taking place for a decade and whose latest edition, which ended on Monday, appropriately coincided with the Halloween festivities) were able to enjoy all kinds of intense experiences related to the king of the undead and his creator. Among them, a very interesting deconstructive session of Dracula (1897) by the writer’s great-grandnephew, Dacre Stoker, author of a sequel of the novel and specialist in the work of his ancestor; a dramatized reading of the first chapters of the book at the prestigious Abbey Theatre; and the performance of Revenant , a disturbing monologue about vampirism.

There were also some exciting tours of some places related to the life and work of Bram Stoker, such as the Trinity College, where he studied; the gothic and highly evocative Marsh Library, where he researched witchcraft and apparently found his first map of Transylvania; or the cemetery where his people were buried, and where the tomb of Sheridan Le Fanu is located, “the invisible prince of Dublin” and author of Carmilla , Dracula’s Austrian female precedent. Also, conferences, debates, screenings and activities for all audiences, such as parades (this year, the traditional Macnas Parade revolved around a bone-collecting wolf woman), cosplaying and the Stokerland fair, where families were able to enjoy vampiric chills together (riding a merry-go-round by the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral cemetery, buying peat incense to scare away evil spirits, a Vlad the Impaler figurine or a garlic grater, face painting and more). In short, this is the great fangs-tastic festival, as someone cleverly dubbed it.

Walking the wonderfully melancholic streets of Dublin while one follows a dark Bram Stoker itinerary, with each shadow turned into a black cape, is a shot of emotions akin to a good transfusion. One of the best aspects of the festival experience, organized by the city council, is the variety of people one meets in the activities: curious people, specialists, romantics and hardcore geeks. A good place to make long-term friendships under the motto “blood is life”; kindred spirits with whom to debate whether Dracula’s dwelling was inspired by Bran Castle in Transylvania or Slains Castle in Scotland.

Dissecting Dracula

Dacre? Dacre Stoker! “In the flesh,” he replies. We are in the courtyard of Dublin Castle, under the shadow of the Record Tower, the only one that remains from the medieval fortress. Dacre recalls that we met in 2009 when he published his forceful — sex and violence galore — sequel, Dracula the Un-dead . Since then, his draculian activity has been increasing exponentially. He currently leads thematic tours (“of fact and fiction,” he points out) through all the settings related to the vampire, Transylvania, Whitby... he also films documentaries, writes and is one of the managers of his ancestor’s intellectual property, as well as one of the main researchers of his legacy (and a regular at the festival).

He looks fit. He is 65 years old but, like Bram, he has been a top athlete, an Olympic pentathlete. We talk about The Last Voyage of the Demeter , a recent movie based on the seventh chapter of Dracula, the count’s journey by ship from Varna to England. He finds the film phenomenal and terrifying. Then he sends me to see something that his wife found on the other side of the courtyard: a plaque explaining that Bram Stoker worked for years in the castle as a public official (from 1866 to 1878, before he permanently moved to London), illustrated with a portrait of the writer and a drawing of Dracula, the first direct encounter with the count here in Dublin. He is depicted with a cape and tailcoat, à la Bela Lugosi, and disturbing fingers with long nails, with the castle in the background.

One of the forms of entertainment these days is to find references to Dracula or vampires around the city, where blood-colored posters and flags of the festival abound and where, by association, everything else seems to be dyed red. That all the bookstores in the city would prominently display editions of Dracula was to be expected; not so much, however, to find a bar called Bite of Life and another one called Quick Bite, as well as a Multi Bite store; or a small sculpture of a vampire in the permanent exhibition on Yeats at the National Library of Ireland (always a must-see). Or a taxi driver who has read Dracula three times and quotes passages as we head to Clontarf to see the Stoker family house, where the writer was born and spent his youth. Not to mention the guy with pointy vampire ears (fake, we hope) sitting nonchalantly at the talk Bram and Beyond: The Irish Supernatural.

In that very well attended talk (about two hundred people), a special live edition of Three Castles Burning — a popular podcast about the history of Dublin — the historian Donald Fallon and the editor Brian J. Showers from Swan Press (accompanied by the actress Kathy Rose O’Brien, who read passages from the books that they mentioned), discussed the importance of Ireland’s fantasy and horror tradition and its influence on Stoker and Dracula. Although the author wrote his most famous novel in England (where he moved in 1978 after marrying Oscar Wilde’s ex-girlfriend), he took from his land, and from Dublin, many things that contributed to his creation, a fact that David J. Skal noted it in his “secret biography” of Stoker, Something in the Blood. These include supernatural creatures from Celtic folklore, popular demon figures and the tradition of the black carriage driven by an undead, which appears to have made the entire journey from Sligo to Borgo Pass.

Fallon and Showers also highlighted the influence of the macabre stories that his mother used to tell young Bram Stoker (bedridden due to an illness until he was seven years old) about the cholera plague that struck Ireland in 1832. They linked Stoker’s work with that of authors such as Le Fanu, Dorothy Macardle or Katharine Tynan, from whom O’Brien read the beautiful lines “Was she a girl or was she a ghost?” as a baby burst into tears at the back of the room, as if Lucy Westenra was still hungrily wandering around Hamstead.

One of most interesting activities was Dacre Stoker’s interactive literary workshop, Dissecting Dracula, in which a dozen participants — mostly female — sat around several tables decorated with candles and cobwebs to analyze and discuss the material about the novel that the scholar (wearing a shirt printed with different covers of Dracula) gave us: copies of pages from Stoker’s diary and handwritten notes for his work, with important keys to understanding his creative process, including the exhaustive work of documentation and some plot changes (including the title, which went from The Un-dead to Dracula ).

Among the texts, about which Dacre asked us questions as if it was an exam (fortunately, one could copy the Canadian girl sitting beside him), there were exact train schedules for Harker’s trip, characters that did not make it to the final manuscript (there was a detective), location changes (Whitby instead of Dover), news related to the plot (the shipwreck of the Russian ship Dimitri in Whitby, 50 exhumations due to suspicions of vampirism in England), considerations about the volcanism of the area of Dracula’s castle (the novel had to end with an eruption), annotated maps, pages about the vampire’s properties and powers, Transylvanian superstitions, necromancy... in short, a delight. There is even a note about the death’s head hawkmoth, Acherontia atropos, for feeding Renfield, Dracula’s lunatic servant (the same moth that appears lodged in the throat of one of the victims of the killer in The Silence of the Lambs ).

A legend on the stage

On Saturday, a group of twenty people — again, mostly women— waited under the Trinity bell tower for the Bram Stoker Tour to begin. We were a motley group that included an American couple with cowboy hats in the style of Quincey Morris, the Texan from Dracula ; a French woman, Katia, a contributor to vampirisme.com who told us about the vampire fair that will take place in France in 2024 (impossible not to think of Armand, from Interview with the Vampire ); a boy with green hair and the Romanian writer Daniela Stoian (D. S. Crowe), author of a trilogy about Dracula that starts with I, Dracula . Only Van Helsing and the stakes were missing. The tour, guided by a student from the university, took us to the premises of the College Historical Society, to which Stoker belonged, and to learn about aspects of his life at the Trinity.

At the festival, Stoker’s interest in theater was especially highlighted (he worked as a critic, and one of the most important relationships of his life, which was decisive in the creation of Dracula, was the one he had with the actor Henry Irving, one of the most famous of his time). The performances of Revenant , an award-winning play with touches of black comedy in which a filmmaker faces the disturbing presence of an actor who ends up being a vampire, was another of the highlights of the festival. The show is a monologue created and directed by Stuart Roche and performed splendidly by Patrick O’Donnell, who plays both the director of a zombie movie set in the Great Irish Famine (1845-1849) and its protagonist, the mysterious Vardell. The setting of the performance, the underground stage of the Smock Alley Theatre— the oldest theater in Dublin — adds a spark of excitement. You feel as if you were in the bowels of Carfax Abbey with the count’s coffins.

The other great theatrical event was Dracula: A Journey Into Darkness , a staged reading of the first six chapters of the book by the actor Andrew Bennett, with the voice of Barry McGovern as the count. “The staging is very performance-oriented, with music from traditional songs and sound effects,” the director (and well-known actress) Joan Sheehy explains to me over a cup of tea. “The main instruction I gave the actors was not to try to show the horror too soon.” In Chapter 1, Jonathan is confident and amused by the fear and superstitions of the local people. In Chapter 2, Dracula is a charming, curious and knowledgeable host. It is until chapters 3 and 4 that the count’s guest begins to get truly scared.

An activity at the National Gallery (a tour with two female vampires who question modern art) revealed another unexpected presence of Dracula in the form of the count, a terrifying but aristocratic individual with the air of Nosferatu that appears in the macabre painting Figures by a Coffin (1840) by Daniel Macdonald, kneeling before a coffin on which several skulls can be seen. The visit to the museum offers another surprising encounter, this time with a wonderful painting of a medieval couple saying goodbye on the stairs of a tower. He could be the voivode Vlad; she could be the love that will redeem him via Coppola after oceans of time. They are the characters of The Meeting on the Turret Stairs (1864), a romantic watercolor by Frederick William Burton which, due to its fragility, is only exhibited for one hour on Thursdays and another on Sundays. It is easy to evoke in its captivating atmosphere the end of the count reduced to ashes under the knife of Jonathan Harker, the vampire with an unusual expression of final peace on his face. Meanwhile, his castle stands out in the reddish sky as the evening light illuminates each stone of its broken battlements. A nice farewell from Bram Stoker, Dublin and Dracula.

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Halloween Family Tour at EPIC Museum

Wed, 1 Nov 8:00 AM

• EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

Beware of Dracula! Halloween Family Tour Irish author Bram Stoker needs your help! His famous character Dracula, a notorious vampire, has somehow escaped from his book in our Storytelling Gallery and into the vaults of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum. Can you and your family help track him down and…

Beware of Dracula! Halloween Family Tour

Irish author Bram Stoker needs your help! His famous character Dracula, a notorious vampire, has somehow escaped from his book in our Storytelling Gallery and into the vaults of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum. Can you and your family help track him down and spell him back from whence he came?

This themed tour includes a walkthrough of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum where working with our guide, you and your family will locate clues hidden in our galleries to Dracula’s whereabouts. Along the way you’ll discover more about Bram Stoker’s life and the famous novel, ‘Dracula’, that shaped how the world imagines vampires today. You’ll also stop off for a storytelling session, where Bram will bring to life some tales of creatures from Irish history and folklore that may have inspired Bram’s creation, and work together to create your very own vampire myth, suitable for the Ireland of today.

Prices above include entry to museum, so families can explore the museum after the storytelling event. The tour is led by a guide who plays the role of Bram Stoker and involves an activity hunt to find objects hidden in the museum, storytelling session and two interactive activities, one a spell casting and one an imagination game to come up with a new vampire story. Dress up in your scariest Dracula or Halloween themed outfit to complete the theme!

⏰ Wednesday 1st Nov (10.00am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, 3pm, 4.30pm)

⏰ Thursday 2nd Nov (10.00am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, 3pm, 4.30pm)

⏰ Friday 3rd Nov (10.00am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, 3pm, 4.30pm)

Prices:  Adult: €22 |   Child: €14.50

Ages:  This tour is suitable for families with children aged 6 – 12 years.

Book here:   https://epicchq.com/beware-of-dracula-halloween-family-tour/

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