May 26 marks the 1897 publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula

May 26 marks the 1897 publication of Bram Stoker's Gothic horror novel Dracula, which introduced Count Dracula and shaped the modern vampire archetype. Stoker set key scenes in the Yorkshire town of Whitby, and Whitby Abbey inspired the novel's ruined-abbey imagery and the fictional Carfax Abbey. Whitby now promotes a 2 kilometer Dracula Trail from the Royal Crescent to Whitby Abbey that typically takes about two hours to walk. Dracula's 1897 publication launched decades of adaptations, from the 1931 Universal Pictures Dracula starring Bela Lugosi to countless contemporary vampire novels and films.