Around for more than a thousand years, and originally a religious tradition, Halloween became secular over the centuries until its holy trappings more or less disappeared. Nowadays, 31 October is considered a holiday. A time for fun, to spook out, and dress up, especially for children.

Halloween’s origins are traced back to the ancient Celtic festival, Samhain, held on 1 November. On that day, the souls of the dead returned to their homes, so people dressed in costumes and lit bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Popular Halloween get-ups—witches, ghosts, goblins, and vampires—became associated with the day.

In the 7th century CE, Pope Boniface IV created All Saints’ Day (or All Hallows’ Day), originally celebrated on 13 May. A century later, and arguably as a Christian substitute for the Samhain pagan festival, Pope Gregory III moved All Saints’ Day to 1 November. The day before became known as All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween.

Beginning in Celtic regions of Ireland, the UK, and France, the holiday quickly spread to other parts of the world. For religious reasons, the first American colonists in New England were forbidden to celebrate, though it enjoyed popularity in the Southern colonies. By the 1800s, fall festivals marking the seasonal harvest included elements of Halloween, and Irish immigrants escaping the devastating potato famine brought many Halloween traditions that remain today.

The custom of trick-or-treating gained celebrity in the early 20th century as Irish and Scottish communities revived the Old World custom of guising: dressing in costume and telling a joke, reciting a poem, or performing some other trick for a piece of fruit or other treats. By 1950, trick-or-treating for confectionary was one of Halloween’s most popular activities.

As authors, readers, and all-round book nerds, Halloween wouldn’t be hallow without a salute to the Prince of Darkness himself. Bram Stoker’s much-loved, infamous novel, Dracula and the story of how Stoker’s inspiration for the Gothic horror came from a real-life event always fascinates and entertains.

On 24 October 1885, a storm hit Whitby, North Yorkshire, and the ship, the Dmitry, ran aground. Carrying silver sand, it had sailed from Varna, an Eastern European port, and now lay wrecked in the approaches to the harbour.

At the end of July 1890, Bram Stoker, having completed a gruelling theatrical tour of Scotland as the business manager of actor Henry Irving, arrived at Whitby on Irving’s recommendation. Stoker had already written two novels with characters and settings gathered from his native Ireland and his current WIP, set in Styria, Austria, had a central character, Count Wampyr. At the time, the favoured Gothic literature was set in foreign lands full of eerie castles, convents, and caves. Whitby offered a taste of thrilling horrors closer to home with its windswept headland, dramatic abbey ruins, and a church surrounded by swooping bats.

On 8 August 1890, Stoker journeyed to the Coffee House End of the Quay to the public library. There, he requested a rare book published in 1820, recounting the experiences of William Wilkinson: The Accounts of Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. (During the 19th century, the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia formed what is now Romania.) Wilkinson’s history mentioned one Vlad Tepes, a 15th-century prince, who reportedly impaled his enemies on wooden stakes. Tepes was known as Dracula—the ‘son of the dragon.’ He is also known as “Vlad the Impaler.” The author had added a footnote:

“Dracula in the Wallachian language means Devil. The Wallachians at that time … used to give this as a surname to any person who rendered himself conspicuous either by courage, cruel actions, or cunning.”

Stoker noted the name and date. He then stopped at the Whitby Museum and reviewed a series of maps, piecing together a route beginning in the heart of London and ending on a mountaintop deep within the wilds of Romania. Onto Whitby Harbour, where he talked to the coastguard about the shipwreck years earlier. The log charts the disappearance of Dmitry’s entire crew until only the captain remains, tied to the wheel, before it runs aground below East Cliff on 8 August, the date Stoker discovered the name “Dracula” in Whitby library.

In his journal, Stoker said rescue workers reported seeing a big black dog leap from the hull of the ship and run up the 199 steps from Tate Sands beach into the graveyard of St. Mary’s Church. This account was consistent with the Yorkshire myth of a beast known as Barghest, a black dog.

Fans of Stoker’s classic will spot the similarities. The name. The graveyard. The abbey. The dog. And, of course, the ship. In Dracula, the real Dmitry of Narva became the Demeter of Varna, which carried Dracula to Whitby with boxes of earth and silver sand and got wrecked in a storm at the harbour. Bram Stoker had found a blurred place between fact and fiction. The rest is literary history. Dracula was born.

I’ve visited Whitby many times, including the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, which inspired one scene in Bram Stoker’s timeless work. It’s been a while since my last visit, but I recall traipsing the 199 steps and breathing in the majesty … and mystery. In 1994, Whitby became the haunt for the twice-yearly Whitby Goth Weekend, one of the world’s premier goth events, celebrating gothic culture, music, and fashion. That ole devil Dracula still breathes.

After while.

Wen x

Around for more than a thousand years, and originally a religious tradition, Halloween became secular over the centuries until its holy trappings more or less disappeared. Nowadays, 31 October is considered a holiday. A time for fun, to spook out, and dress up, especially for children.

Halloween’s origins are traced back to the ancient Celtic festival, Samhain, held on 1 November. On that day, the souls of the dead returned to their homes, so people dressed in costumes and lit bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Popular Halloween get-ups—witches, ghosts, goblins, and vampires—became associated with the day.

In the 7th century CE, Pope Boniface IV created All Saints’ Day (or All Hallows’ Day), originally celebrated on 13 May. A century later, and arguably as a Christian substitute for the Samhain pagan festival, Pope Gregory III moved All Saints’ Day to 1 November. The day before became known as All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween.

Beginning in Celtic regions of Ireland, the UK, and France, the holiday quickly spread to other parts of the world. For religious reasons, the first American colonists in New England were forbidden to celebrate, though it enjoyed popularity in the Southern colonies. By the 1800s, fall festivals marking the seasonal harvest included elements of Halloween, and Irish immigrants escaping the devastating potato famine brought many Halloween traditions that remain today.

The custom of trick-or-treating gained celebrity in the early 20th century as Irish and Scottish communities revived the Old World custom of guising: dressing in costume and telling a joke, reciting a poem, or performing some other trick for a piece of fruit or other treats. By 1950, trick-or-treating for confectionary was one of Halloween’s most popular activities.

      As authors, readers, and all-round book nerds, Halloween wouldn’t be hallow without a salute to the Prince of Darkness himself. Bram Stoker’s much-loved, infamous novel, Dracula and the story of how Stoker’s inspiration for the Gothic horror came from a real-life event always fascinates and entertains.

      On 24 October 1885, a storm hit Whitby, North Yorkshire, and the ship, the Dmitry, ran aground. Carrying silver sand, it had sailed from Varna, an Eastern European port, and now lay wrecked in the approaches to the harbour.

      At the end of July 1890, Bram Stoker, having completed a gruelling theatrical tour of Scotland as the business manager of actor Henry Irving, arrived at Whitby on Irving’s recommendation. Stoker had already written two novels with characters and settings gathered from his native Ireland and his current WIP, set in Styria, Austria, had a central character, Count Wampyr. At the time, the favoured Gothic literature was set in foreign lands full of eerie castles, convents, and caves. Whitby offered a taste of thrilling horrors closer to home with its windswept headland, dramatic abbey ruins, and a church surrounded by swooping bats.

      On 8 August 1890, Stoker journeyed to the Coffee House End of the Quay to the public library. There, he requested a rare book published in 1820, recounting the experiences of William Wilkinson: The Accounts of Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. (During the 19th century, the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia formed what is now Romania.) Wilkinson’s history mentioned one Vlad Tepes, a 15th-century prince, who reportedly impaled his enemies on wooden stakes. Tepes was known as Dracula—the ‘son of the dragon.’ He is also known as “Vlad the Impaler.” The author had added a footnote:

      “Dracula in the Wallachian language means Devil. The Wallachians at that time … used to give this as a surname to any person who rendered himself conspicuous either by courage, cruel actions, or cunning.”

      Stoker noted the name and date. He then stopped at the Whitby Museum and reviewed a series of maps, piecing together a route beginning in the heart of London and ending on a mountaintop deep within the wilds of Romania. Onto Whitby Harbour, where he talked to the coastguard about the shipwreck years earlier. The log charts the disappearance of Dmitry’s entire crew until only the captain remains, tied to the wheel, before it runs aground below East Cliff on 8 August, the date Stoker discovered the name “Dracula” in Whitby library.

      In his journal, Stoker said rescue workers reported seeing a big black dog leap from the hull of the ship and run up the 199 steps from Tate Sands beach into the graveyard of St. Mary’s Church. This account was consistent with the Yorkshire myth of a beast known as Barghest, a black dog.

      Fans of Stoker’s classic will spot the similarities. The name. The graveyard. The abbey. The dog. And, of course, the ship. In Dracula, the real Dmitry of Narva became the Demeter of Varna, which carried Dracula to Whitby with boxes of earth and silver sand and got wrecked in a storm at the harbour. Bram Stoker had found a blurred place between fact and fiction. The rest is literary history. Dracula was born.

      I’ve visited Whitby many times, including the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, which inspired one scene in Bram Stoker’s timeless work. It’s been a while since my last visit, but I recall traipsing the 199 steps and breathing in the majesty … and mystery. In 1994, Whitby became the haunt for the twice-yearly Whitby Goth Weekend, one of the world’s premier goth events, celebrating gothic culture, music, and fashion. That ole devil Dracula still breathes.

      After while.

      Wen x