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1981
Goth Histories
  • ISSN: 2044-1983
  • E-ISSN: 2044-3706

Abstract

A sign which regularly appears on the door of St Mary’s Church in Whitby, North Yorkshire, alerts visitors that Dracula is not buried in the churchyard. Dracula arrives in Whitby in Bram Stoker’s fiction, exits the stage and finally turns to dust near his Transylvanian castle. The sign, however, underscores Dracula’s enduring association with Whitby, forged by Stoker’s visit to the town in the summer of 1890. Just over one hundred years after Stoker’s visit, Jo Hampshire, a Goth from Barnsley, West Yorkshire, inspired by ’s association with the town, arranged a Goth visit to Whitby, after posting an advertisement in magazine. The gathering launched what would become Whitby Goth Weekend (WGW). Thirty years after Hampshire’s visit, Whitby attracts a range of Goth/ic tourists, a term which here denotes Goths, the subcultural movement dating from the 1970s, and those who are attracted to the Gothic from literary tourists to Instagrammers. The article explores how Whitby, particularly its East Cliff, inspired by Stoker’s vision, operates as Goth/ic tourist space and, in particular, how it presents and is experienced as Goth/ic theatre. It reads the Whitby passages from in the context of Stoker’s experience of Gothic and melodramatic performance at London’s Lyceum theatre where Stoker worked as business manager. It traces the establishment of WGW in 1994, its evolution and adaptation in the age of social media, and how Whitby has developed to become a place of Goth/ic experience, performance and cultural contestation.

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2024-11-13
2026-04-11

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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): Bram Stoker; Dracula; Goth; Goth/ic tourism; jet; St Mary’s churchyard; Whitby Abbey; Whitby Goth Weekend

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