It was, of course, English Heritage said later, a fantastic effort. But there was a lot at stake. After months of meticulous preparation, the idea was to set a world record for most people dressed as vampires in a place that Dracula would surely call their spiritual home.
He would be less than pleased with how happy and carefree everyone seemed as they entered the Gothic ruins of Whitby Abbey on Thursday evening. The gray clouds and the afternoon rain even gave way to the blue sky and a glorious sun.
The meeting marked the 125th anniversary of the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel. Photography: Nigel Roddis / PA
There was also an incredible wind, which ensured maximum undulation of layers.
“These are just things I have in my closet,” said Kit Robson, 24, in a vampire outfit. He was there with his brothers Christine, 29, Nick, 27, and William, 23, of Cockfield in Durham County.
Christine was the driving force behind them because she really liked Bram Stoker’s novel. “Prose is so different from anything you write now, it was such a different way of looking at the world.” It had so many layers and meanings, he said. For Nick, it was “just a great way to scare people.”
Participants had to dress in black and wear fangs on their upper teeth, but many went much further. Photo: Scarff / AFP / Getty Oils
At the head of the queue to enter was retired photographer Chris Martin of Beer in Devon. “I knew how to talk about it so quickly. I knew I had to go up.
“This is the first time I’ve dressed and I’ve spent about a week learning how to put on makeup … how does it look?”
Another couple, Bob Trainer and Christine Brown of Stockton-on-Tees, were there to have fun celebrating Stoker’s local connections to Whitby; the author found his initial inspiration for the story while on holiday in the coastal town of Yorkshire in 1890 and provided atmospheric places in the book. The coach said he worked at a bodybuilding factory. “They’re not real bodies,” Brown said. “No, Luton Box vans,” Trainer said.
The goal was to gather at least 1,040 people in the Abbey disguised as vampires, breaking a record set in 2011 at an amusement park in Doswell, Virginia. Whitby’s effort was scheduled to mark the exact 125th anniversary of the publication of Dracula.
It was a stupid event, yes, but they were being taken very seriously, said abbey site manager Mark Williamson in a gorgeous Victorian cloak and dress made in the 1840s. “I live with a costume designer, “he explained.
“We have to take it seriously because we have a lot of respect for the people who set the record. We want to pay tribute to these people. It would be bad if we allowed people to go to the coaches all of a sudden. “
Stoker visited Whitby in 1890 and was inspired by the 13th-century town and ruins of the abbey. Photo: Scarff / AFP / Getty Oils
Previous attempts to break the record have failed in silly things like the wrong shoes, so the organizers tried to make it as simple as possible at the invitation: black shoes, black pants or skirt, black cape, shirt, vest, and pointed fangs.
More than 3,000 people registered their interest, but registering an interest and showing up are, of course, two different things.
Before the event there were worn out nerves. Williamson said he really had no idea how many people would come.
But they showed up, including many who had not registered but had just learned of the last-minute event. There were entry requirements. “Can I see your fangs, please,” the administrators said at the entrance. Shortly after 9pm on Thursday, the news arrived: the efforts had not been in vain, the record had been broken with 1,369 vampires gathered in one place.
The commissioners checked the people’s fangs before letting them in. Photo: Scarff / AFP / Getty Oils
Whitby Abbey was the obvious place to try to break the record. It was in Whitby where Stoker absorbed the atmosphere that would be a key part of the novel’s success: the ruins of the abbey, the innocent tourists, the beautiful harbor and the salty tales of the knotty local people.
The names of several victims were extracted from gravestones found in the church, and Stoker found the name “Dracula” looking at a book in the Whitby Public Library.
Williamson said: “When you look at the legacy of this book, which has not been exhausted since 1897 and has been adapted hundreds of times … it means a lot to so many different people. So actually having a too many people dressed as vampires, it feels good. “
Guardian journalist Mark Brown joined in the fun. Photo: Christopher Thomond / The Guardian
It certainly seemed like the real deal, though it seemed uncertain. “I don’t know what my team will think of me marching through the place that looks like Darth Vader.”
His colleague Joe Savage, senior acting director of English Heritage, also looked pretty good. “I’m afraid he looks more like a middle-aged bat than a soft vampire,” he said.
Unlike Williamson, he had no hand coat in his closet. “My daughter has made mine. She cannibalized a party dress. But I have fangs and I have Fixadent, I’m ready to go.”