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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent

Bram Stoker’s Dracula inspired by writings of maverick Scotswoman

Bram Stoker Dracula Transylvania
Christopher Lee as Dracula
Christopher Lee as Dracula. In very obstinate cases of vampirism it is recommended to cut off the head, and replace it in the coffin with the mouth filled with garlic. Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Ltd/Alamy

The nefarious thirst for human blood, a clove of garlic to ward off vampires, a stake through the heart as their optimum method of dispatch: these are the best-known marks of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

But the gruesome details came not from Stoker’s own imagination but from the factual works of a maverick Scottish author, Emily Gerard, whose research into the folklore of Transylvania directly inspired him.

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