One unusual feature of Whitby is the Dracula Museum. Part of Bram Stoker’s famous novel was set in Whitby, describing Dracula’s arrival in Britain on a ship washed ashore in the harbour, and how Lucy watched from the churchyard as the sun set over the nearby headland of Kettleness, but did not know how many steps she climbed to get there. Stoker’s story incorporated various pieces of Whitby folklore, including the beaching of the Russian ship Dmitri, which became the basis of Demeter in the book. Furthermore, it was at the public library in Whitby that Stoker discovered the name “Dracula.

Bram Stoker’s Notes for Dracula: A Facsimile Edition by Robert Eighteen-Bisang & Elizabeth Miller (McFarland, 2008), p. 244-46.