Status: 05/27/2022 3:55 p.m
125 years ago Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” was published. To celebrate, more than 1,300 fans dressed up as vampires gathered in Yorkshire, England – breaking a record set in 2011.
The English county of Yorkshire has never seen so many vampires. 1,369 fans dressed as bloodsuckers gathered outside the ruins of Withby Abbey on Thursday night in a bid to break the previous Guinness World Record.
Biggest meeting so far in 2011 in Virginia
Black shoes, black trousers or dresses and a black cape are considered a natural outfit for all vampires – only then will they be accepted as such. Another external characteristic are of course the largest possible and pointed canines in the upper jaw, in order to express the bloodsucking abilities.
In addition, the Dracula family members had to gather in the same place for at least five minutes to be counted. A total of 1039 participants gathered in Doswell, Virginia in 2011 for the previous Dracula record. This has now been surpassed.
1369 vampires in the grounds of Whitby Abbey during a Guinness World Record attempt
Image: AFP
Fascination Dracula
The story of the bloodthirsty Count Dracula was first published as a book in 1897. According to English Heritage, the Irish writer was inspired by the former monastery in the port city of Whitby from the 11th century.
Stoker came across the name Dracula in the local library, in a book about a 15th-century prince in present-day Romania who is said to have impaled his enemies.
A vampire walks in the grounds of Whitby Abbey.
Image: AFP