The Dracula Society
| Fan Club | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Dracula Society |
| Dates: | 1973-now |
| Founder(s): | Bernard Davies and Bruce Wightman |
| Leadership: | Julia Kruk |
| Country based in: | Britain |
| Focus: | Dracula, Horror, Gothic literature |
| External Links: | http://www.thedraculasociety.org.uk/ |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Dracula Society is the oldest British fan club dedicated to Gothic literature and cinema, particularly Dracula. It was founded in 1973 by actors Bernard Davies (1924-2010) and Bruce Wightman (1923?-2005). Its initial goal was to organize Dracula-themed tours to Transylvania, that was quite difficult in the 1970s, but over time the Society's scope grew to include other destinations such as Whitby and Czechoslovakia, as well as other activities like lectures, movie screenings and annual celebration of Bram Stoker's birthday.
According to Bernard Davies' memoir in the book Bram Stoker's Dracula: Sucking Through the Century, 1897-1997:
The Society was formed in November 1973, when a long-time colleague of mine, Bruce Wightman, returned from a package tour of Romania and complained that they never went near any of the places named in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Two Gothic literature nuts, we agreed that it would be great — if only to fulfill our own personal ambitions — if we could plan our very own Dracula Tour, following the action of the novel mile by mile. To persuade people to join it and charter flights, we should have to form a common-interest group, which we could easily disband afterwards.
I worked out the first-ever itinerary for a Dracula Tour from the West and it seemed to work successfully. It has been copied many times since by various tour operators, including the Romanian government. We were still left with the common-interest group, and it occurred to us — why not arrange a calendar of events to keep the thing going, like a sort of society, for another year? So, the Dracula Society was born, and it has been going ever since. Our subject interests extend beyond vampires to other icons of Gothic literature.
The tours organized by the Society have traced the route of Jonathan Harker in Dracula and also visited various localities associated with the book and the life of Vlad the Impaler.
The Dracula Society members meet five times a year in London. They also organize bi-annual trips to locations related to Gothic and horror. The Society issues two annual awards: The Hamilton Deane Award for the most outstanding contribution to the Gothic/supernatural genre in the performing arts and The Children of the Night Award for fiction works; since 2012, a third award named The Bernard Davies Award for Gothic scholarship is occasionally issued.
The membership has been fairly constant at around 200 persons. Members are required to be over eighteen and preferably live in Britain or at least be able to go there for the meetings, because the Society is built mainly around socializing in person.
The Society has also been involved in some government organized events commoderating Bram Stoker and his novel. In 1977, it unveiled the Bram Stoker's Chelsea Plaque in London. In 1980 the Society produced a booklet for tourists on the "Whitby Dracula Trail", covering all the Whitby locations mentioned in the book, which the Scarborough Department of Tourism in Yorkshire has sold to many tourists visiting Whitby. In exchange for that and another commemorative plaque, the local authorities erected the Bram Stoker Memorial Seat on the West Cliff, from which visitors can see every part of the historic town mentioned in Dracula.
Some early Irish members eventually the Bram Stoker Society in Dublin, the Irish offshoot of The Dracula Society.
Honorary life members of the society included Christopher Lee and Vincent Price.
The Dracula Society has its own crest with the motto “CREO QUIA IMPOSSIBLE” – “I believe because it is impossible”. They produce a a quarterly zine named Voices from the Vaults and used to publish now discontinued Dracula Journals.
The Society maintains the Dracula Archive to both professional and amateur researchers. It contains items such as Christopher Lee's Dracula cloak and aslo historical documents like the Hamilton Deane Theatrical Collection.