The Dracula secrets : Jack the Ripper and the darkest sources of Bram Stoker

369 Pages·2012·6.94 MB·English

For Molly – My angel of the darkness
CONTENTS

Title

Dedication

Foreword by Stewart P. Evans

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 Young Bram

Chapter 2 Trinity

Chapter 3 Love of No Common Order

Chapter 4 Arrival

Chapter 5 Who is the Great American Doctor?

Chapter 6 Affectionately Yours

Chapter 7 Draw Back the Curtain

Chapter 8 The Whitechapel Vampire
Chapter 9 Dracula and the Undead

Chapter 10 The Keepers of the Secret

Appendix 1An Expert Witness: Character Profile Based on the Expert
Analysis of the Letters of Francis Tumblety

Appendix 2Published Sources Listed by Bram Stoker in his Research Notes for
Dracula

Appendix 3Jonathan Harker’s Journey to Castle Dracula – Klausenburg to
Bistritz – A Suggested Source

Appendix 4Mr Bram Stoker – A Chat with the Author of Dracula

Appendix 5Catalogue of the Library of the Late Bram Stoker, Esq (Deceased)

Select Bibliography

Plates

Copyright
FOREWORD
(With a digression on Ripper research)
By Stewart P. Evans
In any list of literary and film subjects that have acquired cult status the names
of Jack the Ripper and Dracula must figure prominently. The former, although
his identity remains unknown, was a real-life murderer, but he is one who has
attracted great mythology and fictional trappings; the latter character is fictional
but he has attracted much research in an effort to establish a real historical basis.
Both rank highly as nightmare figures that continue to haunt the imagination. To
seek actual links between the two is an intriguing quest, which has never before
been fully explored. The author of the present work, however, has sought out
some very real associations and presents his findings here, adding new facts to
our knowledge. In this computer age of digital online searching, when many
researchers and writers seldom stray from their keyboards, Neil Storey has
travelled widely researching his subject.
In presenting his work, the author grounds his findings on much solid
biographical and genealogical information and gives us an excellent insight into
those dark Victorian days of the fin de siècle, when London was subjected to a
reign of terror the like of which had not been seen before. He seeks out all the
players; Bram Stoker, Henry Irving, Hall Caine, Francis Tumblety and others,
and adds to our knowledge. In the pages of the contemporary press the London
exploits of the unknown Jack the Ripper were broadcast to a horrified nation
and, indeed, to the world. In the pages of an 1897 novel the London exploits of
the fictional Count Dracula were likewise broadcast to the nation and the world.
Both were the subjects of stage plays and, later, films. The infamy of both grew
and spread over the years in equal measure. Both attracted a cult following,
which has now migrated to the Internet. In an age when codes, esoteric
associations and mysterious links are very popular, is it really possible to
establish anything of a tangible nature to link Jack the Ripper with Count
Dracula? Well, I believe that Neil Storey has shown us that it really is and that
cannot be gainsaid. We know that Bram Stoker was in London during the
relevant period and that the murders attracted his attention. The problem is,
however, to try and establish firm connections between the Ripper (described at
the time as a ‘vampire’ and ‘drunk with blood’) and Stoker’s fictional blood-
feasting Count. It must be no mere coincidence that Stoker had Dracula
venturing into the East End of London.
Both subjects have been of great interest to me almost as far back as I care to
remember. I recall first reading about Jack the Ripper in 1961 and around the
same time I read Bram Stoker’s novel about the sanguinary Count. Although I
have never published anything on Dracula I have followed the associated
literature and movies over the years. My interest in Jack the Ripper has,
however, been the object of much reading and research for me for just as long
and I have published several works on the subject; I may be entitled to at least
claim to be an authority in the field. Back in 1993 sheer serendipity led to my
discovery of a fresh and genuine contemporary Ripper suspect, one ‘Dr’ Francis
Tumblety, an Irish-American, and this led to my first Ripper book, co-authored
with Paul Gainey, some two years later.
This is not a book seeking to establish the identity of ‘Jack the Ripper’,
although it does cast some interesting sidelights on that vexed question. It also
provides new and relevant information on the decidedly odd Francis Tumblety
‘M.D.’, a genuine Ripper suspect of the time. It enhances our understanding of
those fraught times and the characters playing out the drama. Of its nature no
book that makes out the best case for any particular individual being Jack the
Ripper can hope to be totally objective. It is, naturally, subjective. It is therefore
necessary to be selective with contemporary press material as well as to indulge
in speculation. Even so, honesty and accuracy should be maintained and all
relevant material, where known, should be included. I endeavoured to follow
these requirements but it did not prevent me from being labelled ‘the Tumblety
man’. This is a tag that I have found very difficult to shake off, despite the
totally objective reference works I have since written. I have stated my position
over this question in order to explain my own lack of research into Tumblety
since the publication of the updated edition of my book in 1996. I felt that the
best research on Tumblety would be carried out by those better placed than
myself to do so and to maintain objectivity it was better for me to not indulge
one suspect. The USA was where the best material was to be found. Many
researchers took up the torch and some excellent research was carried out by
such dedicated souls as Joe Chetcuti, Mike Hawley, Roger Palmer, Tim Riordan
and Wolf Vanderlinden. They have all added greatly to our knowledge. Dracula
and Stoker, too, have their champions of research and much relevant material
and opinion has been added by such dedicated followers as Barbara Belford,
Richard Dalby, Carol Margaret Davison, Robert Eighteen-Bisang, the late Dan
Farson (who also contributed greatly on Jack the Ripper), Radu Florescu and
Raymond McNally, Clive Leatherdale, Harry Ludlam, Elizabeth Miller, Paul
Murray, my old and valued friend the late Leslie Shepard, Leonard Wolf and
others too numerous to mention.
Neil Storey has bravely taken up the diverse threads and has looked at
Tumblety’s connection, and possible links, with the relevant cast of Victorian
characters. To forge a real link between the factual Jack the Ripper and the
fictional Dracula adds, in my opinion, great interest to both, but it is a daunting
task and I can only admire his dedication to the cause. All that said, I feel that
this book is a valuable addition to both areas of interest and I recommend it to
the relevant readers as a necessary addition to their (probably creaking)
bookshelves.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book has been made possible and enriched by many who have generously
opened their archives and shared their knowledge with me. I am particularly
indebted to a man I am proud to call my friend, crime historian – Stewart P.
Evans. I would also like to express my gratitude to Manx National Heritage
Eiraght Ashoonagh Vannin and particularly their archivist Wendy Thirkettle. It
is thanks to the generosity of Manx National Heritage that many of the letters
sent by Francis Tumblety to Thomas Henry Hall Caine are published for the first
time in this book.
I would also like to record my appreciation and thanks to the following:
Heather Wolfe and Rebecca Oviedo at Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington;
Nicole Contaxis, The New-York Historical Society; Karen Schoenewaldt,
Registrar at Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia; Shakespeare Centre
Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon; Claire-Hélène Lengellé, Marie-
Chantal Anctil and Suzanne Grégoire at Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du
Québec; Paul Hambleton, National Library of Scotland; The Victorian and
Albert Museum; The British Library; The National Archives; The Library of
Congress; United States National Archives, War Department Records, Judge
Advocate General Office; Legislative Library of New Brunswick; The Library
and Archives of Trinity College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin Historical
Society (‘The Hist’); Whitby Museum & Library; Whitby Public Library; St
Mary’s Parish church, Whitby; Whitby Abbey; Michael Shaw, The Sutcliffe
Gallery, Whitby; Golders Green Crematorium; Norfolk Library and Information
Service; Sotheby’s London; Liverpool Record Office, Carol Collins; Ruth
Myers; Helen Tovey at Family Tree Magazine; Joe Chetcuti; Robert Eighteen-
Bisang; Clive Leatherdale; James Nice; Roger Palmer; Robert Smith; Jo de
Vries, Mark Beynon and Cate Ludlow at The History Press; Colin Wilkinson,
Bluecoat Press, Liverpool; Rusty Clark; David Drummond; Donald Rumbelow;
Andrew Selwyn-Crome; Martin and Pip Faulks; the late Leslie Shephard and
The Walt Whitman Archive, edited by Ed Folsom and Kenneth M. Price,
published by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
http://www.whitmanarchive.org/.
INTRODUCTION
When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of
his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, and, saying that they
knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak further. It was so near the time
of starting that I had no time to ask anyone else, for it was all very
mysterious and not by any means comforting.
Jonathan Harker’s journal
Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897)
It was one of those clear, bright December mornings – when the sun hurts your
eyes and the cold breezes nipping around your neck cause you to turn up your
coat collar – when I stepped out from the sepulchral gloom of the Underground
station. Setting out along Finchley Road as the cars and buses flew past, after a
short walk I turned off up the quieter suburban Hoop Lane where I arrived at a
large Italianate edifice of smart red brick walls and buildings and found my way
to the office. Upon entering I was greeted by a receptionist and I told her the
reason for my visit. She was a smart young lady with kind eyes, who politely
asked me if I would like to take a seat while she made the necessary call. As she
picked up the phone I heard her say, ‘There is a gentleman to see Bram Stoker.’
Just for a golden, wish-fuelled moment, it felt as if the tall, well-built figure of
the great man with the paw of Hercules and the smile of Machiavelli would walk
through the door, but it was not to be, for this was Golders Green Crematorium
and through the window I found myself gazing at the chapel where Bram’s
funeral service had been conducted almost a hundred years previously.
My guide arrived and we set out through an archway and walked up the
arcade where the walls were decked with memorial plaques. Some to those who
were special only to their family and friends, while others marked those who had
touched all of our lives and remain in immortal memory as household names:
beloved entertainers, actors and musicians whose carved tablets record the
names of Vesta Victoria, Sid James, Marc Bolan, Ray Ellington, Bud Flanagan,
Jack Hawkins, Joyce Grenfell, Robert Harbin the magician, Ivor Novello, Anna
Pavlova, Kathleen Ferrier, Matt Munro and Peter Sellers – the list just goes on