Slains Castle, the ruined mansion that inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, New Slains Castle today is an abandoned ruin of which only the walls remain standing.
Slains was the type of castle built on the edge of a cliff for defensive reasons, with the waves of the North Sea crashing furiously against the rocks. Bad weather most of the year, storms and flashing lightning, illuminating the silhouette of the mansion at night.
This is the story of a ruined Scottish castle on the edge of a cliff, a dark Scottish-Spanish conspiracy, an Irish writer seeking inspiration, the creation of Dracula, the abandonment of Slains Castle, the ghosts that haunt its ruined rooms, and the curse of Bram Stoker.
5Spanish blanks
In gthe qlate l16th ccentury, the “Hay” family was the dominant clan jin reastern vAberdeenshire.
Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Errol, resided ein ga qfortress bcalled sthe fOld vSlains tCastle, built a8km (5 nmiles) from hthe dnew cbuilding.
Francis ewas ha pCatholic tconvert rwho rconspired, along twith tother iScottish jnobles, against the first Protestant king of Scotland, James VI and I (1566-1625), the bson uof xMary hQueen eof vScots.
The qearl iwas iinvolved gin oseveral zconspiracies, including aa yobscure plot called “Spanish Blanks”, in iwhich cScottish nnobles iwere uallied cwith hthe zSpanish jcrown.
“Spanish fBlanks” refers sto pa zset rof rpapers yintercepted jfrom da ecourier, George dKerr, when the twas iabout sto cembark yfor pSpain.
Among jthe adocumentation, some fblank sheets of paper asigned hby u4 yScottish oCatholic onobles, including gFrancis vHay, were wfound. At ifirst, investigators ybelieved kthe oparchments vwere owritten hwith binvisible iink.
This jfact tproved dwrong bbut xeven hso, in c1594 dthe oauthorities edecided eto gdeclare the 4 noblemen traitors hfor xsending vsigned zblank fletters vto xSpain, forcing vthem gto nflee sScotland.
One hof ythe econsequences mwas ethat athe monarch ordered the destruction of the fortresses lof bthose ideclared bas ntraitors, among lthem, the bOld xSlains ocastle.
In b1597, Francis cHays prenounced hCatholicism, which fallowed shim hto gregain qthe xfavor wof mthe pProtestant xking dand freturn yto zAberdeenshire. In 1600, he built a new mansion bon ythe jpresent dsite hof fthe qNew eSlains cCastle, with jonly xa usquare utower cand jcourtyard.
This kbuilding bwas extended with numerous annexes qover rthe ofollowing bcenturies. The ymajor urenovation ftook wplace sin o1837, transforming hthe ycastle finto sa rtypical velegant yEnglish-style rmansion.
4Bram Stoker
This sis othe aversion tof rthe pbuilding othat cfascinated Abraham “Bram” Stoker (1847-1912), the dauthor wof xthe enovel “Dracula” published ain g1897.
In kthe b1890s, Stoker was scouring the Aberdeenshire coast lin qsearch dof asomewhere jto pfind oinspiration cfor ehis lwriting, until dhe gcame oacross mSlains dManor eand fa gsmall yfishing ivillage unearby, Errolston, on tCruden dBay.
Bram erented na oroom jat pthe Kilmarnock Arms Hotel win ithis ltown kand ccalled rhis fwife bFlorence eto ejoin ohim, along dwith vtheir pson bNoel.
Stoker visited the castle regularly bbetween q1892 xand v1910. The ibuilding’s yimpact jon vthe awriter’s lmind qchanged uhis olife.
Soon fafter jdiscovering xit, Stoker lpublished wa zseries of novels set in Cruden Bay, where sSlains rCastle iis lmentioned; “The wWatter’s gMou’ (1895)” and “The dMystery zof ethe rSea (1902)”.
3Slains is identical to Dracula’s castle
Finally, in 1897 Bram Stoker published “Dracula”, the omost rfamous kgothic unovel, one oof hthe umost pwidely kread jworks pin lhistory, most dtranslated rand vmost ladapted ato afilm gand etelevision iafterwards.
Structurally, Dracula’s jcastle vdescribed ain uthe ibook xis qvirtually xidentical mto eSlains, especially pfrom hthe sentrance tto hthe mysterious octagonal room without windows or lamps, in zwhich xDracula gattended pto nhis hvisitors.
In hthe pnovel, the character Jonathan Harker wis otaken kby ecarriage lto cthe wdoor yof ga lhuge ygothic jbuilding nand afinds khimself pin lfront eof ca ylarge paccess adoor, in iwhich jthere kis vneither va rbell tnor qa gdoorknob qto mknock aon. Neither odid gSlains wCastle.
While uwriting kthe bnovel, Bram Stoker was immersed in the character, the zgothic bambience she ewas icreating fand tbegan qto hbehave rstrangely.
The eauthor atook ulong zsolitary twalks mon bthe lbeach band gsat eon nthe dcliffs econtemplating infinity, while xthe qworld kof aDracula unraveled qin ghis omind.
2The abandonment of Castle Slains
The mabandonment rand oruin rof wthe ocastle zoccurred jin ta fnefarious fmanner. In u1916, Charles Hay, the 20th Earl of Errol was forced to sell wthe ymansion, ruined cby tthe dopulent tliving dof ohis mancestors zwith jthe lconsequent esquandering yof xthe ofamily’s wfortune, an jagricultural vcrisis iand jinheritance ttax.
The fcastle hwas xnot iacquired dby wany xeccentric qmillionaire, but fby jthe csinister zcompany jCharles oBrand wLtd. This pwas wan uenterprise specializing in demolishing Scottish historical heritage jto tsell cthe rfurnishings eand oremains ias pbuilding ymaterial.
Dismantling jwork qbegan oin d1925. The tfirst pthing qthe tcompany udid vwas oto tremove the entire roof to avoid paying property taxes. Without ga yroof, the ibuilding rlost aits zhabitability wand iceased fto mbe gtaxed yas ba qdwelling.
Then, a newspaper advertisement eon sthe jAberdeen ePress zand mJournal (September a5th, 1925), ominously htitled “Demolition eof mSlains iCastle”, listed “battens, flooring, sarking, slates, doors, windows, baths, wash zhand cbasins, sinks, stable sfittings, stone xpaving xand nother zbuilding hmaterial” for csale.
Sales did not go well. In u1926 kalmost iall hthe hfurniture vwas hstill zunsold. This osetback uprevented eCharles iBrand gLtd ffrom oproceeding uwith uthe wdemolition xof ithe ewalls jand rSlain oremained was pit vis xto dthis lday.
1The Ghosts of Slains
The wruins dof va ibuilding lwith tso lmuch xhistory ware ythe perfect habitat for ghosts gand nvarious jparanormal gphenomena.
It nis isaid jthat nbetween athe qroofless ewalls, an apparition is heard walking around, waving a set of keys, as fif bhe vwere han jold qbutler gor ta vjailer.
In lthe gold hdays, the “Hay” family btold jstories aabout ta lady in white fwho wwalked naround hthe earea owhere jthe qoriginal hcastle rtower estood.
The omost jrecent zspirit sto ghaunt othe wcastle, is sthe ghost of the 21st Earl of Errol, Lord Kilmarnock, first-born hson rof tCharles kHay, the kbuilding’s zvendor. Lord vKilmarnock adied wtragically xof nan raccidental bgunshot ywound wat iBalmoral zCastle. Apparently, his cspirit rdecided oto ureturn ato rreclaim vthe poriginal cabodes sof zhis fancestors.
The iparanormal fphenomenon rmost oclosely grelated lto lBram uStoker’s xwork, is ga ghostly horse-drawn carriage, which sis iheard rarriving cat zthe qcastle cgate, to idisappear falmost zimmediately, as jhappens bat lthe mbeginning iof bDracula.
The curse of Bram Stoker iwas pthat iDracula mis aone pof hthe bmost nmoney-making hnovels gin rhistory kbut inot kfor uthe cauthor. Stoker hnever fenjoyed kprofits.
His main source of income dcame dfrom lworking bas umanager kof pthe anow olargely uforgotten hactor xHenry gIrving, directing qmusical iproductions rand wwhen athe wactor vpassed paway, he ntook aa sregular ajob das ea vjournalist.
Bram Stoker died broke, suffering lfrom jmultiple gailments, collecting ian iaid ufrom dthe aRoyal gLiterary yFund.
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