09/02/2020
AT LAST, WE FINALLY HAVE IT!
A castle ruin location that matches to a large degree the text of Dracula!
These days Dracula enthusiasts tend to be split into two main camps. Those who view it simply as an imaginative fantasy with no basis in so-called reality and those who like to pin down the sites associated with Bram Stoker's story in terms of literary detection while at the same time allowing their imaginations free rein as well.
In the early days of the London Dracula Society, it was Co-founder Bernard Davies who was chiefly responsible for making everyone aware of the latter potentialities. I have since discovered that there is a predominance of the D.S. membership who tend to favour the former approach but as far as I am concerned myself, the linking of actual places to the events of the novel remains of key interest in the whole equation and for me personally, the combination of the two approaches is a perennially fascinating hobby to pursue.
With that in mind, I have for many years been keen to locate as close as I can in the given circumstances, a Romanian castle that matches the criteria outlined in Jonathan Harker's description of his journey to the ruined citadel along with Mina Harker's own eventual summary of the chosen route to it as well......and I believe I have now found it.
So taking these two sets of descriptions as our guide, I have this very month, quite out of the blue, come up with a locality that fits the bill extremely well and this is the hilltop castle of 'Șoimoș, Lipova – Arad' that not only looks the genuine business but has a river that sweeps in a loop around it at the bottom of the hill as well. (Mina Harker: “The loop it makes is manifestly as close to Dracula's Castle as can be got by water.”)There was even a Count or two living there at times. (“The role of the fortress was already manifested in the situation of the centrifugal movement of Transylvania and Western Hungary, under the authority of Prince Ladislaus Kán II. The prince ruled the fortress by two of his vassals, counts of Arad: Alexandru (in 1310), and Dominic (1311).”)
From here, taking a direct line south-east as the crow flies, you come upon the coastal shipping port of Varna that was featured in the finale of the story. From there the party of vampire hunters traveled hurriedly to Galatz (Galati) and onwards to follow the gypsy band of couriers to the castle.
As I have pointed out many times before via my pages, on Harker's thrilling yet somewhat bewildering way to the castle in Count Dracula's caleche, he was at one stage 'driven over and over the same ground again and again' until he could no longer tell which direction he was heading in. This, of course, ties in neatly with the reasons why Bram Stoker decided to change his mind about his original plans to name Izvorol Mountain as the eventual destination. In other words, he wisely considered it a much better option to leave the location of the castle a complete mystery in the reader's mind. This does quite naturally (while using a little bit of artistic license for good measure) leave the whole thing open to speculation along with a considerable amount of map research for anyone interested enough to work out a satisfactorily convincing enough scenario to fit the bill. (Geoff Beresford - 9/2/2020)
