AN EXASPERATED church fed up with tourists using it to look for Dracula’s grave has apparently issued a hilarious notice reminding fans the count is work of “fiction”.
A sign allegedly posted by St Mary’s Church in Whitby, Yorkshire says it is overrun with dark tourists, hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous villain’s tomb.
The abbey is famously used as a setting in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula and is now said to be the blood-sucking ghoul’s final resting place.
However, the notice, spotted yesterday [Wed] by a holiday maker in Whitby, attempts to put these claims to bed.
The sign reads: “Where is Dracula’s grave? Do you know, we are asked this question more than any other by visitors to this church We are sorry to disappoint you but it’s not here.
“In fact, it is not anywhere, because Dracula is fiction.
“It’s just a story and anyway even in the story Dracula finally turned to dust, with a stake through his heart, not here but in Transylvania.
“So even if there are bats in our belfry, no vampire is going to come and suck your blood.”
The flyer continues to expand on the history of the church and says that: “Today we try to worship god here and express the love of Jesus Christ for all people.”
The notice posted online by tourist Ellie Cumbo, who shared it online and said: “I’m having a few days in Whitby, but am just popping in to share this, which gladdened my humourless heart.”
Social media users were also tickled by the notice.
@John71Clarkson wrote: “Dracula is fiction, but of course the Bible is completely fact-based.”
@Artemisapphire added: “I mean, Dracula doesn’t have a grave because he’s the walking dead, so doesn’t need one.”
Hundreds of tourists flock to Whitby each year looking for Dracula’s grave, which is said to be at the top of 199 steps leading to Whitby Abbey.
The town inspired Stoker when he was writing his vampire tale in the late 1800s, and in the novel Dracula is said to run up the same stairs in the form of a dog.
Today, gothic fans apparently believe that gravestones with skulls on them are meant to be vampire graves.
