Bram Stoker’s Dracula inspired by writings of maverick Scotswoman

Research into folklore of Transylvania by 19th century writer Emily Gerard directly inspired author of famous novel

The nefarious thirst for human blood, a clove of garlic to ward off vampires, a stake through the heart as their optimum method of dispatch: these are the best-known marks of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

But the gruesome details came not from Stoker’s own imagination but from the factual works of a maverick Scottish author, Emily Gerard, whose research into the folklore of Transylvania directly inspired him.