Stoker on Stoker: 'Dracula' author's descendant speaks to Kiwanis Club of Aiken

Dec. 9—During 2022, which is the 125th anniversary of the publication of "Dracula," Dacre Stoker has been in great demand.

"I was home for only 20 days from the second week in August until Thanksgiving," said the Aiken resident, who is a descendant of the gothic novel's author, Bram Stoker.

Dacre Stoker has studied the life of his famous ancestor extensively, and he enjoys sharing his findings with audiences around the country and abroad.

On Dec. 8 at The Willcox, Dacre Stoker spoke to the Kiwanis Club of Aiken.

He believes one of the inspirations for "Dracula" was the medical treatment Bram Stoker received as a child in Ireland in the 1800s.

"It was difficult for the young Bram because he had some sort of mysterious illness ... for the first seven years of his life," Dacre Stoker said. "I have a theory that it was probably serious respiratory allergies and asthma."

Doctors used a procedure known as bloodletting back then to prevent and cure illness and disease.

Sometimes veins or arteries were cut. Sometimes blood was withdrawn with the help of leeches.

One of Bram Stoker's uncles "was a blood-letting doctor who wrote a treatise on fever and how you actually treat young children," Dacre Stoker said. "It basically said that you take out enough blood until they pass out. And when they pass out, you rehydrate them with claret and oil.

"So you've got a kid who is passed out and you rehydrate them ... with red wine," Dacre Stoker continued. "And now he's drunk for a day or so. Just think of the trauma he would go through."

Then Stoker mentioned the following description of a resting Count Dracula that appears in Chapter 4 of Bram Stoker's book:

"It seemed the whole awful creature were simply gorged with blood. He lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion."

In Dacre Stoker's opinion, those words are evidence that Bram Stoker had a "firsthand experience" with bloodletting.

Dacre Stoker also talked about the enduring popularity of "Dracula."

"There are over 1,000 editions in 30 languages," he said. "The book has never been out of print. There are over 700 movie citations of a Dracula, not just any old vampire, since 'Nosferatu' in 1922. There are over 1,000 comic books and stage adaptations."

Dacre Stoker is Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew.