Dracula No the Only One Looking for Blood in Whitby and Scarborough

This Halloween, English Heritage is partnering with NHS Blood and Transplant to offer visitors the chance to discover their own blood type.

Scarborough Castle, and Whitby Abbey are among the sites distributing free blood type self-testing kits on 31 October.

As part of an urgent nationwide appeal for more donors to help boost vital blood stocks, free blood type self-testing kits will be distributed at selected English Heritage sites across the country on 31 October.

With the NHS requiring nearly 5,000 donations every day to support patients and hospitals across England, the initiative aims to encourage more people to register as blood donors and start donating. Right now there is a particular need for more people with O negative and B negative blood types and for more donors of Black heritage to help sickle cell patients who rely on ethnically matched blood.

English Heritage Regional Partnership Manager and resident Dracula expert Mark Williamson said:

“Our Halloween events always bring history to life in thrilling ways – and this year, we’re proud to add a life-saving twist.

Whitby Abbey, forever linked with Dracula, makes the perfect backdrop for our partnership with NHS Blood and Transplant. It’s not just Dracula who needs your blood this Halloween – it could be your Mum, son, best-friend, or any of us. We hope that at the same time as enjoying deliciously chilling Halloween fun, visitors across all our participating sites will be inspired to find out their blood type and consider becoming a donor so that the NHS can continue to supply lifesaving blood needed by seriously ill patients.” 

Famed for its eerie Gothic ruins overlooking the Yorkshire coast, Whitby Abbey inspired Bram Stoker to create Dracula, the world’s most iconic vampire.  The novel features one of the earliest fictional depictions of blood transfusion in literature, acknowledged as remarkably progressive for its time with the procedure being highly experimental in the 1890s when Stoker was writing. 

Whitby Abbey is just one of a number of English Heritage sites across the country offering Halloween-themed events where visitors can pick up a self-testing kit. 

Whether you're exploring haunted castles, ancient ruins or ghostly gardens, it’s the perfect time to take one small step towards making a life-saving difference. Visitors will be asked to use the self-testing kits at home. The kits use a small drop of blood and a litmus-style test card to show a person’s likely blood type in around five minutes. Only lab-based testing can confirm someone’s blood type however, and donors will have their blood type confirmed after their first donation. 

Altaf Kazi, Assistant Director of Partnerships, at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: 

"This Halloween, Dracula is not the only one on the hunt for blood. Across the country, we’re teaming up with English Heritage to seek out those with vital, life-saving blood types like O negative and B negative which are both urgently needed right now.

A quick finger prick test could reveal your blood type and start your journey as a real lifesaver.

Giving blood takes around an hour, and each donation can save up to three people. And as every vampire knows, every drop counts!”

Why Blood Type Testing Matters

• NHS research shows that fewer than 50% of people in the UK know their blood type.
• Only around 3% of eligible adults currently donate blood.
• Some blood types – like O negative (the universal type used in emergencies) and B negative (particularly rare)– are especially needed.
• The NHS also needs more young donors, who can donate for many years, and more donors of Black heritage, whose blood is essential for treating conditions like sickle cell.
• Blood only lasts 35 days, so donations must be constantly replenished – especially as the colder months draw in.

There are currently over 60,000 appointments available at donor centres across the UK over the next six weeks. For more information or to book an appointment, visit: https://www.blood.co.uk

Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula featured one of the earliest fictional depictions of blood transfusion in popular literature. In the story, multiple characters including Arthur Holmwood, Dr. Seward, Van Helsing, and even the American Quincey Morris donate blood to Lucy Westenra in desperate attempts to save her life after Dracula's attacks. The novel was written during a revolutionary period in medical history - just as blood typing was being discovered. Karl Landsteiner wouldn't identify the ABO blood group system until 1901, four years after Dracula's publication, meaning Stoker's characters were performing transfusions without knowing about blood compatibility.

As Lucy receives multiple blood transfusions from four different men, without blood typing, these transfusions would likely have been fatal due to incompatible blood types causing severe reactions. Some literary scholars have noted that Lucy's ability to apparently accept blood from multiple donors without fatal reactions could be interpreted as her having Type AB blood (the universal recipient), though this is purely speculative analysis applied retrospectively.

Stoker's depiction of blood transfusion was remarkably progressive for its time. The procedure was still highly experimental in the 1890s, and many doctors considered it dangerous. Yet Stoker presented it as a heroic, life-saving measure, perhaps influenced by emerging medical advances.

Interestingly, the novel suggests that Dracula's victims become stronger through blood exchange, which parallels early theories about blood transfusion being able to transfer personality traits or characteristics between donor and recipient - a belief that persisted into the early 20th century.