Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories

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Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories is a collection of short stories by Bram Stoker, first published in 1914, two years after Stoker's death. The stories in the collection are:

• "Dracula's Guest"
• "The Judge's House"
• "The Gipsy Prophecy"
• "The Coming of Abel Behenna"
• "The Burial of the Rats"
• "A Dream of Red Hands"
• "Crooken Sands"
• "The Secret of the Growing Gold"

[edit] Details

[edit] "Dracula's Guest"

It is widely believed that "Dracula's Guest" is actually the deleted first chapter from the original Dracula manuscript, which the publisher felt was superfluous to the story. However, some scholars, such as David J. Skal and Elizabeth Miller, disagree. [1]

[edit] Plot summary

"Dracula's Guest" follows an Englishman (?) (not necessarily Jonathan Harker as this name is never mentioned in the story) as he wanders around Munich before leaving for Transylvania. It is Walpurgis Night, and in spite of the coachman's warnings, the young Englishman [though it is widely assumed by many to be a reference to Jonathan Harker, Johann is, in fact not identified by nationality] foolishly leaves his hotel and wanders through a dense forest alone. Along the way he feels he is being watched by a tall and thin stranger (possibly Count Dracula himself).

The short story climaxes in an old graveyard, where in a marble tomb (with a large iron stake driven into it), he encounters the ghost of a female vampire called Countess Dolingen. The spirit of this malevolent and beautiful vampire awakens from her marble bier to conjure a snowstorm before being struck by lightning and returning to her eternal prison. The Englishman's troubles are not quite over, though, as a wolf then emerges through the blizzard and attacks him. However the wolf (possibly sent by Dracula) merely keeps him warm and alive until help arrives.

When the man is finally taken back to his hotel, there is a waiting telegram from his expectant host Dracula, with a warning about "dangers from snow and wolves and night".

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

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• Although "Dracula's Guest" is often regarded as the basis for the 1936 film Dracula's Daughter, this is somewhat inaccurate. While a screenplay was produced with a view to James Whale directing, it remained un-filmed, and a separate, un-related, shooting script was eventually used as the sequel to Universal's 1931 Dracula film.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Dracula's Guest

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The Judge's House

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A Dream of Red Hands

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The Burial of the Rats