Slains Castle is associated with the author Bram Stoker, who was a regular visitor to nearby Cruden Bay between 1892 and 1910. The castle is mentioned in his locally set novels, The Watter’s Mou’ and The Mystery of the Sea. Slains Castle is commonly linked with Dracula, although the claim, often seen on the internet, that Slains Castle inspired Dracula is misleading. It clearly didn’t inspire the plot of Dracula, because the earliest entry in Bram Stoker’s written notes for Dracula dates from 1890, two years before Bram’s first visit to Cruden Bay.[19] The early notes mention that the novel would include a castle setting, although by this stage no further details are given. Although New Slains Castle did not inspire the plot for Dracula, it is feasible that it provided a visual palette for Bram Stoker when he started writing the book in Cruden Bay in 1895. A distinctive room in New Slains Castle, the octagonal hall, may be the source for the octagonal room in Dracula.
