Talk

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula the young lawyer Jonathan Harker leaves for Transylvania from Exeter’s Cathedral Close. A detail that have passed many by. However, some beleive Stoker’s reference to Exeter in the novel was included as a way of acknowledging the work of Devon Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould, whose work and material on folklore steered and inspired Bram Stoker.

Folklore author and researcher Mark Norman looks at the fascinating life of the Exeter based bibliographer, antiquary and ‘lycanthaphile’ Sabine Baring-Gould (perhaps best known for writing the hymn ‘Onwards Christian Soldiers’), his Book of werewolves and the possible links between Devon and Dracula.

Mark Norman is a folklore author and researcher based in Devon. He is a committee member of the Folklore Society and has been researching and collecting information on Black Dog apparitions for many years. His books include ‘Black Dog Folklore’, ‘Telling the Bees and other customs’ and ‘Dark Folklore’.