Beside the Seaside: Whitby Gothic Weekend

Amongst the coach trips, candy floss, buckets and spades and old-fashioned coffee shops, Whitby may seem like an unlikely location for one of the UK's biggest gothic events, but as the birth place of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Whitby has a little more darkness about it than other seaside tourist towns.

So, twice a year, in April and October, the town of Whitby is descended upon by almost every genre of 'goth' you can imagine. The town is flooded with lace gloves, black parasols, top hats, velvet cloaks and huge, stomping New Rocks, to celebrate the Whitby Gothic Weekends.

Overlooking Whitby Harbour are the ruins of the Abbey, accessed by 199 steps up from the town. Whitby Abbey was the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula; dreamt up while he was staying at the Grand Hotel, on the West Cliff facing the Abbey opposite. These are the 199 steps up which the large, black dog runs from the wrecked Spanish ship in Stoker's book. And the Abbey ruins and the view from the cliffs makes it well worth the climb.

The Whitby Gothic Weekend has been running for 10 years, and attracts goths of all descriptions. If you can think up a genre of gothic fashion, they will be there.

  While the notable majority of people may be sporting Victorian bustle skirts or top hats, you can find every kind of gothic fashion here; from pirates to soldiers, from punks to vampires, from lolitas to nuns. And while I didn't see any steam punks last year, there was a countable group of them, and an organised get together too. And I thought they looked fantastic, dresed as if ready to set off in search of Atlantis.

At various locations around Whitby, The Bizarre Bazaar is a packed-in spectrum of all your favourite online shops, and shops from around the globe selling absolutely everything you could ever need for your gothic wardrobe and lifestyle. You can pick up boots, leather corsets, artwork, baby clothes, wigs and hairfalls, bustle skirts, hair clips, mini top hats, pirate hats, bags, cyber goggles or even a replica pistol.

We particularly loved the custom-made steam punk items from Brute Force Studios; with unique arm guards incorporating pieces from typewriters, clocks and morse code machines.

Whatever you're into, you're bound to find something to catch your imagination, either from the stalls, or in the shops tucked away in the narrow maze of streets in Whitby.

And while the Gothic Weekend hosts a whole range of organised events, get togethers and entertainment, Whitby itself has a lot to offer with museums or boat trips, so it's well worth spending the time looking online before you go. And I personally recommend the ghost walk which was extremely entertaining (and pretty good exercise too!)

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The Sophie Lancaster memorial bench is by the Whale Bones and was dedicated at Whitby Gothic Weekend April 2008. Covered with flowers this year and acting as a place for quiet reflection, it is a poignant reminder that prejudice still exists and is still destroying lives.

Keller is EGL Magazine's editor. She has a degree in Writing which includes Journalism and she cannot wait for next year to head back to Whitby again.

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