GHOSTour '07 Day 6

After our night standing in the streets of York while our hotel and the hotel across the street were searched for a bomb, it was soon morning again.  We climbed on the luxury coach and headed off for Whitby.  Along the way, we passed through the area of England that had once been noted as the location in England where the most UFO sightings occurred.  Allan Murdie explained to us that unlike ghost hunters, UFO chasers really are crazy.  He went on to tell us about his few experiences with them, including a off the wall funeral, and how it had driven him back to ghost hunting.

Whitby is a small and very quaint fishing village that is also a summer tourist destination.  Allan said that for about 6 weeks in the summer it is a bit crowded while the tourists roam the town.  There is lots of shopping in town and even a few historical sights.

The shops are cute and obviously aimed at the tourists, except for this one... The HOT CARVERY.

After a few moments to compose ourselves and hit the ATM, we began the climb to Whitby's most faous sight:  The churchyard and abbey that are written about in Dracula.

This is the church, an amazing structure with an outstanding graveyard around it.

The church is overshadowed by the ruins of Whitby Abbey.  This structure will leave even the most hardened horror fan breathless as they imagine the event that occured here over the centuries and the events from Dracula that took place here.

There is a pre-recorded walking tour of the abbey ruins that you can take which goes into all of the historical aspects of the structure.

Whitby Abbey has over the years been a bustling settlement, a kings’ burial place, the setting for a historic meeting between Celtic and Roman clerics, the home of saints including the poet Caedmon, and as I mentioned, inspiration for Bram Stoker, author of Dracula.

After our trip to the abbey it was time for some well earned lunch.  Of course, you had to have the fish and chips, which are exquisite in Whitby.

At three we met for the horrifying "Dracula Experience."  No, I did not say scary, I said horrifying.  This place is pretty funny, and if you have time left in Whitby, give it a shot, or you can head over to the "amusements" to try and win some money.  I won seven pound on one slot machine, and then I ran before I lost it all again.

I think the giant ice cream cone standing next to the Dracula experience may just have been more frightening than the contents of the experience.

With some time to kill, we did a bit of pub hopping.  Here Tony tries out some strange flavors of crisps in a pub called "The Jolly Sailor."

As evening approached we headed up the hill to the Royal Hotel to meet our tour guide for the evening who was presenting a tour on Dracula and Bram Stoker.

Unfortunately a wild storm was coming in and the cold wind and rain made it rather unpleasant to be outside.

That's an easy problem to solve in England.  Hit a pub.  Unfortunately, food was not as easy to come by.  The staff wouldn't let us eat at the hotel restaurant as it was for guests only, and when someone ran to get fish and chips, they were thrown out of the hotel because you can't bring in outside food.  Go figure!  Not a very polite staff, especially when we were giving their bar all kinds of business.

Finally, when our wet members of the tour who went on the Dracula walk returned, we climbed on the bus and headed for our hotel in Hell.  I mean, Hull.  We were told the town was kind of like hell, and last year Allan Murdie was prositioned 3 times by hookers just getting from the bus to the hotel.  However, some friendly folks we met in York had said the town had in fact cleaned itself up since last year.  And guess what, it had.  When we arrived at the fairly nice Hotel Ibis, I saw a picture in our room of the Hotel Ibis in Bucarest, Romania.  I took this as a good sign as many of us had originally met on the Dracula tour to Romania.  And Hull turned out to be pretty nice.  There was a young crowd hitting the clubs and bars, and perhaps a few too many REALLY drunk 20 and 30 somethings around, but for one night, it wasn't all bad.  And there were no fire alarms or bomb scares.