The Birthplace of Bram Stoker

On November 8, 1847, Abraham "Bram" Stoker was born in a small home in Clontarf, just outside of Dublin, Ireland. The address was 15 Marino Crescent, which was known simply as "The Crescent". Stoker suffered from an unknown illness for much of his childhood and had to remain bedridden. His mother would sit with him and keep him entertained with fairy tales and the ghost stories of the time. She would also keep him abreast of the world outside his window.

Stoker was born in the middle of what is now known as the Great Famine of Ireland when a disease struck the potato crop of the island and caused massive starvation and mass exodus from Ireland. As people suffered outside his bedroom window, Stoker's mom did her best to explain their plight, as well as her own experiences during a cholera epidemic that struck Sligo, where she lived at the time, in 1846. Later in life, Stoker would later fondly look back at his mother's tales and mix the fantastical with the stories of plague and famine in his most popular novel, Dracula.

The house he was born and grew up in still exists in Clontarf today and overlooks a park that was named in his honor. There are countless more locations in Dublin that are either directly tied or placed in honor of the city's most famous author.

Visit the origins of Dracula in Dublin, Ireland.

-Casey H.