With the spine-chilling howls of Halloween approaching and the door between the living and the dead opening ever so slightly, I’m reminded of midnight hours cutting my teeth on research for a proposed book later published under the title ‘DIGGING FOR DRACULA.’

This week I’m delighted to be involved in the organisation of what should be an intriguing, titillating,  even frightening, cabaret this Friday evening at the Amharclann theatre in Bunbeg starting at 7.30 pm, enticingly entitled ‘Dracula & Friends.’

The event, complete with coffins and cobwebs in the lobby, tasty vampire foods and drinks and make-up artists ready to transform people into Immortals, has already garnered immense publicity, not just locally in the Donegal News (above) and Donegal Democrat, but also national attention, on RTE1 and in ‘The Irish Times.’

And the ghoulish fun is all in aid of good causes – fund-raising for the community theatre itself and promotion of the excellent work being done by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service.

My main role is hosting an on-screen, multi-media presentation called ‘Dracula: Legend versus Truth’ based on my memoir ‘Digging for Dracula’ about my search for the elusive Long-Toothed Count from the castles of Transylvania to Bram Stoker’s home city, Dublin, to Hollywood USA.

My presentation will also include short film clips illustrating how the famous vampire has gone from near obscurity to movie stardom, from the silent era to the present day.

But first some background…

I had been living in Romania for several years, wearing two hats – professor of journalism at the University of Bucharest and foreign correspondent for The Times – when a fax came through from the news desk in London (those were the days before emails).

Under the headline ‘First-ever World Congress of Dracula’ were details of an upcoming, week long international event focusing on those strange Long-Toothed creatures that simply refuse to die.

Being from Ireland, the homeland of the famous vampire’s maker, Bram Stoker, I was intrigued, so much so I promptly set off on an adventure – to find out why his classic character created more than a century ago could attract such global fame.

That adventure brought me through the breathtaking landscapes of Transylvania to the princely lair of Vlad the Impaler within the craggy peaks of the Carpathian Mountains; to a seat beside Bram on a cliff-edge in the eastern port of Whitby, England, a place pivotal in the unfolding vampire drama; and to ‘Tinseltown’ Hollywood where Stoker’s creation won immortality on stage and screen.

Along the way, I visited the Mummies of Dublin; the ‘Agony Aunt’ of vampire lovers in New York; voodoo artists in New Orleans; a Los Angeles graveyard filled with larger than life characters; and the world’s largest garlic festival.

On a search for literary truths and the meanings of centuries-old myths, I learned that Celticism might just explain the elusive meaning of the word ‘Dracula’ – ‘droch fhola’ (pronounced ‘druc ula’) meaning ‘bad blood’ in Gaeilge, the native language of Ireland.

As for the ‘First–ever World Congress of Dracula,’ it attracted many idiosyncratic people from all walks of life – professors, psychologists, writers, historians and teachers from many countries including Japan, France, Canada, Germany and the USA.

Some had their teeth artificially sharpened. Some slept in coffins. One man offered 10,000 dollars for anyone who could bring him a vampire, having arranged doctors in California to verify the find.

Those were just some of my experiences. So grasp your garlic and join me on a journey. Prepare to enter the ‘Lovable House of Horror’ and the ‘Land of the Living Dead.’