DRACULA

Adapted by

John Barber

Working script

Last update: 8 July 2021

Contact information

CHARACTERS

Dr. John SEWARD

Jonathan HARKER

Coach DRIVER

DRACULA'S DRIVER

DRACULA

CAPTAIN of the Demeter

MATE of the Demeter

DECKHAND 1

DECKHAND 2

Professor Abraham VAN HELSING

LUCY Westenra

NEWS VENDOR

Wilhelmina "MINA" Harker

NOTE TO ACTORS:
Throughout this script, actors are noted as either "Narrating" or "Speaking." Narrating should be voiced as "reading" from a journal, diary, or some other document. Speaking should be voiced as dialogue between actors, with appropriate pauses, emphasis, drama, etc.

ANNOUNCER:
Good evening, and welcome to another performance by the Re-Imagined Radio Project. We are performing live in the historic Kiggins Theatre in downtown Vancouver, Washington, USA. Our performance is Dracula, considered by many to be one of the greatest horror novels ever written. Our adaptation for radio is based directly on the novel by Mr. Bram Stoker, and features local actors.
Those of you with us tonight in the theatre are encouraged to share your thoughts via social media during the performance. Use the hashtag "re-imagined radio" to share the shivers up your spine.
Now, relax, if you can, and enjoy this Re-Imagined Radio performance of Dracula . . .
SFX: WOLF HOWL
MUSIC UP, SUSTAIN FOR SUSPENSE, CROSSFADE TO . . .

SCENE 1: Journey to Dracula's Castle
INTERIOR, VICTORIAN SITTING ROOM, A CROWD IS GATHERED, ROOM AMBIENCE MIGHT INCLUDE A FIRE IN THE FIREPLACE, A TICKING MANTLE CLOCK, WIND AND RAIN AGAINST A WINDOW
BACKGROUND SLIDE: 1.0 ****
MUSIC: UP FOR BRIDGE AND TRANSITION
SEWARD
Ladies and gentleman, my name is Dr. John Seward. I am a psychiatrist and head administrator of St. John's Hospital here in London.
I bear witness to the truth of certain events occurring between May and November 1891 which you may find hard to believe. But I ask you to believe them nonetheless. I have here certain documents, journal entries, telegrams, clippings from the press of the day, memoranda and letters in various hands. They tell the story of Count Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England for purposes of finding new blood and spreading the Un-Dead curse, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. These documents were all written by the story's protagonists. I have eliminated all needless matters, and focused solely on the details. Seemingly at variance with the possibilities of contemporary belief, these reports, written by those who witnessed the events, nonetheless, stand forth as simple fact. I present you, first, with excerpts from the private journal of Mr. Jonathan Harker.
HARKER
(Narrating) I, Jonathan Harker, lawyer's clerk, employed by Peter Hawkins, Esquire, of Exeter, England, am writing this journal in the hope that if misfortune overtakes me, it may one day come to the eyes of those who love me, especially my fiancée, Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray.
I set out from London on the last day of April to visit one of our clients in Eastern Europe. On May the third, I arrived in Budapest and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh on the border of Transylvaina. At Bistritz, there was a letter of welcome for me from our client informing me that his carriage would await me at the Borgo Pass. It was signed: (PAUSE) "Dracula."
SFX: THUNDER.
MUSIC: OMINOUS, FADE UP AND SUSTAIN FOR EFFECT, THEN CROSSFADE TO . . .
SFX: EXTERIOR, HORSE DRAWN COACH TRAVELING MOUNTAIN ROAD, EVENING, DUCK UNDER THE FOLLOWING . . .
DRIVER:
Bukovina! Coach for Bukovina!
SFX: HORSES AND CARRIAGE, UP MOMENTARILY, THEN DUCK UNDER THE FOLLOWING . . .
HARKER
(Narrating) The road into the Carpathian Mountains was rough, but still we seemed to fly over it with feverish haste. When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement among the passengers. They kept crossing themselves while speaking to the driver and looking at me, urging him on with a greater speed.
SFX: CONTINUES UNDER.
HARKER(
(Narrating) The crazy coach rocked on its great leather springs, like a boat tossed on a stormy sea. The mountains seemed to come nearer to us on either side.
(Speaking to coach driver) Driver! Driver! What is it? Where are we?
DRIVER
(Speaking) You are nearing your destination, young Herr. This is the Borgo Pass.
SFX: THUNDER UP THEN UNDER, SOUNDS OF HORSES AND CARRIAGE CONTINUES
HARKER
(Narrating) There were black, rolling clouds overhead, and, in the air, the heavy, oppressive sense of thunder.
SFX: THUNDER CONTINUES TO RUMBLE
SFX: HORSES AND CARRIAGE STOPS, SOUNDSCAPE TRANSITIONS TO . . .
SFX: EERIE NIGHT FOREST SOUNDS.
HARKER
(Speaking) Another coach is to meet me here.
DRIVER
(Speaking) There is no coach. Perhaps the young herr is not expected after all? Come with us now, quickly, to Bokovina. It is the eve of St. George's Day. After midnight, all evil things in the world will have sway. Come back another day.
HARKER
(Narrating) At that moment, a light, open carriage, came along side us. It was pulled by four splendid coal-black horses. The driver seemed to know I was to be his passenger as he looked inside and said to me directly . . .
DRACULA'S DRIVER
(Speaking) You are early tonight. Let me help you, sir.
HARKER
(Narrating) The driver smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard mouth with berry red lips and sharp teeth as white as ivory. I descended from the coach into the carriage. The driver's hand caught my arm in a grip of steel. His strength must have been prodigious. He placed a cloak over my shoulders, and another over my knees. Then, without a word, he shook the reins and we swept into the darkness of the pass.
SFX: DRACULA'S COACH DRIVES AWAY.
HARKER
(Narrating) As I looked back, the coach with its load of passengers vanished from sight and I was overcome with a feeling of aloneness. We continued into the darkness of the pass. I struck a match. It was within a few minutes of midnight.
SFX: WOLF HOWLS AS COACH CONTINUES.
HARKER
(Narrating) A wolf began to howl somewhere far down the road.
SFX: WIND ARISES, LIMBS CRASH TOGETHER AS HORSES AND COACH SOUNDS AND WOLF HOWLS CONTINUES.
HARKER
(Narrating) The wind was rising, moaning and whistling through the rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as we swept along. It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery snow began to fall.
SFX: WIND RISES, WOLVES HOWL IN MIDDLE DISTANCE, COMING CLOSER.
HARKER
(Narrating) The baying of wolves sounded nearer and nearer, as if—as if they were closing round on us from every side. We kept on ascending—always ascending! The howling of wolves was growing less.
SFX: FINAL WOLF HOWL REVERBERATES AWAY
HARKER
(Narrating) Presently, it ceased altogether. And just then the moon broke through the black clouds and, by its light, I saw around us a ring of wolves running along side the carriage—in silence—with white teeth and lolling red tongues, with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair!
SFX: HEAVY BREATING.

SCENE 2: Meeting Dracula

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 2.0 ****
DRACULA
Welcome to my house.
HARKER
(Narrating) I must have fallen asleep! Perhaps I had partaken too liberally of the slivovitz under my seat. The driver directed me to the flask saying it would help ward off the cold night air as we traveled. The carriage was parked in the courtyard of a vast, ruined castle made of heavy cut stone. The driver was nowhere to be seen.

DRACULA
Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely. And leave something of the happiness you bring.
HARKER
(Speaking, to Dracula) Count Dracula?
DRACULA
I am Dracula.
SFX: HEAVY DOOR CLOSES SLOWLY, PROLONGING SQUEAKING.
HARKER
(Narrating) The face was strong—very strong—aquiline.
SFX: WOLVES HOWLING OUTSIDE,IN THE DISTANCE
HARKER
(Narrating) The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy mustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp, white teeth.
DRACULA
Mmmmm. You hear them, Mr. Harker?
HARKER
(Speaking, to Dracula) The wolves?
DRACULA
As you say, Mr. Harker—the wolves. I think of them as something more: the children of the night! What music they make. Listen!
SFX: WOLVES, UP THEN FADE OUT.
DRACULA
Mmmm. Come now. You are no doubt tired and wish to sleep. There are many things you must tell me tomorrow—of England and of the estates there you have purchased for me.
HARKER
Ah, yes.
DRACULA
But now, I will detain you no longer. You will find your room in readiness. And I advise you not to leave it during the night.
SFX: FOOTSTEPS AWAY.
MUSIC RISES MOMENTARILY AND OUT.
HARKER
(Narrating) After a few hours, it was apparent that I could not sleep. My mind was rehearsing, again and again, the details I knew I must share with Count Dracula about his real estate purchases. Thinking to begin a busy day, I got up, lit my candle, and placed my shaving mirror on the dressing table. I was just beginning to shave . . .
DRACULA
You feel rested, Mr. Harker?
HARKER
(Narrating) I had not seen him, although the reflection of the mirror covered the whole room behind me. I turned to the mirror again. Count Dracula was close to me, and I could see him over my shoulder, but there was no reflection of him in the mirror. It was blank. I started and cut myself on the chin. The blood began oozing.
DRACULA
(Screams at the sight of Harker's blood.)
DRACULA
The blood! The blood. Wipe the blood from your face, Mr. Harker. And take care how you cut yourself. It is more dangerous than you think . . . in this country. And this is the wretched thing that has done the mischief. It is a foul bobble of man's vanity. Away with it!
SFX: MIRROR IS BROKEN.
HARKER
(Narrating)With that, Dracula Dracula threw my mirror into a corner. It shattered into a thousand pieces.

MUSIC: DRAMATIC, TENSE UP AND OUT.

SCENE 3: Prisoner
BACKGROUND SLIDE: 3.0 ****
HARKER
(Narrating) Much later, I slept. When I awoke, it was morning. I found most of my things were gone—my passport, my notes, my letter of credit—I could find no trace of them anywhere. I left my room, seeking to find someone to help me. But, the castle appeared to be empty. As I explored, I learned many disturbing things about Count Dracula's castle.

HARKER
(Narrating) This castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching anything. There are doors-doors-doors everywhere! All of them locked. The door to the great hall, the door to the courtyard, every door in the castle is closed, bolted against me! Castle Dracula is a prison, and I am a prisoner.
MUSIC: UP AND UNDER.

SCENE 4: Surrounded by Terrors
BACKGROUND SLIDE: 4.0 ****
MUSIC: CONTINUES UNDER
HARKER
(Narrating) June 20th. Several weeks have now passed. There is work of some kind going on in the castle. Now and then I hear the far away muffled sound of mattock and spade. I fear it is some ruthless villainy. There is a growing and apparent sense of doom about the castle. I feel it around me, heavy, sodden, like rain waiting to fall.
Last night I witnessed a particularly unsettling event. I can only now write about in this journal, trying to make sense of what I have witnessed.
Count Dracula and I have formed a habit of talking late at night. He is quite curious about England, and asks many questions about the customs, the people, and the ways of doing business.
After we separated, I climbed to the top of the stone staircase at the end of the hallway. Looking out the window there I noticed a movement below. A head emerged from a window, followed by hands I knew instantly to be those of Count Dracula. Repulsion and terror overtook me when I saw the whole man emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over the dreadful abyss, face down with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings.
At first, I could not believe my eyes. I thought this was some trick of the moonlight, some weird effect of shadow. But, I kept looking and it could be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years. By thus using every projection, Dracula  moved downwards with considerable speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall.
What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me. I am in fear—an awful fear—and there is no escape for me. I am surrounded by terrors that I dare not think about . . .
MUSIC: UP AND UNDER.
SFX: WOLVES BAY UNDER THROUGH SCENE.

HARKER
(Narrating) Later, during an interlude with Dracula, I was sure that I was a prisoner.
HARKER
(Speaking, to Dracula) Count Dracula!
DRACULA
Yes, my young friend.
HARKER
(Speaking, to Dracula) Well, what of me? When am I free? When can I leave this place?
DRACULA
Free? Mr. Harker, you are always free. You want to leave? Would you like to leave tonight?
HARKER
(Speaking, to Dracula) Yes. Yes, in God's name!
DRACULA
My dear, young friend, not an hour shall you wait in my house against your will. Come, follow me.
SFX: FOOTSTEPS. DOOR IS TRIED.

DRACULA
Hmmm. Your door seems to be bolted. How strange.
HARKER
(Speaking, to Dracula) In God's name, open it!
DRACULA
As you will, Mr. Harker. You English have a proverb which is very close to my heart—'Welcome the coming, speed departing guests'. Good night, Mr. Harker!

SFX:DOOR OPENS. RAVENOUS WOLVES BARK AND GROWL, BURSTING INWARD.
HARKER
(Shouting, to Dracula, scared) Shut the door! Shut the door! Shut the door! Shut . . .!
SFX: WOLVES OUT. DOOR CLOSES.
DRACULA
The door is shut, Mr. Harker. I take it you will remain?
MUSIC UP AND OUT.

SCENE 5: Alone in Dracula's Castle
BACKGROUND SLIDE: 5.0 ****
HARKER
(Narrating) Morning, June the 30th. These may be the last words I ever write in this diary. God preserve my sanity! I have never seen Count Dracula by day. At sunrise he is gone. I don't understand these things. I only know that the wolves are baying and that he is a man with hair on the palms of his hands, with sharp teeth and no blood in his face. He casts no shadow. He cannot be seen in a mirror. And at night, I have watched him move like a bat across the shear face of the castle walls. He eats no food . . .
SFX: HEAVY WAGON AND HORSES AND WHIPS.
HARKER
(Narrating) As I write this I hear in the courtyard the rolling of heavy wheels and cracking of whips.

SFX: HAMMERS POUNDING, CONTINUES UNDER.

(Narrating) And there is in the passageway below a pounding of heavy boxes being set down, boxes shaped like coffins, and I know what they hold. The boxes are filled with holy earth from the chapel beneath the castle . . . The last box is being nailed down.
SFX: FOOTSTEPS.
HARKER
(Narrating) And now I hear the heavy feet tramping again.
SFX: DOOR CLOSES, CHAINS RATTLE.
HARKER
The door is shut, and the chains rattle. In the courtyard and down the rocky way, the roll of heavy wheels, the cracks of whips.
SFX: WAGONS PULL AWAY.
HARKER
(Narrating) Help! Help! Help! The wagons have gone. I am alone in the castle. I am alone in the castle. I am alone! Alone! But, I may find a way from this dreadful place. If so, I will make for home. Away from this cursed place where the devil and his children still walk with earthly feet!

SCENE 6: Strange Storm in Whitby
BACKGROUND SLIDE: 6.0 ****
SEWARD
Ladies and Gentleman, this is Dr. John Seward again. Mr. Harker's journal terminates at this point. I now present for your consideration a clipping from the Yorkshire Telegraph dated August of 1891. It reads . . .
SFX: RUSTLE OF NEWSPAPER, FAINT BOOMING OVERHEAD AND FAR AWAY BUT MOVING CLOSER
(Reading) "One of the greatest and sudden of storms on record was experienced here today. A little after midnight came a strange sound from over the sea, and high overhead the air began to carry a strange, faint, hollow booming. Then, without warning, the tempest broke. And there, with all sails set, was a foreign schooner rushing with terrific speed toward the shore. At the moment she crashed, a huge dog sprang up on deck from below, and running forward, jumped from the bow onto the sand and making straight up the east cliff toward the graveyard, vanished into the night. The coast guard going abroad at dawn found a dead man fastened to a spoke of the wheel. Tightly clutched in one hand was a crucifix. In the pocket of the dead man's coat was found a bottle, carefully corked, containing a roll of paper. This proved to be an addendum to the ship's log. Apparently the ship carried nothing but earth, common earth, packed away in wooden boxes shaped much like coffins."
MUSIC: LOW, RISES AND FADES.

SCENE 7: Aboard the Demeter

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 7.0 ****
SEWARD
The ship was the Demeter. The dead man found aboard was her Captain. I present you next portions from his Captain's Log.
CAPTAIN
(Narrating) Log of the Demeter. Russian flag. Black Sea to Whitby. July 6th. Finished taking in a strange cargo. Boxes of earth. At noon, set sail. East wind, fresh. Crew, four hands. Two mates, cook, and myself, captain. July 11th. Entered Bosporus. At dark, passed through Dardanelles. Mate reported in morning that one of crew, Viodin, was missing.
MATE
(Speaking, to Captain) Viodin took larboard watch eight bells last night. He was relieved by Talissian, but never came to his bunk. There is something aboard this ship!
CAPTAIN
(Laughs)
MATE
(Speaking) No. Don't laugh, Captain. In the rain last night ...

CAPTAIN
(speaking) Oh?
MATE
(Speaking) . . . a tall, thin man I saw go up the companionway and along the deck forward, and disappear. When I go to the bow—no one—and the hatchways were all closed.

SCENE 8: Crew Member Disappears

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 8.0 ****
CAPTAIN
(Narrating) July 22nd. Rough weather last three days, all hands busy with sails. No time be frightened. Passed Gibraltar and out through Straits. All well. July 24th. Last night, another hand was lost. Disappeared.
HAND 1
(Speaking, to Captain) Like Viodan, he came off his watch at midnight and we never see him again!
MATE
(Speaking) You take your watch now. 
HAND 1
(Speaking) I don't take watch alone no more!

HAND 2
(Speaking) Nor will I!

HAND 1
(Speaking) No more. Double watch!
HAND 2
(Speaking) Double watch!

SCENE 9: Another Disappearance
BACKGROUND SLIDE: 9.0 ****
CAPTAIN
(Narrating) July 29th. Had single watch tonight, as crew too tired to double. When morning came . . .
HAND 1
(Speaking) Hey! Hey, Balaki below! Balaki! Where are the guns?
MATE
(Speaking) Balaki gone like the others!
HAND 1
(Weeping) Like all the others!

SCENE 10: The Mate Goes Mad

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 10.0 ****

CAPTAIN
(Narrating) The Mate and I have agreed to go armed henceforth. July 30th. Last night. We are nearing England. Weather fine. All sails set.
HAND 2
(Speaking) Captain! Captain! The men on watch are missing! More missing!
CAPTAIN
(Narrating) Now . . . only self and mate and one hand left to work ship. August 3rd. Two days of fog and not a sail sighted. At midnight, I went to relieve the man at wheel and when I got to it I found no one there!
MATE
(Speaking) It's here! I know it now! I saw it. Like a man . . . taller and thin. Ghastly pale. It was in the bows and looking out. I gave it my knife—but the knife went right through it, empty as the air!
CAPTAIN
(Speaking, to Mate) What are you talking about?

MATE
(Speaking) It's here! And I'll find it! It's in the hold. In one of those boxes of earth. I'll unscrew them one by one and see. And see!
CAPTAIN
(Narrating) He is mad, stark-raving mad. It's no use my trying to stop him. He can't hurt those big boxes, they are invoiced as common earth.
MATE
(Screams) He's there, there, down—down in the hole. . . I know the secret now. The sea will save me from the him. It's all that's left. It's all that's left.

SCENE 11: The Captain Alone

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 11.0 ****

CAPTAIN
(Narrating) August 4th. I am all alone on my ship—and still the fog. I dare not go below. I dare not leave the helm. So here, all night, I stayed. And in the dimness of the night I saw it. I saw him! God forgive me, but the mate was right to jump overboard! It was better to die like a sailor in the blue water. But I am captain and I must not leave my ship. I have tied my hands to the wheel—for when my strength begins to fail—and along with them, I shall tie that which it dare not touch—my crucifix! (PAUSE.) I am growing weaker, and the night is coming on. God and the Blessed Virgin help a poor, ignorant soul trying to do his duty. (PAUSE.)
SFX:SLOW FOOTSTEPS.
CAPTAIM
(Screams)

SCENE 12: Lucy in Danger Greater than Death

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 12.0 ****

SFX: TELEGRAPH CLICKING.
SEWARD
(Narrating) We can now ascertain that the powerful storm, the mysterious ship, and the strange dog witnessed in Whitby were all part of Dracula's arrival in this country. We of course could not have known at the time what trouble lay ahead.
SFX: RUSTLING PAPER
This, ladies and gentlemen is a telegram, from myself to Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, in Amsterdam. Van Helsing is my former mentor from medical school. The telegram reads, "Lucy Westenra in alarming condition. Cannot diagnose. Come at once. Seward."
SFX: MORE TELEGRAPH CLICKING, HIGHER PITCHED.
VAN HELSING
(Narrating) Telegram. Van Helsing, Amsterdam to Seward. I am on my way to you. Please arrange for me to examine your patient immediately my arrival. Van Helsing.
SEWARD
(Narrating) Ladies and gentlemen, I shall now explain that six months before the events recorded here I had proposed to a young lady, Miss Lucy Westenra. On the very same day she received two other offers of marriage, one from Quincey Morris—a young man from Texas—another from Arthur Holmwood. She chose Holmwood, a young English lord. Despite my disappointment in her choice, Miss Westenra and I remained good friends.
Van Helsing arrived at four the next afternoon. I took him at once to Lucy's house. She lay in her bed, asleep. She was ghastly, chalky pale. The color was gone from her lips and gums. And the bones of her face stood out. Her teeth seemed to have grown in length and appeared sharped at their ends.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Young Miss is bad. Very bad. She must have blood or she will die. She is not anemic. The qualitative analysis of her blood is quite normal condition. It is strange. I do not like to think how strange. Look! My god, her throat, look!

SEWARD
(Narrating) The black velvet band around her neck dragged up a little and showed a red mark on her throat. Just over the external jugular vein were two punctures—not large, but not wholesome-looking. The edges were white and worn.
SEWARD
(Speaking to Van Helsing) Well? Well, what is it, Professor? What's wrong with her? Speak frankly. You can tell me the worst.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) I wish I could, Seward. I wish I could. But I do not dare!

SEWARD
(Speaking) But . . . won't you tell me anything?

VAN HELSING
(Speaking) I will tell you this—your young lady is in a danger greater than death. You must believe me. If you leave her for one moment and harm befalls, you will not sleep easy thereafter.

MUSIC: UP AND FADE OUT.

SCENE 13: Dracula Visits Lucy, again
BACKGROUND SLIDE: 13.0 ****

SEWARD
(Narrating) September 8th. I sat up all night with Lucy.
LUCY
(Speaking) John, I'm afraid.
SEWARD
(Speaking) My dear, you can sleep tonight. I'm here watching you—nothing can happen—and I promise, at any sign of bad dreams, or if I see anything, I'll wake you at once.

LUCY
(Speaking) You will? Will you, really? Then, I'll sleep.
SEWARD
(Narrating) I sat all night by her bed side. She did not wake once during the night, although the boughs or a bat or something slapped almost angrily against the window pane.
September 11th. Still quoting from my private journal regarding a message I received. It read "10:20 pm, St. John's Hospital. Serious complications, case 891. Your immediate presence in imperative." I had no choice. Sometime later, a paper was found among Lucy Westenra's belongings. . .
LUCY
(Narrating) I write this and leave it to be seen so that no one may get into trouble from me. I went to bed as usual, taking care that the window was closed as Dr. Van Helsing had directed.
SFX: SINGLE WOLF HOWL.

LUCY
(Narrating) About two in the morning, I awakened.
SFX: WOLF HOWLS AGAIN.
LUCY
(Narrating) I went to the door, called out—"John! John!" There was no answer.
SFX: WOLF HOWLS AGAIN. WINDOW BREAKS, SHATTERING GLASS FALLS ON THE FLOOR.
LUCY
(Narrating) Something's broken the window!
(Hushed) I'm in the room alone. I dare not go out. The house seems to be empty. The air . . . full of specks, floating, circling in the draft from the window. The light burns blue, dim. What am I to do? Something very sweet and very bitter all around me—like I'm sinking into deep water. There's singing in my ears.

DRACULA
(Chanting) You shall be flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood . ..

LUCY
(Speaking) Ahhhh . . .

SCENE 14: Lucy Dies

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 14.0 ****

SEWARD
(Narrating) September 12th. Late. Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry tonight. We found Lucy sprawled on the floor, and there was a draft in the room from the broken window. Her throat was bare, showing the two wounds, looking horribly white and mangled.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) We are too late, my friend. We have failed. God's will be done.
SEWARD
(Speaking) She is dying?
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Yes, she's dying. Stay beside her. It will make much difference, mark me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep.

MUSIC: UP,ESTABLISH, THEN FADE UNDER THE FOLLOWING.
SEWARD
(Narrating) It was late in the afternoon before she opened her eyes.
LUCY
John . . . Oh, John, I'm so glad you've come.
SEWARD
(Narrating) I took her hand and knelt beside her. Her breath came and went like a tired, peaceful child. When the light from the setting sun fell on her face a strange change came over her. Her eyes grew suddenly dull and hard—her breathing was heavy—her mouth opened and the pale gums drew back, showing her teeth large and sharp!
LUCY
(Speaking) John . . . Ah, I'm so glad you've come. Kiss me. Bend down and kiss me . . .
VAN HELSING
(Approaching) Run for your life! Run for your living soul and hers!

LUCY
(Screeches)

SEWARD
(Calls out in fear) Lucy!
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) She is dead!
SEWARD
(Speaking) Poor girl. Lie in peace at last. The end.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Not so! It is only the beginning. Wait and see!

MUSIC: OMINOUS, UP, HOLD, FADE UNDER THE FOLLOWING . . .

SCENE 15: The Beautiful Lady Preys on Children

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 15.0 ****
NEWS VENDOR
(Speaking) Extra! Special! Extra! Special! Kensington Horror!
SEWARD
(Narrating) From the Westminster Gazette. September 25th . . .
"'The Kensington Horror' and 'The Woman in Black' are vividly recalled to mind by a series of events that have taken place recently in the neighborhood of Hampstead. Several cases have occurred of young children straying from home or failing to return from playing on the Heath. In all these cases, when later discovered, the children have given as their excuse that they have been with 'a beautiful lady' who offered them chocolates. In each case, the child was found to be slightly torn or wounded in the throat. The wound seemed such as might be made by a rat or small dog."
MUSIC: RISES, FADES UNDER
NEWS VENDOR
(Speaking) Extra! Special! Extra! Hampstead Horror! Read about the beautiful lady! Read about the beautiful lady! Extra! Special!
VAN HELSING
(Reading) The Hampstead Horror. Another child injured by the beautiful lady. We have just received intelligence that another child, missed last night, was only discovered late in the morning. It has the same tiny wound in the throat.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking to Seward) Well, Seward, what do you think of that? You mean to tell me, my friend, that you still have no suspicions as to what poor Lucy died of?
SEWARD
(Speaking) Nervous prostration following on great loss or waste of blood.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) And how was the blood lost or wasted? You are a clever man, my friend, and a good doctor, but you do not believe that there are things that you cannot understand. You are wrong, Seward. Are you aware of all the mysteries of life and death. Can you tell me why in the Pampas there are bats that come at night and open the veins of cattle and horses—and suck dry those veins? Hmm? How on some islands of the western seas there are bats which hang on trees all day, and then when the sailors sleep on deck because it is hot, sweep down on them, and then in the morning are found dead men, as white as Miss Lucy was?
SEWARD
(Speaking) I understand none of these things.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) After tonight, Seward, if you dare to come with me, perhaps then you will understand.

MUSIC: UP AND OUT.

SCENE 16: Lucy Un-Dead, Is Made True Dead

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 16.0 ****
SEWARD
(Narrating) Once again ladies and gentlemen, I quote from my private journal. September 29th. Before dawn. Now it is done. And I would sooner die a thousand deaths than to live again what I did this night.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) We will spend the night, you and I, here in this churchyard where Miss Lucy is buried. We enter the tomb . . .
SEWARD
(Speaking) And then?
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) We open the coffin. You shall yet be convinced . . .
SEWARD
(Speaking) Take care, Van Helsing!
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Miss Lucy is dead, is it not so? Then there can be no wrong to her, but if she's not dead . . .
SEWARD
(Narrating) With some difficulty we found the tomb where Lucy's body was interred.
SFX:DOOR OPENS. CREAKS.
SEWARD
(Narrating) I took up my place behind a yew tree on one side of the tomb, Van Helsing on the other.
SFX: CLOCK TOWER BELL STRIKES TWICE.
SEWARD
(Narrating) I was chilled and frightened.

SFX: DOG HOWLS.
SEWARD
(Narrating) Suddenly, I saw moving toward us a dim, white figure which held something at its breast. The figure stopped. I could not see the face, for it was bent down over what I saw to be a fair-haired child. There was a sharp, little cry, such as a child gives in sleep or a dog as it lies before the fire and dreams. Then, the thing saw us. Drawing up I could see the shape of a woman. She drew back with an angry snarl. Her mouth was bloodstained. If ever a face meant death, I saw it at that moment. Then suddenly, she turned and vanished in the direction of the tomb.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking to Seward) The child is unharmed. We leave him in a safe place where the police find him.

SFX: RAPID FOOTSTEPS ON GRAVEL WALK.
VAN HELSING
(Retreating from mic) There's more to do. Come!
SEWARD
(Narrating) In the tomb, the thing lay in its coffin, a nightmare vision of Lucy—the pointed teeth, the bloodstained mouth. Van Helsing never looked up. From his bag he took out a book, his operating knife, a heavy hammer, and a round, wooden stake—two or three inches thick, sharpened to a fine point and hardened over a fire.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Seward! The life of this unhappy woman has just begun. Then she becomes what-you-call "Un-Dead." There comes with the change the curse of immortality. She cannot die, but must go on age after age, adding new victims, because all that die from the preying of the Un-Dead become themselves Un-Dead and prey on others. So the circle goes on, ever widening, as of the ripples from a stone thrown into the water. But . . . if this lady, this Un-Dead, be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the poor lady whom we love should be again free.
SEWARD
(Speaking) Tell me . . . what am I to do?
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Take this stake in your left hand, the hammer in your right.
SEWARD
(Speaking) Yes.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Place the point over the heart . . .
SEWARD
(Speaking) Here?
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Yes . . . then, I begin the prayer for the dead . . . in God's name strike with all your might, and continue to drive the stake through her body.
SEWARD
(Groans.)
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Are you ready?
(Pause.)
VAN HELSING
(Praying) Now. Domini des aprieste

SFX: HAMMER STRIKES STAKE. BREATH ESCAPES LUCY'S BODY LIKE AIR FROM A LARGE BALLOON.
LUCY
(Screams.)

SCENE 17: Harker Returns, Marries Mina

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 17.0 ****

SEWARD
(Narrating) On the morning of July 11th, a man was found on the border of Transylvania. He talked wildly of wolves and boxes of earth and blood. He gave his name as Jonathan Harker. In a hospital at Klausenburgh he improved sufficiently to make possible his removal to Budapest. His fiancee, Miss Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker, traveled to his side where she debriefed him about his imprisonment in the castle of Count Dracula. Here is an entry from her journal . . .
MINA
(Narrating) October 1st. At last! After months of silence, there is news of Jonathan! His letters were infrequent and disturbing from Dracula Castle. Then silence. But now this news! He was found wandering at the border, pale, feverish, quite agitated about wolves. I traveled to Budapest and visited with him daily in the hospital there. He proposed that we marry, immediately. I was surprised that he could think of marriage in his state, but I agreed, and we were married in the hospital chapel. Since returning to London, his health has improved and he seems himself again. It is so good to have him home!
Dr. Van Helsing contacted us both soon after our return. He knows of us apparently though my letters exchanged with Lucy, and her private journal. My dear Lucy. She was my friend from earliest youth. We shared many thoughts and dreams. Van Helsing wanted to meet me and Jonathan, and talk about her death, the poor dear.
He gave us all the papers he collected from Lucy, as well as his own and those of Dr. Seward. Jonathan and I have typed and arranged them in order so to make a complete record of all that is known about the situation. Tonight Jonathan and I meet the Doctors and we plan our actions.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) My friends, you have read the report prepared by Mrs. Mina Harker and her husband Jonathan. Jonathan has immediate experience with Count Dracula and has witnessed many things that aid our understanding of the situation. Mina has a keen mind for details and is focused in her actions. Together they have coordinated all the facts and observations we each have observed or collected.
We can now agree on the following. There are such things as vampires. Had I known at first what now I know . . . dear Ms. Lucy's life would have been spared for the many of us who love her. The vampire which is amongst us is himself so strong that he can direct all the elements—the storm, the fog, the thunder—he can command all the meaner things, the moth and bat, the owl, the fox, and the wolf. We must then begin our efforts to destroy him. We must find his place of hiding. And having found it, we must destroy his sanctuary. We must destroy this evil Un-Dead. My friends, it is a terrible task that we undertake. To fail here is not mere life or death. If we fail we become as him—foul things of the night. What do you say?
MINA
(Speaking) I answer for myself. I am committed.
HARKER
(Speaking) I too will commit to this cause and do everything in my power to assure its success.
SEWARD
(Speaking) I'm with you as well.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Good! Come near.
MINA
(Narrating) The professor laid a small golden crucifix on the table. We took each other's hands and our solemn pact was made.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) My friends, our foe is formidable, but we are not without strength. The vampire flourishes on the blood of the living. Without this he cannot live. He throws no shadow. He makes no reflection in a mirror. He can transform himself to a wolf, to a bat. He can come on moonlight rays as elemental dust. He can see in the dark. He can do all these things . . . yet he is not free. His power ceases at the coming of the day. Then, until night, he must remain in the shape in which he finds himself and, except in his coffin home—in those earth boxes—he cannot rest. When we can confine him in his coffin, then, my friends, if we obey what we know, we will destroy him!
SFX: WINDOW BREAKS.
MINA
(Narrating) At that moment, something slapped wildly against the window, then . . .
SFX: GUN SHOT.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Did you hit it?

HARKER
(Speaking) I do not know.
MINA
(Narrating) We looked out of the window—(Her voice fades) Against the black sky we could see nothing.
SFX: EERIE WHISTLING EFFECT RISES AND FADES OUT.

SCENE 18: A Plan Is Made

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 18.0 ****

VAN HELSING
(Speaking) My friends, we have tracked and verified all the shipping records. From the Count's castle in Transylvania to Whitby, here in England, came fifty boxes of earth. All of these to our certain knowledge were delivered at Carfax, the estate whose purchase by Dracula was aided by Jonathan Harker, at much cost to his health and nerves. Recently, twelve of these boxes have been removed. First step, ascertain whether all the rest remain at the estate or have been removed. We must break each of these boxes and sterilize the earth with holy water so Dracula can no longer seek safety in them. And we must hurry!
SFX: EERIE RUMBLING RISES AND FADES OUT.

SCENE 19: Dracula Visits Mina
BACKGROUND SLIDE: 19.0 ****
SEWARD
(Narrating) The events of the next few days are described in separate journals kept by Jonathan Harker and his wife Mina Harker.
HARKER
(Narrating) October 2nd. Five a.m. Just returned from the empty house, left Mina here at home. Well . . . we've done our work at Carfax. The place was filthy, two inches of dust covering everything, the air stagnant and foul, and alive with rats! We counted the boxes—only thirty-eight of them—and over each one the professor went through his same mysterious work. It was dawn when we got back. I found Mina asleep. She looks paler than usual.
MINA
(Narrating) October 2nd. Soon after they left I fell asleep. I remember hearing the sudden barking of the dogs—and then it was silent. I got up and looked out of the window. There was a thin streak of white mist moving across the grass along the wall of the house. The air in the room was heavy and dank and cold. The gaslight came only like a tiny red spark in the fog. Even with my eyes closed, I could see the spark through my eyelids! The mist grew thicker and thicker. Then, as I looked, the spark divided and seemed to shine on me through the fog like two red eyes.
DRACULA
(Chanting) You shall be flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood . . . blood of my blood . . .
MINA
(Sighs heavily, orgasmically.)

SCENE 20: A Confrontation with Dracula

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 20.0 ****
HARKER
(Narrating) October 2nd. Eight p.m. We are on the track. Twelve boxes were delivered to an empty house at 337 Piccadilly, here in London.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) My dear friends, until the sun sets tonight, Dracula must retain whatever form he now has. We have this day to hunt out all his lairs and sterilize them, then he will have no place he can move and hide. But we have only until sunset!
SEWARD
(Narrating) Like at the Carfax estate, the house in Piccadilly was small and close. The air was stagnant and foul with the same sickening smell of age, disuse, and blood. On the table we found a clothes brush, a brush, and a comb, and a basin—the latter containing dirty water which was reddened as if with blood.
HARKER
(Speaking) The boxes are back here! Eight, nine, ten . . . eleven.
SEWARD
(Speaking) Only eleven.
HARKER
(Speaking) There's a twelfth box somewhere.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Gentlemen, it is after six. The sun is setting! We have no time to lose, he will return at any moment! Open the boxes!
SFX: WOODEN BOXES BEING PRIED OPEN, FOOTSTEPS ARE HEARD SLOWLY APPROACHING
VAN HELSING
(Quietly) Listen. Something is coming!
(Pause.)
SFX: FOOTSTEPS CONTINUE. DOOR OPENS.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) It is he!

SFX:TWO GUNSHOTS.
DRACULA
You waste your bullets, Gentlemen. You think you baffle me. You with your pale faces all in a row like sheep in a butcher's shop. You think you have left me without a place to rest, but I have more. And time is on my side. The one you love is mine already. I have known her. Already my mark is on her throat. Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood. She is with me always, over land or sea!
MUSIC: UP AND FADE OUT.

SCENE 21: Mina Hypnotized, Helps Locate Dracula

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 21.0 ****

SEWARD
(Narrating) October 4th, morning. Another meeting of our group.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) We must find that last remaining box. Gentleman, we must find it! As long as there remains one place of refuge for the Un-Dead, there is no safety and no peace for any soul in England. We must destroy Dracula in order to save dear Mina. The vicious scar upon her neck shows that she has been infected by his evil. If we do not find and destroy this monster, she will become like him!
MINA
(Speaking) Dr. Van Helsing, Gentlemen . . . I know my fate is a horrible one. I can feel myself changing, and I see the changes in the mirror. My face grows more thin, my eyes appear sunken, and my teeth, especially the incisors, the "Dog Teeth," grow longer.
Soon, I will not be able to help you. In fact, I may even resist you as I become more aligned with our enemy. Until then, there IS something I can do. You reported from your meeting with Dracula that he said, "The one you love is already mine. She is with me always, over land and sea." If I am really with him, then perhaps we can know his movements.
Perhaps if Dr. Van Helsing will hypnotize me I can use that connection to report Dracula's activities. From that we may be able to determine his location, and make our plans to meet him and seek justice. Oh please, you must help me with this before it is too late!
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Mina, do you consent to being hypnotized? Will you allow me, while you are in such a state, to ask you questions? Have you the courage?
MINA
(Speaking) Yes, Dr. Van Helsing, I will do this.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Our dear Mina is correct. In a state of hypnosis, she can use her connection to Dracula to report what she sees and hears. We can use this information to locate him and lay our plans.
But, just as Mina will help US with a connection to Dracula, she can also help HIM with connection to us. If he is made aware of what we are doing he can use Mina to confuse and avoid us. He may also further harm this one we love. It is very dangerous, but we must proceed.
HARKER
(Speaking) Oh, my darling, daring wife. I am afraid to the point of inability to act. I must rely on your strength and courage to make me move onward. Do take care, Dr. Van Helsing that she will be harmed no further.
SEWARD
(Narrating) With his hands, Van Helsing gestured in front of Mrs. Harker's face while speaking slowly, rhythmically. Mina's eyes closed briefly, but opened again. She stared straight ahead, her vision focused on some distant scene . . .
MINA
(Trance) Blood of my blood . . . flesh of my flesh . . .
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Mina!
HARKER
(Speaking) What is she saying?
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Quiet! Quiet!

MINA
(Trance) With me . . . with me always . . . over land and sea . . 
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Mina, how did you know that Dracula said those words?
MINA
(Trance) I don't know. The words just came . . . Strange. There are times when somehow I feel that I am with him.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) At sunset?
MINA
(Trance) Yes. Just as sun sets . . . and again at sunrise. Blood of my blood . . . Flesh of my flesh . . .
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Mina . . .
MINA
(Trance) Yes?
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Answer me, Mina. Are you with him?
MINA
(Trance) Yes, I am with him.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Where are you?
MINA
(Trance) I do not know. It is all dark.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) What do you hear?
MINA
(Trance) The lapping of water. I can hear it on the outside.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Then, you are on a ship?
MINA
(Trance) Yes.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) What else do you hear?
MINA
(Trance) There is the creaking of an anchor chain . . . the sound of sails flapping in the wind.
HARKER
(Speaking) What are you doing?
MINA
(Trance) Still. Oh, so still. It is like death . . . it is like death.

SCENE 22: Dracula Flees England

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 22.0 ****
SEWARD
(Narrating) From his questioning of Mina using hypnosis, Dr. Van Helsing determined that Dracula was aboard a sailing ship. There could only be one reason for this: he was returning to his castle in Transylvania. Van Helsing speculated that Dracula would travel by boat to the Black Sea, and from there to his last sanctuary. We evaluated all reports of ships leaving London for the Black Sea . . .
Here, ladies and gentlemen, is a report from Lloyds, dated October 5th, which reads, "The only sailing ship that left for the Black Sea yesterday was a Russian vessel, the Czarina Catrina bound for Varna. Before she sailed a man came alongside, all in black, driving a cart with a great box in it. This he lifted down single-handed and carried below. No one remembers having seen him after that. A heavy mist came up over Dolittle Dock until sailing time . . . the rest of London Harbor remained completely clear."
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Our plans are made. The average sailing time from London to the Black Sea is three weeks. We can travel over land to the same place in three days. We shall be there waiting for him when he arrives!
HARKER
(Narrating)October 15th. Arrived at the port town of Varna about five o'clock. Myself, Van Helsing, Seward and my brave Mina. She feels stronger. Van Helsing has told her that she must stay alive until we can destroy our enemy. Every morning before sunrise and just before sunset she speaks to Van Helsing under hypnosis.

SCENE 23: At Sea

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 23.0 ****
MUSIC: RISES AND CONTINUES SOFTLY THROUGH SCENE.

VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Are you with him, Mina? Tell me, are you with him?
MINA
(Trance): I am with him.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking): What can you see?
MINA
(Trance): Nothing. All is dark.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) What can you hear?
MINA
(Trance) I can hear the waves lapping against the ship . . . and the water rushing by. The wind is high. I can hear it in the shrouds and the water's foam.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking to the group) The Czarina Catrina is still at sea, hastily to Varna. Whether in the form of wolf, bat, or man, Dracula cannot cross running water on his own. He must be carried. So he cannot leave the ship without being observed!
VAN HELSING
(Speaking to MINA) What do you hear, Mina?
MINA
(Trance) Lapping waves and rushing water. Darkness . . . darkness.
SEWARD
(Narrating) We spent a whole week of waiting in Varna for the ship carrying Dracula to arrive.
MINA
(Trance) . . . rushing water . . . rushing water . . . darkness . . . darkness and wind . . .
SFX: TELEGRAPH, ESTASBLISH, THEN DUCK UNDER THE FOLLOWING
SEWARD
(Narrating) A telegram, from Lloyd's, in London, to Harker. October 28th. Czarina Catrina in heavy fog, reported entering Galatz harbor at one o'clock today.
SFX: TELEGRAPH ENDS.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Galatz! Galatz is thirty-eight hours from here, and the first train for Galatz leaves at six-thirty tomorrow morning. My friends, we have lost!
MUSIC: OMINOUS, UP FOR EMPHASIS, THEN FADES OUT

SCENE 24: PURSUING DRACULA

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 24.0 ****

MUSIC: SOFTLY RISES, THEN DUCKS UNDER THE FOLLOWING.
MINA
(Trance) I am with him . . . I can see nothing . . . nothing . . . I can hear men's voices calling in the roar and the prick of the wind . . . I can feel the air blowing . . .

MUSIC: FADES OUT.

SFX: FADE UP ROAR OF TRAIN, TRAIN WHISTLE, DUCK UNDER THE FOLLOWING
SEWARD
(Narrating) October 29th. Evening.
SFX: UP FOR TRAIN WHISTLE, THEN DUCK UNDER.
SEWARD
(Narrating) Enroute to Galatz. We are due between two and three in the morning, but already at Bucharest we are three hours late.
SFX: MORE TRAIN.
MINA
(Trance) What is happening? I feel something pass me like a cold wind. I can hear far off, confused sounds, as of men talking in strange tongues. Fierce, falling water and the howling of wolves. There is another sound—how queer a sound—like . . . like . . .
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Like what? Speak, Mina! Speak! Tell us what you hear!

SCENE 25: TOO LATE IN GALATZ

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 25.0 ****

SFX: TRAIN WHISTLE. TRAIN PULLING INTO STATION.
SEWARD
(Narrating) Arrived in Galatz. Saw the captain of the Czarina Catrina. Learned that a box for a party by the name of Dracula offloaded to another, smaller boat.

SCENE 26: PURSUIT BY LAND AND WATER

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 26.0 ****
SEWARD
(Narrating) October 30th. Evening.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) I have examined the map and found that most likely Dracula will travel up the river Sereth to near Bistritza. From there he can follow the road to his castle near Borgo Pass.
HARKER
(Speaking) You and I, Seward, will charter a steam launch and follow him up the river. Van Helsing and Mina will take a train to Veresti and from there . . .
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) From there we shall follow the route Harker went to Bistritza and over to Borgo. If you have not caught him before, we shall be meeting Dracula there.

SCENE 27: VAN HELSING AND MINIA TO BORGO PASS

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 27.0 ****

SFX: HORSE TEAM GALLOPING, COACH WHEELS ON DIRT ROADWAY.
MINA
(Narrating) October 31st. By train and carriage we arrived at Veresti at noon. It would be so easy to give into my fatigue, and sleep, but I must remain strong for Jonathan and the others. Van Helsing and I start in an hour toward the Borgo Pass. Our enemy is still on the river.

SCENE 28: HARKER AND SEWARD SPEED UP RIVER

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 28.0 ****

SFX: STEAM SHIP SOUNDS RISE.
HARKER
(Narrating) October 31st. We can earn good speed up the river at night. There is plenty of water, and the banks are wide apart allowing us to maneuver around other boats.
SFX: MORE STEAM SHIP SOUNDS.
HARKER
(Narrating) November 1st. Evening. We stop every boat we overtake but find nothing. We hear that a big boat went up the river before us, going at more than usual speed.

SCENE 29: ENROUTE TO BORGO PASS

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 29.0 ****

SFX: HORSE TEAM UP, THEN DUCK UNDER THE FOLLOWING
MINA
(Narrating) November 4th. All day driving in the carriage. The country gets wilder as we go. By morning we should reach the Borgo Pass.

SCENE 30: CLOSING IN

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 30.0 ****

SFX: HORSES APPROACH, STOP, DAWN BIRD SOUNDS, HORSES BREATHING.
HARKER
(Narrating) November 4th. Evening. At last some news! The box was loaded into a Gypsy wagon and proceeds toward the Borgo. We have left the launch. We have got horses and we follow on the track along the river. We are armed!
SEWARD
(Speaking) Look! Quick! There they are now! Heading west.
HARKER
(Narrating) Through the dawn, we could see Gypsies some miles before us, dashing along the river with their wagon. On it is a great box.

SCENE 31: DRACULA DESTROYED

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 31.0 ****

MUSIC: SLOW BUILD
VAN HELSING
(Narrating) Late in the afternoon we arrive the Borgo Pass. The clouds descend. The air grows cold. Snow swirls in the wind making faces and shapes. He is coming!
MINA
Speaking) Van Helsing! Look! Look!
VAN HELSING
(Narrating) We could see a long way all around from our hiding place among the rocks. Far off beyond the white waste of snow, like a black ribbon curling between us and the river, came a group of mounted Gypsies riding along the road. In the midst of them was a wagon that swept from side to side. On the wagon was a great box.

SFX: HORSE AND CART SOUNDS . . . DUCK UNDER THE FOLLOWING. . .
MINA
(Speaking) Look!

SFX: HORSE SOUNDS PICK UP SPEED
VAN HELSING
(Narrating with increasing anxiety) We see two horses following fast, coming up from the south. It must be Seward and Harker. The Gypsies with their heavy wagon are losing their ground. Now they must be not more than a mile behind. Now the wagon is quite closer. We can see the great box laying gravely. Now they are almost upon us.
SFX: HORSE WHINNY, BOXES CLATTERING, CRASH
VAN HELSING
(Narrating) Then happened a strange thing: the wagon smashed into a great rock buried in the snow. Lost its front wheel and turned over on its side jammed against the stone. The horses tore loose from their tracers and bolted. The Gypsies scattered and vanished after them. Then silence, silence like comes after . . . ringing a bell.
SFX: SILENCE, OTHER THAN FAINT SOUND OF WIND
MINA
(Speaking) Look, his face.
HARKER
(Narrating) Seward and I arrived just before the Gypsies disappeared around the turning in the road ahead. No doubt they were scared away by the scene before us. It was Dracula, sprawled out stiff and twisted in the smear of his own un-holy earth. The box, in falling from the wagon, broke apart and emptied its contents onto the snow. His face was old, his skin was like paper.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking to the group) There is no time! Look at the sun!
MINA
(Speaking) Sunset.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) In one minute it is sunset and he is forever lost to us. Dr. Seward, have you the stake of wood and the hammer?
SEWARD
(Speaking) Yes. I have them both.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Quickly, give them to Harker! You pray!
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Harker, place the stake of wood over Dracula's heart. Be not afraid. Do not look into his eyes. The hammer! Now Harker, Strike! Strike! Hard as you might! A blow to kill the Un-Dead!

MUSIC: DRUM ROLLS OMINOUSLY
DRACULA
(Chanting) Flesh. Flesh of my flesh. Guilt of my guilt. Death of my death. Speak and be manifest in the instant of your master's peril. Elements of darkness, rain . . .
SFX: THUNDER, WIND, SUDDEN STORM.
DRACULA
(Chanting) Evil wind, mist and mold and tempests . . .
VAN HELSING
(Speaking, imploring) Strike, Harker! Strike!
MINA
(Narrating) The others could not, but somehow I heard Dracula speaking, behind my eyes.
DRACULA
(Speaking an incantation) Claw, wing, tooth, scale, tissue of flesh, Death of my death. Dead and undead. The hand of the living is over your master. Console me my children. This instant is no longer than the space between two heart beats, but the night is not here, and I am lonely. Come to your master my children. Beguile him now in the instant of his peril, beguile him with the sound of your names Claw, wing, tooth, scale, tissue of flesh, Claw, wing, tooth, scale, tissue of flesh . . .
VAN HELSING
(Imploring) Strike Harker, Strike!
DRACULA
(Speaking) There is one very dear to me who has not answered! My love . . . Mina. There is less than a minute between me and the night. You must speak for me, you must speak with my heart.
MINA
(Speaking, decisively) Give them to me! Jonathan give them to me! Give me the stake of wood and the hammer!
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Harker!
HARKER
(Narrating) I shall never forget that moment. The look on poor Mina's face as she stood there, the angry scar standing out on her throat, her eyes like living coals in the last red of the sunset. She tore the stake and the hammer from my hands with the strength of an animal.
VAN HELSING
(Speaking) Mina! Do you know what you have done woman? Do you know what you have done to us? You have released him, the evil is free!
SEWARD
(Speaking) Look! The sun!
HARKER
(Narrating) As I looked down at Dracula, I saw the sinking sun reflected in his eyes. The hate in them turned to triumph.
DRACULA
Flesh of my flesh, come to me, my love. Come into the night and the darkness. You have served me well. My love, my bride . . . my . . .

SFX: STAKE DRIVEN THROUGH DRACULA'S HEART
DRACULA
(Death scream.)

(PAUSE, SILENCE)
MINA
(Narrating) I hit the stake again and again, driving it through his heart, through his body, and into the dirt. As I did so I felt his infection leaving my body. My mind cleared. The wound at my throat closed and healed. He was gone from our lives!

SCENE 32: CODA

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 32.0 ****
SEWARD
(Narrating) Ladies and gentlemen, all the evidence is now before you. I have added nothing and to the best of my knowledge I have omitted nothing that might help to throw light upon the extraordinary events of the year 1891, which culminated on that terrible evening in the Borgo Pass. There remains only this one last report from Dr. Van Helsing.
VAN HELSING
(Narrating) When Mina Harker seized the stake and hammer from her husband, Jonathon, I believe she was under some form of hypnosis. She herself remembers nothing, but what ever influence was at work on her, she must at the last moment have rejected it. For at the exact instant the sun disappeared, it was Mina Harker who drove the stake through the heart of the thing called Dracula. At that same instant, even as we looked, the wound on the side of her throat was no more. As for Dracula, before the screams of the creature had died from our ears, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight. In the final moment of the solution there was in the face a look of peace such as I could never have imagined might have rested there.

SFX: LOW RUMBLING, THUNDER, ERUPTION

Above us, the dark clouds parted, providing a view of Dracula's castle. As we looked there came a terrible convulsion of the earth so that we seemed to rock to and fro and fell to our knees. At the same moment with a roar which seemed to shake the very heavens the whole castle and the rock and even the hill on which it stood seemed to rise into the air and scatter in fragments while a mighty cloud of black and yellow smoke, volume on volume in rolling grandeur, was shot upwards with inconceivable rapidity.
Then down in a mighty ruin falling whence they rose came the fragments that had been tossed skywards in the cataclysm.
From where we stood it seemed as though the one fierce volcano burst had satisfied the need of nature and that the castle and the structure of the hill had sunk again into the void hiding the fact that vampires were ever there.
MUSIC: CELEBRATORY BELLS, ESTABLISH, THEN DUCK UNDER THE FOLLOWING . . .

BACKGROUND SLIDE: 33.0 SCHEDULE OF FUTURE PERFORMANCES

ANNOUNCER
You have listened to Dracula, a performance by *** presesnted by Re-Imagined Radio.
Join us again for another live performance as we explore radio storytelling.
Until then, goodnight, and safe travels. Watch the shadows, however . . .
SFX: WOLF HOWLS.

SFX: CELEBRATORY BELLS FADE OUT

CREDITS
Background Slide 32: Credits