Dracula

This 1897 Gothic horror novel introduces Count Dracula, a vampire who becomes central to a series of terrifying events. English solicitor Jonathan Harker travels to Dracula's castle in Transylvania for business, where he encounters three phantom women, witnesses the Count transform into a bat, and discovers puncture wounds on his neck. After escaping and returning home, Harker finds his friend suffering from sleepwalking, unexplained blood loss, and mysterious throat wounds, revealing that Dracula has followed him to England. Professor Abraham Van Helsing leads a hunt for the vampire, pursuing him back to Transylvania. The search party locates Dracula buried in a box of dirt and kills him by decapitation and a stake through the heart. The novel explores themes including the role of women in Victorian society, sexual conventions, immigration, and colonialism. It has been classified as vampire literature, horror fiction, Gothic fiction, and invasion literature. Though Stoker did not invent the vampire, he established its modern form. The novel has inspired numerous theatrical, film, and television adaptations since its publication.