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Dracula was first published in 1897. It was mainly written in the form of diaries and journals by the key characters of the book: Jonathan Harker, who made the first contact with the vampire Count Dracula; Wilhelmina (“Mina”) Harker, Jonathan’s wife later in the book; Dr. John (“Jack”) Seward, a psychiatrist; and Lucy Westenra, Mina’s friend and Dracula’s victim who herself becomes a vampire. The story is this: a Transylvanian vampire who, with his supernatural powers, makes his way to England and starts to turn innocent people into his victims in order to gain the blood on which he survives. Led by Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, Harker and his friends, after many sinister encounters and terrifying adventures, are at last able to destroy Dracula. Dracula has become immensely popular in Western popular culture and has had many adaptations for film, television, and the stage.