With Halloween fast approaching, the Bram Stoker Festival is the perfect activity for anyone looking for a spooky outing in Dublin. During the festival, the city comes alive with creepy crawlies, gruesome ghouls, and an array of frightening activities for you to sink your teeth into. This grisly event takes visitors on a walk through Dublin‘s dark side, with heart-racing adventures and creepy living stories for adults and children alike.
Bram Stoker Festival activities
Attracting 40,000 scare-hungry visitors each year, the festival is supported by Dublin City Council, Fáilte Ireland and presented by the brilliant Project Arts Centre. The Bram Stoker festival provides family fun, art installations, literature and drama at various venues across Dublin – all in celebration of the locally born writer. To give you a taste of what to expect, recent line-ups included a Goths Vs Zombies dance-off, a shapeshifter’s ball, a goth karaoke, and a Literary Death Match.
Expect everything from gruesome B-side movie screenings, to eerie spoken word poetry and elaborate undead parades. Kids and adults alike will love the scary walk taking place in the candlelit Marsh’s Library where Bram Stoker once read, but keep your eyes peeled for vampires and spiders!
Top attractions at the Bram Stoker Festival
The biggest highlight of the festival for many visitors is the incredible undead parade known as the Macnas Twilight Procession. When darkness falls, all manner of half-living monsters march through the city alongside drummers, dancers and musicians. Finishing at Wolfe Tone Square, the march of demonic floats is great fun and a visual spectacle not to be missed.
For those with an interest in Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker himself, the National Gallery of Ireland is putting on a series of talks for the festival. These mini-lectures allow insight into the fascinating life of the Dracula author and his lifelong love of horror stories, as well as discussing the impact of the famous novel. All the lectures are free to enjoy, with creepy workshops to entertain the kids too.
One of the most anticipated events will be the spooky story and song session with Soundings Holy Trinity. With music provided by Heathers, hosts Dylan Haskins and Lisa Hannigan are joined by actress Amy Huberman, poet Theo Dorgan and Moone Boy star David Rawle for an evening event that will bring St Patrick’s Cathedral to life.
From gothic theme parks to magazine-delivering zombies, when it comes to the Bram Stoker Festival there is only one thing that you can say for certain: you are guaranteed to be frighteningly well entertained, so book your Liverpool to Dublin crossing today!
