Suicide Graveyards or Suicide Plots were graveyards in Ireland where people who had committed Suicide were buried, they were also used for the burial of Highwaymen and Robbers.
This is where the traditional Irish idea of the Vampire comes from, as these people were believed to be unable to pass to the other side, and would roam the earth as Vampires, creatures of the Dead. Unless, a wooden stake, sharpened at one end, was driven through the Corpses Heart. This was the practice and Bram Stoker’s Mother Charlotte would tell him stories about the Suicide Graveyards in Ireland during his mysteries illness as a boy. As a young man Bram would visit one such Suicide Plot that was in Ballybough, five minutes walk from were Bram Stoker was born in 15 the Cresent, Clontarf, Dublin which is opposite ‘Castle Dracula’. You can find out more about Suicide Graveyards, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Vampires in Ireland at Castle Dracula. www.CastleDracula.ie
As a young man Bram used to visit the Suicide Graveyard and was influenced by these stories when he wrote Dracula. This Suicide Graveyard was located across the Luke Kelly Bridge on Clonliffe Road in Ballybough.
