I saw a photograph someone had shared on social media of Slains Castle in Scotland at sunset. It’s a gorgeous picture, but I won’t share it here as I don’t have the photographer’s permission to do so. There are plenty to be found, however. Just do a google image search. You’ll find some gorgeous shots. I frequently use photos for this or our sister sites (werewolves.com and darkness.com) without knowing who took them. There’s that fair usage rule and all that, and besides it is often impossible to discover the originator of any given image. In this case, though, I know who took the picture, and I do not have his permission to share it, thus out of respect I won’t.
The photographer shared the image along with a short blurb naming it as Slains Castle, then went on to say that it served as the inspiration for Castle Dracula in Bram Stoker’s novel. This last may not be an accurate statement. While it is possible that Slains served as AN inspiration, and less likely but still possible that it served as THE inspiration, there is no way to verify it. Bram Stoker was in the area at the time he was writing DRACULA. He, impressed with Slains, might have had it in mind when he wrote about Castle Dracula. But if he did he left no written account of it in his notes.