October

1 October (Sunday)

• Jack Seward: Seward makes a diary entry regarding his meeting with Renfield at 4:00 A.M. [Possible Timing error: According to Jonathan's 1 October entry, both he and Seward would have been at Carfax until the sun rose (6:01 A.M. in 1893), making it impossible for the two men to record diary entries at the times given.]
  
  
• Jonathan Harker: Quincey and Van Helsing speak with Seward as to how lucid Renfield seemed during their recent meeting. Seward responds, saying that Renfield's previous behavior has made him wary of such shifts in mood.
  
  The group then ventures to the Carfax property and breaks into the main building by means of skeleton keys. (In several outlines in the notes, it is mentioned that they were to have discovered an ominous "blood red room" at Carfax.) There, they find twenty-nine of the fifty earth boxes, and Jonathan briefly believes that he sees the outlines of the Count's face. A horde of rats descends on them, and Arthur, who had been prepared for such an eventuality, summons a group of three terriers to dispatch the animals. The group thereafter returns to the asylum a little after dawn, at which point they hear the sound of moaning from Renfield's room.
  
  Jonathan goes to the room where he and Mina are staying and notices that she seems paler than before. At 5:00 A.M. [Possible Timing error: According to Jonathan's 1 October entry, he would have been at Carfax until the sun rose (6:01 A.M. in 1893), making it impossible for him to record a diary entries at the time given.], he makes a diary entry regarding the events of the night before falling asleep on the sofa. He wakes up late in the day, resolving to go speak to Thomas Snelling in the hopes of picking up the trail of some of the Count's remaining twenty-one earth boxes.
  
  
• Jack Seward: Seward awakens around 12:00 P.M. when Van Helsing enters his room and makes a request that he be allowed to visit Renfield again. Seward permits this, and Van Helsing speaks to Renfield, who is much changed from their last meeting and bids Van Helsing go, deriding him as a fool. Van Helsing then returns to speak with Seward briefly before going to spend time with Mina, hoping to cheer her as she waits apprehensively in her isolation from the rest of the group.
  
  
• Mina Harker: Mina writes in her diary about her odd dreams and mentions that she will ask the doctors to provide her with some sort of sedative to help her sleep more easily in the future.
  
  
• Jonathan Harker: Jonathan visits Thomas Snelling at Bethnal Green and finds him too drunk to provide any information. He then goes to Walworth and interviews Joseph "Jack" Smollet, who tells him that he delivered six boxes of earth to 197 Chicksand Street in Mile End New Town and another six to Jamaica Lane in Bermondsey. Smollet also gives him the name of Sam Bloxam, who apparently also worked on a moving job at Carfax. After being paid for his information, Smollet promises to forward Bloxam's address to Jonathan at the earliest opportunity.
  
  
• Mitchell, Sons & Candy: [Dating error: See 2 October for details]
  
  
• Jack Seward: Puzzled by Renfield's behavior, Seward goes to visit him. The two talk about life and souls, the latter topic being one that seems to be weighing on Renfield's mind. After a time, Renfield grows silent, and Seward leaves.
  
  Later in the day, Renfield requests to see Seward again. The topic of souls comes up once more, and Seward presses the matter, noting that Renfield is also reluctant to utter the word "drink" and seems assured that he will have unlimited access to lives in the future (being uninterested, at the moment, in flies and spiders). After compiling some notes on the topic, Seward realizes that the Count has been manipulating Renfield directly and that there is some sort of scheme afoot. When Van Helsing returns later in the day, Seward informs him of the matter and the two visit Renfield, only to find him singing and catching flies once again. They resolve to have him watched closely that night.

2 October (Monday)

• Mina Harker: Renfield asks to see Mina, and she goes to see him, whereupon he kisses her hand and bids God bless her. Mina remains apart from the others for most of the day and that evening asks Seward to prepare an opiate for her such that she can easily sleep. She writes in her diary at 10:00 P.M. before falling unconscious.
  
  
• Jonathan Harker: Jonathan receives a letter from Smollet giving him Sam Bloxam's address. He goes to Potter's Court in Walworth and talks to the "deputy" of the residence, who directs him to seek Bloxam at Poplar at a refrigerated warehouse. Jonathan eventually finds his way to the building around 12:00 P.M. After paying several workmen, he speaks to Bloxam and discovers that nine boxes were transported from Carfax to a property in Piccadilly. Harker goes to Piccadilly and identifies the residence. Questioning one of the grooms in the nearby stables, he learns that the house was sold via the house agents, Mitchell, Sons, & Candy. He goes to the firm's offices, but finds them unwilling to give him any further information about the purchase until he mentions he's in the service of Lord Godalming (Arthur). After hearing that a nobleman is involved, they agree to forward the information to the asylum.
  
  Jonathan then returns to Purfleet and discusses his days adventures with the other men, who grow apprehensive about the prospect of burglarizing a house in a wealthy area such as Piccadilly. Jonathan then goes to his room to find Mina sleeping and notices once more that she looks pale and worried.
  
  
• Mitchell, Sons & Candy: [\Dating error: This letter is dated as having been sent on 1 October. However, given Jonathan's diary entries, it is clear that it could not have been sent prior to 2 October, as Jonathan did not contact the firm until that date.] Mitchell, Sons & Candy write to Lord Godalming, informing him that the house in Piccadilly was purchased by a Count Deville from the executors of the late Archibald Winter-Suffield.
  
  
• Jack Seward: Seward gets a report from an attendant that Renfield was loudly reciting prayers the night before. Seward then waits throughout the day while Harker follows up on the clue regarding Sam Bloxam, Arthur and Quincey look into procuring horses for the various expeditions to sterilize the earth boxes, and Van Helsing goes to the British Museum to study some books on ancient medicine.
  
  Later that night, Seward hears a report that Renfield has met with some manner of accident, causing him to break off a diary entry as he goes to investigate. He, Van Helsing, Arthur, and Quincey arrive in Renfield's room to find that he is badly injured, as though his head has been beaten against the ground. The doctors perform an emergency trephination, which causes Renfield to regain consciousness, at which point he confesses to having invited the Count into the asylum after being promised a great quantity of lives. He further reports that after the Count failed to provide him with any animal life, he began to notice a change in Mrs. Harker and deduced that the Count was responsible. As Dracula entered on the night of 2 October, Renfield grappled with him while he was in the form of mist, causing the injuries from which he is suffering.
  
  The group, realizing that Mina is in danger, rush to the Harkers' room.

3 October (Tuesday)

• Jack Seward: Seward, Quincey, Arthur, and Van Helsing burst into the Harkers' bedroom and discover a swooning Mina being forced to imbibe the Count's blood. The Count flees in mist form and Mina awakens, distraught and terrified. The group wakes Jonathan, who is in a stupor due to Dracula's mesmeric powers, and Quincey and Arthur soon discover that the Count has burnt the Harkers' records and revisited Renfield's room to kill him. Mina then relates how the Count fed from her and then, threatening to murder Jonathan should she cry out, forced her to drink his blood from a wound on his chest. As the sun rises over Purfleet, Jonathan's hair turns entirely white.
  
  
• Jonathan Harker: The entire group of hunters (Mina now included) hold a meeting at 6:30 A.M.. Seward and Van Helsing report some of the details of Renfield's death and agree to forge a death certificate to keep the matter from the authorities. Everyone then agrees that Mina must be kept in full confidence from that point on. They decide that they will target the Count's Piccadilly house next, hiring a locksmith and relying on Arthur's title to prevent anyone from inquiring. Afterwards, Quincey and Arthur are to look into the caches at Mile End and Bermondsey, while Jonathan, Seward, and Van Helsing remain behind in Piccadilly lest the Count arrive there.
  
  With these matters resolved, Van Helsing seeks to protect Mina by placing a piece of the Host on her forehead. It burns her flesh upon contact, leaving a visible scar. Dispirited but still adamant that they continue, Van Helsing leads the men to Carfax, where they "sterilize" the twenty-nine boxes of earth with pieces of the Eucharistic wafer. Afterwards, they leave for Piccadilly, and Jonathan makes a diary entry on the train.
  
  The group arrives at Piccadilly around 10:00 A.M. [Possible Timing error: For the heroes to have arrived at Piccadilly at 10:00 A.M., they would have to have caught an 8:45 A.M. train from Purfleet station, giving them very little time to eat, hold a meeting, and sterilize twenty-nine boxes of soil.]. Quincey and Arthur hire a locksmith as planned. The group enters the Piccadilly house and discovers eight boxes out of the nine they expected to find. They treat them with the Host and then go through the Count's papers, such that they are able to find details regarding the houses in Mile End and Bermondsey. Quincey and Arthur leave to go make use of this information, and Jonathan makes another diary entry around 12:30 P.M. [Possible Timing error: If the group arrived in Piccadilly at 10:00 A.M., this would give them two and a half hours to procure a blacksmith, break into the Count's house, sterilize the eight boxes there, and organize the documents necessary for the Bermondsey and Mile End properties.]
  
  
• Mina Harker: Mina observes the count coming out of Carfax and heading southward at 12:45 P.M. She sends a telegram to Piccadilly to alert the men there of this event.
  
  
• Jack Seward: The group at Piccadilly remains there well into the afternoon and receives Mina's message. Shortly afterward, Quincey and Arthur return from their mission, having eliminated the 12 boxes cached in Bermondsey and Mile End. Eventually, the Count appears at the residence and is confronted by the hunters, only to escape by jumping out a window. He mocks them as he flees, telling them that the girls they love are already his. (In the notes, the hunters then pursue the Count through the park and Hampstead Heath, eventually following him to a cemetery [presumably the one in which Lucy is buried])
  
  The group returns to Purfleet. Mina greets them and speaking with Jonathan, urges him not to be overly vengeful in his pursuit of her attacker.
  
  
Jonathan Harker: Jonathan writes in his diary around the hour of midnight. He observes Mina sleeping and notices a change come over her features, which he believes might have some deeper meaning.

4 October (Wednesday)

• Other: The notes indicate that the Count was to meet Van Helsing on the threshold of one of his lairs and then flee to the east. There was then to be an entry consisting of a cutting from the magazine Sporting Life, and an unspecified man was to have been hurt.
  
  
• Jonathan Harker: Mina awakens early in the morning and asks Jonathan to fetch Van Helsing. She suggests that she be hypnotized, given the Count's lessened hold over her at sunrise, and Van Helsing obliges. While in a trance, Mina describes the noises of a ship weighing anchor, revealing that the Count seeks to leave London. Van Helsing mentions that it is imperative that the hunters continue their pursuit, warning that too much delay might prove deadly to Mina since she has been marked. Mina, overcome, faints at hearing this.
  
  
• Abraham Van Helsing: Van Helsing leaves a message for Jonathan on Seward's phonograph, telling him to look after his wife while he and the other men attempt to identify the ship that the Count boarded.
  
  
• Jonathan Harker: Jonathan relays Van Helsing's message to Mina, and she feels considerably better knowing that the Count is no longer in England. The couple sorts through the diaries again, and Jonathan makes a brief entry in his diary around 3:00 P.M.
  
  
• Mina Harker: [Dating error: This entry is dated 5 October. However, it refers to both Mina's earlier hypnosis session and Van Helsing's investigation of the ship as having happened on the same day.] The entire group gets together for a 5:00 P.M. meeting for which Mina takes notes. Van Helsing explains that Dracula is no doubt attempting to return to his homeland via the Danube and relates how he and Arthur consulted Lloyd's shipping directory and found that the Czarina Catherine was the only ship bound for Varna that left with the ebb tide. He then tells of how he contacted the ship's owner with Quincey and received information about how a man matching the Count's description had approached the captain at 5:00 P.M. on the previous day, seeking to ship a large box. After the man's terms were accepted, a mysterious fog settled around the wharf until ebb tide [Possible Timing error: The times of slack water and ebb tide for 3 October do not correlate to the time of sunrise, when Mina reported hearing the ship leave.], at which point the man returned and asked to examine his box before disappearing.
  
  

5 October (Thursday)

• Jack Seward: Van Helsing mentions to Seward that he has begun to see some of the signs of emerging vampirism in Mina and suggests that they once more exclude her from planning sessions. Later that day, Mina serendipitously absents herself from the group's meeting of her own accord, and the group makes plans to travel to Varna via train no later than the 17th.
  
  
• Mina Harker: [Dating error: See 4 October for details.]
  
  
• Jonathan Harker: Mina speaks to Jonathan and insists that she should be kept in ignorance regarding the group's plans.

6 October (Friday)

• Jonathan Harker: Mina awakens and calls the others to her. She explains that she ought accompany the group on their journey, as she knows that the Count may seek to summon her regardless of her will to follow. She mentions, furthermore, that she may provide useful information via hypnosis. The others agree and make plans to leave the next day, with Van Helsing telling everyone to get their affairs in order. Jonathan makes out his will, leaving everything first to Mina and then to the others in the group should she perish.

11 October (Wednesday)

• Jack Seward: The group delays their leave-taking until the 12th. The night before their departure, Mina asks everyone to promise to kill her should it become clear that she is changing into a vampire. After receiving everyone's oath, she has Jonathan read a burial service on her behalf, lest she be unable to receive one when the time comes.

12 October (Thursday)

• Other: The group boards leaves Charing Cross and boards the Orient Express, which conveys them to Paris.

15 October (Sunday)

• Jonathan Harker: After several days of traveling, the hunters arrive at Varna around 5:00 P.M. and lodge at a hotel called the Odessus. Mina, during her now regular hypnosis sessions, confirms that the Count is still at sea, and Jonathan eagerly awaits the landing of the Czarina Catherine that his might slay the vampire.

16 October (Monday)

• Jonathan Harker: Mina continues to gather data indicating that the Count is at sea. Jonathan awaits word of the Czarina Catherine reaching the Dardanelles, as Arthur has arranged that they shall be informed of its passage.

17 October (Tuesday)

• Jonathan Harker: Arthur arranges to have permission to open the box containing the Count when the Czarina Catherine comes to port, having claimed that he believes it contains something stolen from a friend of his. The group makes plans as to how they will attack Dracula, with Van Helsing and Seward anticipating that they will decapitate the vampire while the other men provide cover.

24 October (Tuesday)

• Jonathan Harker: Jonathan records in his diary that Arthur has still received no word of the Czarina Catherine reaching the Dardanelles. Mina's hypnotic sessions continue to indicate, however, that the Count is at sea.
  
  
• Rufus Smith: Lloyd's of London at long last sends Arthur word of the Czarina Catherine reaching the Dardanelles.

25 October (Wednesday)

• Jack Seward: The group readies themselves for a confrontation, expecting the Czarina Catherine to arrive in Varna within the next day. Seward notes that he and Van Helsing are growing increasingly alarmed by Mina's appearance and manner, noting that her teeth have begun to grow and that she is increasingly lethargic. The hunters plan to retire early and wake around 1:00 A.M. the next day, such that they will be ready for the Count's arrival.

27 October (Friday)

• Rufus Smith: The notes indicate that at one point Arthur was to have received news of the Czarina Catherine's arrival in Galatz to-day, rather than on 28 October.

28 October (Friday)

• Rufus Smith: Arthur receives another telegram from Lloyd's, indicating that the Czarina Catherine has landed in Galatz rather than Varna.
  
  
• Jack Seward: Following the receipt of the telegram, the hunters are greatly disheartened. They prepare to leave on the next train for Galatz at 6:30 A.M. the next day, with Jonathan and Quincey working quickly to secure permission to examine the Czarina Catherine's cargo in Galatz. Van Helsing and Seward, in the meantime, consult with one another and come to realize that the Count must have used his psychic connection to Mina to avoid being intercepted. Mina joins the discussion and confirms that the Count has used her mind to make his escape, although she indicates that he has currently weakened his connection to her in the hopes of avoiding further detection. Relying on the idea that the Count is a simplistic "criminal type," the three deduce that the Count will mostly likely attempt to convey himself back to his own castle, feeling that he is safest there.
  
  Later that night, Mina undergoes hypnosis again and reveals that the Count appears to have left the safety of his earth box, although he still remains on the Czarina Catherine.

29 October (Saturday)

• Jack Seward: Early in the morning, Mina is hypnotized again, relating that the Count is now traveling via water once again. The group spends the rest of the day traveling, with Seward writing in his journal about Mina's reports while on the train from Varna to Galatz. Due to delays, he expects that they shall not reach Galatz until the morning.
  
  At sunset, Mina struggles to relate what she observes under hypnosis, mentioning that the Count is somewhere amidst the sound of foreign voices and the howling of wolves.

30 October (Saturday)

• Jack Seward: Mina gives another report at sunrise, describing the sound of creaking wood and water. She cuts off, however, before she can report much more and cannot provide any further details, despite Van Helsing's exhortations. The hunters arrive in Galatz a little after 7:00 A.M.
  
  
• Mina Harker: Mina and Quincey go together to the hotel in Galatz while the others work on investigating the Czarina Catherine. Later in the day, Arthur arrives at their rooms to tell them that the Consul and Vice Consul of the city are unavailable, leaving him to try to negotiate for access to the ship with an obliging clerk.
  
  
• Jonathan Harker: At 9:00 A.M., Van Helsing, Seward, and Jonathan visit Mackenzie & Steinkoff, the agents of the London firm connected to Mr. Hapgood (identified as the ship's owner in the manuscript). They are escorted to the Czarina Catherine, where they talk to its captain, Donelson. He relates that the ship was beset by a mysterious fog and that several Romanian crewman complained of a mysterious man on board the ship. When the fog lifted, the sailors found themselves near the river opposite Galatz, and the Romanians, unnerved by the strange events, threatened to throw a specific box from the ship, noting that it was marked for Galatz rather than Varna. Donelson was eventually able to convince them to leave it be, and it was claimed by an Immanuel Hildesheim.
  
  The three hunters then make their way to Hilldesheim's offices, where they learn that the box was conveyed to a Petrof Skinsky who dealt with the Slovaks who trade on the nearby river. In searching for Skinsky, the heroes abruptly learn that he has just been found dead with his throat torn out. Out of leads, they return to the hotel to discuss their next course of action.
  
  
• Mina Harker: Mina types up the most recent round of documents on a traveler's typewriter purchased for her by Quincey. During the process, she deduces that the Count is most likely to be traveling via river and types up a lengthy memorandum supporting her assertion. She then checks a map and makes the guess that his most likely route is to take the Sereth river to the Bistritza and from there to disembark and proceed to his castle via land.
  
  After hearing Mina's theory, Van Helsing praises her for her insight, and the group decides to split up. Arthur and Jonathan are to purchase a steam launch and pursue the Count on the water, while Seward and Quincey ride alongside the river to await him should he disembark. Mina and Van Helsing, in the meantime, will pursue an alternate route to the castle via Veresti and try to destroy the three women who remain there.
  
  Around 11:40 P.M., the Harkers lovingly part ways as Mina prepares to embark on the train to Veresti with Van Helsing.
  
  
• Jonathan Harker: Jonathan writes an entry while on the steam launch with Arthur, mentioning that they have deduced that the ideal place to cross from the river into the Carpathians will be around the 47th parallel. He notes that Seward and Quincey are riding on the right bank, with two hirelings helping to look after their spare horses for the first leg of the journey.

31 October (Tuesday)

• Mina Harker: Van Helsing finds that he can barely hypnotize Mina any more, and the pair arrive in Veresti around 12:00 P.M. They stock up on food and provisions and acquire a horse and carriage to make the last leg of their journey.
  
  
• Jonathan Harker: Jonathan writes in his diary during the morning hours while he is keeping watch. He and Arthur have not yet sighted the Count's boat but have noted that the Slovaks on the other boats they've encountered during the night have fallen upon their knees to pray upon being sighted.
  
  
• Mina Harker: The notes indicate that at one point the hunters were to have split up in their pursuit of Dracula to-day, rather than on 30 October.

This timeline includes all events that occur the novel Dracula in addition to events alluded to in the book's typed manuscript, Stoker's notes, and "Dracula's Guest." The days of the week are based on the 1893 dating of the novel.

Green Text: Events referenced in Stoker's notes, but not in the finished novel

Orange Text: Events referenced in the typed manuscript for Dracula, but not in the finished novel

Blue Text: Events referenced in "Dracula's Guest," but not in Dracula

Purple Italicized text: Indicates apparent errors in Dracula's dating