Fangs for the fun: Whitby enjoys its annual Goth 'invasion'

The three-day ‘Whitby Goth Weekend’ reached its half-way stage today – it started yesterday and finishes tomorrow.

Press Camera Club members Paul Taylor and Judith Ness were there to capture the fun on camera.

And their photos give a sense of just how wild, wacky and wonderful the Whitby weekend is.

Suits you, sir - and madam. Whitby Goth Weekend (Image: Paul Taylor)

This is the year’s second instalment of the bi-annual festival.

The last weekender took place in April when attendees were seen walking the town’s cobbled lanes and seafront promenade, which featured in Bram Stoker's gothic masterpiece Dracula.

Whitby is, of course, the seaside town where Bram Stoker’s Dracula arrived on these shores in his seminal vampire novel.

Stoker visited the harbour town in 1890 and viewed the ruined monasteries and graveyards as the perfect setting to feature his blood-sucking vampire.

So there have been a few Goth ‘vampires’ to be seen out and about in Whitby over the last couple of days.

But there have been plenty of other weird and wonderful figures, too – as befits Halloween just around the corner.

Eye-patch pair, Whitby Goth Weekend (Image: Judith Ness)

The event was founded by Jo Hampshire in 1994, when she invited 40 of her pen pals to The Elsinore Inn, close to the centre of the idyllic town.

Now, it attracts guests from all over as a celebration of gothic culture.

The festival incorporates the Bizarre Bazaar Alternative Market which features over 100 indoor stalls.

That's a good look - no arguments. Whitby Goth Weekend (Image: Judith Ness, Press Camera Club)

The horns have it... Whitby Goth Weekend (Image: Judith Ness)Pretty in pink - and orange. Whitby Goth Festival (Image: Judith Ness)Beaky Blinder, left, and masque of the read death? Whitby Goth Weekend (Image: Paul Taylor)