Castle Dracula - Myrtle Beach or Panama City Beach

[daymon1234]

As I kid, I visited this wonderful place (Castle Dracula in Myrtle Beach) but was always too scared to go through the museum (I was like 5 years old - cut me some slack - haha).

Does ANYONE have photos they can post of the inside of the museum? 

I know both of them burned down around the same time (1982 or so) and weren't replaced.   Would love to see any/all photos from the various displays in the museum.  I can't find any photos posted anywhere on the internet of the interior of the facility.

Thanks.

[horrorhunter]

As I kid, I visited this wonderful place (Castle Dracula in Myrtle Beach) but was always too scared to go through the museum (I was like 5 years old - cut me some slack - haha).

Does ANYONE have photos they can post of the inside of the museum? 

I know both of them burned down around the same time (1982 or so) and weren't replaced.   Would love to see any/all photos from the various displays in the museum.  I can't find any photos posted anywhere on the internet of the interior of the facility.

Thanks.

Here's a link to some info (a little ways down the page): http://www.htomc.dns2go.com/myrtle/default.htm

It seems the fire was in 1975 and it reopened and ran until 1982. I couldn't find any pics of the museum interior but here are a couple of the brochure:

[daymon1234]

That's awesome.  I remember getting one of those brochures with the mask, and I used to have a small foldout brochure from one of the hotels back in the day too.  I remember buying a Phantom of the Opera model kit in their gift shop too.  It was such a cool place as a kid.  It was MY version of Disney (lol).

Thanks for that information.  You're the best!

[horrorhunter]

That's awesome.  I remember getting one of those brochures with the mask, and I used to have a small foldout brochure from one of the hotels back in the day too.  I remember buying a Phantom of the Opera model kit in their gift shop too.  It was such a cool place as a kid.  It was MY version of Disney (lol).

Thanks for that information.  You're the best!

You're welcome. I wish I could have visited it back in the day- my kind of place.

My version of it was World Of The Unexplained in Gatlinburg, TN. We used to visit Gatlinburg every 2 or 3 months in the '70s and early '80s and I would always spend at least an hour meditating on the exhibits therein. It was initially called Dr. Gardners Museum Of Witchcraft And Superstition but pressure from the local churches forced a name change. Just think, we would have been hanged or burned at the stake 3 or 4 centuries ago!     

[lexmark549]

Castle Dracula of Myrtle Beach - Oh my ! My mother and her friend took myself and my friend there often in the 70s. We were 6-11 years old - depending upon the year. It burned in 75, but was so popular that it was rebuilt quickly and actually opened for the 76 season ! Unfortunatley Polaroid instant cams were the rage then, and we never got inside pics of this awesome place. The memories are forever burned within me though. Most often, a Frankenstein's monster character was stalking the sidewalk out front - beckoning folks inside and chasing kids and girls amok ! The displays were simple wax, but detailed. For the first couple of years I "looked" at the scenes from behind Mama's legs - terrified - yet loving it all. Later, my friend and I went through the castle alone. By then, we knew how each scene was aligned, and we took our time - taking it all in. Each scene had it's own amplified vocal production - wheter it be creepy music - theme song to the pertaining movie/scene - or screaming. There were werewolves / mummies / Dracula himself...etc. Of all of the displays - this one will always stand out : it was a Linda Blair type look alike, with demonic face floating above a bed. The priest was standing near with a throwing motion in his arm/hand. He was depicted as tossing Holy Water at the devil. The speaker there was blaring very loudly, "The  power of Christ compels you...the power of Christ compels you...." - non stop. The demon/devil sound was a deep glutteral growl. I lost some sleep over that, and yet it re-affirmed and built a foundation for my love of horror and scary "haunted house" type attractions. The castle tour ended in it's downstairs gift shop - which was loaded with horror delights / gags / magic tricks. The Castle closed in 1982 - from what I heard from the locals - unexpectedly. It was still very popular. The top floor was eventually sealed off and a T-shirt shop opened beneath (another one was needed Ha !). It was rumored and told to us in the mid 80s that some of the props were sealed away upstairs. I do not know if that was true. If true, I'd love to own a couple of them - if only for my own, selfish nostalgic side.

[fission chips]

Wow - we finally find someone who can give an inside report!  Holy crap!  I had to sign up for this board so I could continue this discussion!!!!  Castle Dracula - the ultimate forbidden fruit of my childhood!!!  First, I am very pleased to read that someone has reported on the full inside view of this (once likely) amazing place - I have wondered now what crazy mysteries Castle Dracula's Wax Museum held since the late 1970's, but I have some memories to share, that is for certain . . .
My family moved to Wilmington, NC in 1975 and soon after my grandmother moved to Litchfield Beach, SC.  We spent the next seven years going to my grandmother's nearly every weekend (it seemed) and spent several full summers there in a row from ~1977-1979.  Driving by Castle Dracula as a 9 or 10 year-old was absolutely pure torment as I remember the Frankenstein monster roaming around out front and the completely audacious castle right on the street . . . I begged my parents for what seemed like a very long time, man, this is far enough back that I just can't remember how long it took to convince them to take my sister and me to this weird haunted house on the beach . . . But, holy crap it did finally happen and I remember something that is wedged into my memory banks forever . . . We finally, finally get to go and I remember getting out of the car, we walk down the sidewalk, take a right over the phony drawbridge, and through the double entry doors to be struck by the 130 decibel-screeching and screaming of some pre-recorded tape loop and in front of me, behind a glass wall in an all-black enclosure, is some horrific slowly spinning lump of flesh, eyeballs, limbs, hair . . . I completely freaked out - I mean full-tilt horrification - I could not figure out what the hell was spinning in front of me and the screaming was entirely too much.  I was utterly terrified by the thing behind the glass and only later did my parents tell me that it was Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame, who I had never heard of before so I could not even tell that it was a human.  It was entirely unexpected, with eyeballs all out of place and greasy skin and hair in a massive lump - I was out.  I told my parents I wasn't going in and that was it.  I am pretty sure my little sister was fine with going inside but I was entirely freaked out, just terrified.  Since I sort of blew it with Castle Dracula, I wasn't going to get much of another chance and I wondered for a couple more childhood years what kind of weird crap really went on in that place, since monsters never cease to fascinate me.  Right about the time I was old enough to think about a re-match, Castle Dracula abruptly closed, probably to my family's relief.  I remember the typical Southern response to its demise was complete disinterest.  Nobody cared, remembered or cared to remember.  It became a black hole.  Thanks for filling in some gaps and giving me a chance to relate my introduction to Quasimodo, who became quite near and dear to my heart.  This moment in Myrtle Beach history, Castle Dracula's Wax Museum, has to be recognized as having catered to some particularly strange tastes relative to the local market of the era, at least at the end.  I am thankful for my memories of this weird place along with a skatepark or two from this really quirky and wonderful time. 

[HARRY HAMMOCK]

Came across a picture of the bolavard in Myrtle Beach SC  and in the picture was  good ol  Castle Dracula wax museum. Turning around in my chair there sits a coffee mug from it i've kept all these years.

[HARRY HAMMOCK]

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/96588849_671497813410566_6741866295458791424_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&_nc_sid=b96e70&_nc_oc=AQl6x4FShnp3W8mj14xy8fWrwQz27i_VhnjWm4aApzeSKkkaXAt6f1-3z8iop4SjSxQ&_nc_ht=scontent-atl3-1.xx&oh=6ca38109c398cf39e55721670c1b8323&oe=5EDF4F2D

[Mike Scott]

Where have you been Hyding all these years, Harry!?

[HARRY HAMMOCK]

I 'm sorry. I got old ,have grandkids and ...... well....... just forgot. Sorry

[Mike Scott]

I 'm sorry. I got old ,have grandkids and ...... well....... just forgot. Sorry

I'm sorry I got old, too. 

[atucker909]

It's great to find something online about this cool attraction.  My family owned a beach house in Myrtle Beach and we would visit about every other year.  I visited Dracula's Castle only once probably between 1978-1980.  I would have been around 12-13.  I remember the guy dressed as Frankenstein out front and my dad saying "Hey Frank, how much does it cost to get into this thing?".  Whatever the admission was, he and I went in and my mom waited outside.  I actually had a Kodak Instamatic with me and took a few shots but the scenes inside were incredibly dark to begin with and the photos were almost unrecognizable.  I remember the Exorcist scene someone else mentioned and the figure of the girl had it's head spinning the whole time.  There was a scene for Dracula that was surprisingly generic looking.  Even as a kid I thought they should have done better since they named the place after him.  I also recall a scene from Hammer's Curse of the Werewolf only instead of having the werewolf they had the kid holding the bars of his window and looking agonizingly at the full moon.  Outside the castle they had signs advertising the scenes inside and I vividly recall Jaws being one of them they taunted.  Since the film was only a few years old it made sense that they had this and I was excited to see what this would look like.  Sadly I was disappointed when it was just the head of a shark sticking out of the side of a rotting boat hull as it "lunged" at a figure of a diver that could not have been more than four feet tall to make the shark look bigger.  I guess I had been spoiled by Florida's Stars Hall of Fame and their attention to detail but I found this pretty chintzy since it wasn't even a scene from the film.  The last portion of the castle was a game room typical of this boardwalk tourist area.  Again this looked pretty generic and didn't even offer monster themed prizes or souvenirs.  Even though I felt the castle didn't live up it's hype I still loved everything monster related and enjoyed the visit.  Thanks to everyone who shared their memories here and stirred up mine.  I hope I can do the same for others.

[Mike Scott]

Welcome to the UMA, atucker909 !

Thanks for sharing your memories of "Castle Dracula"! 

[CountWolkoff]

I live about 70 miles west-northwest of Myrtle Beach and have never heard of it. Was it closed down at some point before 1990?

[darkmonkeygod]

I live about 70 miles west-northwest of Myrtle Beach and have never heard of it. Was it closed down at some point before 1990?

Sadly closed in '82.

https://www.wmbfnews.com/2019/10/21/ghosts-halloweens-past-myrtle-beach-remembers-ocean-boulevards-castle-dracula/] [url]https://www.wmbfnews.com/2019/10/21/ghosts-halloweens-past-myrtle-beach-remembers-ocean-boulevards-castle-dracula/[/url]