I have to admit that I'm a bit perplexed by all of the hullabaloo about the gate. Here's what I said about it over in the Tod Browning's Dracula thread over a month ago: 

cjh5801 wrote:
Yes, but I'm still not sure why Gary calls it the Carfax Abbey gate. Why not a backgate or sidegate to Seward's Sanitarium? Why not a churchyard gate where you just don't see the headstones from the road? Why not a gate leading to the local pub? Van Helsing and Harker can see Carfax Abbey from the gate, but Seward's Sanitarium is right next door to Carfax Abbey, so it could have been his gate. Presumably, an Abbey could be situated near a church, and cemeteries are often on church grounds, so why not a churchyard gate? And who knows what Harker or Van Helsing's drinking habits are. Maybe they wanted to stop in at a pub before offing Lucy?

The only thing I'm actually quibbling about here is that Gary says Lennig was wrong to identify the gate as a cemetery gate. Looks to me like Lennig could have called it a cemetery gate with just as much justification as Gary has to call it the Carfax Abbey gate (and perhaps more, since the shooting script identifies it as a cemetery gate). [Edited to correct my original misspelling of Arthur Lennig's name.]

It's not like I'm suggesting that Gary recall all of his books and have a new edition published where he calls the gate something else. The movie doesn't say whose gate Harker and Van Helsing are standing next to. Since the gate is the same one the bobby bicycles up to, and Lucy is presumably nearby when he does, we have a visual clue that the gate is at least potentially associated with Lucy. Other than that, you can call the gate whatever you want. 

If you don't want me writing about the damn gate, quit poking me on it.

Thanks.

Last Edited By: cjh5801 Mar 21 15 2:26 PM. Edited 1 times.