 The literary Dracula transforms into a bat several times in the novel , and vampire bats themselves are mentioned twice in it . The 1927 stage production of Dracula followed the novel in having Dracula turn into a bat , as did the film , where Béla Lugosi would transform into a bat . The bat transformation scene would again be used by Lon Chaney Jr. in 1943 's Son of Dracula . 
