The chapter begins with Mina Murray's journal. She writes that she is in to Whitby, in northern England, in order to visit Lucy and her mother. They have rooms at the Crescent, overlooking a river valley. Opposite the Crescent on the other slope of the valley is a little town, above which are the ruins of Whitby Abbey, a small church, and a picturesque graveyard. The harbor is just downstream of them. Lucy sits in the churchyard, writing and enjoying the view, and is soon befriended by an old local man, Mr. Swales. When she returns to the same spot later, she finds her new acquaintance and his friends already there.
The old man goes off on a tirade about foolish legends. He claims that all of the tombstones show false piety, and that many do not even mark actual gravesites. He tells the story of Geordie, whose stone calls him a "beloved son," who killed himself to get away from his mother. When Lucy voices her objection to sitting above a suicide, he tells her it might make Geordie happy to have "so trim a lass sittin' on his lap."
In her next entry, Mina laments that she has not heard from Jonathan in some time.
The next entry of the chapter comes from Dr. Seward's diary. It is dated 5 June, a month earlier than Mina's entries, and is devoted to his patient, Renfield. He describes the extraordinary Renfield as having 'selfishness,' 'secrecy,' and, most importantly, 'purpose.' Renfield has been systematically collecting flies. He then moves on to spiders, which he feeds with the flies. After being scolded for eating a fly, he says that the fly was life, and gave life to him. He moves on feed the spiders to sparrows, and then asks for a kitten. Seward decides the man is a zoophagous (life-eating) maniac.
At the end of his entry, he bemoans his romantic loss. "Oh Lucy, I cannot be angry with you, nor can I be angry with my friend whose happiness is yours; but I must only wait on hopeless and work. Work! Work!" Chapter 6, pg. 79
The chapter ends with more of Mina's journal. She is now very worried about Jonathan. The only letter she has received from him, the one written under duress, "does not read like him, and yet it is his writing." Also, she is concerned for Lucy, who has been walking in her sleep. Mina supposes that Lucy is nervous about the upcoming visit of Holmwood, who will visit when his father, Lord Godalming, gets over his current sickness.
In the midst of her worries, Mr. Swales approaches her in the churchyard to apologize for being so negative. He feels his death in the air, saying life is just the brief time when one waits for the eternal death. Then, after commenting on the upcoming storm, he looks through his telescope and sees a strange ship in the distance.
