Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots: Author, Mary Ann Bernal is asking the question — Was Vlad the Impaler the "real" Count Dracula?

Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots: Author, Mary Ann Bernal is asking the question — W...: Was Vlad the Impaler the “real” Count Dracula? By Mary Ann Bernal Whitby Abbey. The answer is o...

Whitby Abbey.

The answer is obvious, isn’t it? The formidable Vlad the Impaler is the person Bram Stoker thought of when creating his Dracula persona, meant to scare young and old alike.

Dracula by Bram Stoker book cover — Wikipedia.

When Mr. Stoker was considering writing his story, was the information about Vlad factual or mythical? Or was the evidence circumstantial, based upon hearsay from the poor souls having survived Vlad’s bloody reign of terror?

  Vlad III — Wikipedia.

Briefly, Vlad III was a nobleman from the House of Draculesti (Volvode (Baron) Dracula) whose father ruled Wallachia (Romania) until his murder during a Hungarian invasion. As a young man, Vlad witnessed the atrocities of warfare, which awakened his psychopathic tendencies. His bloodlust was left unchecked and impaling his prisoners was his favorite method of execution.

Transylvania map — Wikipedia.

Vlad did invade Transylvania (Central Romania) with its own Dacian mythology. There is a wealth of inspiration stemming from this wide range of myths and legends. Focusing on immortality; gods and animals were worshipped but it was the wolf cult that created the werewolf. The vampire belief originates from Sumerian, Assyrian and Jewish mythologies.

And here we have it, all in one place, enough folklore to fill a library with scary novels.

Let’s go back a bit further to ancient Mesopotamia where there is mention of Lilith, a possible vampire, who hunted newborn children at night. The ancient Greeks believed in monsters who ate children and drank their blood. Ancient China’s vampire monsters were called the kiang shi. There are vampire stories from ancient India and Nepal. Ancient Nepalese cave paintings show a man holding a blood-filled human skull goblet while standing in a pool of blood. Malayan monsters lived by drinking the blood of infants. Mexico feared vampires into the sixteenth century when the Spanish Conquistadors conquered the country. Ancient Peru also believed in devil worshipers who sucked the blood of infants, and even in Africa, there was the belief that the dead returned and lived again off the blood of the living.

Vampire Monsters — Wikipedia.

Truth be told, people from days of old received information via word of mouth, keeping the tales alive, and in all likelihood, the narratives were embellished over time, but they did believe the stories and sought remedies to protect themselves from the devil! Who else could control the paranormal creatures roaming the earth in search of human prey? In all of Christendom, it was the devil that was feared the most because he coveted human souls.

Killing Vampires kit — Wikipedia.

We all know how to keep vampires at bay, never invite them into one’s house. Of course, that means never leaving home and that is just not practical. What about using garlic? The theory being vampires are allergic to the chemical composition of the vegetable. What about crosses? Christianity was widespread with Christ’s cross being a symbol to ward off evil, and vampires were pure evil. And let’s not forget sunlight – remember, vampires are cursed and their skin will burn. Another choice is the wooden stake through the vampire’s heart, which would be done during the day when the vampire is sleeping. Ridiculous, you say? There are no such things. Right? Not so fast. In Bulgaria, a few years ago, archeologists unearthed a gravesite where people were buried with metal stakes through their hearts, which would have kept them from joining the ranks of the undead.

Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) — Wikipedia.

There is a blood disorder, Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP), that can cause painful blisters in children suffering from the disorder when exposed to sunlight. Also, the child generally appears tired and pale. Could this condition be the reason for the sunlight “cure” to kill a vampire?

Unfortunately, superstitions continue to flourish in the modern era. A few years ago, in Malawi (Africa), an angry mob killed eight accused “vampires”. The police arrested the perpetrators, charging them with murder.

-Bram Stoker — Wikipedia.

Bram Stoker would have had ample examples to choose from while creating his Dracula character, but did he bother to extensively research the topic before writing his story? Irving Stoker has stated his father’s Dracula was a figment of his father’s imagination and nothing more. Since we cannot ask the author himself, the answer is pure conjecture. Was it because Vlad the Impaler has been compared to Caligula and Nero as being one of the worst sadistic psychopathic rulers of the day that has fostered the myth? You decide.

Scribbler Tales (Volume Four)

“Cunning.”

Newlywed Charlotte von Lichtner is obsessed with Transylvanian folklore when she encounters her husband’s mysterious kinsman.

Excerpt

“Try not to get into any trouble while I’m gone,” Frederick replied with a devilish grin as he left the room.

Walking towards the window, Charlotte pulled back the drapes and admired the breathtaking view, which overlooked the quaint village nestled in the valley. A howling sound made the hairs on the nape of her neck stand up because it appeared to be inhuman, reminding her of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

There’s nothing supernatural here. You really need to control your imagination, Charlotte thought. It was the wind.

Pick up your copy of

Scribbler Tales (Volume Four)

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Secret tunnel near 'Dracula's dungeon' uncovered

Fox News

File photo - An old wall drawing depicting a portrait of Vlad the Impaler is seen in a house in Sighisoara, Romania, where his father lived. (Reuters)

 

Archaeologists still aren't entirely sure where a secret passageway beneath a castle in Turkey leads, but visitors can now explore it for themselves. Not far from where Vlad the Impaler—the inspiration for Dracula—was reportedly held in one of two dungeons inside Tokat Castle, the tunnel stretches for about 100 feet before the path is blocked, reports Hurriyet Daily News.
"We have made progress. Since it has an angle of 45 degrees, it is hard to remove stones and earth," culture and tourism director Abdurrahman Akyuz says of the tunnel, found during restoration efforts in 2009.
"We think that this tunnel was closed in the past to prevent possible danger." Earlier this year, Akyuz told the Daily Sabah that "the history books record that this passage comes down to Pervane Public Bath with a stairway of 360 steps." But for now, "it is a total mystery to where this passage leads." Experts previously said the king's daughters may have used the passage to access the bath, but all that's known for certain is that the tunnel, known as Ceylanyolu or Gazelle Passage, stretches into Tokat's city center, Akyuz says.
It wasn't the only finding that popped up during the restoration, which is ongoing. Food preparation areas, a military shelter, and the two aforementioned dungeons have also been found over the years.
An archaeologist argues Vlad III was held in the dungeons by the Ottomans beginning in 1442, and though that hasn’t been confirmed, officials say a beeswax sculpture of Vlad III will be added to the dungeons, in the hope that it will attract tourists, Hurriyet reports.
"Dracula is a known brand and I think we can begin taking advantage of it," Tokat’s city council president said in announcing the new addition earlier this year.

(Vlad's own castle hit the market last year.)
This article originally appeared on Newser: Secret Tunnel by 'Dracula's Dungeon' Uncovered

Vlad the Impaler: The Real Dracula's Dark Secrets

by Elizabeth Palermo

This portrait of Vlad III, painted in the early 16th century, hangs in the museum at Castle Ambras in Innsbruck, Austria. Credit: Public domain

Count Dracula might be a fictional character who makes the blood curdle on Halloween, but his historical namesake is not. Vlad III, known in his heyday as Dracula — or Drăculea, in old Romanian — was a medieval prince with a figurative thirst for blood.
As his other nickname, "Vlad the Impaler," suggests, Vlad had a penchant for brutally punishing his enemies. However, much of what modern historians know about Vlad III comes from pamphlets and other texts printed in the 15th century, both during and after Vlad's reign. The historical accuracy of these texts — many of which were written by Vlad's enemies — can't be confirmed.

Was Vlad III a monster, or a medieval ruler like any other? The world may never know for sure. But there are several lesser-known facts about the real Dracula that help explain why he may have earned such a nasty reputation. [The Real Dracula: All About Vlad the Impaler]
Vlad the vengeful
Imagine spending your tumultuous teenage years as a political hostage whose fate hinged on the actions of your father, the ruler of a war-torn region in a different country. That's what Vlad III's adolescence was like.
In 1442, Vlad III and his younger brother, Radu, were handed over to Sultan Murad II, then-ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The young men were held hostage to ensure their father, ruler of the principality of Wallachia, remained loyal to the Ottomans during their ongoing war with Hungary.
During their captivity, Vlad and his brother were tutored in science, philosophy and the arts. They were also allegedly schooled in the arts of war, receiving lessons in both horsemanship and swordsmanship from their Ottoman captors, according to Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally, former professors of history at Boston College, who wrote several books about Vlad III.
Some historians have argued that Vlad also learned the art of impalement during his time as a hostage, but that can’t be proven, according to Florin Curta, a professor of medieval history and archaeology at the University of Florida. The Ottomans didn't invent impalement, and there's no way of knowing whether Vlad saw them deploy this gruesome punishment on their prisoners, Curta told Live Science. [Busted: Medieval Torture's 10 Biggest Myths]
Regardless of what he learned from his captors, Vlad didn't take kindly to being held prisoner. On the contrary, his kid brother adjusted well to captivity, forging a friendship with the Sultan's son, Mehmet II, and eventually converting to Islam.
But Vlad felt little more than enmity for his captors, according to Elizabeth Miller, a research historian and professor emeritus at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada. This enmity may have been his motivation for siding with the Hungarians against the Ottomans when he eventually became ruler of Wallachia in 1448, Miller told Live Science.
Vlad the terrorist
Vlad's cruelty is well documented in historical texts, but what often goes overlooked is how he combined this cruelty with cunning to terrorize his enemies.
For example, his preferred method of execution, impalement, wasn't just a sadistic way to get rid of his opponents; it was also a good way to scare them away, according to Curta.
In 1462, Mehmet II (at the time, the Ottoman sultan), invaded Wallachia. When he arrived at the capital city of Târgoviște, he found it deserted. The rotting remains of Ottoman prisoners of war, each impaled on a spike, were the only soldiers there to greet him. Mehmet didn't retreat right then and there, but he certainly didn't gain any headway, Curta noted.

This painting, "Vlad the Impaler and the Turkish Envoys," by Theodor Aman (1831-1891), allegedly depicts a scene in which Vlad III nails the turbans of these Ottoman diplomats to their heads.
Credit: Public domain

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At one point during Mehmet's campaign to conquer Wallachia, Vlad III dressed his soldiers in Ottoman garb and led them on a midnight raid of the sultan's camp. Their goal was to kill the sultan as he slept in his tent — a goal they failed to accomplish. However, they did succeed in creating mass confusion among the Ottoman soldiers, according to Curta. The Ottomans stayed up until morning, slaughtering one another in the belief that their comrades were really the enemy in Turkish clothing.
"Impaling was used as a form of terror— to terrorize the enemy coming to invade one's country," Curta said. "He had to do a lot of things with very limited resources. He actually used efficient methods to fight against his enemy without having that many men at his disposal."
Miller echoed that sentiment, noting that many historians have labeled Vlad's tactics against the Ottomans as "psychological warfare." In other words, these historians believe that the notorious Dracula may not have been exceptionally cruel, but rather doing what he had to do to fight a military force much greater than his own, Miller said.
Vlad the vampire
Many historians have implied that Stoker's fictional Dracula was inspired by Vlad III, and some have even gone as far as to suggest that Vlad himself drank human blood. In their book about the similarities between Stoker's Dracula and Vlad III — "In Search of Dracula" (Mariner, 1994) — Florescu and McNally cite a 15th-century German poem that paints Vlad as a blood drinker. The poem suggests that Vlad liked to dine among his impaled victims, dipping his bread in their blood, the authors wrote.
But this interpretation of the poem — the original version of which can still be seen at Heidelberg University in Germany — is tragically flawed, according to Miller. [Famous Fangs: Tales of Our Favorite Vampires]
"This story was invented for the purpose of [Florescu and McNally's] argument," Miller said. What the poem actually says is that Vlad liked to wash his hands in the blood of his victims before he ate dinner, she added.
While admittedly still pretty gross, washing your hands in human blood and drinking human blood are two distinct things — not that either of these accusations can be historically proven. Yet, there is an actual link between Stoker's Dracula and a mythical bloodsucking creature that allegedly inhabits the region adjacent to Vlad III's home principality of Wallachia.
In the northern Balkan Mountains, in modern-day Serbia and Hungary, there are many folktales about a creature known as "moroi," according to Curta. The tales stem from the fact that in that region, most people practice Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and in that faith there is no notion of purgatory — the place where souls go for "purification" before being assigned their place in heaven or hell — as there is in the Roman Catholic faith, he added.
This lack of purgatory left some Orthodox Christians wondering what would happen to a child who died before he or she was baptized and assured a place in heaven, according to Curta.
"There was a very strong set of beliefs that these children would roam around for a while before actually going to hell or paradise," Curta said. "And in the process, they would feed on the blood of the cattle — not of the humans — which is why, in the Balkans, people would put a pot of milk at the gate of the stable. That way, the moroi would feed on that milk rather that on the blood of the animals."
Stoker's bloodsucking tale may have been influenced in part by such folklore, Curta said. However, these tales have nothing at all to do with the historical figure, Vlad the Impaler.
Live Science

The Real Dracula: Vlad the Impaler

by Elizabeth Palermo

This portrait of Vlad Tepes, painted in the early 16th century, hangs in the museum at Castle Ambras in Innsbruck, Austria. Credit: Public domain

Few names have cast more terror into the human heart than Dracula. The legendary vampire, created by author Bram Stoker for his 1897 novel of the same name, has inspired countless horror movies, television shows and other bloodcurdling tales of vampires.
Though Dracula may seem like a singular creation, Stoker in fact drew inspiration from a real-life man with an even more grotesque taste for blood: Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia or — as he is better known — Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Tepes), a name he earned for his favorite way of dispensing with his enemies.
Vlad III was born in 1431 in Transylvania, a mountainous region in modern-day Romania. His father was Vlad II Dracul, ruler of Wallachia, a principality located to the south of Transylvania. Vlad II was granted the surname Dracul ("dragon") after his induction into the Order of the Dragon, a Christian military order supported by the Holy Roman Emperor. [8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]

Situated between Christian Europe and the Muslim lands of the Ottoman Empire, Transylvania and Wallachia were frequently the scene of bloody battles as Ottoman forces pushed westward into Europe, and Christian Crusaders repulsed the invaders or marched eastward toward the Holy Land.
When Vlad II was called to a diplomatic meeting in 1442 with Sultan Murad II, he brought his young sons Vlad III and Radu along. But the meeting was actually a trap: All three were arrested and held hostage. The elder Vlad was released under the condition that he leave his sons behind.

This painting, "Vlad the Impaler and the Turkish Envoys," by Theodor Aman (1831-1891), hangs in the National Museum of Art of Romania.
Credit: Public domain

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Years of captivity

Under the Ottomans, Vlad and his younger brother were tutored in science, philosophy and the arts — Vlad also became a skilled horseman and warrior. According to some accounts, however, he may also have been imprisoned and tortured for part of that time, during which he would have witnessed the impalement of his the Ottomans' enemies.
The rest of Vlad's family, however, fared even worse: His father was ousted as ruler of Wallachia by local warlords (boyars) and was killed in the swamps near Balteni, Wallachia, in 1447. Vlad's older brother, Mircea, was tortured, blinded and buried alive.
Whether these events turned Vlad III Dracula ("son of the dragon") into a ruthless killer is a matter of historical speculation. What is certain, however, is that once Vlad was freed from Ottoman captivity shortly after his family's death, his reign of blood began. [7 Strange Ways Humans Act Like Vampires]
In 1453, the city of Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, threatening all of Europe with an invasion. Vlad was charged with leading a force to defend Wallachia from an invasion. His 1456 battle to protect his homeland was victorious: Legend holds that he personally beheaded his opponent, Vladislav II, in one-on-one combat.
Though he was now ruler of the principality of Wallachia, his lands were in a ruinous state due to constant warfare and the internal strife caused by feuding boyars. To consolidate power, Vlad invited hundreds of them to a banquet. Knowing his authority would be challenged, he had his guests stabbed and their still-twitching bodies impaled.

A woodcut from a 1499 pamphlet depicts Vlad III dining among the impaled corpses of his victims.
Credit: Public domain

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What is impaling?

Impaling is a particularly gruesome form of torture and death: A wood or metal pole is inserted through the body either front to back, or vertically, through the rectum or vagina. The exit wound could be near the victim's neck, shoulders or mouth.
In some cases, the pole was rounded, not sharp, to avoid damaging internal organs and thereby prolong the suffering of the victim. The pole was then raised vertically to display the victim's torment — it could take hours or days for the impaled person to die.
Though Vlad is widely credited with bringing order and stability to Wallachia, his rule was undisputedly vicious: Dozens of Saxon merchants in Kronstadt, who were once allied with the boyars, were also impaled in 1459.
The Ottoman Turks were never far from Vlad's thoughts — or his borders. When diplomatic envoys had an audience with Vlad in 1459, the diplomats declined to remove their hats, citing a religious custom. Commending them on their religious devotion, Vlad ensured that their hats would forever remain on their heads by having the hats nailed to the diplomats' skulls.
During one of his many successful campaigns against the Ottomans, Vlad wrote to a military ally in 1462, "I have killed peasants, men and women, old and young, who lived at Oblucitza and Novoselo, where the Danube flows into the sea … We killed 23,884 Turks, without counting those whom we burned in homes or the Turks whose heads were cut by our soldiers ...Thus, your highness, you must know that I have broken the peace."
Vlad's victories over the invading Ottomans were celebrated throughout Wallachia, Transylvania and the rest of Europe — even Pope Pius II was impressed. But Vlad also earned a much darker reputation: On one occasion, he reportedly dined among a veritable forest of defeated warriors writhing on impaled poles. It's not known whether tales of Vlad III Dracula dipping his bread in the blood of his victims are true, but stories about his unspeakable sadism swirled throughout Europe.

Tens of thousands killed

In total, Vlad is estimated to have killed about 80,000 people through various means. This includes some 20,000 people who were impaled and put on display outside the city of Targoviste: The sight was so repulsive that the invading Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, after seeing the scale of Vlad's carnage and the thousands of decaying bodies being picked apart by crows, turned back and retreated to Constantinople.
In 1476, while marching to yet another battle with the Ottomans, Vlad and a small vanguard of soldiers were ambushed, and Vlad was killed and beheaded — by most reports, his head was delivered to Mehmed II in Constantinople as a trophy to be displayed above the city's gates.
The Middle Ages were notoriously violent, and the name of Vlad III Dracula may have been a mere historical footnote were it not for an 1820 book by the British consul to Wallachia, William Wilkinson: "An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia: With Various Political Observations Relating to Them." Wilkinson delves into the history of the region, mentioning the notorious warlord Vlad Tepes.
Stoker, who never visited Vlad's homeland, was nonetheless known to have read Wilkinson's book. And if ever there were a historical figure to inspire a bloodthirsty, monstrous fictional character, Vlad III Dracula was one.
Live Science