Real Vampires – The Man Behind the Legend of Dracula
With the recent success of Twilight and various other vampire movies and books, the legend of Dracula has found a new generation of vampire fans. But few people know the history behind the original Dracula. In reality, Dracula lived during the medieval times and is still considered a patriot who protected his country from foreign invaders. The Dracula legend is based on the tyranny of Vlad the third, also known as: Vlad the Impaler, Vlad Dracula, and Vlad Tepes. Vlad was born in the winter of 1431 in the Transylvanian city of Sighisoara and raised in Targoviste, the capital of Wallachia-a region now known as Romania.
Hollywood's Dracula is surprisingly not a very far cry away from the real man.
It was Bram Stoker’s 1897 “Dracula” novel that made the connection between vampires and Vlad the Impaler. In Romanian, Dracula meant, “Son of the Dragon.” Although Vlad did not have fangs or rise from the dead, he did exist. Furthermore, Bram Stoker’s fictional character was a lamb compared to Vlad the Impaler during his three reigns of terror in 1448, 1456-62, and 1476. Vlad was known to have butchered thousands.
As children, Vlad and his brother Radu were sent to the Ottoman Turks as hostages by their father (Vlad II). Vlad II sent his sons away to maintain peace with the Ottoman Turks. During his captivity, Vlad defied his captors and spent many years imprisoned. Meanwhile, Radu accepted the Turkish lifestyle and befriended the Sultan’s son. This eventually caused a rivalry between the two brothers.
In 1456, Vlad returned to Wallachia and became their new ruler after his father’s assassination. During Vlad’s reign of terror, his first order of business was to address his kingdom’s undesirables. Vlad considered criminals, beggars, sick people, and the poor as undesirables. Vlad invited them to his castle for a grand feast. Once Vlad’s guests arrived, he provided them with food and drink. After the party began to wind down, Vlad and his guards sneaked outside of the castle and set it on fire. Everyone in the castle burned to death as Vlad stood outside enjoying the screams of death.
With the assistance of the printing press, Vlad’s reputation for cruelty spread throughout Europe. His favorite method of killing people was to impale them with spears while they were still alive. He enjoyed eating his meals as he watched people die. His impaling technique terrified his enemies and deterred villagers from breaking the law. After declaring war on the Turks, Vlad turned back a Turkish invasion with a horrifying display of 20,000 impaled and rotting Turkish and Bulgarian corpses stretched across a field. The scene was so gruesome and terrifying that the squeamish Turkish invaders immediately retreated.
Not only did Vlad enjoy impaling his enemies, he also enjoyed torturing and killing women, children, and babies-there were no exceptions. In an attempt to keep his villagers in line, he kept the rotting corpses of nearly 30,000 impaled people near his castle. The area became known as the forest of the impaled. Vlad was known to enjoy roaming the forest while admiring his gruesome handiwork. Vlad also ordered servants to place bowls underneath his victims to collect their blood. He would then dip his bread into the blood and eat it.
Another story of Vlad’s cruelty involved the impaling of a visiting ambassador. Inside Vlad’s private chambers were the impaled corpses of criminals and children, which surrounded Vlad’s bed. The visiting ambassador complained about the smell of rotting flesh. Angered by the ambassador’s complaints, Vlad had the ambassador impaled and added to his collection of rotting corpses.
In 1476, the evil Vlad Dracula finally died. Although no one knows the exact method of his demise, there are many different opinions. One belief is that Vlad’s was mistakenly killed by his own men after he disguised himself as a Turk. Another is that Vlad died valiantly in his final battle against the Turks. And after Vlad’s death, he was beheaded. Afterward, his head was sent to the Sultan in Constantinople as proof that Vlad was dead. The Turkish Sultan then placed Vlad’s head on a stake as a trophy. Depending on whom you ask, some believe Vlad was the spawn of Satan while others consider him a patriot who died for his country.
William Greene has a B.S. degree from I.W.U. and has made a career of working with the public. He has more than 10 years experience in social services, including casework. William also operates a social dating website titled Socialhearts, located at http://www.socialhearts.com. Be sure to stop by to read articles about dating and relationships or find someone for companionship.
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Honestly if vampires were real I think that would be pretty cool, but not the torturing part. If I could be one I wouldn’t mine, but it wouldn’t be like a horrible one it would have to be something like a “twilight one”. That’s my thought.
I think it’s crazy that someone would actually LIKE killing and torturing other people. I could see if your life was in danger or something….but seriously.
Vlad rocks. Thanks for sharing the article, it’s very cool! :) Hey what do you think of my site?
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