| With the recent success of Twilight and various other | | | | reputation for cruelty spread throughout Europe. His |
| vampire movies and books, the legend of Dracula has | | | | favorite method of killing people was to impale them |
| found a new generation of vampire fans. But few | | | | with spears while they were still alive. He enjoyed |
| people know the history behind the original Dracula. In | | | | eating his meals as he watched people die. His impaling |
| reality, Dracula lived during the medieval times and is still | | | | technique terrified his enemies and deterred villagers |
| considered a patriot who protected his country from | | | | from breaking the law. After declaring war on the |
| foreign invaders. The Dracula legend is based on the | | | | Turks, Vlad turned back a Turkish invasion with a |
| tyranny of Vlad the third, also known as: Vlad the | | | | horrifying display of 20,000 impaled and rotting Turkish |
| Impaler, Vlad Dracula, and Vlad Tepes. Vlad was born | | | | and Bulgarian corpses stretched across a field. The |
| in the winter of 1431 in the Transylvanian city of | | | | scene was so gruesome and terrifying that the |
| Sighisoara and raised in Targoviste, the capital of | | | | squeamish Turkish invaders immediately retreated. |
| Wallachia-a region now known as Romania. | | | | Not only did Vlad enjoy impaling his enemies, he also |
| It was Bram Stoker's 1897 "Dracula" novel that made | | | | enjoyed torturing and killing women, children, and |
| the connection between vampires and Vlad the | | | | babies-there were no exceptions. In an attempt to |
| Impaler. In Romanian, Dracula meant, "Son of the | | | | keep his villagers in line, he kept the rotting corpses of |
| Dragon." Although Vlad did not have fangs or rise from | | | | nearly 30,000 impaled people near his castle. The area |
| the dead, he did exist. Furthermore, Bram Stoker's | | | | became known as the forest of the impaled. Vlad |
| fictional character was a lamb compared to Vlad the | | | | was known to enjoy roaming the forest while admiring |
| Impaler during his three reigns of terror in 1448, | | | | his gruesome handiwork. Vlad also ordered servants |
| 1456-62, and 1476. Vlad was known to have | | | | to place bowls underneath his victims to collect their |
| butchered thousands. | | | | blood. He would then dip his bread into the blood and |
| As children, Vlad and his brother Radu were sent to | | | | eat it. |
| the Ottoman Turks as hostages by their father (Vlad | | | | Another story of Vlad's cruelty involved the impaling of |
| II). Vlad II sent his sons away to maintain peace with | | | | a visiting ambassador. Inside Vlad's private chambers |
| the Ottoman Turks. During his captivity, Vlad defied his | | | | were the impaled corpses of criminals and children, |
| captors and spent many years imprisoned. Meanwhile, | | | | which surrounded Vlad's bed. The visiting ambassador |
| Radu accepted the Turkish lifestyle and befriended the | | | | complained about the smell of rotting flesh. Angered by |
| Sultan's son. This eventually caused a rivalry between | | | | the ambassador's complaints, Vlad had the |
| the two brothers. | | | | ambassador impaled and added to his collection of |
| In 1456, Vlad returned to Wallachia and became their | | | | rotting corpses. |
| new ruler after his father's assassination. During Vlad's | | | | In 1476, The evil Vlad Dracula finally died. Although no |
| reign of terror, his first order of business was to | | | | one knows the exact method of his demise, there are |
| address his kingdom's undesirables. Vlad considered | | | | many different opinions. One belief is that Vlad's was |
| criminals, beggars, sick people, and the poor as | | | | mistakenly killed by his own men after he disguised |
| undesirables. Vlad invited them to his castle for a grand | | | | himself as a Turk. Another is that Vlad died valiantly in |
| feast. Once Vlad's guests arrived, he provided them | | | | his final battle against the Turks. And after Vlad's |
| with food and drink. After the party began to wind | | | | death, he was beheaded. Afterward, his head was |
| down, Vlad and his guards sneaked outside of the | | | | sent to the Sultan in Constantinople as proof that Vlad |
| castle and set it on fire. Everyone in the castle burned | | | | was dead. The Turkish Sultan then placed Vlad's head |
| to death as Vlad stood outside enjoying the screams | | | | on a stake as a trophy. Depending on whom you ask, |
| of death. | | | | some believe Vlad was the spawn of Satan while |
| With the assistance of the printing press, Vlad's | | | | others consider him a patriot who died for his country. |