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== THE HISTORICAL DRACULA: VLAD III TEPES, 1431-1476 == == I. Historical Background == M ost of you ("the members of this list", R.P.'92, -Ed.) are probably aware of the fact that when Bram Stoker penned his immortal classic, Dracula, he based his vampire villian on an actual historical figure. Stoker's model was Vlad III Dracula (called Tepes, pronounced tse-pesh); a fifteenth century viovode, or prince, of Wallachia of the princely House of Basarab. Wallachia is a provence of Romania bordered to the north by Transylvania and Moldavia, to the east by the Black Sea and to the south by...

Willing victims are flocking to get puncture wounds at Romania's Bran Castle as the site - widely believed to be the inspiration for Count Dracula's lair - opens as a vaccination centre. A poster showed vampire fangs replaced with syringes during a coronavirus vaccination drive at the castle this weekend. Health workers with blood-soaked vampire fangs on their scrubs gave out Pfizer jabs to visitors, who can turn up without an appointment every weekend in May. Those who get the jab are handed a certificate hailing their 'boldness and responsibility' and promising they will be welcome at the castle 'for...

History of the real Vlad the Impaler.

Romanian royal home draws vampire tourists; heir wants ‘a happy place’When he lived as a boy in Bran Castle, Dominic Habsburg, now 79 years old, recalls it was “a happy place of light and flowers” that had been a residence to his grandparents, Queen Marie and King Ferdinand I, who once reigned over this

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...

An archaeologist who has been part of the restoration and excavation effort at Turkey's Tokat Castle believes he has uncovered the dungeons where Vlad the Impaler was once held. Ibrahim Cetin tells the Hurriyet Daily News that the two dungeons that were found were "built like a prison." And while he deems it "hard to estimate" which room the man who served as Dracula's inspiration was held in, "he was around here," he says.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania returned a picturesque castle in the Carpathian mountains to its former king, who was chased out by the communist regime 60 years ago. The Peles castle, now hosting a museum and an art collection, has become a popular tourist attraction since opening to the public after the execution of Stalinist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. According to a memorandum signed by the representatives of the former monarch King Michael, the castle will be sold back to Romania if authorities agree to keep it as a museum. "This is a historical moment, a symbolic one that marks...

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - You might think the owners of Dracula's castle are out for blood. The family that owns the Transylvanian castle wants $78 million dollars for it. The castle was home to the 15th century medieval ruler who inspired the novel about the blood- sucking Count Dracula. Dominic Habsburg is a member of the castle-owning family and an architect in upstate, New York. He insists his family is being reasonable. He says the family wants the castle preserved and selling it to local authorities is the best way to do it. The Transylvanian castle is now a tourist...

BUCHAREST, Romania - More than 60 years after it was seized by communists, the Romanian government is to hand back one of the country's most popular tourist sites, the fabled Dracula Castle, to its former owner, the culture minister said Tuesday. The castle, worth an estimated $25 million, was owned by the late Queen Marie and bequeathed to her daughter Princess Ileana in 1938. It was confiscated by communists in 1948 and fell into disrepair. It will be transferred on Friday to Dominic van Hapsburg, a New York architect who inherited the castle from Princess Ileana decades after the communists...

Now you can own Dracula’s castle Transylvania's Bran Castle, long connected with Bram Stoker's indelible creation, is for sale. Count Dracula never lived in Bran Castle, in the Transylvania region of Romania, because he was a fictional character. But look, it’s a Gothic-looking castle in Transylvania — plus, Vlad the Impaler, the historical figure who inspired Bram Stoker’s indelible creation, was reportedly imprisoned here. So it’s no surprise that it’s commonly called “Dracula’s Castle,” and that (like Transylvania’s Hunyad Castle and Poenari Castle in Wallachia) it’s often linked with the vampire legend. And now, you can own it. If you...

Dracula's castle on sale for 60 mln euros Bucharest (ANTARA News) - Bran Castle, better known as Dracula's Castle, has been put up for sale for 60 million euros (75.6 million dollars) and local authorities in Romania are considering buying it, officials said Wednesday. "Bran Castle is very important for our province's tourism industry. We have set up a commission with five members of the council that will examine the possibility of buying it," Aristotel Cancescu, president of Brasov province's council, was quoted by AFP as saying. The castle was returned in December 2006 to Dominic Habsburg, the grandson of...