Free Republic

...During his reign, Vlad III is said to have killed 40,000 to 100,000 people (political rivals, criminals, and anyone that he considered "useless to humanity"), mainly by the gruesome act of impaling.Following a series of skirmishes between Vlad III and the Turks, Mehmed II marched on the city of Târgoviște and discovered the remains of 23,844 impaled Turkish prisoners arranged in concentric circles around the city.In a description of Vlad III by the papal legate, Nicholas of Modrussy: "he was not very tall, but very stocky and strong, with a cruel and terrible appearance, a long straight nose, distended nostrils,...

<p>WASHINGTON — A historic Transylvanian castle that may have once imprisoned Vlad the Impaler — likely inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula — still stands today. But what lies beneath it?</p> <p>Because of centuries of rebuilding and additions, archaeologists weren't sure where the castle's original foundation lay.</p>

Like flaming demons, Wallachians rushed out of the night and into the Turkish camp, striking terror in an army of terrorists. Leading the charge was a gore-spattered chieftain—hewing and hacking a path to the central tents where the Sultan huddled in fear. On he came, Vlad Dracul, raining down slaughter and raging for Mehmed’s blood.On June 17, 1462, outside Targoviste, Romania, the world was given a rare instance of how the good can be accomplished though the grotesque—for God can deploy His enemies as allies. Vlad Dracul III, Prince of Wallachia, can hardly be considered a warrior of faith; but...