Dracula's Hidden Secrets: Behind the Castle Walls

The Bible was the first global bestseller, so it's fitting that Bram Stoker's unholy Dracula would become the second. The 19th century novel held particular appeal in its time because of its roots in real life. Vampirism was more than a myth in Europe and there really was a true-life, bloodthirsty Dracula in Transylvania during the 15th century. With Halloween upon us, I set my sights on Romania to learn more about the lore and legend that is Vlad Dracula.

The two main Romanian must-sees are the competing Dracula castles. The tourist literature calls them Dracula's Castle and the Real Dracula's Castle — and each has staunch defenders. This Tonic writer visited them both on his trip to Romania a few weeks back.

All Aboard the Undead Express!

First stop on the Undead Express is the Bran Castle (as seen in the photo above), the palace commonly referred to as Dracula's Castle, located on the border of Transylvania and Wallachia. No one knows if Stoker knew about this castle (he probably didn't), but local legend says it was his inspiration for the Count's fictional home. Interestingly, the actual Vlad Dracula never owned the one-time royal residence, though he did stay there for a short time. Nevertheless, the spooky palace — originally built as a wooden castle by the Teutonic Knights — certainly fits the bill as the structure with the most similarities to the residence Stoker describes in the book.

Poenari Castle (the huge fortress pictured below), known in the tourist literature as the Real Dracula's Castle, is a few hours outside Transylvania perched high above a canyon on the Arges River valley. Dracula certainly lived here, but his presence was military in purpose. Poienari was more fortress than castle, and Dracula positioned himself and his men to fight the invading Ottoman army. Dracula ultimately lost the battle, and his wife threw herself from the tower in an act of suicide.

Poienari Castle is certainly not what Stoker had in mind for his novel, even if this really is a Dracula Castle. Still, the fortress earned a reputation for being one of the most haunted sites in the world well before Dracula tourism made it famous for other reasons. Personally, having visited Poienari in an autumn month, I found the location to be absolutely beautiful with the rows of trees turning different shades of brown, though I could have lived without the 1,500 stairs to reach the top.

Will the Real Count Dracula Please Stand Up?

In the end, there are any number of gothic palaces and chateaus that Stoker could have had in mind when he described the literary castle, but as far as places Dracula actually stayed, Bran probably fits the bill best. Still, the larger question remains, "Who is Vlad Dracula?"

Vlad III is the second child of Vlad Dracul, who received his name after joining the Order of the Dragon. The son was thus called Dracula, meaning "Son of the Dragon." Ironically, the Latin word means something entirely different in Romanian: devil. It's not surprising, then, that is how many outsiders came to view the future Prince of Wallachia.

The father originally ruled over Wallachia, but after being dethroned in 1442, he regained control only by gaining the support of the fast-rising Ottomans. This not only betrayed the Dragon oath to fight the Turks, it also required Dracul to turn over his two youngest sons to the Sultan as collateral. Vlad III and Radu were sent to the Ottoman court, and while the younger brother found favor with the Sultan's son, Vlad apparently spent time in an underground prison and received lashes.

The years that followed were even more chaotic. In 1447, the Hungarian-backed boyars killed Dracul and then blinded his eldest son with a hot iron before burying him alive. The Ottomans didn't want the territory falling into Hungarian hands, so they sent Vlad Dracula to take control. That rule was short-lived, forcing Dracula to flee and eventually land in Hungary. Though the Hungarians were ultimately responsible for driving him out, they soon realized the young prince disliked the Ottomans as well, and with Constantinople ready to fall and the Ottoman Empire set to expand, it made sense to let Dracula reconquer Wallachia. After taking over the region, the prince killed many of the boyars and nobles and surprisingly filled several government offices with regular people, including free peasants.

The Ottoman battles that followed earned Dracula his gruesomely suggestive nickname: Vlad the Impaler. Drawn from his preferred method of execution — driving stakes or blades through his unfortunate victims' bodies — Dracula used the technique on tens of thousands, even impaling people in geometric patterns. There's one tale of a huge Ottoman army heading toward Wallachia, and along the way, a forest of 20,000 impaled Turkish prisoners greeted them.

Eventually, the Ottomans put Dracula's brother Radu in charge of the fighting, and he led the army that would ultimately capture Dracula at Poienari Castle. Upon his release several years later, Dracula would conquer Wallachia once more, but he would be slain in 1476 near Bucharest in yet another Ottoman conflict. Vlad was so hated by the Turks that the Sultan asked for his head to make sure the Impaler had truly died.

Though Dracula was finally killed, there was a gypsy legend that the warrior-prince rose from the dead 200 years later and another that he never actually died — but carries his coffin around everywhere.

The Legend Lives On

Dracula remains such an engaging character because he's taken on such different images in our minds. Many people, mostly the Turks and wealthy Germans he tormented, see him as a monster that nailed hats to heads, burned people alive and impaled by the tens of thousands, often leaving the corpses to hang for months. Dracula turned the rich into peasants, making them rebuild the Poienari Castle and working many of them to death. There's even talk at the time that he tortured small animals and, naturally, ate his enemies' flesh and drank their blood.

Germans, representing much of the noble class who suffered under his rule, helped immortalize these stories. The newly created printing press allowed for published propaganda about Dracula's evil deeds, and ironically enough, the tales became so popular that people still printed Dracula literature at least a century after his death. Many of the texts became bestsellers, including Michel Beheim's Story of a Bloodthirsty Madman Called Dracula of Wallachia.

The Russian and Slavic versions, such as The Tale of Warlord Dracula, present many of the same wicked stories but in a more positive light. They saw Dracula as a strong leader doing what he needed to do to protect the people. Likewise, the Slavic versions often seem more historical and lack the over-the-top violence portrayed in German texts.

But how do his own people see him? Well, Dracula was voted one of the "100 Greatest Romanians" in a 2006 television series, and the country printed a commemorative Dracula stamp in 1976. The reality is, Dracula was a hero to the region and particularly to the poor. For fighting against the Ottomans, Dracula was actually considered a Christian hero all over Europe, even by the Holy See.

It is quite obvious that Stoker picked the perfect historical figure to connect to his literary character. In the book, Van Heilsing makes the connection to Vlad, describing him as the warrior who fought against the Turks. Interestingly, the first publication to make the connection explicit was the '70s Marvel comic The Tomb of Dracula, which launched in '72, followed by the Jack Palance film Dracula a year later. The 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula with Gary Oldman also made the connection.

Long Live the Vampire

You know what's funny? It's said that Stoker found the name "Dracula" in a book of Romanian rulers, and while he knew some of the man's reputation, he may not have realized exactly how similar the two Counts actually were.

Another interesting link between the book and real life has to do with vampirism. In centuries past, when a hunter killed an animal, they saw the rudimentary connection between loss of life and loss of blood. Many thought blood must be a life force and some thought they could capture that force by drinking it. The most famous "vampire" of all was the 16th century Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bathory who murdered hundreds of young girls to drink and bathe in their blood believing it might keep her young. By the late 17th century, vampirism was supposedly an epidemic in parts of Europe.

Stoker wasn't the first to write about vampires, but he made a fortunate creative move in crafting a character that combined vampire lore with a real-life person that boasts his own mythical, bloodthirsty legacy. This is what makes a trip to Transylvania truly exciting. Sure, the real Dracula may not have spent years at Bran Castle with three wives, but it's a place he did visit and whose architectural style inspired the literary castle. You can also visit his birthplace in Sigishora, his palace in Bucharest and his fortress in the forested Carpathian hills.

One of the most famous literary characters in history — and one of the most popular Halloween staples to date — is rooted in a real person and place that anyone can explore. Even if you prefer your vampires in a Buffy or Twilight mold, everyone can appreciate experiencing the real side of one of the most frightening literary figures in history.

All photos by David Jenison.