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For HALLOWEEN . A little extra insight…. The Vampire Legend . Is there a real place called Transylvania? Yes , in present day Romania Was there a real Dracula? ‘Yes’ but he wasn’t a vampire. The Vampire Legend . He is known as some combination of Vlad Tepes Dracula He was born in 1431
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For HALLOWEEN A little extra insight…
The Vampire Legend • Is there a real place called Transylvania? • Yes, in present day Romania • Was there a real Dracula? • ‘Yes’ • but he wasn’t a vampire
The Vampire Legend • He is known as some combination of Vlad Tepes Dracula • He was born in 1431 • His name Dracula means son of Dracul (‘Dragon’) • His father, Vlad Dracul was effectively a knight in an military/religious order whose purpose was to protect the interests of Catholicism,and drive the Turks out of the region
The Vampire Legend • The order's official dress - a black cape over a red garment - was worn only on Fridays • Vlad Tepes Dracula’s father led Walachia 1436 to 1447 when he was assassinated • Vlad was a political prisoner in Turkey from 1442-1447
The Vampire Legend • Vlad Tepes Dracula ruled Walachia in 1448 for 2 months, again in 1456-1462 and 1475-1476 • Tepes = ‘The Impaler’ for his use of impalement as punishment for crimes • He was constantly battling the Turks and the Hungarians throughout his life (when out of prison) • In 1462, to repel a major Turkish invasion he had the carcasses of some 20,000 Turkish captives impaled on thousands of stakes, a horror scene which was nicknamed the "Forest of the Impaled.”
The Vampire Legend • Dracul can also mean Devil so elsewhere in Europe he was sometimes know as Dracula = son of the Devil • He is remembered favorably in Romania because of his attempts to keep the Hungarians and Turks out and low crime rates
The Vampire Legend • Bram Stoker modified the real Dracula to use in his Dracula novel of 1897 • Various legends and folklore of the region were used in the novel • Dracula’s body was not found when it was dug up • For some reason, some bodies don’t decay very quickly and so appear undead if dug up • A stake (or knitting needle) through the heart was used to keep the dead dead (believe it or not)