Ep. 30 Dracula: How the Real Life Brutality of Vlad the Impaler Inspired the World’s Most Famous Vampire

Picture a vampire. Yeah, you’re picturing Dracula. That’s Dracula. I mean unless you’re a Twilight fan, then maybe you’re picturing Robert Pattinson’s fine self. But no, chances are you’re picturing the title character from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel “Dracula” about a vampire named Count Dracula who moves from Transylvania to England in search of new victims of his undead curse. This character, who basically invented the genre of vampires in fiction, was loosely based on, at least named after, a 15th century Romanian prince named Vlad III AKA Vlad the Impaler AKA Vlad Dracula. But did you know, besides the name and the fact that they were both savage, blood-thirsty killers, Vlad Dracula and Count Dracula don’t really have all that much in common? Let’s fix that.

Sources:

• National Geographic "Vlad the Impaler's thirst for blood was an inspiration for Count Dracula" by Juan Jose Sanchez Arreseigor
• Ars Technica "Scientists find evidence that Vlad the Impaler shed bloody tears" by Jennifer Ouelette
• ACS Publications "Count Dracula Resurrected: Proteomic Analysis of Vlad III the Impaler's Documents by EVA Technology and Mass Spectrometry"
• Time Magazine "Bram Stoker Claimed that Parts of Dracula Were Real. Here's What We Know About the Story Behind the Novel"
• nosweatshakespeare.com "Dracula: An Overview"
• Encyclopedia Britannica "Ottoman Empire"
• Oregon State University Libraries "The Gutenberg Press"

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