Vlad Dracula - The Truth

ABC Reportage about the Brand Dracula

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 13:10:00 +0000

Dracula - the most used character in cinema. The TV team goes to Bran, Romania, to check why Dracula is so popular and how the brand was created. They don't seem to care too much about Vlad III Dracula, the real person that inspired the character, but mostly about the commercialism around Dracula's name. Garlic, wooden stick, vampires and the entire thing people know about.

https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/inside-business-transylvania-real-life-draculas-castle-romania-56050058

Christopher Lee passed away

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 20:10:00 +0000

The sad news is that sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee passed away on June, 15th, 2015.
his impressive carrier spans over 60 years and his role as Dracula in Horror of Dracula was memorable. He also acted as Count Dracula in "Dracula. Prince of Darkness", "Scars of Dracula" and Dracula A.D. 1972.

Can Vampires Poop ?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 11:13:00 +0000

I couldn't sleep at night because of this essential life (or undead ?) question.
If you're interested if vampires do need a toilet, read this: http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/26/8297295/can-vampires-poop-yahoo-answers

Bram Stoker's inspiration for Dracula

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 08:09:00 +0000

Today I stumbled upon this article in Yorkshire post, questioning if Anne Bronte was Stoker's inspiration for his novel. It all started with the discovery of some letters, written in 1878 between Stoker and Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Wyat. In one letter is discussed about a series of attacks committed by a women biting her victim's neck. The woman dies in her twenties, from consumption, like Anne.

Is just a supposition and personally I'm convinced Stoker got his inspiration from more than one events/persons. So Ms Bronte might've been one of them , but this does not exclude the Vlad III Dracula. Both the character, the behaviour and the name point at him as a main possible inspiration.

Dark Prince. 2000. The full movie

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 09:55:00 +0000

Dark Prince. The True Story of Dracula (2000)
The full movie. Starring Rudolf Martin (as Vlad Dracula) and Jane March (as Lidia).
With an IMDB rating of 5.9/10 the movie might not seem so good, but I really enjoyed watching

Dracula on NBC

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 09:47:00 +0000

Dracula series, this fall on NBC. Here is the official trailer:

Google is celebrating Bram Stoker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:36:00 +0000

Here is the doodle of the day:

Bram Stoker is the author of "Dracula", the novel that made the Wallachian ruler famous worldwide.

Hotel Transylvania

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 22:50:00 +0000

Check this out: http://www.welcometohotelt.com/site/ (a site by Sony pictures). At least the animation is cool

Vlad Tepes Movie, 1982 (English subtitles)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 09:41:00 +0000

I dare to consider this a great discovery and a great addition for the media library: Vlad Tepes movie, from 1982. Is the full movie here and what is good about this is that it has subtitles in English.
In order to better understand the movie, I'd recommend spending some time (10 - 15 minutes) to read a little the life of Vlad Dracula (follow the links at the end of each post to read through different parts of his life).
The movie starts with the second reign of Vlad, starting with 1456, when he enters Wallachia with his troops and regains Wallachia's throne after killing Vladislav II (the movie in fact presents a boyar killing Vladislav II and than being killed by Vlad, for betrayal)

Dracula Society

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 11:59:00 +0000

I just found out about Dracula Society. They are founded in 1973 by Bruce Wightman and Bernard Davies and have a website.

Writer and historian Radu Florescu, writer Raymond T. McNally, Nicolae Paduraru founder of Transylvania Society of Dracula are just some of the honorary members.

Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally are real Vlad Dracula experts and they were consulted for the documentary that Discovery channel realized few years ago.

Vlad Dracula in Transylvania

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:13:00 +0000

John Hunyadi seems to have tolerated the fact that Vlad found a shelter in Transylvania because he was afraid Vlad could go ask the Turks for protection. But was not a good moment for that. The new sultan, that will remain in history as Mehmed II the Conqueror, son of Murad II, was preparing the siege over Constantinople and for this he needed to conclude the peace with Hungary and Austria. On November, 20^th, 1451 he signed a three years armistice with Hungary. This was also considering the position of Vladislav, principle of Wallachia. His throne was "guaranteed" until the end of the armistice, and if he dies before the end of the armistice no part would have the power to nominate a principle, therefore they will respect the one that the country will choose.

Therefore on the letter that John Hunyadi sends to the inhabitants of Brasov on February, 6th, 1452 he announce that he has signed a non-beligerance agreement, therefore he will do nothing against Vladislav. Because he knows that Vlad lives in Brasov and prepares to conquer the Wallachian throne without letting him (Hunyadi) know and against his wish.

In 1456 Dracula obtains the throne again for his second and longest reign

Snagov Monastery

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Here is a short slideshow with images from Snagov Monastery, where Vlad Dracula's grave was supposed to be. However, the argue around Dracula's tomb is still ongoing and, as the battle in which he died took place south from Bucharest, it might be another monastery than Snagov the one where people took his body after the fight. and that one might be Comana.

Romanian History denied DNA examination

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 12:49:00 +0000

Recently, the ministry of culture started the project GENESIS, which aims to clarify some aspects of Romanian history.
DNA samples were supposed to be taken from some bones belonging to Basarab dynasty. Vlaicu Vodă's grave from Biserica Domnească, in the town of Curtea de Argeș was the first to be opened, on June 27th 2012, after 700 years. Vlaicu Vodă, alias Vladislav I of Wallachia was the ruler of Wallachia between 1364 – 1377 and was succeeded on throne by Radu I and belonged to the House of Basarab, as well as Vlad Dracula. Here is a short movie from the exhumation (in Romanian):

For more details please refer to this short history of Wallachia

Researchers were then supposed to open the grave of Mircea I the Elder, grandfather of Vlad III, however the new minister of culture, Puiu Hasotti, denied authorization for DNA samples.

Dracula Castle in sand

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:50:00 +0000

Isn't this hilarious :

A sand sculpture of Dracula and Dracula's Castle.

Well, the effort is remarkable (the guy seems evil and the castle looks cool), but it looks nothing like Bran Castle or any other castle I know from the Carpathians.

Dracula Climbing Route

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:31:00 +0000

While reading a Climbing magazine yesterday, I read about a route called Dracula. Nice. Here is the description:
http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/North_America/United_States/Oregon/Portland_Metro_Area/Broughton_Bluff/Bat_Wall/Dracula_8474.html

While looking for it, I found another one, called Count Dracula

Article on Transylvania

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Today I found this nice article about Transylvania.

Sighisoara - old pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:34:00 +0000

Well, while we cannot have pictures from the medieval Sighișoara, we can definitely enjoy this images from 100 years ago with the fortified citadel. The layout of the fortified town was characteristic to the German towns from the late middle-ages. Let's not forget that the first documentary attestation of Sighișoara is from 1291, under the name Castrum Sex ("the town on the hill").

dracula toon

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:34:00 +0000

I found this funny picture on the Internet yesterday:

Draculists

Bran Castle on Bing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:33:00 +0000

Bing.com is presenting Bran Castle, near Brașov, Romania, on the front page. This happens on Romania's National Day, December, 1st. Nice!
In the past, I presented Bran castle, sometimes referred to as Dracula's Caslte

Corvin Castle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 31 May 2011 09:30:00 +0000

I recently found an article in a Romanian newspaper, in Romanian, about Hunyadi Castle. Here is some data from it: The vast majority of tourists coming to visit Corvins' Castle in Hunedoara Knights Hall pass through without noticing the wooden hatch that leads to the castle prison. And even if they see it, it would not infer that there in the depths of the castle, the prison is saying that Vlad stayed before being led in Hungary, Visegrad, where he was imprisoned for many years.

Cell in the Knights Hall
Knights Hall. Tourist absorbed by columns and arches of its majestic rooms can easily escape the gaze "unguided" a wooden roof, "armed" with two beautifully shaped metal rods. That's because, while the wood roof and floor have gained about the same colour.
Wooden hatch opens easily with a piece of rope, leaving the visitor to discover a rectangular entrance, three feet long but narrower than 50 centimetres . A wooden staircase descends two and a half meters, directly under the vaults of prisoners cave.
To bottom, in the cell, there are three or four meters, but can not go down because there is no scale. And the only ray of light is coming through the cracks of a wooden lid that is covered with a small window giving directly into the stream Zlaşti. If you have the curiosity to open it, you immediately understand why the prisoners could not escape: from here to down in the valley, lies a wall of stone about 15 meters height.
At the edge of the wall on which probably stood the keeper when more come directly from the Knights Hall, a fragile wooden railing warns the visitor that one should not make any wrong step.

Symbolic Value
The cell has no floor, and the "bottom" over the room to resemble a grotto are dozens of large pieces of stone left in disorder. Left and right walls of the cell are built with stone, and above the walls we notice the brick arch.

It is the only remaining of the former prison cell Corvin Castle, which burned in the mid-nineteenth century, was abandoned about 14 years and then restored.
At that time, craftsmen found that the resistance of the wall structure of north-west has suffered, and any cave left would have caused problems in the future, so that almost all the rooms filled with stone. However, the cell with direct input from the Knights' Hall was left as a testimony for generations. Perhaps they knew, as people from Hunedoara passionate by the castle's stories, that Vlad Ţepes was imprisoned here.

"I saw no entry"
Hall of Knights is an enigma puzzling many visitors, even those passionate about history.
Other travelers who say that neither those from the castle did not made any reference to this. "About the fact that Vlad the Impaler was imprisoned here I was not told by anyone, not at school, but not even when I visited the castle," says Adrian Tomcea from Timisoara.
Equally surprised by the existence of the cell are visitors in the area. Florin Butnaru, Deva, admits: "I joined the Knights Hall about three or four times now, friends came to visit, but I never saw any entry in any hole. I read on the Internet and something about the Impaler castle, but I don't think it was about being trapped on the here, I do not remember."

Historian Nicolae Cerişor, from Corvin Museum, opening the hatch to the prison: "It seems that the sentence served in prison in the Hall of Knights. He was held here a while, then was taken to Visegrad, where he had a softer detention."

Hisstory
Two to three months imprisonment
Historian Nicolae Cerişer, director of the Museum "Corvin Castle, estimated that Vlad Tepeş's detention in Hunedoara lasted two to three months, but could not specify the exact date because the reference documentation at the moment are very limited.
"Vlad Tepeş was arrested, it seems, at Bran, after the nobility of the Romanian country, disturbed by the growing authority of the ruler, have made a compromising letter in which Vlad, by then an ally of Matthias Corvinus, would be declared intention to ally with the Ottoman Empire. It seems that the sentence was communicated to Vlad directly by Matthias Corvinus, or by his representative exactly in the Knits' Hall at Corvin Castle. He was kept here for a while, then he was gone Vişegrad, where he took a more lenient prison, is actually about a "house arrest", as one might say today", explains Nicolae Cerişer.

Legend
Catch and kill birds
Circulating in the area and a number of legends about this historical episode. Some say that , while imprisoned at Hunedoara Vlad was driven mad by the thought that he could serve as food to the hungry animals at anytime (in the place is known as the "lion's den", that probably housed hungry wolves or bears).
Another story says that in the cell, Vlad's appetite for blood should be further increased, it will often climb to the window to catch birds and kill them.
Historian Cerişer Nicolae considers only the fruit of popular imagination: "I do not think that the penalties imposed to Vlad Tepes led to the manifestation of any mental illness. But I think that was his preferred method of imposing authority. Overall, Vlad Tepes killed, probably Stefan cel Mare fewer people than just that he committed such acts in a much shorter interval.

Bram Stoker's Dracula - HD. Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 May 2011 09:54:00 +0000

if you have a good connection choose Full HD and view it full-screen.

Bram Stoker's Dracula, HD. Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:39:00 +0000

Bram Stoker's Dracula, HD. Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Here is part 2 of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Watch in HD

Bram Stoker's Dracula HD

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:50:00 +0000

I posted a link to this movie in 2007, however now I found the HD version, with a Portuguese translation. Here is the first part:

Dracula - Prince of Darkness 11

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:28:00 +0000

All Dracula movies.