Dracula legend or truth

The story of Dracula or the historical character Vlad Tepes began in 1431 in Sighisoara, the town where Dracula was born, today visitors can see the house where Vlad Tepes lived 4 years of his childhood.

The house where Vlad Tepes was born

Sighisoara

His father was called "Dracul," meaning "dragon" or "devil" in Romanian because he belonged to the Order of the Dragon, which fought the Muslim Ottoman Empire. "Dracula" means "son of Dracul" in Romanian. Therefore young Vlad was "son of the dragon" or "son of the devil." Scholars believe this was the beginning of the legend that Dracula was a vampire.

Count Dracula (Vlad Tepes)

From 1456 to 1462 Vlad Dracula was the ruler of Wallachia, and during his reign is said to have killed from 40,000 to 100,000 European civilians (political rivals, criminals, and anyone he considered "useless to humanity"), mainly by impaling. This way he gain the name of Vlad the Impaler.

The most famous Castle of Count Dracula, Bran Castle its surrounded by an aura of mystery and legend and perched high atop a 200-foot-high rock, owes its fame to its imposing towers and turrets as well as to the myth created around Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Bran Castle

Following the history Poienari Fortress was Dracula's Castle, the ruins stand high on a cliff overlooking the Arges River, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Vlad recognized the potential of the location and upon taking over the throne, he ordered that the structure be repaired and consolidated, turning it into one of his main fortresses.

Poienari Fortress

         After Vlad's death the the Fortress was left in ruins. Killed in December 1476 fighting the Turks near Bucharest, Romania, Dracula's head was cut off and displayed in Constantinople as proof that he was dead.