The real Dracula…

And Vampire stories

Vlad the Impaler

The First Real Vampire?

• Vlad the Impaler - born in 1431 in Transylvania.• Dracul means ‘dragon’ in Romanian and is also known

as ‘devil’. • Vlad Dracul, his father, was a knight in the Order of the

Dragon - a secret fraternity created by the Emperor• They tried to uphold Christianity and defend the empire• Vlad was not called VladTepes until after his death• He was called Vlad Dracula or "son of the Devil".

Vlad Dracula

• In 1436, Vlad Dracul took over the throne of Wallachia.

• He moved his family to the palace of Tirgoviste.• Young Vlad Dracula loved the royal life-style.• But this changed – he decided to betray the

Order of the Dracul and fought with the Turks.• He gave Sultan Murad II his two sons, Vlad

Dracula and his younger brother Radu• They were sent as slaves to show that Vlad

Dracul would not fight against the Turks.

Revenge

• In the winter of 1447, Vlad Dracul was assassinated.

• The conquerer forced the Sultan to free Vlad Dracula. 

• Vlad then learned of his father’s murder.• Vlad was told his older brother, who had had his

eyes gouged out and been buried alive• Vlad wanted revenge!

His quest began…

• He vowed to avenge his father’s death. • He asked the Sultan to help him defeat the

peasants. • In 1456, he killed his father's murderer and took

over as the new ruler of Wallachia. • Later he had the peasant families arrested. • Those in good health were forced into slavery. • Those too old and weak were impaled on

spikes.  • So began his reign of blood and terror!

Peasants impaled on Spikes

Did he drink blood?

• Vlad had thousands of people impaled and left to die in fields.

• It was a slow, painful death.

• Rumours spread throughout Romania that Vlad would sit in the fields at mealtime and drink blood from his dying victims.

• He is the basis for the novel Dracula.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

• Bram Stoker's 1897 book, Dracula, was inspired by the brutal acts of Vlad the Impaler and Irish vampire legends

• Stoker discovered ‘Dracula’ in a book on the history of Wallachia.

• Stoker used some of the facts as inspiration• Vlad hated non-Christians – so many people in

Wallachia killed non-practicing Christians too• Fearing for their lives, peasants placed crosses in their

fields etc. - to try and keep Dracula at bay. • Stoker used this notion of Dracula fearing crosses in his

book

Christopher Lee as Dracula

Transylvanian Traditions

• A source of inspiration for Stoker. • They believed in "strigoi" – people who walk the

earth because they were not properly buried.• They would stalk and kill humans.• The only way to stop them was to place them in

a coffin. Then put a stake through their heart…

The Castle of Dracula

Killing vampires

• Gypsies drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart

• Driving stakes into the grave, pouring boiling water over it, beheading the corpse and/or burning it.

• Garlic and crosses keep vampires away.

According to Legend…

• A vampire cannot enter a home uninvited.

• But - once you have invite them in, they are free to come and go as they please.

• SO BEWARE!

Vampire stories

• Do you like scary stories?• Have you seen these productions?• What did you think of them?• How do they compare with other stories?• What genre are they? Horror? Romance?

Twilight

Now create your own story…

• What is it title?• Who is in it?• What are they like? (Characteristics)• What do they do?• Where and when does the story take place?• What is the problem and how is it resolved?• How does the story end?

The end

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