The Complete Book of Vampires

(sp.DRACULA)

Bram Stoker's Dracula is often interpreted as a Christian allegory, exploring

themes of good versus evil, faith versus darkness, and the struggle for
salvation. The novel uses Christian symbols and imagery, such as the crucifix, to
represent the forces of good and the battle against the supernatural. While
Dracula himself can be seen as a representation of evil, some scholars also
interpret him as a distorted mirror of Christ, highlighting the dangers of
unchecked power and the potential for good to be twisted into something
destructive.

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Christ before Pilate (altarpiece), Narodna galerija, inv. NG S 1176, Ljubljan

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 Once a priest
came to Dracula and
delivered a sermon.
Sins would not be forgiven
unless one returned unjustly acquired goods
taken from other persons
without measure.
Dracula walked with the priest,
then invited him to dine.
At the meal,
while they were sitting at the table,
this debauched and devilish man broke
crumbs into his food.
The clergyman now and then
took morsels of Dracula’s food
with his spoon
and began to eat them.

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 Dracula then said: “Now, tell me:
Did you not preach here that
sins will only be forgiven
if one leave to the rightful owner that which is coming to him?”
The priest answered: “Indeed, that is my
religious instruction in such matters.”
Dracula retorted: “Why, then,
did you take crumbs from me that
I had broken here on the table?
This will bring you no good.”
He then took the poor priest andhad him impaled as soon as he could [46, p. 329]16.17
Cornu, Mathilde.
Ciobanu, Mihai Anatolii. “Feodor Kuriţin, diacul lui Ivan al III-lea,
Diak of Ivan the Third”]. Revista Istorică, vol. 26, no. 5–6, 2015, pp. 477–489.
(In Romanian)

Vampires had already been discussed in French and German literature. Calmet conducted
extensive research and amassed judicial reports of vampiric incidents and extensively researched
theological and mythological accounts as well, using the scientific method in his analysis to
come up with methods for determining the validity for cases of this nature. As he stated in his
treatise:
They see, it is said, men who have been dead for several months, come back to
earth, talk, walk, infest villages, ill use both men and beasts, suck the blood of their
near relations, make them ill, and finally cause their death; so that people can only
save themselves from their dangerous visits and their hauntings by exhuming them,
impaling them, cutting off their heads, tearing out the heart, or burning them.
These revenants are called by the name of oupires or vampires, that is to
say, leeches; and such particulars are related of them, so singular, so detailed, and
invested with such probable circumstances and such judicial information, that one
can hardly refuse to credit the belief which is held in those countries, that these
revenants come out of their tombs and produce those effects which are proclaimed
of them.

In Philosophical Dictionary, Voltaire wrote:

These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to suck the
blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs, after which they returned to
their cemeteries. The persons so sucked waned, grew pale, and fell
into consumption; while the sucking corpses grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an
excellent appetite. It was in Poland, Hungary, Silesia, Moravia, Austria,
and Lorraine, that the dead made this good cheer.

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 Foreword
Monsters appear in world lore as a diverse group of creatures, ranging from mythical beasts like
dragons and griffins to mutated animals and even supernatural entities. They are often associated
with folklore, mythology, and fiction, reflecting human fascination with the unknown and the
supernatural. Examples include creatures like banshees, basilisks, chimera, werewolves and
Vampires which are found in various cultures and mythologies.
Theories about vampires are wide-ranging and often reflect cultural anxieties. Early folklore
often depicted vampires as undead beings, reanimated corpses spreading disease and needing to
consume blood to survive. Later interpretations leaned into romanticism, portraying vampires as
alluring, immortal creatures with supernatural abilities. Modern theories often explore the
psychological aspects of vampirism, examining themes of addiction, sexuality, and the fear of
death. Some theories connect vampirism to specific medical conditions or societal power
dynamics, creating a complex and evolving archetype that adapts to the times.Here are some of
the nuances of Vampirism:

Immortality has fascinated man for ages. People identify with immortal vampires because, by
so doing, they overcome, or at least temporarily escape from, their fear of dying. While witches
and ghouls are popular in the East, the “vampire” is seen as a product of western culture.
However, one of the biggest symbols of the vampire cult, Count Dracula, was also sourced from
Vlad III, who was a prince that grew up in the Ottoman Palace.We shall discuss the various
components of this concept of the immortal blood drinker who spreads like a plague his
malevolence.

Vampires, beings of the undead and those who have gained immortality but must subsist on the
life force of the living, have captured the imagination of humanity for centuries. While the image
of the vampire may vary from one culture to another, the underlying concept persists across
continents and civilizations. Vampire folklore is a rich tapestry woven into the cultural fabric of
numerous societies across the globe.The term vampire did not exist in ancient times.

Blood drinking and similar activities were attributed to demons or spirits who would eat flesh
and drink blood; even the devil was considered synonymous with the vampire. Commentators
have offered many theories for the origins of vampire beliefs and related mass hysteria.
Everything ranging from premature burial to the early ignorance of the
body's decomposition cycle after death has been cited as the cause for the belief in vampires.

Hypersexual behavior: What we call extremely dirty sex where one of the partners influences
the other to do devious sexual acts of advanced type.

Power of Christian symbols, like the cross, crucifix, and fish, are believed to hold extraordinary
powers, representing Christ's sacrifice, protection from evil, and early Christian identity. They serve
as reminders of faith, aid in connecting with God, and can be used in spiritual practices like exorcism
and blessings. Holy Water-Holy water is water that has been consecrated or blessed by a religious
figure, typically a priest, and is used for various religious purposes like cleansing, baptism, and
blessings. It is a sacred element that symbolizes purification and protection in many religions,

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 including Christianity.Holy water is blessed in the church and used for baptism, as well as for
blessing individuals, churches, homes, and sacred objects.

It is a reminder of baptism and a sign of God's grace and protection. Holy water fonts, which are
vessels containing holy water, are often placed near church entrances to remind worshippers of
their baptismal vows and to bless them before entering. In Eastern Christianity, holy water is
blessed in the church and given to the faithful to drink at home and to bless their homes.The use
of holy water is based on the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. Holy
water is not considered to possess magical powers, but its significance lies in its symbolism and
consecration, reminding believers of their faith and God's presence. It is a way to invoke divine
blessings and protection from evil. It is used to bless objects, people, and places, signifying their
spiritual significance.
Examples of Holy Water:
 Christian Holy Water: Blessed by a priest in a church.
 Eastern Orthodox and Eastern-Rite Catholic Holy Water: Blessed in the church and taken
home for personal use and blessings.
 Jordan River Water: Considered holy by some Christian traditions due to its association with
the baptism of Jesus.
 Zamzam Water: Considered holy by Muslims and believed to have miraculous healing
properties.
 Other Sacred Waters: Certain rivers, springs, and wells in various religions are also considered
holy.
 The Cross:
 The cross is the primary symbol of Christianity, representing Jesus Christ's
crucifixion and the redeeming power of his death. It is a symbol of both Christ
himself and Christian faith.
 The Crucifix:
 A crucifix depicts Christ on the cross, emphasizing his suffering and sacrifice. It
is believed to be particularly potent in warding off evil and reinforcing the power
of Christ's redemption. Crucifixes are often used in spiritual warfare, blessings,
and exorcisms.
 The Fish (Ichthys):
The fish, a symbol of early Christians, is a secret recognition amongst them, it has the meaning
of "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior".Christians also use various other symbols like the dove
(representing the Holy Spirit), seven-branched candlestick (representing the Holy Spirit and its
gifts), and Alpha and Omega (symbolizing God's eternal existence). These symbols are not
viewed as idols but as tools for spiritual understanding and connection with God. They are used
in various contexts, including worship, spiritual practices, and personal devotion. Christians
also use the term "Alpha and Omega" to symbolize God's eternal existence, and God uses this
term to describe himself in the Bible
Christian allegory involves using stories, characters, and symbols to represent Christian
concepts, teachings, and the spiritual journey of a believer. It's a way of exploring faith and

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 spiritual truths through narratives and imagery. Examples include the parable of the Good
Samaritan, The Pilgrim's Progress, and the Chronicles of Narnia.

Key aspects of Christian allegory:

 Symbolism:
Objects, characters, and settings often represent abstract ideas or biblical figures. For example,
in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan the lion is symbolic of Christ, and the White
Witch represents Satan.
 Double Meaning:
Allegories have both a literal surface meaning and a deeper, spiritual meaning. The surface
story serves as a vehicle for conveying the deeper message.
 Theological Exploration:
Christian allegory allows for the exploration of theological themes like sin, redemption,
salvation, and the nature of God.
 Examples:
 The Parable of the Good Samaritan: This biblical parable is often interpreted as an allegory
of God's love and care for humanity, particularly those in need.
 The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan: This classic allegorical novel follows the journey of
a Christian pilgrim as he travels through trials and tribulations to reach the Celestial City,
representing salvation and heaven.
 The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis: This series of fantasy novels is widely interpreted as
an allegory of the Christian faith, with characters like Aslan, the talking lion, representing
Christ.
 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway: This novel is also interpreted as a Christian
allegory, with Santiago, the fisherman, representing Christ and his struggle.
Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is often interpreted as a Christian allegory, using the vampire archetype
to represent the forces of evil and the characters' actions as a struggle between faith and
darkness. Dracula, with his powers and eternal life gained through blood, embodies a perversion
of Christian ideals, while the heroes, armed with religious symbols and practices, fight to uphold
Christian values.

Elaboration:

 Dracula as Anti-Christ:
Dracula's ability to grant eternal life through blood consumption, a perversion of the Christian
sacrament of communion, is seen as a direct opposition to Christ's sacrifice and offer of
redemption.
 Christian Symbols and Practices:
The novel uses Christian symbols like crucifixes and the consecrated Host, which are used by
the characters to combat Dracula and protect themselves.

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 Faith vs. Darkness:
The struggle between the heroes and Dracula highlights the conflict between faith, represented
by the characters' beliefs and actions, and the forces of darkness embodied by the vampire.
 Religious Objects as Weapons:
The characters utilize religious objects, such as the crucifix and holy water, as weapons against
the vampire, showcasing the power of faith and religious practices in their fight against evil.
 Perversion of Christian Ideals:
Dracula's actions, like his lust for blood and his attempts to create an undead family, can be
interpreted as a perversion of Christian ideals like marriage, sexuality, and the nature of death.

Examples of Allegorical Elements:

 Blood:
The blood of Christ is a central concept in Christianity, representing redemption and eternal
life. Dracula's thirst for blood and the way he uses it to create vampires perverts this sacred
concept.
 Marriage:
Dracula's relationship with Mina Harker, and his attempts to create an undead family, can be
seen as a perversion of the Christian view of marriage as a sacred bond.
 Sexuality:
The portrayal of vampires' sexual nature can be interpreted as a perversion of the Christian view
of sexuality as a sacred and holy act
In many vampire stories, vampires are portrayed as having the ability to hypnotize or "mind
control" their victims. This is often presented as a way for them to exert power, manipulate
others, and even erase memories or alter behaviors. This ability is often used to symbolize the
psychological power dynamics between vampires and their prey, highlighting themes of control,
seduction, and vulnerability.

Vampire Hypnosis as a Power Tool vampires use hypnosis to control their victims, forcing
them to do things they wouldn't otherwise do, like staying in a specific location or revealing
information. Some vampires can use hypnosis to alter or erase the memories of their victims,
making it easier to control them or hide their activities.

Psychological Domination means the ability to hypnotize is often used to create a sense of fear
and vulnerability in the victim, making them more susceptible to the vampire's influence. In
some stories, vampires are more easily able to hypnotize humans than other vampires, while in
others, even experienced vampire slayers can be immune to hypnosis. In some cases, vampires
are unable to hypnotize individuals they care about or are in love with, suggesting that their
hypnotic abilities are linked to a specific emotional connection. Some stories distinguish
between different types of hypnosis, such as "possession" by demons or "enchantment" by
vampires.
Classic Vampire Tales:

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 In Bram Stoker's "Dracula," the vampire Count Dracula uses his hypnotic abilities to influence
and control his victims, particularly Lucy Westenra.

Modern Vampire Fiction:

Contemporary vampire stories often explore the psychological power dynamics of vampire
hypnosis, using it to create suspense and explore themes of control and vulnerability.
TV Shows and Movies:
Vampire hypnosis is a common trope in television shows and movies, often used to create
dramatic moments and highlight the vampire's power. In vampire literature and media, hypnosis
is often used to symbolize the
Belief in vampires resulted from people of pre-industrial societies attempting to explain the
natural, but to them inexplicable, process of death and decomposition. People sometimes
suspected vampirism when a cadaver did not look as they thought a normal corpse should when
disinterred. Rates of decomposition vary depending on temperature and soil composition, and
many of the signs are little known. This has led vampire hunters to mistakenly conclude that a
dead body had not decomposed at all or to interpret signs of decomposition as signs of continued
life. It is also linked to Hypersexuality - a proposed condition said to cause unwanted or
excessive sexual arousal, causing people to engage in or think about sexual activity to a point
of distress or impairment.It is controversial whether it should be included as a clinical diagnosis
used by mental healthcare professionals. Nymphomaniac and satyriasis were terms previously
used for the condition in women and men, respectively.

Slavic vampires, known as "vampires" or "upyri" in different regions, are mythical beings from
Slavic folklore who are believed to rise from the grave to feed on the blood of the living. They
often appear as relatives or outsiders, and their presence can be associated with illness and
misfortune. In some tales, they are also linked to witches, werewolves, or those who have
rebelled against the church.

 Origin and Beliefs:

The belief in vampires is rooted in the Slavic cultures' fear of death and the unknown,
and is associated with the Bogomil faith, which viewed the body as evil while the soul
was considered holy. Some believed that people who died unnatural deaths, were
excommunicated, or had once been witches could become vampires.
 Types of Vampires:
Slavic vampire lore includes various types, including:
 Upyr: A common term in Russia, often associated with witches, werewolves, or
excommunicated individuals.
 Wurdulac: A West Slavic term, often associated with werewolves, which is the origin of the
term "wurdulac".
 Strzyga: A female vampire often depicted as a bird, capable of harming humans and
livestock.
 Fext: A creature described as invincible to bullets except those made of glass, which has its
origins in the Thirty Years' War.
 Vjesci: A Polish vampire, sometimes born with a caul on their head, destined to become a
vampire.

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 Appearance and Abilities:
Slavic vampires are often depicted as non-corporeal, meaning they lack a physical body
and resemble a poltergeist. They can also appear as butterflies, echoing the belief that
the butterfly represents a departed soul. Some vampires can shapeshift, taking the form
of loved ones or even a sack that fills with blood.
Methods of Destruction:
Traditional methods of killing vampires include:
 Piercing the body with a spike, especially one made of hazel or hawthorn.
 Using holy water or performing exorcism.
 Shining sunlight or metal on them.

Psychological Functions:
The vampire in Slavic folklore serves as a scapegoat for public health crises and the fear of
disease transmission, as well as a projection of longing for the recently departed.
Romanian vampires were known as moroi (from the Romanian word mort meaning 'dead' or the
Slavic word meaning 'nightmare') and strigoi, with the latter classified as either living or dead.
Live strigoi were described as living witches with two hearts or souls, sometimes both.
Strigoi were said to have the ability to send out their souls at night to meet with other strigoi and
consume the blood of livestock and neighbours. Similarly, dead strigoi were described as
reanimated corpses that also sucked blood and attacked their living family. Live strigoi became
revenants after their death, but there were also many other ways of a person becoming a vampire.
A person born with a caul, an extra nipple, a tail, or extra hair was doomed to become a vampire.
The same fate applied to the seventh child in any family if all of his or her previous siblings were
of the same sex, as well as someone born too early or someone whose mother had encountered a
black cat crossing her path. If a pregnant woman did not eat salt or was looked upon by a
vampire or a witch, her child would also become a vampire. So too would a child born out of
wedlock. Others who were at risk of becoming vampires were those who died an unnatural death
or before baptism. A person with red hair and blue eyes was seen as a potential strigoi . A child
breastfed after its mother has weaned it risks becoming a pricolici, a Romanian vampire with
werewolf-like attributes.
Romanian vampires were said to bite their victims over the heart or between the eyes, and
sudden deaths could indicate the presence of a vampire. Graves were often opened five or seven
years after burial and the corpse checked for vampirism, before being washed and reburied.

Slavic and Turkic Europe

Some of the more common causes of vampirism in Slavic folklore include being a magician or
an immoral person; suffering an "unnatural" or untimely death such as suicide; ex-
communication; improper burial rituals; an animal jumping or a bird flying over the corpse or the
empty grave (in Serbian folk belief); and even being born with a caul, teeth, or tail. In southern
Russia, people who were known to talk to themselves were believed to be at risk of becoming
vampires. Slavic vampires were able to appear as butterflies, echoing an earlier belief of the
butterfly symbolizing a departed soul. Some traditions spoke of "living vampires" or "people
with two souls", a kind of witch capable of leaving its body and engaging in harmful and
vampiric activity while sleeping.

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Two of the earliest historical recordings of vampire activity in Europe can be found in
the Neplach's Chronicle (14th century, probably written in 1360). For the year 1336 he mentions
a shepherd named Myslata from Blov. He died and was buried but he didn't stay in the grave.
Each evening he walked around, spoke to people as if being alive and was scaring them. Soon,
he started killing the people and if he stopped by someone's home and called their name, said
person died in 8 days. So the people of several villages decided to exhumate him and burn the
body. During the process, he let out a loud scream. Someone stabbed him with a stick and a lot
of blood came out of the wound. After he was burned, all of the evil events stopped. The second
case happened 1344. Neplach writes about a woman from Levín who after being buried came
back, killed several people and danced on them. Once she was exhumated and a stake was put
through her, blood started pouring out of her as if she was alive. She also ate her clothes and
once removed from her mouth, the cloth was bloody as well. Even after that, she was still
attacking villagers so they decided to burn her. However, the wood wouldn't catch fire until they
used pieces of the church roof to start it. [57] Both of these cases were later mentioned in the
book Magia posthuma by Karl Ferdinand Schertz (1704) that intended to denounce the
widespread folk belief in vampires.

Among the beliefs of the East Slavs, those of the northern regions (i.e. most of Russia) are
unique in that their undead, while having many of the features of the vampires of other Slavic
peoples, do not drink blood and do not bear a name derived from the common Slavic root for
"vampire". Ukrainian and Belarusian legends are more "conventional", although in Ukraine the
vampires may sometimes not be described as dead at all, or may be seen as engaging in
vampirism long before death. Ukrainian folklore also described vampires as having red faces and
tiny tails. During cholera epidemics in the 19th century, there were cases of people being burned
alive by their neighbors on charges of being vampires.
In South Slavic folklore, a vampire was believed to pass through several distinct stages in its
development. The first 40 days were considered decisive for the making of a vampire; it started
out as an invisible shadow and then gradually gained strength from the lifeblood of the living,
forming a (typically invisible) jelly-like, boneless mass, and eventually building up a human-like
body nearly identical to the one the person had had in life. This development allowed the
creature to ultimately leave its grave and begin a new life as a human. The vampire, who was
usually male, was also sexually active and could have children, either with his widow or a new
wife. These could become vampires themselves, but could also have a special ability to see and
kill vampires, allowing them to become vampire hunters.

The same talent was believed to be found in persons born on Saturday. In the Dalmatian region
of Croatia, there is a female vampire called a Mora or Morana, who drinks the blood of men, and
also the kuzlac/kozlak who are the recent-dead "who have not lived piously." They can be men
or women who show themselves at crossroads, bridges, caves, and graveyards and frighten the
locals by terrorizing their homes and drinking their blood. To be killed, a wooden stake must be
thrust through them.

In Bulgaria from the Middle Ages through to the beginning of the 20th century, it was a common
practice to pin corpses through the heart with an iron stake to prevent their return as a vampire.
In Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, a type of vampire called pijavica, which
literally translates to 'leech', is used to describe a vampire who has led an evil and sinful life as a

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human and in turn, becomes a powerfully strong, cold-blooded killer. Incest, especially between
mother and son, is one of the ways in which a pijavica can be created, and then it usually comes
back to victimize its former family, who can only protect their homes by placing mashed garlic
and wine at their windows and thresholds to keep it from entering. It can only be killed by fire
while awake and by using the Rite of Exorcism if found in its grave during the day.

To ward off the threat of vampires and disease, twin brothers would yoke twin oxen to a plow
and make a furrow with it around their village. An egg would be broken and a nail driven into
the floor beneath the bier of the house of a recently deceased person. Two or three elderly
women would attend the cemetery the evening after the funeral and stick five hawthorn pegs or
old knives into the grave: one at the position of the deceased's chest, and the other four at the
positions of his arms and legs. Other texts maintain that running backwards uphill with a lit
candle and a turtle would ward off a stalking vampire. Alternately, they may surround the grave
with a red woolen thread, ignite the thread, and wait until it was burnt up. If a noise was heard at
night and suspected to be made by a vampire sneaking around someone's house, one would shout
"Come tomorrow, and I will give you some salt," or "Go, pal, get some fish, and come back."
One of the earliest recordings of vampire activity came from the region of Istria in modern
Croatia, in 1672. Local reports cited the local vampire Giure Grando of the village Kringa
near Tinjan as the cause of panic among the villagers. A former peasant, Guire died in 1656;
however, local villagers claimed he returned from the dead and began drinking blood from the
people and sexually harassing his widow. The village leader ordered a stake to be driven through
his heart, but when the method failed to kill him, he was subsequently beheaded with better
results.

Among the Romani people, mullo (literally one who is dead) are believed to return from the dead
and cause malicious acts as well as drink human blood, most often that of a relative or the person
who had caused their death. Other potential victims were those who did not properly observe the
burial ceremonies or kept the deceased's possessions instead of properly destroying them. Female
vampires could return, lead a normal life and even marry but would eventually exhaust the
husband with their sexual appetite. Similar to other European beliefs, male vampires could father
children, known as dhampirs, who could be hired to detect and get rid of vampires.
Anyone who had a horrible appearance, was missing a finger, or had appendages similar to those
of an animal was believed to be a vampire. A person who died alone and unseen would become a
vampire, likewise if a corpse swelled or turned black before burial. Dogs, cats, plants or even
agricultural tools could become vampires; pumpkins or melons kept in the house too long would
start to move, make noises or show blood. According to the late Serbian ethnologist Tatomir
Vukanović, Roma people in Kosovo believed that vampires were invisible to most people, but
could be seen by a twin brother and sister born on a Saturday who wore their clothes inside out.
Likewise, a settlement could be protected by finding twins who could also see the vampire
outdoors at night, who would have to flee immediately after they spotted it.

Earliest Vampire Novel predating Bram Stocker’s work by 25 years

Carmilla is an 1872 Gothic novella by Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. It is one of the
earliest known works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) by 25 years.
First published as a serial in The Dark Blue (1871–72), the story is narrated by a young woman

14
who is preyed upon by a female vampire named "Carmilla". The titular character is
the prototypical example of the fictional lesbian vampire, expressing romantic desires toward the
protagonist. Carmilla was highly influential in the genre of vampire literature, and the story is
popularly anthologised, having been adapted extensively for films, movies, operas, video games,
comics, songs, cartoons, television, and other media.

Carmilla, serialised in the literary magazine The Dark Blue in late 1871 and early 1872, was
reprinted in Le Fanu's short-story collection In a Glass Darkly (1872). Comparing the work of
two illustrators of the story, David Henry Friston and Michael Fitzgerald—whose work appears
in the magazine article but not in modern printings of the book—reveals inconsistencies in the
characters' depictions. Consequently, confusion has arisen relating the pictures to the plot.
Isabella Mazzanti illustrated the book's 2014 edition, published by Editions Soleil and translated
by Gaid Girard.

Summary
Le Fanu presents the story as part of the casebook of Dr. Hesselius, whose departures from
medical orthodoxy rank him as the first occult detective in literature.Laura, the teenaged
protagonist, narrates, beginning with her childhood in a "picturesque and solitary" castle amid an
extensive forest in Styria, where she lives with her father, a wealthy English widower retired
from service to the Austrian Empire. When she was six, Laura had a vision of a very beautiful
visitor in her bedchamber. She later claims to have been punctured in her breast, although no
wound was found. All the household assure Laura that it was just a dream, but they step up
security as well and there is no subsequent vision or visitation.

Twelve years later, Laura and her father are admiring the sunset in front of the castle when her
father tells her of a letter from his friend, General Spielsdorf. The General was supposed to visit
them with his niece, Bertha Rheinfeldt, but Bertha suddenly died under mysterious
circumstances. The General ambiguously concludes that he will discuss the circumstances in
detail when they meet later.

Laura, saddened by the loss of a potential friend, longs for a companion. A carriage accident
outside Laura's home unexpectedly brings a girl of Laura's age into the family's care. Her name is
Carmilla. Both girls instantly recognise each other from the "dream" they both had when they
were young.

Carmilla appears injured after her carriage accident, but her mysterious mother informs Laura's
father that her journey is urgent and cannot be delayed. She arranges to leave her daughter with
Laura and her father until she can return in three months. Before she leaves, she sternly notes
that her daughter will not disclose any information whatsoever about her family, her past, or
herself, and that Carmilla is of sound mind. Laura comments that this information seems
needless to say, and her father laughs it off.

Carmilla and Laura grow to be very close friends, but occasionally Carmilla's mood abruptly
changes. She sometimes makes romantic advances towards Laura. Carmilla refuses to tell
anything about herself, despite questioning by Laura. Her secrecy is not the only mysterious
thing about Carmilla; she never joins the household in its prayers, she sleeps much of the day,
and she seems to sleepwalk outside at night.

15
Meanwhile, young women and girls in the nearby towns have begun dying from an unknown
malady. When the funeral procession of one such victim passes by the two girls, Laura joins in
the funeral hymn. Carmilla bursts out in rage and scolds Laura, complaining that the hymn hurts
her ears.

When a shipment of restored heirloom paintings arrives, Laura finds a portrait of her ancestor,
Countess Mircalla Karnstein, dated 1698. The portrait resembles Carmilla exactly, down to the
mole on her neck. Carmilla suggests that she might be descended from the Karnsteins, though
the family died out centuries before.

During Carmilla's stay, Laura has nightmares of a large, cat-like beast entering her room. The
beast springs onto the bed and Laura feels something like two needles, an inch or two apart,
darting deep into her breast. The beast then takes the form of a female figure and disappears
through the door without opening it. In another nightmare, Laura hears a voice say, "Your
mother warns you to beware of the assassin," and a sudden light reveals Carmilla standing at the
foot of her bed, her nightdress drenched in blood. Laura's health declines, and her father has a
doctor examine her. He finds a small, blue spot, an inch or two below her collar, where the
creature in her dream bit her, and speaks privately with her father, only asking that Laura never
be unattended.

Her father sets out with Laura, in a carriage, for the ruined village of Karnstein, three miles
distant. They leave a message behind asking Carmilla and one of the governesses to follow once
the perpetually late-sleeping Carmilla awakes. En route to Karnstein, Laura and her father
encounter General Spielsdorf. He tells them his own ghastly story.

At a costume ball, Spielsdorf and his niece Bertha had met a very beautiful young woman named
Millarca and her enigmatic mother. Bertha was immediately taken with Millarca. The mother
convinced the General that she was an old friend of his and asked that Millarca be allowed to
stay with them for three weeks while she attended to a secret matter of great importance.

Bertha fell mysteriously ill, suffering the same symptoms as Laura. After consulting with a
specially ordered priestly doctor, the General realised that Bertha was being visited by a vampire.
He hid with a sword and waited until a large, black creature of undefined shape crawled onto his
niece's bed and spread itself onto her throat. He leapt from his hiding place and attacked the
creature, which had then taken the form of Millarca. She fled through the locked door,
unharmed. Bertha died before the morning dawned.

Upon arriving at Karnstein, the General asks a woodman where he can find the tomb of Mircalla
Karnstein. The woodman says the tomb was relocated long ago by a Moravian nobleman who
vanquished the vampires haunting the region.

16
 Funeral, illustration by Michael Fitzgerald
for Carmilla in The Dark Blue (January 1872)

While the General and Laura are alone in the ruined chapel, Carmilla appears. The General and
Carmilla both fly into a rage upon seeing each other, and the General attacks her with an axe.
Carmilla disarms the General and disappears. The General explains that Carmilla is also
Millarca, both anagrams for the original name of the vampire Mircalla, Countess Karnstein.

The party is joined by Baron Vordenburg, the descendant of the hero who rid the area of
vampires long ago. Vordenburg, an authority on vampires, has discovered that his ancestor was
romantically involved with the Countess Karnstein before she died. Using his forefather's notes,
he locates Mircalla's hidden tomb. An imperial commission exhumes the body of Mircalla.
Immersed in blood, it seems to be breathing faintly, its heart beating, its eyes open. A stake is
driven through its heart, and it gives a corresponding shriek; then, the head is struck off. The
body and head are burned to ashes, which are thrown into a river.

Afterwards, Laura's father takes his daughter on a year-long tour through Italy to regain her
health and recover from the trauma, but she never fully does.

17
Motifs

D
om Calmet/Riegersburg Castle, Styria, suggested as a possible inspiration for Laura's Schloss.

“Carmilla” exhibits the primary characteristics of Gothic fiction. It includes a supernatural

figure, a dark setting of an old castle, a mysterious atmosphere, and ominous or superstitious
elements.

In the novella, Le Fanu abolishes the Victorian view of women as merely useful possessions of
men, relying on them and needing their constant guardianship. The male characters of the story,
such as Laura's father and General Spielsdorf, are exposed as being the opposite of the putative
Victorian males – helpless and unproductive. The nameless father reaches an agreement with
Carmilla's mother, whereas Spielsdorf cannot control the faith of his niece, Bertha. Both of these
scenes portray women as equal, if not superior to men. This female empowerment is even more
clear if we consider Carmilla's vampiric predecessors and their relationship with their
prey. Carmilla is the opposite of those male vampires – she is actually involved with her victims
both emotionally and (theoretically) sexually. Moreover, she is able to exceed even more
limitations by dominating death. In the end, her immortality is suggested to be sustained by the
river where her ashes had been scattered.

Le Fanu also departs from the negative idea of female parasitism and lesbianism by depicting a
mutual and irresistible connection between Carmilla and Laura. The latter, along with other
female characters, becomes a symbol of all Victorian women – restrained and judged for their
emotional reflexes. The ambiguity of Laura's speech and behaviour reveals her struggles with
being fully expressive of her concerns and desires.

Another important element of “Carmilla” is the concept of dualism presented through the
juxtaposition of vampire and human, as well as lesbian and heterosexual. It is also vivid in
Laura's irresolution, since she "feels both attraction and repulsion" towards Carmilla. The duality
of Carmilla's character is suggested by her human attributes, the lack of predatory demeanour,

18
and her shared experience with Laura. According to Gabriella Jönsson, Carmilla can be seen as a
representation of the dark side of all mankind.

Sources
As with Dracula, critics have looked for the sources used in the writing of Carmilla. One source
used was from a dissertation on magic, vampires, and the apparitions of spirits written by Dom
Augustin Calmet entitled Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires ou les
revenants de Hongrie, de Moravie, &c. (1751). This is evidenced by a report analysed by
Calmet, from a priest who learned information of a town being tormented by a vampiric entity
three years earlier. Having travelled to the town to investigate and collecting information of the
various inhabitants there, the priest learned that a vampire had tormented many of the inhabitants
at night by coming from the nearby cemetery and would haunt many of the residents on their
beds. An unknown Hungarian traveller came to the town during this period and helped the town
by setting a trap at the cemetery and decapitating the vampire that resided there, curing the town
of their torment. This story was retold by Le Fanu and adapted into the thirteenth chapter
of Carmilla.

According to Matthew Gibson, the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould's The Book of Were-
wolves (1863) and his account of Elizabeth Báthory, Coleridge's Christabel (Part 1, 1797 and
Part 2, 1800), and Captain Basil Hall's Schloss Hainfeld; or a Winter in Lower Styria (London
and Edinburgh, 1836) are other sources for Le Fanu's Carmilla. Hall's account provides much of
the Styrian background and, in particular, a model for both Carmilla and Laura in the figure
of Jane Anne Cranstoun, Countess Purgstall.

Influence
Carmilla, the title character, is the original prototype for a legion of female and lesbian vampires.
Although Le Fanu portrays his vampire's sexuality with the circumspection that one would
expect for his time, lesbian attraction evidently is the main dynamic between Carmilla and the
narrator of the story:

Sometimes after an hour of apathy, my strange and beautiful companion would take my hand and
hold it with a fond pressure, renewed again and again; blushing softly, gazing in my face with
languid and burning eyes, and breathing so fast that her dress rose and fell with the tumultuous
respiration. It was like the ardour of a lover; it embarrassed me; it was hateful and yet
overpowering; and with gloating eyes she drew me to her, and her hot lips travelled along my
cheek in kisses; and she would whisper, almost in sobs, "You are mine, you shall be mine, and
you and I are one for ever." (Carmilla, Chapter 4).
When compared to other literary vampires of the 19th century, Carmilla is a similar product of a
culture with strict sexual mores and tangible religious fear. While Carmilla selected exclusively
female victims, she only becomes emotionally involved with a few. Carmilla
had nocturnal habits, but was not confined to the darkness. She had unearthly beauty, and was
able to change her form and to pass through solid walls. Her animal alter ego was a monstrous
black cat, not a large dog as in Dracula. She did, however, sleep in a coffin. Carmilla works as
a Gothic horror story because her victims are portrayed as succumbing to a perverse and unholy
temptation that has severe metaphysical consequences for them.

19
Some critics, among them William Veeder, suggest that Carmilla, notably in its outlandish use
of narrative frames, was an important influence on Henry James' The Turn of the Screw (1898).

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, illustrated by D. H. Friston, 1872/Cover from one of the original serialized
editions of Varney the Vampire
No effort to depict vampires in popular fiction was as influential or as definitive as Bram
Stoker's Dracula (1897). The author speaking on The Vampire Cult in Stockholm, 2021

Influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula

Le Fanu's work has been noted as an influence on Bram Stoker's masterwork of the
genre, Dracula:

 Both stories are told in the first person. Dracula expands on the idea of a first person account
by creating a series of journal entries and logs of different persons and creating a plausible
background story for their having been compiled.
 Both authors indulge the air of mystery, though Stoker takes it further than Le Fanu by
allowing the characters to solve the enigma of the vampire along with the reader.
 The descriptions of the title character in Carmilla and of Lucy in Dracula are similar.
Additionally, both women sleepwalk.
 Stoker's Dr. Abraham Van Helsing is similar to Le Fanu's vampire expert Baron
Vordenburg: both characters investigate and catalyze actions in opposition to the vampire.
 The symptoms described in Carmilla and Dracula are highly comparable.
 Both the titular antagonists - Carmilla and Dracula, respectively, pretend to be the
descendants of much older nobles bearing the same names, but are eventually revealed to
have the same identities. However, with Dracula, this is left ambiguous. Although it is stated
by Van Helsing (a character with a slightly awkward grasp of the English language) that he
"must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the

20
 great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land", the next statement begins with "If it be so",
thereby leaving a thin margin of ambiguity.
 "Dracula's Guest", a short story by Stoker believed to have been a deleted prologue
to Dracula, is also set in Styria, where an unnamed Englishman takes shelter in a mausoleum
from a storm. There, he meets a female vampire, named Countess Dolingen von Gratz.
There are some vampire creatures in Albanian mythology. They
include shtriga and dhampir. Shtriga is a vampiric witch in traditional Albanian folklore that
sucks the blood of infants at night while they sleep, and then turns into a flying insect
(traditionally a moth, fly or bee). Only the shtriga herself could cure those she had drained. The
shtriga is often pictured as a woman with a hateful stare (sometimes wearing a cape) and a
horribly disfigured face. The male noun for shtriga is shtrigu or shtrigan. Edith
Durham recorded several methods traditionally considered effective for defending oneself
from shtriga. A cross made of pig bone could be placed at the entrance of a church on Easter
Sunday, rendering any shtriga inside unable to leave. They could then be captured and killed at
the threshold as they vainly attempted to pass. She further recorded the story that after draining
blood from a victim, the shtriga would generally go off into the woods and regurgitate it. If a
silver coin were to be soaked in that blood and wrapped in cloth, it would become an amulet
offering permanent protection from any shtriga.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

21
 I

Hullabulla Bram Stocker’s DRACULA

It all started with Dracula which is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.
The narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single
protagonist and opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking a business trip to stay at the castle of
a Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula. Harker flees after learning that Dracula is a vampire,
and the Count moves to England and plagues the seaside town of Whitby. A small group, led
by Abraham Van Helsing, hunts and kills him.
The novel was mostly written in the 1890s, and Stoker produced over a hundred pages of notes,
drawing extensively from folklore and history. Scholars have suggested various figures as the
inspiration for Dracula, including the Wallachian prince Vlad the Impaler and the
Countess Elizabeth Báthory, but recent scholarship suggests otherwise. He probably found the
name Dracula in Whitby's public library while on holiday, selecting it because he thought it
meant 'devil' in Romanian.

Following the novel's publication in May 1897, some reviewers praised its terrifying atmosphere
while others thought Stoker included too much horror. Many noted a structural similarity
with Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White (1859) and a resemblance to the work of Gothic
novelist Ann Radcliffe. In the 20th century, Dracula became regarded as a seminal work of
Gothic fiction. Scholars explore the novel within the historical context of the Victorian era and
regularly discuss its portrayal of race, religion, gender and sexuality.

Dracula is one of the most famous works of English literature. The character of Count Dracula
deeply shaped the popular conception of vampires and influenced future representations. With
over 700 appearances across virtually all forms of media, the Guinness Book of World
Records named Dracula the most portrayed literary character. The novel itself has been adapted
many times, with new adaptations sometimes being produced as often as every week.

Plot
Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, visits Count Dracula at his castle in
the Carpathian Mountains to help the Count purchase a house near London. Ignoring the Count's
warning, Harker wanders the castle at night and encounters three vampire women; Dracula
rescues Harker, and gives the women a small child bound inside a bag. Six weeks later, Dracula
leaves the castle, abandoning Harker to the women. Harker escapes and ends up delirious in
a Budapest hospital. Dracula takes a ship called the Demeter for England with boxes of earth
from his castle. The captain's log narrates the crew's disappearance until he alone remains, bound
to the helm to maintain course. An animal resembling a large dog is seen leaping ashore when
the ship runs aground at Whitby.

Lucy Westenra's letter to her best friend, Harker's fiancée Mina Murray, describes her marriage
proposals from Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood. Lucy accepts
Holmwood's, but all remain friends. Mina joins Lucy on holiday in Whitby. Lucy begins
to sleepwalk. After Dracula's ship lands in Whitby, he begins to stalk Lucy. Mina receives a
22
letter about her missing fiancé's illness and goes to Budapest to nurse him. Lucy becomes very
ill; Seward's old teacher—Professor Abraham Van Helsing—determines the nature of her
condition, but he refuses to disclose it, instead diagnosing it as acute blood-loss. Van Helsing
places garlic flowers around her room and makes her a necklace of them. Lucy's mother removes
the garlic flowers, not knowing they repel vampires. While Seward and Van Helsing are absent,
Lucy and her mother are terrified by a wolf and Mrs. Westenra dies of a heart attack; Lucy dies
shortly thereafter. After her burial, newspapers report children being stalked in the night by a
"bloofer lady" (beautiful lady), and Van Helsing deduces it is Lucy. Seward, Morris, Arthur and
Van Helsing go to her tomb and see that she is a vampire. They stake her heart, behead her, and
fill her mouth with garlic. Jonathan Harker and his new bride Mina return and join the campaign
against Dracula.

Everyone stays at Seward's asylum as the men begin to hunt Dracula. Van Helsing finally reveals
that vampires can only rest on earth from their homeland. Dracula communicates with Seward's
patient, Renfield, an insane man who eats vermin to absorb their life force. After Dracula learns
of the group's plot against him, he uses Renfield to enter the asylum. He secretly attacks Mina
three times, drinking her blood each time and forcing Mina to drink his blood on the final visit,
cursing her to become a vampire after her death unless Dracula is killed. The men discover that
Dracula has distributed his boxes of earth around various properties in London. After sterilizing
most of the distributed boxes, the group fails to trap the Count in his Piccadilly house and learns
that Dracula is fleeing to his castle in Transylvania with his last box. Using hypnosis, Van
Helsing exploits Mina's faint psychic connection to Dracula to track his movements and they
pursue, guided by Mina.

In Galatz, Romania, the hunters split up. Van Helsing and Mina go to Dracula's castle, where the
professor destroys the vampire women. Harker and Holmwood pursue Dracula's boat on the
river, while Morris and Seward follow them on land. Dracula's box is loaded onto a wagon
by Romani men; the hunters attack and rout the Romani. Harker decapitates Dracula as Quincey
stabs him in the heart. Dracula crumbles to dust, freeing Mina from her vampiric curse. Quincey
is mortally wounded in the fight against the Romani. He dies, at peace knowing that Mina is
saved. A note by Jonathan Harker seven years later states that the Harkers have a son, named
Quincey.

Background-Author
Bram Stoker was born in Clontarf, Dublin on 8 November 1842 as the third of seven children. A
sickly child, he was homeschooled before attending a private day school. [1] Stoker
attended Trinity College Dublin in the 1860s and began writing theatre reviews in the early
1870s. After Stoker wrote a review of a performance by stage actor Henry Irving, the two
became friends. In 1878, Irving offered Stoker a job as the business manager of
London's Lyceum Theatre, which he accepted. He married Florence Balcombe later that year.
[2]
Biographer Lisa Hopkins notes that this role required Stoker to be sociable and introduced him
to the elites of Victorian London. Nonetheless, Stoker described himself as a private person who
closely guarded his thoughts.He supplemented his theatre income by
writing romance and sensation novels, but was more closely identified during his lifetime with
the theatrical world than he was with the literary. By the time of his death in 1912, Stoker had
published 18 books. Dracula was Stoker's seventh published book, following The Shoulder of

23
Shasta (1895) and preceding Miss Betty (1898). Stoker's grand-nephew, Daniel Farson, wrote
that Stoker may have died from syphilis, but this is widely disputed by scholars. Novelist and
playwright Hall Caine, a close friend of Stoker's, wrote in Stoker's obituary in The Daily
Telegraph that—besides his biography on Irving—Stoker wrote only "to sell" and "had no higher
aims".

Inspiration

Stocker’s Handwritten notes about the novel's characters/Henry Irving is widely considered to have
inspired Dracula/ Charlton Heston as Moses in The 10 Commandments
Folkloric vampires predate Stoker's Dracula by hundreds of years. Stoker adopted some
characteristics of folkloric vampires for his own, such as their aversion to garlic and staking as a
means of killing them. He invented other attributes—for example, Stoker's vampires must be
invited into one's home, sleep on earth from their homeland and have no reflection in mirrors.
Sunlight is not fatal to Dracula in the novel—this was an invention of the
unauthorised Dracula film Nosferatu (1922)—but it does weaken him. Some of Stoker's
inventions applied unrelated lore to vampires for the first time; for example, Dracula has no
reflection because of a folkloric concept that mirrors show the human soul. Some Irish scholars
have suggested Irish folklore as an inspiration for the novel, for example the
revenant Abhartach, and the 11th-century High King of Ireland Brian Boru.
Dracula scholar Elizabeth Miller notes that in his childhood Stoker was exposed to supernatural
tales and Irish oral history involving premature burials and staked bodies.

Count Dracula has literary progenitors. John William Polidori's "The Vampyre" (1819) includes
an aristocratic vampire with powers of seduction. The lesbian vampire of Sheridan Le
Fanu's Carmilla (1872) can transform into a cat, as Dracula can transform into a dog. Dracula
resembles earlier Gothic villains in appearance, with Miller comparing him to the villains of Ann
Radcliffe's The Italian (1796) and Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk (1796).

24
There is almost unanimous consensus that Dracula was inspired, in part, by Henry Irving.
Scholars note the Count's tall and lean physique and aquiline nose, with Dracula scholar William
Hughes specifically citing the influence of Irving's performance as Shylock in a Lyceum
Theatre production of The Merchant of Venice. Stoker's contemporaries remarked upon the
similarity. Stoker had praised a performance of Irving as "a wonderful impression of a dead man
fictitiously alive [with eyes like] cinders of glowing red from out the marble face". Louis S.
Warren writes that Dracula was founded on "the fear and animosity his employer inspired in
him".Miller contests this, describing Stoker's attitude towards him as "adulation".

Historical figures have been suggested as inspirations for Count Dracula but there is no
consensus. In a 1972 book, Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu popularised the idea
that Ármin Vámbéry supplied Stoker with information about Vlad Dracula, commonly known as
Vlad the Impaler. Their investigation, however, found nothing about "Vlad, Dracula, or
vampires" within Vámbéry's published papers, nor in Stoker's notes about their meeting. Miller
calls the link to Vlad III "tenuous", indicating that Stoker incorporated a large amount of
"insignificant detail" from his research, and rhetorically asking why he would omit Vlad III's
infamous cruelty. McNally additionally suggested in 1983 that the crimes of Elizabeth
Báthory inspired Stoker. A book used by Stoker for research, The Book of Were-Wolves, does
contain some information on Báthory, but Stoker never took notes from the short section devoted
to her. Miller and her co-author Robert Eighteen-Bisang concur that there is no evidence Báthory
inspired Stoker.

Prior to writing the novel, Stoker researched extensively, assembling over 100 pages of notes,
including chapter summaries and plot outlines. Stoker undertook some of his research at a library
at Whitby in the summer of 1890 but most was done at the London Library. The earliest dated
notes are from 8 March 1890, comprising an outline of the novel's opening. Joseph S. Beirman
notes that it differs from the final novel "in only a few details": The Count and Harker are not
given names. The word vampire is not used explicitly, but it depicts the Count's possessive fury
over Harker and a female who attempts "to kiss him not on lips but throat". [53][52] In February
1892, Stoker wrote a 27-chapter outline of the novel; according to Miller, "all the key pieces of
the jigsaw were in place".
Stoker's notes reveal other scrapped concepts. Bierman says that Stoker always intended to write
an epistolary novel but originally set it in Styria instead of Transylvania. Other concepts from the
notes include a German professor called Max Windshoeffel confronting a "Count Wampyr" and
one of the vampire hunters would have been slain by a werewolf. Stoker biographer Barbara
Belford notes evidence that Stoker intended to write a detective story, with a detective called
Cotford and a psychical investigator called Singleton.

Stoker took the name Dracula from William Wilkinson's history of Wallachia and Moldavia
(1820), which he probably found in Whitby's public library while holidaying there in 1890.
Stoker copied the following footnote from the book: "Dracula means devil. Wallachians were
accustomed to give it as a surname to any person who rendered himself conspicuous by courage,
cruel actions or cunning".

Stoker stated that that it took him about three years to write the novel, and it is likely that he
wrote most of the manuscript during his summer holidays in Cruden Bay, Scotland from 1893 to

25
1896. Stoker generally wrote in spare time from his duties as Irving's business manager, and the
long gestation of the novel is indicative of the importance he placed on it.

Publication

1899 first American edition, Doubleday &

McClure, New York
Early Stoker biographer Barbara Belford noted the novel looked "shabby" because of a last-
minute title change; the printer's copy of the typescript, with hand-written amendments, is
titled The Un-Dead. The surviving typewritten publishing agreement was signed and dated 25
May 1897; Peter Beal of Sotheby's suggests its signing one day before the official publication
date indicates that it was a formality. To protect his copyright interest for adaptations, Stoker
organised a reading of his stage adaptation of the novel in the week before publication in
the Lyceum Theatre. A small group, primarily theatre staff, attended the reading, and Edith
Craig played Mina.

Bound in yellow cloth and titled in red letters, Dracula was published in May 1897 by Archibald
Constable and Company. It cost 6 shillings. Uncertainty exists around the exact date of
publication, but it was probably published on 26 May 1897. Stoker wrote to William
Gladstone that the novel would be released on the 26th. Paul McAlduff writes that it was

26
published "on or about May 26". Eighteen-Bisang states it could have been published anywhere
from late May to June 1897.

Stoker's mother, Charlotte Stoker, enthused about the novel and predicted it would bring her son
immense financial success. She was wrong: the novel, although reviewed well, failed to earn
Stoker much money and did not establish his critical reputation until after his death. For the first
thousand sales of Dracula, Stoker earned no royalties. Following serialisation by American
newspapers, Doubleday & McClure published an American edition in 1899 with some textual
changes. A cheaper paperback version was published by Constable in 1901, but few copies have
survived. The text is around 15% shorter than the original but it is not known if Stoker made the
amendments. Since its publication, Dracula has never been out of print.

An edition of the novel edited by McNally and Florescu in 1979 was the first to
include Dracula's "missing chapter", "Dracula's Guest". Bram's widow Florence Stoker included
the chapter as a short story in Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales (1914), two years after his
death. While some commentators have described the prose as Dracula's discarded first chapter,
Clive Leatherdale contests this, arguing that the material was incorporated into the published
novel.

Style-Epistolary structure
An epistolary format is a storytelling method where the narrative is conveyed through letters,
diary entries, or other written documents. This format allows readers to delve into a character's
thoughts and experiences from their own perspective, often enhancing realism and intimacy. The
epistolary style can be used in both fiction and non-fiction, with examples ranging from classic
novels to contemporary media.
Key aspects of the epistolary format:
The story unfolds through the characters' written communications, such as letters, emails, texts,
or diary entries.
Readers gain an intimate view into the character's thoughts and feelings as they are expressed
in the letters.
The format can create a sense of realism and intimacy, as readers feel like they are privy to the
characters' private world. The epistolary format can be adapted to various genres and styles,
including historical fiction, mystery, and contemporary literature. Examples include "The
Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky and "Dracula" by Bram Stoker.
Dracula is an epistolary novel. Compared to other elements of the novel, critic David Seed
writes that its epistolary structure has been neglected in analyses. Critics note Stoker's decision to
structure the novel this way may relate to a 19th-century trend of publishing diaries and
travelogue accounts, especially with Harker's account of the journey to Transylvania. Seed writes
that Harker's initial four chapters function as a "miniaturised-pastiche-Gothic novel"—replacing
Radcliffe's use of the Apennine Mountains in The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) with
the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania—and places this within the Gothic tradition
of intertextuality.

David Seed argues that the structure only provides a narrative voice to Dracula's opponents,
while Miller writes that the "collaborative narration" reinforces the idea that Dracula must be
defeated by the combined effort of his opponents. Allison Case says Seed views that Dracula's
absence generates tension by offering only "tantalizing glimpses" of his activities, [87] while
27
literary critic Franco Moretti writes that it highlights the power struggle between the vampire and
his hunters. Similarly, Allison Case views the structure as representing a power struggle
between Mina and the male protagonists for "narrative mastery". Seed notes that the narrative's
style distances the reader from its plot. Dracula's journey on the Demeter is captured by the
captain on the logbook, then "translated by the Russian consul, transcribed by a local journalist,
and finally pasted by Mina into her journal".

Gothic genre
Dracula is an enduring work of Gothic literature, with some critics locating it within the
traditions of Irish Gothic or Urban Gothic. John C. Tibbetts considers Dracula a prototype for
later themes in the Gothic genre. The novel is characteristically Gothic in its depiction of the
supernatural, preoccupation with the past, and embodying of the racial, gendered and sexual
anxieties of fin de siècle England. Count Dracula generally represents these tensions: cultural
critic Jack Halberstam notes that he is masculinised and feminised; Jerrold E. Hogle highlights
his attraction to both Jonathan and Mina, and his appearance as racially western and eastern.
Miller notes that the Count's physical characteristics were typical of Gothic villains during
Stoker's lifetime, specifically citing his hooked nose, pallor, large moustache and thick eyebrows
as influenced by his villainous predecessors. Dracula deviates from other Gothic tales before it
by firmly establishing its time as the modern era, a point raised by one contemporary reviewer.
Writers of the mode were drawn to the Eastern Europe setting because travelogues presented it
as a land of primitive superstitions.

Reception
Modern critics frequently write that Dracula had a mixed critical reception upon publication.
Carol Margaret Davison, for example, notes an "uneven" response from critics contemporary to
Stoker. John Edgar Browning, a scholar whose research focuses on Dracula and literary
vampires, conducted a review of the novel's early criticism in 2012 and determined
that Dracula had been "a critically acclaimed novel". Raymond T. McNally and Radu
Florescu's In Search of Dracula (1972) mentions the novel's "immediate success".[107][r] Other
works about Dracula also published in 1972 concur; Gabriel Ronay says the novel was
"recognised by fans and critics alike as a horror writer's stroke of genius", [108] and Anthony
Masters mentions the novel's "enormous popular appeal". Since the 1970s, Dracula has been the
subject of significant academic interest; the novel has spawned many nonfiction books and
articles, and has a dedicated peer-reviewed journal. Publishers started creating editions aimed at
classroom teaching in the 1980s, providing the novel alongside historical context and scholarly
analysis. The novel's complexity has permitted a flexibility of interpretation, with Anca
Andriescu Garcia describing interest from scholars of psychoanalysis, postcolonialism, social
class and the Gothic genre.

It is said of Mrs. Radcliffe that, when writing her now almost forgotten romances, she shut
herself up in absolute seclusion, and fed upon raw beef, in order to give her work the
desired atmosphere of gloom, tragedy and terror. If one had no assurance to the contrary,
one might well suppose that a similar method and regimen had been adopted by Mr. Bram
Stoker while writing his new novel Dracula.
The Daily Mail, 1 June 1897

28
Contemporary reviewers frequently compared the novel to other Gothic writers. Sexuality and
seduction are two of the novel's most frequently discussed themes, and modern critical writings
about vampirism widely acknowledge its link to sex and sexuality. Across the novel's critical
history, Miller writes that theorists have collectively argued that the Count breaks virtually
"every Victorian taboo", including non-procreative sex (including fellatio), transgressive
sexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality.

Transgressive or abnormal sexuality within Dracula is a broad topic. Some psychosexual critics
focus on the disruption of Victorian gender roles; within the Victorian context, Christopher Craft
writes males had "the right and responsibility of vigorous appetite" while women were required
to "suffer and be still". Critics highlight the many places in which the novel disrupts these social
mores: Jonathan Harker's excitement over the prospect of being penetrated; Dracula's resulting
anger and jealousy; and Lucy's transformation into a sexually aggressive predator who drains
"vital fluid". Some critics, including professor Carol Senf, argue that the novel reflects anxiety
about female sexual awakening as a threat to established norms.

Dracula contains no overt homosexual acts, but homosexuality and homoeroticism are elements
discussed by critics. Christopher Craft argues that the primary threat Dracula poses is that he
will "seduce, penetrate, [and] drain another male", and reads Harker's excitement to submit as a
proxy for "an implicitly homoerotic desire". Victorian readers would have identified Dracula
with sexual threat. Some critics note that changes made to the 1899 American version of the text
reinforce this subtext, wherein Dracula states he will feed on Harker. Critics have variously
linked these themes to homoerotic letters Stoker wrote to Walt Whitman, his friendship
with Oscar Wilde, his intensely emotional relationship with Irving, and contemporary rumours
of Stoker's almost sexless marriage. David J. Skal acknowledged the letters' subtext but
cautioned against applying anachronistic modern sexual labels to Stoker.

Many critics have suggested that the novel reveals a "reactionary response" to the New
Woman phenomenon. This is a late-Victorian term used to describe an emerging class of women
with increased social and economic control over their lives. Several critics describe the battle
against Dracula as a fight for control over women's bodies. Senf suggests that Stoker was
ambivalent about the New Woman phenomenon, while Signorroti argues that the novel's
discomfort with female sexual autonomy reflects Stoker's dislike for the movement. [ Both Lucy
and Mina have characteristics associated with the New Woman; Mina, who plays an important
role in Dracula's defeat, repeatedly expresses contempt for the concept. Senf notes that Lucy is
punished for expressing dissatisfaction with her social position as a woman. After her
transformation into a vampire, her defeat by the vampire hunters symbolises the re-establishment
of "male supremacy".

Race
Dracula, and specifically the Count's migration to Victorian England, is frequently read as
emblematic of invasion literature, and a projection of fears about racial pollution.[157] In an
influential postcolonialist analysis, Stephen Arata describes the novel's cultural context of
mounting anxiety in Britain over the decline of the British Empire, the rise of other world
powers, and a "growing domestic unease" over the morality of imperial colonisation. [159] Arata
regards the novel as an instance of "reverse colonisation": fear of other races invading England

29
and weakening its racial purity. Patricia McKee writes that Dracula represents a negation of
white culture while Mina represents "pure whiteness". Dracula can be said to both kill white
bodies and turn them into the racial Other in death. Some critics connect the racialisation of
Dracula to his depiction as a degenerate criminal.

Critics frequently identify antisemitic themes and imagery in the novel. Between 1891 and 1900,
the number of Jews living in England increased sixfold, mainly due to antisemitic legislation
and pogroms in eastern Europe. Examples cited by Jack Halberstam of antisemitic connections
include Dracula's appearance, wealth, parasitic bloodlust, and "lack of allegiance" to one
country. Dracula's appearance resembles some other cultural depictions of Jews, such
as Fagin in Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist (1838), and Svengali of George du
Maurier's Trilby (1895). Jewish people were frequently described as parasites in Victorian
literature; Halberstam highlights fears that Jews would spread diseases of the blood, and one
journalist's description of Jews as "Yiddish bloodsuckers". Daniel Renshaw writes that any
antisemitism in the text is "semi-subliminal"; he writes that Dracula is not Jewish but does reflect
the 19th-century conception of Jewish people. Renshaw frames the novel more broadly as a
general suspicion of all foreigners.

The novel's depiction of Slovaks and Romani people has attracted limited scholarly attention. In
the novel, Harker describes the Slovaks as "barbarians" and their boats as "primitive", reflecting
his imperialistic condescension towards other cultures. Peter Arnds writes that the Count's
control over the Romani and his abduction of young children evoke folk superstitions about
Romani people stealing children, and that his ability to transform into a wolf is related to
xenophobic beliefs about the Romani as animalistic. Croley argues that Dracula's association
with the Romani made him suspect in the eyes of Victorian England, where they were
stigmatised owing to beliefs that they ate "unclean meat" and lived among animals.

Religion, superstition and science

Dracula is saturated with religious imagery. Christopher Herbert regards the novel as
a parable about conflict with an enemy who opposes Christ and Christianity. Scholars discuss
the novel's depiction of religion in relation to late Victorian anxieties about the threat which
secularism, scientific rationalism and the occult posed to Christian beliefs and morality. Stoker
himself had a lifelong interest in supernatural inquiry, and Herbert writes that he mixes the
supernatural and superstitious beliefs with religious elements, resulting in metaphors about moral
uncleanness becoming literal elements of the text's "occult reality". Herbert notes that the blood
of Christ is important to Christian ritual and imagery, and Richard Noll notes that actual
consumption of human blood is one of the oldest Judeo-Christian taboos.

The vampire hunters use many weapons—including Christian practices and symbols (prayer,
crucifixes and consecrated hosts), folkloric practices (garlic, staking and decapitation) and
contemporary technology (typewriters, phonographs, telegrams, blood transfusions
and Winchester rifles)—in their battle against Dracula. Sanders argues that Stoker presents
Christianity as a religion that can be instrumentalised and incorporated into scientific knowledge.
Herbert describes Van Helsing's "Christian purification" of Lucy as punitively addressing her
promiscuity, and the resulting framing of Christianity as a means towards the "eradication
of deviancy"

30
Political and economic
Critics discuss the novel in relation to British rule in Ireland and Irish nationalism. Considerable
debate exists over whether Dracula is an Irish novel; while it is largely set in England, Stoker
was born in British-ruled Ireland and lived there for the first 30 years of his life. Though born
into a Protestant family, he was distanced from the religion's more conservative factions.

Ralph Ingelbien notes that "recognizably nationalist" critics like Terry Eagleton and Seamus
Deane favoured readings of Dracula as "a bloodthirsty caricature of the aristocratic landlord"
where the vampire represents the death of feudalism. Bruce Stewart changes the focus to the
lower classes, suggesting Dracula and his Romani followers more likely represented violence
by Irish National Land League activists. Michael Valdez Moses compares Dracula to the
disgraced Charles Stewart Parnell, leader of the Irish Home Rule movement from 1880 to 1882.
Robert Smart argues that Stoker's experience during the Great Famine (1845–1852) influenced
the novel, with Stewart also noting this as historical context.

Some critics discuss Count Dracula's noble title. Literary critic Franco Moretti writes that he is
an aristocrat "only in a manner of speaking", citing his lack of servants, simple clothing, and lack
of aristocratic hobbies. Moretti suggests that Dracula's blood thirst represents capital's desire to
accumulate more capital. More generally, Moretti argues the novel evinces cultural anxiety
about foreign capitalist monopolies functioning as a return of feudalism. Chris Baldick
maintains this line of analysis, describing Dracula as an undead symbol of feudalism but
concluding that the novel is more concerned with "sexual and religious terrors". Mark
Neocleous writes that Dracula symbolises the victory of the bourgeoisie over feudalism. In Das
Kapital, Karl Marx compared the bourgeoisie's exploitation of workers to a vampire draining
blood. He uses vampires as a metaphor three times in Das Kapital, but these predate the writing
of Dracula.

Disease
Contagious disease was a topic of social and medical concern in late Victorian England.

Dracula is widely considered the archetypal and most iconic vampire, often referred to as the
"king of monsters" in the vampire genre. His character, as depicted in Bram Stoker's novel
Dracula, has heavily influenced subsequent portrayals of vampires in fiction and popular
culture. Bram Stoker's Dracula has had a profound and lasting impact on popular
culture, solidifying the vampire as a central figure in horror and beyond. It has influenced
everything from literature and film to Halloween costumes, cementing the iconic vampire
imagery we know today.

Here's why Dracula is so influential:

Dracula's novel served as a foundation for the modern vampire archetype, establishing key
characteristics like immortality, bloodlust, and supernatural abilities. His story has permeated
popular culture, appearing in countless films, books, plays, and other media. Dracula's
portrayal has evolved from a terrifying monster to a more complex and even antiheroic figure
in some adaptations. Beyond the horror, Dracula's character and story reflect deep cultural
fears and anxieties, making him a enduring figure.

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In one of the versions of Dracula story :

In 1850, Jonathan Harker is an estate agent whose employer, tasks him to visit Count Dracula,
who wishes to buy a property in the town. Leaving his wife Lucy behind, Harker travels to
Transylvania. En route, he stops at an inn, where the locals beg for him to stay away from the
accursed castle. Ignoring the villagers' pleas, Harker continues his journey and arrives at
Dracula's castle, where he meets the Count, a man with large ears, pale skin, sharp teeth and long
fingernails.

The Count is enchanted by a small portrait of Lucy and agrees to purchase the Wismar property.
As Jonathan's visit progresses, he is haunted at night by several encounters with Dracula. In
Wismar, Lucy is tormented by nightmares, plagued by images of impending doom. Meanwhile,
Renfield is committed to an asylum, having apparently gone insane and bitten a cow. To Harker's
horror, he finds the Count asleep in a coffin, confirming to him that Dracula is indeed a vampire.
That night, Dracula leaves for Wismar, taking coffins filled with the cursed earth that he needs
for his vampiric rest. Harker finds himself imprisoned in the castle and attempts to escape
through a window, severely injuring himself in the process. Sent to a hospital, he becomes
increasingly ill.

Dracula travels with his coffins by ship to Wismar, killing the ship's crew during the voyage.
Death spreads throughout the town on his arrival, which the local doctors, including Abraham

32
Van Helsing, attribute to a plague caused by the rats from the ship. The ailing Jonathan is
transported home but does not appear to recognize Lucy, and says the sunlight is hurting him.
Lucy later encounters Dracula. Weary and unable to die, he demands some of the love that she
gives to Jonathan, to no avail.

Now certain that something other than plague is responsible for the deaths, Lucy tries to
convince the townspeople, who are skeptical and uninterested as they engage in a danse
macabre and have a last supper. From a book given to Jonathan by the Transylvanians, Lucy
discovers she can defeat Dracula by distracting him until dawn, at which time the rays of the sun
will destroy him, but only at the cost of her own life. Jonathan becomes more sick as his memory
worsens and his skin turns pale.

That night, Lucy spreads crumbled, consecrated Hosts in Dracula's coffins and around Jonathan.
She then lures Dracula to her bedroom, where he drinks her blood. She distracts Dracula from
the call of the rooster, and at the first light of day, he dies. Van Helsing arrives to discover Lucy
dead but victorious. He then drives a stake through the heart of Dracula to make sure that Lucy's
sacrifice was not in vain. Awakening from his sickness, Jonathan, now a vampire, has Van
Helsing arrested for Dracula's murder. He then states that he has much to do and rides away on
horseback, garbed in the same fluttering black as Dracula.

33
 L
iterature
The vampire or revenant first appeared in poems such as The Vampire (1748) by Heinrich
August Ossenfelder, Lenore (1773) by Gottfried August Bürger, Die Braut von Corinth (The
Bride of Corinth) (1797) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Robert Southey's Thalaba the
Destroyer (1801), John Stagg's "The Vampyre" (1810), Percy Bysshe Shelley's "The Spectral
Horseman" (1810) ("Nor a yelling vampire reeking with gore") and "Ballad" in St. Irvyne (1811)
about a reanimated corpse, Sister Rosa, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's
unfinished Christabel and Lord Byron's The Giaour.

Byron was also credited with the first prose fiction piece concerned with vampires: "The
Vampyre" (1819). This was in reality authored by Byron's personal physician, John Polidori,
who adapted an enigmatic fragmentary tale of his illustrious patient, "Fragment of a Novel"
(1819), also known as "The Burial: A Fragment".Byron's own dominating personality, mediated
by his lover Lady Caroline Lamb in her unflattering roman-a-clef Glenarvon (a Gothic fantasia
based on Byron's wild life), was used as a model for Polidori's undead protagonist Lord
Ruthven. The Vampyre was highly successful and the most influential vampire work of the early
19th century.

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Varney the Vampire was a popular mid-Victorian era gothic horror story by James Malcolm
Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest, which first appeared from 1845 to 1847 in a series of
pamphlets generally referred to as penny dreadfuls because of their low price and gruesome
contents. Published in book form in 1847, the story runs to 868 double-columned pages. It has a
distinctly suspenseful style, using vivid imagery to describe the horrifying exploits of Varney.
Another important addition to the genre was Sheridan Le Fanu's lesbian
vampire story Carmilla (1871). Like Varney before her, the vampiress Carmilla is portrayed in a
somewhat sympathetic light as the compulsion of her condition is highlighted.

Its portrayal of vampirism as a disease of contagious demonic possession, with its undertones of
sex, blood and death, struck a chord in Victorian Europe where tuberculosis and syphilis were
common. The vampiric traits described in Stoker's work merged with and dominated folkloric
tradition, eventually evolving into the modern fictional vampire. Drawing on past works such
as The Vampyre and Carmilla, Stoker began to research his new book in the late 19th century,
reading works such as The Land Beyond the Forest (1888) by Emily Gerard and other books
about Transylvania and vampires. In London, a colleague mentioned to him the story of Vlad
Țepeș, the "real-life Dracula", and Stoker immediately incorporated this story into his book. The
first chapter of the book was omitted when it was published in 1897, but it was released in 1914
as "Dracula's Guest".

The latter part of the 20th century saw the rise of multi-volume vampire epics as well as a
renewed interest in the subject in books. The first of these was Gothic romance writer Marilyn
Ross's Barnabas Collins series (1966–71), loosely based on the contemporary American TV
series Dark Shadows. It also set the trend for seeing vampires as poetic tragic heroes rather than
as the more traditional embodiment of evil. This formula was followed in novelist Anne Rice's
highly popular Vampire Chronicles (1976–2003), and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series (2005–
2008). In the 2006 Peter Watts's novel Blindsight, vampires are depicted as a subspecies
of homo sapiens that predated on humanity until the dawn of civilization. The various
supernatural characteristics and abilities traditionally assigned to vampires by folklore are
justified on naturalistic and scientific basis.

Parable
Dracula is saturated with religious imagery. Christopher Herbert regards the novel as
a parable about conflict with an enemy who opposes Christ and Christianity. Scholars
discuss the novel's depiction of religion in relation to late Victorian anxieties about the threat
which secularism, scientific rationalism and the occult posed to Christian beliefs and morality.
Stoker himself had a lifelong interest in supernatural inquiry, and Herbert writes that he mixes
the supernatural and superstitious beliefs with religious elements, resulting in metaphors about
moral uncleanness becoming literal elements of the text's "occult reality".
The Dracula parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose (or verse), that illustrates one or more
instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants,
inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters.

A parable is a type of metaphorical analogy. Some scholars of the canonical gospels and the New
Testament apply the term "parable" only to the parables of Jesus, although that is not a common
restriction of the term.The word parable comes from the Greek παραβολή (parabolē), literally

35
"throwing" (bolē) "alongside" (para-), by extension meaning "comparison, illustration,
analogy." It was the name given by Greek rhetoricians to an illustration in the form of a brief
fictional narrative.The Bible contains numerous parables in the Gospels of the New
Testament (Jesus' parables). These are believed by some scholars (such as John P. Meier) to have
been inspired by mashalim, a form of Hebrew comparison prominent in the Talmudic period (c.
2nd-6th centuries CE). Examples of Jesus' parables include the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal
Son. Mashalim from the Old Testament include the parable of the ewe-lamb (told by Nathan in 2
Samuel 12:1-9 ) and the parable of the woman of Tekoah (in 2 Samuel 14:1-13 ).Parables also
appear in Islam. In Sufi tradition, parables are used for imparting lessons and values. Recent
authors such as Idries Shah and Anthony de Mello have helped popularize these stories beyond
Sufi circles.Modern parables also exist. A mid-19th-century example, the parable of the broken
window, criticizes a part of economic thinking.

A parable is a short tale that illustrates a universal truth; it is a simple narrative. It sketches a
setting, describes an action, and shows the results. It may sometimes be distinguished from
similar narrative types, such as the allegory and the apologue.

A parable often involves a character who faces a moral dilemma or one who makes a bad
decision and then suffers the unintended consequences. Although the meaning of a parable is
often not explicitly stated, it is not intended to be hidden or secret but to be quite straightforward
and obvious

The defining characteristic of the parable is the presence of a subtext suggesting how a person
should behave or what he should believe. Aside from providing guidance and suggestions for
proper conduct in one's life, parables frequently use metaphorical language which allows people
to more easily discuss difficult or complex ideas. Parables express an abstract argument by
means of using a concrete narrative which is easily understood.

The allegory is a more general narrative type; it also employs metaphor. An allegory may have
multiple noncontradictory interpretations and may also have implications that are ambiguous or
hard to interpret. As H.W. Fowler put it, the object of both parable and allegory "is to enlighten
the hearer by submitting to him a case in which he has apparently no direct concern, and upon
which therefore a disinterested judgment may be elicited from him, ..." The parable is more
condensed than the allegory: it rests upon a single principle and a single moral, and it is intended
that the reader or listener shall conclude that the moral applies equally well to his own concerns.

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The first edition cover of Dracula/The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Rembrandt, 1660s

The Return of the Prodigal Son

https://haventoday.org/blog/return-prodigal-son/
Charles Morris • September 4, 2019

37
You don’t need to know much of the Bible to have heard the story of the Prodigal Son. Like the
Good Samaritan, this well-known parable has been retold so many times that most English
speakers can identify the meaning of “prodigal” without necessarily knowing its historical
context.

Many of us can see ourselves as the returning son who has sinned and is immediately welcomed
home by the father; others may see themselves as the jealous older brother who had done no
wrong, and so it’s difficult for them to see their need for grace and forgiveness. But few of us
have ever thought of ourselves in light of the Father, and that’s why I’d like to turn to one of the
artist Rembrandt’s most famous pieces called “The Return of the Prodigal Son.”

Painted at the very end of his life, this is one of Rembrandt’s final and most emotional works. He
had sketched several scenes of the famous parable throughout his life, which finally led to this
oil painting that I believe captures the heart of Jesus’ parable.

Look at the way Rembrandt portrays the Father. Here, you can gain a whole new understanding
of the tenderness, mercy, and forgiveness he has for his rebellious son. Every detail of the
Father’s figure: the light on his facial expression, his posture, the colors of his clothing, and,
most of all, the gesture of his hands—all of these details speak of God’s divine love for
humans that existed since the creation of Adam in the garden.

What gives Rembrandt’s portrayal of the Father such an irresistible power is that the “most
divine” is captured in the “most human” way. If I just look at how the father is portrayed on the
surface, I see a half-blind old man with a mustache and a parted beard dressed in a gold-
embroidered garment and a deep red cloak as he lays his large, stiffened hands on the shoulders
of his returning son.Now that’s specific, it’s concrete. But if you keep looking at it, you can also
see both infinite compassion and unconditional love. These are divine realities coming from the
Father who is the Creator of the universe. Here, the human and the divine, the fragile and the
powerful, the old and the eternally young are fully expressed.The true center of Rembrandt’s

38
painting is those hands of the Father. It’s on them that all the light is concentrated and the eyes of
the bystanders are focused. It’s upon them that forgiveness, reconciliation and healing come
together. And it’s through them that, not only the tired son, but also the worn out father, find
their rest.Two years after Rembrandt painted the father and his blessing hands, the artist died.
And it’s in this painting that Rembrandt chose to teach us a spiritual reality that he himself was
greatly moved by. These hands represent the hands of God. They’ve held us from the hour of our
conception; they’ve protected us in times of danger and consoled us in times of grief; they’ve
waved us goodbye, but always welcome us back home.

And it’s this powerful message of overwhelming grace and forgiveness for us sinners that I
believe is at the center of my favorite painting by Rembrandt. Ultimately, it gives us a more
complete picture of how we all have a great need for the grace that our Heavenly Father is ready
to give us the moment we come home to Him.

As the leader of the Haven Ministries, Charles Morris is always thinking of ways to lead Christians and
non-Christians to Christ—hence the familiar slogan, “Telling the great story … it’s all about Jesus.”

Parable of the Good Samaritan, as depicted by Jan Wijnants (1670)

Parables of Jesus
Medieval interpreters of the Bible often treated Jesus' parables as allegories, with
symbolic correspondences found for every element in his parables. But modern scholars,
beginning with Adolf Jülicher, regard their interpretations as incorrect. Jülicher viewed some of
Jesus' parables as similitudes (extended similes or metaphors) with three parts: a picture part
(Bildhälfte), a reality part (Sachhälfte), and a tertium comparationis. Jülicher held that Jesus'
parables are intended to make a single important point.

39
Gnostics suggested that Jesus kept some of his teachings secret within the circle of his disciples
and that he deliberately obscured their meaning by using parables. For example, in Mark 4:11–
12:

And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for
those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that 'they may indeed look, but not
perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and
be forgiven.'" (NRSV)
The idea that coded meanings in parables would only become apparent when a listener had been
given additional information or initiated into a higher set of teachings is supported by The Epistle
of Barnabas, reliably dated between AD 70 to 132:

For if I should write to you concerning things immediate or future, ye would not
understand them, because they are put in parables.
Another important component of the parables of Jesus is their participatory and spontaneous
quality. Often, but not always, Jesus creates a parable in response to a question from his listeners
or an argument between two opposing views.To the educated Greco-Roman audience, Jesus’ use
of parables was reminiscent of many famous oratory styles like the Socratic method. As a literary
work, the Gospel authorship depict the various groups that question Jesus about his teachings, to
the role an interlocutor has in the Socratic Dialogues of Plato.Similarly, the rhetorical style of
the Roman Senator and lawyer Cicero was known for its use of a seemingly
unrelated anecdote that demonstrates in its conclusion some insight pertaining to the current
topic of the discussion.

Many myths surrounding vampires originated during the medieval period. With the arrival
of Christianity in Greece, and other parts of Europe, the vampire "began to take on decidedly
Christian characteristics." As various regions of the continent converted to Christianity, the
vampire was viewed as "a dead person who retained a semblance of life and could leave its
grave-much in the same way that Jesus had risen after His death and burial and appeared before
His followers." In the Middle Ages, the Christian Churches reinterpreted vampires from their
previous folk existence into minions of Satan, and used an allegory to communicate a doctrine
to Christians.

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41
42
 II

The Turkey Connection

On the Night of Karakoncolos, the obur would awaken to feast on human blood. Relatives of
the victim would urgently seek out a village elder with expertise in finding the creatures. They
then would go to the grave from whence the obur had emerged and exhume the body, its eyes
bloodshot from feeding. A stake would then be driven through the corpse, breaking the spell
and freeing the victim from certain death. For, if the village expert failed to find the obur, the
victim’s health would be sure to worsen, until their untimely death. Sometimes, to ensure that
the obur would not return to prey on another soul, its body would be thrown onto a pyre and
burned.

The above except is lifted neither from the blurb of a Victorian penny dreadful, nor some
gruesome Hollywood B-movie. Rather, it forms just one of many fantastical reports from
Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi, on one of his expeditions around the empire in the
17th century.

Legends of vampires have existed for millennia; cultures such as

the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, ancient Greeks, and Romans had tales of demonic entities and
blood-drinking spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires. Despite the
occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity
known today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early 18th-century Central
Europe, particularly Transylvania as verbal traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were
recorded and published. In most cases, vampires are revenants of evil beings, suicide victims,
or witches, but can also be created by a malevolent spirit possessing a corpse or a living person
being bitten by a vampire themselves. Belief in such legends became so rife that in some areas it
caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires.

Tales of the undead consuming the blood or flesh of living beings have been found in nearly
every culture around the world for many centuries. Today these entities are predominantly
known as vampires, but in ancient times, the term vampire did not exist; blood drinking and
similar activities were attributed to demons or spirits who would eat flesh and drink blood; even
the devil was considered synonymous with the vampire. Almost every nation has associated
blood drinking with some kind of revenant or demon, from the ghouls of Arabia to the
goddess Sekhmet of Egypt. Indeed, some of these legends could have given rise to
the European folklore, though they are not strictly considered vampires by historians when using
today's definitions.

A Legacy of Fascination
The Ottoman Empire's brush with vampires offers a unique perspective on folklore's influence on
a vast Islamic empire. It's a testament to the adaptability of religious law in the face of popular
belief and a reminder that the fear of the undead has transcended cultures and centuries.

43
In the credible theorey Number I, according to me ( Dr.Uday Dokras) 15th century, Vlad
Dracula is the Prince of Wallachia and Transylvania. As a child, he was a royal ward of
the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and was trained to be a soldier in Sultan's elite janissary corps,
where he became their most feared warrior, earning the moniker "Vlad the Impaler, Son of the
Dragon", but became sickened by his own actions and abandoned his past.

Now ruling his domains in peace, Vlad and his soldiers discover a helmet in a stream and fear
that an Ottoman scouting party is preparing for an invasion. The stream leads to Broken Tooth
Mountain. They are attacked by a humanoid creature inside a cave that kills Vlad's retinue. Vlad
barely escapes and returns to his castle, where he learns from Brother Lucian, a local monk of
the Romanian Orthodox Church, that the creature is a vampire; once a General from the Roman
Legions named Caligula, who was tricked by a demon for power, but was trapped in the cave.
Vlad celebrates an Orthodox Easter feast with his wife Mirena and son Ingeras as an Ottoman
contingent arrives at the castle, but the emissary demands a tribute of boys for Sultan Mehmed II,
including Vlad's son.

Desperate, Vlad returns to Broken Tooth Mountain to seek help from the Master Vampire. The
creature offers him his blood, temporarily giving Vlad the vampire's powers. If he resists the
intense urge to drink human blood for three days, he will turn back into a human; otherwise, he
will remain a vampire forever, and the ancient vampire will be freed. Vlad accepts the offer and
is given supernatural abilities and the ability to transform into a cloud of bats. When he returns to
the castle, the Ottoman army attacks, but Vlad single-handedly kills them all. He then sends most
of the castle's subjects to Cozia Monastery for safety.

That night, the Ottoman army marches on the monastery. Vlad commands an enormous swarm
of bats to repel them; however, the soldiers are actually a decoy force, allowing a handful
of Turks to infiltrate the monastery, kill many inhabitants, and kidnap Ingeras. Mirena tries to
defend her son and falls from the edge of the monastery wall. Despite his superhuman speed,
Vlad cannot reach her in time. Dying, Mirena pleads with Vlad to drink her blood before the sun
rises and lifts his curse so that he will have the strength to save their son. Vlad reluctantly drinks
her blood, triggering his final transformation into a full-blooded vampire and, in doing so, frees
the Master Vampire from his cave by breaking the magical seal imprisoning him. Vlad returns to
the monastery and turns the survivors into vampires before he conjures black storm clouds to
block out the sun.

At the Ottoman army's camp, Mehmed prepares for a massive invasion of Christian Europe.
Vlad and his vampires arrive and slaughter every soldier while Vlad himself goes after Mehmed,
who is holding Ingeras captive. Aware that vampires are weakened by silver, Mehmed lines the
floor of his tent with silver coins and fights him with a silver sword. He overpowers Vlad and
prepares to impale his heart with a wooden stake, but Vlad evades him. He kills Mehmed with
the stake and drinks his blood. However, when Vlad returns to his vampire army with Ingeras, he
realizes that his subjects have lost their humanity and want to kill Ingeras and drink his blood.
The monk arrives, fending off the vampires with his cross to save Ingeras. Vlad tearfully says
goodbye to his son before dispelling the storm clouds so that all the vampires, including himself,
will burn away and die in the light. However, a man who had previously observed Vlad's nature
and offered to serve him drags his body out of the sunlight and drips his own blood onto Vlad's
lips, restoring the vampire to life. Ingeras is crowned the new Prince of Wallachia.

44
 While the fictional Dracula from Bram Stoker's novel is often associated with the historical
figure Vlad the Impaler, there's not a direct, universally accepted connection between the
fictional Dracula and the Ottoman Empire beyond the period in which the fictional narrative
takes place. The primary connection is through the historical context of Vlad the Impaler's life in
Wallachia, which bordered the Ottoman Empire.
The Fictional Dracula and Vlad the Impaler:
Count Dracula, as portrayed in Bram Stoker's novel, is a fictional character, a vampire, based
on the historical figure Vlad the Impaler.
 Vlad the Impaler (Vlad III of Wallachia):
He was a 15th-century warlord who ruled Wallachia (part of present-day Romania) and was
known for his brutal methods of warfare, including impalement, which is why he's also known
as Vlad the Impaler.
2. The Ottoman Connection (Vlad the Impaler):
 Borderlands and Conflict:
Vlad the Impaler's territory, Wallachia, bordered the Ottoman Empire. He was involved in
conflicts with the Ottomans, including fighting against their forces.
 Personal History:
Vlad the Impaler was held hostage by the Ottomans for a period of time, which influenced his
political and military strategies later in life.
 Folkloric Interpretations:
Some legends and stories attributed to Vlad the Impaler, particularly in Wallachia and
neighboring regions, have elements that overlap with the vampire mythos. These legends,
however, are separate from the fictional Dracula character.
3. The Ottoman Connection (Dracula as a Literary Figure):
 Turkish Adaptation:
In 1928, Turkish author Ali Riza Seyfi wrote an adaptation of Stoker's Dracula titled Kazikli
Voyvode ("The Impaler Voivode"), which replaced London with Istanbul as Dracula's
destination and incorporated Turkish elements into the story.
 Turkish Film:
There is also a 1953 Turkish film adaptation of Dracula called Drakula İstanbul'da (Dracula in
Istanbul).
 No Direct Influence:

While these adaptations show a Turkish engagement with the Dracula narrative, they do not
indicate a direct influence on Bram Stoker's original work. Stoker's Dracula is primarily based
on the historical Vlad the Impaler and the European vampire lore, not the Ottoman Empire.
In summary: While the historical Vlad the Impaler's conflicts with the Ottoman Empire provide a
historical backdrop to the fictional Dracula, and there are Turkish adaptations of the story, there
is no direct, historical connection between the fictional Dracula and the Ottoman Empire beyond
this context.
The Ottoman Empire, a vast and powerful realm spanning centuries, wasn't just a political
entity. It was a cultural melting pot, where Islamic law (Sharia) grappled with local folklore,
including the terrifying belief in vampires. Unlike the West's image of Dracula, the Ottoman
vampire, often referred to as a "vurkolak" or "upir," was more akin
to a reanimated corpse feasting on the living.

45
 Author Ahsan Ali Abbasi in Undying Thirst and Islamic Law: The Ottoman Empire's Brush
with Vampires stated the following:

While there's no official declaration condemning vampires as a whole, a fascinating chapter

in Ottoman history lies in the issuance of fatwas – religious rulings by Islamic scholars –
specifically addressing these creatures. The most prominent figure involved is Ebussuud
Efendi, the Sheikh-ul-Islam (highest religious authority) during the reign of Suleiman the
Magnificent.

Ebussuud's fatwas, issued in the 16th century, are unique for two reasons:

Acknowledgment of the Phenomenon:

Ebussuud, unlike some European clergy who dismissed vampires as superstition, didn't outright
deny their existence. He acknowledged the possibility of evil spirits animating corpses, though he
interestingly limited it to non-Muslim subjects of the empire. This might reflect the influence of
local Balkan beliefs where vampire legends were strong.

Focus on Rituals, not Burning:

Ebussuud’s fatwas didn’t endorse the popular practice of staking and burning the undead, a
method common in Europe. This clashed with Islamic traditions of respecting the dead. His
solution focused on a series of escalating measures:
If a corpse exhibited suspicious movement, it should be pinned to the ground.
If it rose again, the head was to be severed and placed at its feet.
Only as a last resort, if the body continued to rise, could incineration be considered.
These fatwas offer a glimpse into the complex interplay between religious law, cultural anxieties,
and the need to maintain order within the empire. It also highlights the pragmatic approach
Ottoman authorities took towards seemingly supernatural phenomena.

Beyond Ebussuud's Fatwas

Ebussuud's pronouncements weren't isolated incidents. Court records from various regions within
the empire mention alleged vampire attacks and requests for guidance from religious authorities.
This indicates a widespread belief in these creatures, particularly in the Balkans.

The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era
covers the years between 1300 (Byzantine expedition) and 1453 (Conquest of Constantinople),
the classical period covers the years between 1451 (second enthronement of Sultan Mehmed II)
and 1606 (Peace of Zsitvatorok), the reformation period covers the years between 1606 and 1826
(Vaka-i Hayriye), the modernisation period covers the years between 1826 and 1858 and decline
period covers the years between 1861 (enthronement of Sultan Abdülaziz) and 1918 (Armistice
of Mudros). The Ottoman army is the forerunner of the Turkish Armed Forces.

Foundation period (1300–1453)

The earliest form of the Ottoman military was a steppe-nomadic cavalry force. This was
centralized by Osman I from Turkoman tribesmen inhabiting western Anatolia in the late 13th
century.These horsemen became an irregular force of raiders used as shock troops, armed with

46
weapons like bows and spears. They were given fiefs called timars in the conquered lands, and
were later called timariots. In addition they acquired wealth during campaigns.Orhan organized a
standing army paid by salary rather than looting or fiefs. The infantry were called yayas and the
cavalry was known as müsellems. The force was made up by foreign mercenaries for the most
part, and only a few Turks were content to accept salaries in place of timars. Foreign mercenaries
were not required to convert to Islam as long as they obeyed their Ottoman commanders. The
Ottomans began using guns in the late 14th century. Following that, other troop types began to
appear, such as the regular musketeers (Piyade Topçu, literally "foot artillery"); regular cavalry
armed with firearms (Süvari Topçu Neferi, literally "mounted artillery soldier"), similar to the
later European reiter or carabinier; and bombardiers (Humbaracı), consisting of grenadiers who
threw explosives called khımbara and the soldiers who served the artillery with maintenance and
powder supplies.

Le Vampire, lithograph by R. de Moraine Les Tribunaux secrets (1864)

The Ottoman Empire was the first of the three Islamic Gunpowder Empires, followed by Safavid
Persia and Mughal India. By the 14th century, the Ottomans had adopted gunpowder artillery.
The adoption of the gunpowder weapons by the Ottomans was so rapid that they "preceded both
their European and Middle Eastern adversaries in establishing centralized and permanent troops

47
specialized in the manufacturing and handling of firearms." But it was their use of artillery that
shocked their adversaries and impelled the other two Islamic Gunpowder Empires to accelerate
their weapons program. The Ottomans had artillery at least by the reign of Bayezid I and used
them in the sieges of Constantinople in 1399 and 1402. They finally proved their worth as siege
engines in the successful siege of Salonica in 1430.

The Ottoman military's regularized use of firearms proceeded ahead of the pace of their
European counterparts. The Janissaries had initially been an infantry bodyguard using bows and
arrows. By the time of Sultan Mehmed II, they had been drilled with firearms and became
"perhaps the first standing infantry force equipped with firearms in the world." The Janissaries
are thus considered the first modern standing armies. The combination of artillery
and Janissary firepower proved decisive at Varna in 1444 against a force of Crusaders, and
later Başkent and Chaldoran against the Aq Qoyunlu and Safavids.

Classical Army (1451–1606)

Ottoman Classical Army was the military structure and the founding and main army established
by Mehmed II, during his reorganization of the state and the military efforts. This is the major
reorganization following Orhan I which organized a standing army paid by salary rather
than booty or fiefs. This army was the force during rise of the Ottoman Empire. The organization
was twofold, central (Kapu Kulu) and peripheral (Eyalet). The classical Ottoman army was the
most disciplined and feared military force of its time, mainly due to its high level of
organization, logistical capabilities and its elite troops. Following a century long reform efforts,
this Army was forced to disbandment by Sultan Mahmud II on 15 June 1826 by what is known
as Auspicious Incident. By the reign of Mahmud the second, the elite janissaries had become
corrupt and always stood in the way of modernization efforts meaning they were more of a
liability than an asset.
By the siege of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottomans had large enough cannons to batter the
walls of the city, to the surprise of the defenders. The Dardanelles Gun was designed and cast in
bronze in 1464 by Munir Ali. The Dardanelles Gun was still present for duty more than 340
years later in 1807, when a Royal Navy force appeared and commenced the Dardanelles
Operation. Turkish forces loaded the ancient relics with propellant and projectiles, then fired
them at the British ships. The British squadron suffered 28 casualties from this bombardment.

The musket first appeared in the Ottoman Empire by 1465. Damascus steel was later used in the
production of firearms such as the musket from the 16th century. At the Battle of Mohács in
1526, the Janissaries equipped with 2000 muskets "formed 8 consecutive rows and they fired
their weapons row by row," in a "kneeling or standing position without the need for additional
support or rest." The Chinese attempted to adopt the Ottoman kneeling position for firing. In
1598, Chinese writer Zhao Shizhen described Turkish muskets as being superior to European
muskets.

The marching band and military band both have their origins in the Ottoman military band,
performed by the Janissary since the 16th century.

Classical period (1451–1606)

Reform on Classical Army (1606–1826)

48
The main theme of this period is reforming the Janissaries. The Janissary corps were originally
made up of enslaved young Christian boys, generally from the western Balkans, who were forced
to convert to Islam and were educated in military matters under the Ottoman Empire. During the
15th and 16th Centuries they became known as the most efficient and effective military unit in
Europe. By 1570 born Muslims were accepted into the Janissaries corps and by the 17th century
most would be born Muslims. According to Jason Goodwin in the 17th and 18th centuries most
Janissaries were Muslim Albanians.

1. Agha of the Janissaries

2. Sipahi horse-archer
3. Head cook of a Janissary regiment

Aside from the Janissary infantry, there was also the Sipahi Cavalry. They were, however,
different from the Janissaries in that they had both military and administrative duties. The
Janissaries were tied strictly to being able to perform military duties at any time, however the
Sipahi were treated differently primarily in that they got their income from the land that was
given to them from the Sultan under the timariot system. Within these agricultural lands, the
Sipahi were in charge of collecting the taxes which would serve as their salary. At the same time
they were responsible for maintaining peace and order there. They were also expected to be able
to serve in the military whenever the Sultan deemed their service necessary.

49
In 1621, the Chinese Wu Pei Chih described Ottoman muskets that used a rack-and-
pinion mechanism, which was not known to have been used in any European or Chinese firearms
at the time.

The Ottoman Empire made numerous efforts to recruit French experts for its modernization. The
French officer and adventurer Claude-Alexandre de Bonneval (1675–1747) went in the service
of Sultan Mahmud I, converted to Islam, and endeavoured to modernize the Ottoman army,
creating cannon foundries, powder and musket factories and a military engineering school.
Another officer François Baron de Tott was involved in the reform efforts for the Ottoman
military. He succeeded in having a new foundry built to make howitzers, and was instrumental in
the creation of mobile artillery units. He built fortifications on the Bosphorus and started a naval
science course that laid the foundation stone for the later Turkish Naval Academy. He could
only achieve limited success, however. Unfortunately it was almost impossible for him to divert
soldiers from the regular army into the new units. The new ships and guns that made it into
service were too few to have much of an influence on the Ottoman army and de Tott returned
home.

When they had requested French help in 1795, young Napoleon Bonaparte was scheduled to be
sent to Constantinople to help organize Ottoman artillery. He did not go, for just days before he
was to embark for the Near East he proved himself useful to the Directory by putting down a
Parisian mob at 13 Vendémiaire and was kept in France.

The supply of Ottoman forces operating in Moldavia and Wallachia was a major challenge that
required well organized logistics. An army of 60,000 soldiers and 40,000 horses required a half-
million kilograms of food per day. The Ottoman forces fared better than the Russians, but the
expenses crippled both national treasuries. Supplies on both sides came using fixed prices, taxes,
and confiscation.

Sultan Selim III in 1789 to 1807 set up the "Nizam-i Cedid" [new order] army to replace the
inefficient and outmoded imperial army. The old system depended on Janissaries, who had
largely lost their military effectiveness. Selim closely followed Western military forms. It would
be expensive for a new army, so a new treasury ['Irad-i Cedid'] was established . The result was
the Porte now had an efficient, European-trained army equipped with modern weapons. However
it had fewer than 10,000 soldiers in an era when Western armies were ten to fifty times larger.
Furthermore, the Sultan was upsetting the well-established traditional political powers. As a
result, it was rarely used, apart from its use against Napoleon's expeditionary force at Gaza and
Rosetta. The new army was dissolved by reactionary elements with the overthrow of Selim in
1807, but it became the model of the new Ottoman Army created later in the 19th century.

Units of Reform efforts (1606–1826)

The main theme of this period is disbanding the Janissary, which happened in 1826, and
changing the military culture. The major event is "Vaka-ı Hayriye" translated as Auspicious
Incident. The military units formed were used in the Crimean War, Russo-Turkish War (1877–
1878), and Greco-Turkish War (1897).

The failed efforts of a new system dates before 1826. Sultan Selim III formed the Nizam-ı
Cedid army (Nizam-ı Cedid meaning New Order) in the late 18th century and early 19th century.

50
This was the first serious attempt to transform the Ottoman military forces into a modern army.
However, the Nizam-ı Cedid was short lived, dissolving after the abdication of Selim III in 1807.

Sultan Mahmud II, Selim III's successor and nephew, who was a great reformer, disbanded the
Janissaries in 1826 with so-called known as "Vaka-ı Hayriye" (the auspicious incident).

The Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye was established, as a contemporary modern army.

Egypt, as part of the empire, also underwent drastic military changes during Muhammad Ali
Pasha's reign. The two largest military reforms were the effective practices of indoctrination and
surveillance, which dramatically changed the way the military was both conducted by the
leadership and also perceived by the rest of society. New military law codes resulted in isolation,
extreme surveillance, and severe punishments to enforce obedience. The Pasha's goal was to
create a high regard for the law and strict obedience stemming from sincere want. This shift from
direct control by bodily punishment to indirect control through strict law enforcement aimed to
make the soldiers' lives predictable, thus creating a more manageable military for the Pasha.

The relationship between Turkish/Ottoman folklore and vampires spells that Vampires are one of
the most well known and recognizable monsters, but they've gone through many changes to get
to their present iteration.
1. In many of the original vampire stories, the creatures crossover considerably with other
entities and these include the
A. cadı,
B. hortlak,
C. karakoncolos,
D. obur and others.
E. An Early Modern Horror Story: The Folk Beliefs in Vampire-Like Supernatural
Beings in the Ottoman Empire and the Consequent Responses in the Sixteen and
Seventeenth Centuries by Salim Fikret Kırgi,
F. Of Ottoman Ghosts, Vampires and Sorcerers: An Old Discussion Disinterred by
Marinos Sariyannis, and
G. Türk Kültüründe Hortlak-Cadı İnanışları by Mehmet Berk Yaltırık
All serve as great resources for understand how vampire beliefs existed among the multi-ethnic
Ottoman Empire, and the Ottoman Turks themselves.

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 III
Dracula as a Jannisary

The concept of Dracula as a Janissary, particularly in the context of "Dracula Untold", explores a
historical element of Vlad the Impaler's life. Vlad was a young man and royal ward of the
Ottoman Empire, where he was trained as a Janissary, the Sultan's elite warrior corps. This
experience, as depicted in "Dracula Untold", had a profound impact on him, shaping his later
actions and the narrative surrounding his eventual descent into the vampire realm.

Here's a more detailed look:

The Janissaries were a unique military force composed of Christian boys, often taken
from the Balkans, who were forcibly converted to Islam and trained as soldiers. They
were highly disciplined and feared for their martial prowess.
As a royal ward, Vlad was part of this system, receiving military training within the
Janissary corps. The film "Dracula Untold" portrays Vlad's time as a Janissary as a
crucial turning point. He experiences the brutality of the Ottomans and the horrors of
war firsthand, leading him to eventually reject their way of life and the path of the
Janissary. This connection to the Janissary corps is a fictional element that adds a layer
of complexity to the Dracula narrative. It connects the historical figure of Vlad the
Impaler to the Ottoman Empire and the military practices of that era. Some historians
and scholars have discussed the influence of Vlad's time in Turkish captivity on his
development and actions, including his later clashes with the Ottomans.

52
A janissary ( lit. 'new soldier') was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman
sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first
infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted during the reign of Murad II.
The corps was established under either Orhan or Murad I, and dismantled by Mahmud II in 1826.

Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the devşirme system of child
levy enslavement, by which indigenous European Christian boys, chiefly from the Balkans, were
taken, levied, subjected to forced circumcision and forced conversion to Islam, and incorporated
into the Ottoman army. They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline
and order. Unlike typical slaves, they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden to marry before the
age of 40 or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Ottoman sultan was expected. By the
17th century, due to a dramatic increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army, the corps'
initially strict recruitment policy was relaxed. Civilians bought their way into it in order to
benefit from the improved socio-economic status it conferred upon them. Consequently, the
corps gradually lost its military character, undergoing a process that has been described as
"civilianization".

The Janissary Corps were a formidable military unit in the early centuries, but as Western
Europe modernized its military organization and technology, the Janissaries became
a reactionary force that resisted all change within the Ottoman army. Steadily the Ottoman
military power became outdated, but when the Janissaries felt their privileges were being
threatened, or outsiders wanted to modernize them, or they might be superseded by their cavalry
rivals, they would rise in rebellion. By the time the Janissaries were suppressed, it was too late
for Ottoman military power to catch up with the West. The Janissary Corps was abolished
by Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident, in which 6,000 or more were executed.

Origins and history

53
Agha of the Janissaries, commander of the Janissary Corps, in 1768
The Janissary Corps was formed in the 14th century, either during the rule of Murad I (r. 1362–
1389), the third sultan of the Ottoman Empire, or during the time of Murad's father, Orhan (r. c.
1324 – 1362). The Ottoman government instituted a tax of one-fifth on all slaves taken in war,
and from this pool of manpower the sultans first constructed the Janissary corps as a personal
army loyal only to the Ottoman sultan.

From the 1380s to 1648, the Janissaries were gathered through the devşirme system of child
levy enslavement, which was abolished in 1648. This recruitment of Janissary troops was
achieved through the enslaving of dhimmi peoples (i.e., non-
Muslims), predominantly Balkan Christians. Jews were never subject to devşirme; however,
there is evidence that Jews tried to enroll into the system. Jews were not allowed to join the
Janissary Corps, and so in suspected cases the entire batch would be sent to the Imperial
Arsenal as indentured laborers.[21] Ottoman documents from the levy of the winter of 1603-1604
from Bosnia and Albania wrote to draw attention to some children as "possibly being Jewish."
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "in early days, all Christians were enrolled
indiscriminately. Later, those from what is now Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Greece,
and Bulgaria were preferred." The Bektashi Order became the official religious and spiritual
institution of the Janissaries in the 15th century.

The Janissaries were kapıkulları (sing. kapıkulu), "door servants" or "slaves of the Porte", neither
freedmen nor ordinary slaves (köle). They were subjected to strict discipline, but were paid

54
salaries and pensions upon retirement and formed their own distinctive social class. [25] As such,
they became one of the ruling classes of the Ottoman Empire, rivalling the Ottoman Turkish
aristocracy. The brightest of the Janissaries were sent to the palace institution, Enderun. Through
a system of meritocracy, the Janissaries held enormous power, stopping all efforts to reform the
military.

The Janissary Agha leading the corps, 1658/Portrait of a Janissary with rifle (before 1657)
It was a similar system to the Iranian Safavid, Afsharid, and Qajar-era ghilman, who were drawn
from converted Circassians, Georgians, and Armenians, and in the same way as with the
Ottoman Janissaries, who had to replace the unreliable ghazi. They were initially created as a
counterbalance to the tribal, ethnic, and favoured interests the Qizilbash gave, which make a
system imbalanced.

In the late 16th century, a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Corps and permitted Janissary
children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for the previous 300
years. According to paintings of the era, they were also permitted to grow beards. Consequently,
the formerly strict rules of succession became open to interpretation. While they advanced their
own power, the Janissaries also helped to keep the system from changing in other progressive
ways, and according to some scholars the corps shared responsibility for the political stagnation
of Istanbul.

Characteristics
The Janissary corps were distinctive in a number of ways. They wore unique uniforms, were paid
regular salaries (including bonuses) for their service, marched to music (the mehter), lived
in barracks, and were the first military corps to make extensive use of firearms. A Janissary
battalion was a close-knit community, effectively the soldier's family. By tradition, the Ottoman
sultan himself, after authorizing the payments to the Janissaries, visited the barracks dressed as a
Janissary trooper, and received his pay alongside the other men of the First Division. They also

55
served as policemen, palace guards, and firefighters during peacetime. The Janissaries also
enjoyed far better support on campaign than other armies of the time. They were part of a well-
organized military machine, in which one support corps prepared the roads while others pitched
tents and baked the bread. Their weapons and ammunition were transported and re-supplied by
the cebeci corps. They campaigned with their own medical teams of Muslim
and Jewish surgeons and their sick and wounded were evacuated to dedicated mobile hospitals
set up behind the lines. By the mid-18th century, they had taken up many trades and gained the
right to marry and enroll their children in the corps and very few continued to live in the
barracks. Many of them became administrators and scholars in other branches of government
service.

Registration of Christian boys for

the tribute in blood. Ottoman miniature painting, 1558.
The first Janissary units were formed from prisoners of war and slaves, probably as a result of
the sultan taking his traditional one-fifth share of his army's plunder in kind rather than
monetarily; however, the continuing exploitation and enslavement of dhimmi peoples (i.e., non-
Muslims), predominantly Balkan Christians, constituted a continuing abuse of subject
populations. For a while, the Ottoman government supplied the Janissary Corps with recruits
from the devşirme system of child levy enslavement (See Later ). Children were drafted at a
young age and soon turned into slave-soldiers in an attempt to make them loyal to the Ottoman
sultan. The social status of devşirme recruits took on an immediate positive change, acquiring a

56
greater guarantee of governmental rights and financial opportunities. In poor areas officials were
bribed by parents to make them take their sons, thus they would have better chances in life.
Initially, the Ottoman recruiters favoured Greeks and Albanians. The Ottoman Empire began its
expansion into Europe by invading the European portions of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th
and 15th centuries up until the capture of Constantinople in 1453, establishing Islam as the state
religion of the newly-founded empire. The Ottoman Turks further expanded into Southeastern
Europe and consolidated their political power by invading and conquering huge portions of
the Serbian Empire, Bulgarian Empire, and the remaining territories of the Byzantine Empire in
the 14th and 15th centuries. As borders of the Ottoman Empire expanded, the devşirme system
of child levy enslavement was extended to
include Armenians, Bulgarians, Croats, Hungarians, Serbs, Romanians, and later Bosniaks, and,
in rare instances, Georgians, Circassians, Ukrainians, Poles, and southern Russians.

The slave trade in the Ottoman Empire supplied the ranks of the Ottoman army between the 15th
and 19th centuries. They were useful in preventing both the slave rebellions and the breakup of
the Empire itself, especially due to the rising tide of nationalism among European peoples in its
Balkan provinces from the 17th century onwards. Along with the Balkans, the Black Sea
Region remained a significant source of high-value slaves for the Ottomans. Throughout the 16th
to 19th centuries, the Barbary States sent pirates to raid nearby parts of Europe in order to
capture Christian slaves to sell at slave markets in the Muslim world, primarily in North
Africa and the Ottoman Empire, throughout the Renaissance and early modern period. According
to historian Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th centuries, Barbary pirates captured 1 million to
1.25 million Europeans as slaves, although these numbers are disputed. These slaves were
captured mainly from the crews of captured vessels, from coastal villages in Spain and Portugal,
and from farther places like the Italian Peninsula, France, or England, the Netherlands, Ireland,
the Azores Islands, and even Iceland.[43] For a long time, until the early 18th century,
the Crimean Khanate maintained a massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle
East. The Crimean Tatars frequently mounted raids into the Danubian Principalities, Poland–
Lithuania, and Russia to enslave people whom they could capture.

For all practical purposes, the Janissary Corps belonged to the Ottoman sultan and they were
regarded as the protectors of the throne and the sultan. Janissaries were taught to consider the
corps their home and family, and the sultan as their father. Only those who proved strong enough
earned the rank of true Janissary at the age of 24 or 25. The Odjak inherited the property of dead
Janissaries, thus acquiring wealth. Janissaries also learned to follow the dictates of
the dervish and Sufi saint Haji Bektash Veli, disciples of whom had blessed the first troops.
The Bektashi Order served as a kind of chaplaincy for the Janissaries. In this and in their
secluded life, Janissaries resembled Christian military orders like the Knights Hospitaller. As a
symbol of their devotion to the order, Janissaries wore special hats called börk. These hats also
had a holding place in front, called the kaşıklık, for a spoon. This symbolized the kaşık
kardeşliği, or the "brotherhood of the spoon", which reflected a sense of comradeship among the
Janissaries who ate, slept, fought, and died together.

Training

57
Solaks, the Janissary archer bodyguard of the Sultan by Lambert de Vos, c. 1574/ Mustafa Kemal Atatürk wearing the
traditional Janissary uniform at a masquerade ball during his early years in the Ottoman army.
When a non-Muslim boy was recruited under the devşirme system of child levy enslavement, he
would first be sent to selected Ottoman Turkish families in the provinces to learn Turkish,
subjected to forced circumcision and forced conversion to Islam, and to learn the customs and
culture of Ottoman society. After completing this period, acemi ("new recruit") boys were
gathered for training at the Enderun acemi oğlan ("rookie" or "cadet") school in the capital city.
There, young cadets would be selected for their talents in different areas to train as engineers,
artisans, riflemen, clerics, archers, artillery, and so forth.

Janissaries were trained under strict discipline with hard labour and in practically monastic
conditions in acemi oğlan ("rookie" or "cadet") schools, where they were expected to
remain celibate. Unlike other Muslims, they were expressly forbidden to wear beards, only a
moustache. These rules were obeyed by Janissaries at least until the 18th century, when they also
began to engage in other crafts and trades, breaking another of the original rules. In the late 16th
century, an Ottoman sultan gave in to the pressures of the Janissary Corps and permitted
Janissary children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for 200 years.
Consequently, succession rules, formerly strict, became open to interpretation. They gained their
own power but kept the system from changing in other progressive ways.

Even after the rapid expansion of the size of the corps at the end of the 16th century, the
Janissaries continued to undergo strict training and discipline. The Janissaries experimented with

58
new forms of battlefield tactics, and in 1605 became one of the first armies in Europe to
implement rotating lines of volley fire in battle.

Organization
The Janissary Corps was organized into orta ("centers"). An orta (equivalent to a battalion) was
headed by a çorbaci. All orta together comprised the Janissary corps proper and its organization,
named ocak ("hearth"). Suleiman I had 165 orta and the number increased over time to 196.
While the Sultan was the supreme commander of the Ottoman Army and of the Janissaries in
particular, the corps was organized and led by a commander, the ağa. The corps was divided into
three sub-corps:

 the cemaat (frontier troops; also spelled jemaat in old sources), with 101 orta
 the bölük or beylik (the Sultan's own bodyguard), with 61 orta
 the sekban or seymen, with 34 orta
In addition there were also 34 orta of the ajemi ("cadets"). A semi-autonomous Janissary corps
was permanently based in Algiers, called the Odjak of Algiers.

The Ottoman Empire used Janissaries in all its major campaigns, including the 1453 capture
of Constantinople, the defeat of the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo and wars
against Hungary and Austria. Janissary troops were always led to the battle by the Sultan
himself, and always had a share of the loot. The Janissary corps was the only infantry division of
the Ottoman army. In battle the Janissaries' main mission was to protect the Sultan, using cannon
and smaller firearms, and holding the centre of the army against enemy attack during the
strategic fake forfeit of Turkish cavalry. The Janissary corps also included smaller expert teams:
explosive experts, engineers and technicians, sharpshooters (with arrow and rifle) and sappers
who dug tunnels under fortresses, etc.

Janissaries battling the Knights Hospitaller, who are depicted wearing Eastern Armour. during the Siege of
Rhodes in 1522.

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Patrona Halil with some of his supporters, painting by Jean Baptiste Vanmour, c. 1730–1737. A 15th-century
Janissary, drawing by Gentile Bellini, who also painted the renowned portrait of Sultan Mehmed II

Salve Market

60
 In Bulgaria and elsewhere, and for centuries in Ukraine, the word Janissar (яничар) is used
as a synonym of the word renegade.
 The Janissary Tree, a novel by Jason Goodwin set in 19th-century Istanbul
 The Sultan's Helmsman, a historical novel of the Ottoman Navy and Renaissance Italy
 Salman Rushdie's novel The Enchantress of Florence details the life, organization, and
origins of the Janissaries. One of the lead characters of the novel, Antonio Argalia, is the
head of the Ottoman Janissaries.
 Janissaries, a 1979 novel by Jerry Pournelle
 Muhteşem Yüzyıl (The Magnificent Century) is a 2011–2012 Turkish historical fiction
television series. Written by Meral Okay and Yılmaz Şahin. The Janissaries are portrayed
throughout the series as part of the Sultan's royal bodyguard. The First Oath of their military
order is recited in Season 1 at the Ceremony of Payment.
 The popular song in Serbian, Janissar (Јањичар) by Predrag Gojković Cune
 Janissaries are the unique unit of the Ottoman Empire in Civilization IV, V, expansions of
VI, Cossacks, Age of Empires II, Age of Empires III, Age of Empires IV and Rise of Nations.
 The Janissaries during the rule of Sultan Bayezid II are featured heavily in Assassin's Creed:
Revelations.
 Janissaries appear in several books in the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett.
 In the song "Winged Hussars" by Sabaton about the Battle of Vienna 1683 the question is
asked if "Janissaries are you ready to die?" to illustrate the impact of the arrival of the
winged hussars in the battle.
 In the 2020 Turkish historical docudrama Rise of Empires: Ottoman, Janissaries appear
throughout the show in both seasons as part of Mehmed II's army.

61
 Janissaries marching
to Mehter martial tunes played by the Mehterân military band. Ottoman miniature painting, from
the Surname-i Vehbi (1720) at the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul.

62
The II nd Vampire Theorey

Statute in Bucharest Rumania

Chapter IV
VLAD III

63
 Vlad the Impaler
Historically, the name "Dracula" is the family name of Vlad Țepeș' family, a name derived from
a fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon, founded by Sigismund of
Luxembourg (king of Hungary and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Emperor) to
uphold Christianity and defend the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. Vlad II Dracul, father of
Vlad III, was admitted to the order around 1431 because of his bravery in fighting the Turks and
was dubbed Dracul ("dragon" or "devil"), thus his son became Dracula ("of the dragon"). From
1431 onward, Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and later, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage
bore the dragon symbol.

The House of Drăculești were one of two major rival lines of Wallachian voivodes of
the House of Basarab, the other being the House of Dănești. These lines were in constant contest
for the throne from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth centuries. Descendants of the line of
Drăculești would eventually come to dominate the principality, until its common rule
with Transylvania and Moldavia by Mihai Viteazul in 1600.

The line of the Drăculești began with Vlad II Dracul ("the Dragon"), son of one of the most
important rulers of the Basarab dynasty, Mircea the Elder. The name Drăculești is
the patronymic of Dracul, which according to most historians is derived from the 1431

64
membership of Vlad II in the Order of the Dragon (Societas draconistarum) that had been
founded in 1408 AD by Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund. Another proposal holds that Vlad II
earned the nickname "Dracul" (at the time also meaning "Devil") by Romanians, who associated
the dragon imagery on the Order's insignia with a demon. The Order's purpose was to defend the
Hungarian royal house, where Sigismund ruled, as well as the Catholic Church. It created a
strong solidarity among central and southeastern Europe's Christians, in their fight
against Ottoman and Tartar (from the Golden Horde and Crimean Khanate) Muslims. Vlad II's
son became known as Vlad Dracula (Drăculea) which meant "son of the Dragon", i.e. of Dracul.

Members of the Drăculești line who held the throne of Wallachia include the following:

Ruler Remark

Vlad II, the Dragon 1436–1442, 1443–1447; son of Mircea the Elder

Mircea II 1442; son of Vlad II

Vlad III, Drăculea 1448, 1456–1462, 1476; son of Vlad II

Radu III, the Handsome 1462–1473, 1474; son of Vlad II

Vlad IV, the Monk 1481, 1482–1495; son of Vlad II

Radu IV, the Great 1495–1508; son of Vlad the Monk

Mihnea the Wrongdoer 1508–1509; son of Vlad III

Mircea III, the Dragon 1510; son of Mihnea the Wrongdoer

Vlad V, the Younger 1510–1512; son of Vlad the Monk

Vlad VI (Dragomir the

1521; son of Vlad the Younger
Monk)

Radu from Afumați 1522–1523, 1524, 1524–1525, 1525–1529; son of Radu the Great

Radu VI Bădica 1523–1524; son of Radu the Great

Vlad VII, the Drowned 1530–1532; son of Vlad the Younger

Vlad VIII Vintilă from

1532–1534, 1534–1535; son of Radu the Great
Slatina

Radu VII Paisie 1534, 1535–1545; son of Radu the Great

Mircea V, the Shepherd 1545–1552, 1553–1554, 1558–1559; son of Radu the Great

Radu VIII Ilie, the Hajduk 1552–1553; son of Radu from Afumați

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Pătrașcu the Good 1554–1558; son of Radu Paisie

Petru the Younger 1559–1568; son of Mircea the Shepherd

Alexandru II Mircea 1568–1574, 1574–1577; son of Mircea III, the Dragon

Vintilă of Wallachia 1574; son of Pătrașcu the Good

Mihnea II, the Turned-Turk 1577–1583, 1585–1591; son of Alexandru Mircea

Petru II, Earring 1583–1585; son of Pătrașcu the Good

Mihai II, the Brave[9] 1593–1601; son of Pătrașcu the Good

Nicolae II Pătrașcu 1599–1601; son of Mihai the Brave and co-ruler/ heir

Radu IX Mihnea 1601–1602, 1611, 1611–1616, 1620–1623; son of Mihai the Brave

Alexandru V, the Little 1623–1627; son of Radu Mihnea, the last of Vlad the Impaler's Romanian
Prince bloodline

Mihnea III Radu[ 1658–1659

Trașcă Drăculescu – Wallachian boyar, inhabitant of Oltenia, the "last legitimate" descendant of the dynasty, who died in the 18th
century. /Mircea the Elder/Vlad Dracul

66
 Michael the Brave/Alexandru V, Coconul

Already in 1958, Cecil Kirtly proposed that Count Dracula shared his personal past with the
historical Transylvanian-born Voivode Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia, also known as Vlad the
Impaler or Vlad Țepeș. Following the publication of In Search of Dracula by Radu
Florescu and Raymond McNally in 1972, this supposed connection attracted much popular
attention. This work argued that Bram Stoker based his Dracula on Vlad the Impaler.

Signature

67
Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler (Romanian: Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad
Dracula Romanian: Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/31 – 1476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times
between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most important rulers
in Wallachian history and a national hero of Romania.

He was the second son of Vlad Dracul, who became the ruler of Wallachia in 1436. Vlad and his
younger brother, Radu, were held as hostages in the Ottoman Empire in 1442 to secure their
father's loyalty. Vlad's eldest brother Mircea and their father were murdered after John Hunyadi,
regent-governor of Hungary, invaded Wallachia in 1447. Hunyadi installed Vlad's second
cousin, Vladislav II, as the new voivode. Hunyadi launched a military campaign against the
Ottomans in the autumn of 1448, and Vladislav accompanied him. Vlad broke into Wallachia
with Ottoman support in October, but Vladislav returned, and Vlad sought refuge in the Ottoman
Empire before the end of the year. Vlad went to Moldavia in 1449 or 1450 and later to Hungary.

Relations between Hungary and Vladislav later deteriorated, and in 1456 Vlad invaded
Wallachia with Hungarian support. Vladislav died fighting against him. Vlad began a purge
among the Wallachian boyars to strengthen his position. He came into conflict with
the Transylvanian Saxons, who supported his opponents, Dan and Basarab Laiotă (who were
Vladislav's brothers), and Vlad's illegitimate half-brother, Vlad Călugărul. Vlad plundered the
Saxon villages, taking the captured people to Wallachia, where he had them impaled (which
inspired his epithet). Peace was restored in 1460.

The Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II, ordered Vlad to pay homage to him personally, but Vlad had
the Sultan's two envoys captured and impaled. In February 1462, he attacked Ottoman territory,
massacring tens of thousands of Turks and Muslim Bulgarians. Mehmed launched a campaign
against Wallachia to replace Vlad with Vlad's younger brother, Radu. Vlad attempted to capture
the sultan at Târgoviște during the night of 16–17 June 1462. The Sultan and the main Ottoman
army left Wallachia, but more and more Wallachians deserted to Radu. Vlad went to
Transylvania to seek assistance from Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, in late 1462, but
Corvinus had him imprisoned.

Vlad was held in captivity in Visegrád from 1463 to 1475. During this period, anecdotes about
his cruelty started to spread in Germany and Italy. He was released at the request of Stephen III
of Moldavia in the summer of 1475. He fought in Corvinus's army against the Ottomans
in Bosnia in early 1476. Hungarian and Moldavian troops helped him to force Basarab Laiotă
(who had dethroned Vlad's brother, Radu) to flee from Wallachia in November. Basarab returned
with Ottoman support before the end of the year. Vlad was killed in battle before 10 January
1477.

Books describing Vlad's cruel acts were among the first bestsellers in the German-speaking
territories. In Russia, popular stories suggested that Vlad was able to strengthen his central
government only by applying brutal punishments, and many 19th-century Romanian historians
adopted a similar view. Vlad's patronymic inspired the name of Bram Stoker's literary
vampire, Count Dracula.

68
Name

Vlad's father, Vlad Dracul

The name Dracula, which is now primarily known as the name of a vampire, was for centuries
known as the sobriquet of Vlad III. Diplomatic reports and popular stories referred to him
as Dracula, Dracuglia, or Drakula already in the 15th century. He himself signed his two letters
as "Dragulya" or "Drakulya" in the late 1470s. His name had its origin in the sobriquet of his
father, Vlad Dracul ("Vlad the Dragon" in medieval Romanian), who received it after he became
a member of the Order of the Dragon. Dracula is the Slavonic genitive form of Dracul, meaning
"[the son] of Dracul (or the Dragon)". modern Romanian, dracul means "the devil", which
contributed to Vlad's reputation.

Vlad III is known as Vlad Țepeș (or Vlad the Impaler) in Romanian historiography. This
sobriquet is connected to the impalement that was his favorite method of execution. The
Ottoman writer Tursun Beg referred to him as Kazıklı Voyvoda (Impaler Lord) around 1500.
Mircea the Shepherd, Voivode of Wallachia, used this sobriquet when referring to Vlad III in a
letter of grant on 1 April 1551.

Early life
Vlad was the second legitimate son of Vlad II Dracul, who was himself an illegitimate son
of Mircea I of Wallachia. Vlad II had won the moniker "Dracul" for his membership in the Order
of the Dragon, a militant fraternity founded by Sigismund of Luxemburg, King of Hungary. The
Order of the Dragon was dedicated to halting the Ottoman advance into Europe. Since he was
old enough to be a candidate for the throne of Wallachia in 1448, Vlad's time of birth would have
been between 1428 and 1431. Vlad was most probably born after his father settled
in Transylvania in 1429. Historian Radu Florescu writes that Vlad was born in the Transylvanian
Saxon town of Sighișoara (then in the Kingdom of Hungary), where his father lived in a three-
story stone house from 1431 to 1435. Modern historians identify Vlad's mother either as a
daughter or kinswoman of Alexander I of Moldavia or as his father's unknown first wife.

69
 The house in the main square
of Sighișoara where Vlad's father lived from 1431 to 1435

Vlad II Dracul seized Wallachia after the death of his half-brother Alexander I Aldea in
1436. One of his charters (which was issued on 20 January 1437) preserves the first reference to
Vlad III and his elder brother, Mircea, mentioning them as their father's "firstborn sons".They
were mentioned in four further documents between 1437 and 1439. The last of the four charters
also refers to their younger brother, Radu.

After a meeting with John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania, Vlad II Dracul did not support an
Ottoman invasion of Transylvania in March 1442. The Ottoman Sultan, Murad II, ordered him to
come to Gallipoli to demonstrate his loyalty. Vlad and Radu accompanied their father to the
Ottoman Empire, where they were all imprisoned. Vlad Dracul was released before the end of
the year, but Vlad and Radu remained hostages to secure his loyalty. They were held imprisoned
in the fortress of Eğrigöz, Emit, according to contemporaneous Ottoman chronicles. Their lives
were especially in danger after their father supported Vladislaus, King of Poland and Hungary,
against the Ottoman Empire during the Crusade of Varna in 1444. Vlad II Dracul was convinced
that his two sons would be "butchered for the sake of Christian peace", but neither Vlad nor
Radu was murdered or mutilated after their father's rebellion.

Vlad Dracul again acknowledged the sultan's suzerainty and promised to pay a yearly tribute to
him in 1446 or 1447. John Hunyadi (who had by then become the regent-governor of Hungary in
1446), invaded Wallachia in November 1447. The Byzantine historian Michael Critobulus wrote
that Vlad and Radu fled to the Ottoman Empire, which suggests that the sultan had allowed them
to return to Wallachia after their father paid homage to him. Vlad Dracul and his eldest son,
Mircea, were murdered. Hunyadi made Vladislav II (son of Vlad Dracul's cousin, Dan II) the
ruler of Wallachia.

70
Reigns-First rule

Lands ruled around 1390 by Vlad the Impaler's grandfather, Mircea I of Wallachia (the lands on
the right side of the Danube had been lost to the Ottomans before Vlad's reign)
Upon the death of his father and elder brother, Vlad became a potential claimant to Wallachia.
Vladislav II of Wallachia accompanied John Hunyadi, who launched a campaign against the
Ottoman Empire in September 1448. Taking advantage of his opponent's absence, Vlad broke
into Wallachia at the head of an Ottoman army in early October. He had to accept that the
Ottomans had captured the fortress of Giurgiu on the Danube and strengthened it.

The Ottomans defeated Hunyadi's army in the Battle of Kosovo between 17 and 18 October.
Hunyadi's deputy, Nicholas Vízaknai, urged Vlad to come to meet him in Transylvania, but Vlad
refused him. Vladislav II returned to Wallachia at the head of the remnants of his army. Vlad
was forced to flee to the Ottoman Empire by 7 December 1448.

We bring you the news that [Nicholas Vízaknai] writes to us and asks us to be so kind as to
come to him until [John Hunyadi] ... returns from the war. We are unable to do this
because an emissary from Nicopolis came to us ... and said with great certainty that
[Murad II had defeated Hunyadi]. ... If we come to [Vízaknai] now, the [Ottomans] could
come and kill both you and us. Therefore, we ask you to have patience until we see what
has happened to [Hunyadi]. ... If he returns from the war, we will meet him, and we will
make peace with him. But if you will be our enemies now, and if something happens, ... you
will have to answer for it before God

— Vlad's letter to the councillors of Brașov

71
In exile
Vlad first settled in Edirne in the Ottoman Empire after his fall. long after, he moved
to Moldavia, where Bogdan II (his father's brother-in-law and possibly his maternal uncle) had
mounted the throne with John Hunyadi's support in the autumn of 1449. After Bogdan was
murdered by Peter III Aaron in October 1451, Bogdan's son, Stephen, fled to Transylvania with
Vlad to seek assistance from Hunyadi. However, Hunyadi concluded a three-year truce with the
Ottoman Empire on 20 November 1451, acknowledging the Wallachian boyars' right to elect the
successor of Vladislav II if he died.

Vlad allegedly wanted to settle in Brașov (which was a centre of the Wallachian boyars expelled
by Vladislaus II), but Hunyadi forbade the burghers to give shelter to him on 6 February 1452.
Vlad returned to Moldavia where Alexăndrel had dethroned Peter Aaron. The events of his life
during the years that followed are unknown. He must have returned to Hungary before 3 July
1456 because, on that day, Hunyadi informed the townspeople of Brașov that he had tasked Vlad
with the defence of the Transylvanian border.

Second rule- Consolidation

Ruins of the Princely Court [ro] in Târgoviște

The circumstances and the date of Vlad's return to Wallachia are uncertain. He invaded
Wallachia with Hungarian support either in April, July or August 1456. Vladislav II died during
the invasion. Vlad sent his first extant letter as voivode of Wallachia to the burghers of Brașov
on 10 September. He promised to protect them in case of an Ottoman invasion of Transylvania,
but he also sought their assistance if the Ottomans occupied Wallachia. In the same letter, he
stated that "when a man or a prince is strong and powerful he can make peace as he wants to; but
when he is weak, a stronger one will come and do what he wants to him", showing his
authoritarian personality.

Multiple sources recorded that hundreds or thousands of people were executed at Vlad's order at
the beginning of his reign.

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Târgoviște Princely Court (Romanian: Curtea Domnească of Târgoviște) represents a complex
of medieval buildings and fortifications that served as the residence of various rulers
of Wallachia and, at the same time, played a relatively important role in the country's defensive
system.

Târgoviște Fortress, painting by Valeriu Pantazi/ Complex of medieval buildings and fortifications

73
Before XVII
In 1427, crusader Johann Schiltberger mentioned Târgoviște as Wallachia's capital
alongside Argeș. Although his work was edited 31 years later, it suggests the city had
fortifications by 1396.

Internal records attest to the princely court during Mircea the Elder's reign in 1417-1418.
Archaeological findings support this, dating back to his time.

Expansion of fortifications occurred half a century later when Târgoviște became the sole
Wallachian capital (1431), possibly during Vlad Dracul or Vlad the Impaler's reigns. It's
confirmed that after mid-15th century, these fortifications were the country's largest.

Matei Basarab doubled wall thickness, rebuilt the defense ditch, and added 10 bastions. A
document from November 17, 1476, mentions the fortress's governor, highlighting its military
importance.

Towards the late 16th century, Voivode Petru Cercel expanded the citadel's interior area, also
improving utilities.

However, the pinnacle of development was during Matei Basarab's reign. He nearly doubled wall
thickness, rebuilt the defense ditch, and added 10 bastions.

Unfortunately, the fortifications were tested during the 1653 revolt of the seimeni, leading to
their dismantling under Prince Gheorghe Ghica (1659-1660) following an Ottoman request.

From Constantin Brâncoveanu until now

The impressive development of constructions and architecture during the reign of Constantin
Brâncoveanu also touched the Târgoviște Princely Court. With Ottoman consent, the great
voivode partially rebuilt the fortifications. Most notably, the princely palace was reconstructed in
1695, along with churches in 1699 and utilitarian or decorative buildings (the stone pavilion
within the princely gardens). During this period, two dependencies of the palace were
constructed outside the walls: the Casa iazagiului and the Casa coconilor (1701).

Following this period of prosperity and with the canonization of the voivode, along with the
permanent relocation of the country's capital to Bucharest, the walls began to deteriorate.
The Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739) fought on Romanian territory, severely affected the
constructions, leading to a fire at the Princely Court. Later, an earthquake decisively damaged
what remained of the fortified enclosure. Some repairs were carried out by Prince Grigore al II-
lea Ghica between 1748 and 1752, but they were of poor quality as the palace's vaults collapsed
in 1785.

A new fire and earthquake in 1802 led to the definitive ruin of the architectural complex. In
1821, during the Greek War of Independence, Alexandru Ipsilanti, leader of the Eterists,
uncovered the defensive ditches and attempted to restore the old fortifications. His attempt to
revive the glory days of the medieval citadel ended in embarrassment when news arrived
that Ottoman armies were approaching Târgoviște.

74
These ditches could still be seen until the late 19th century and were studied and described
by Cezar Bolliac. Over time and with urban development, the ditches, as well as the enclosure
walls, were filled in, with buildings constructed over these irreplaceable vestiges. The last
significant restoration and conservation work was carried out in 1961, when the remnants of the
old fortifications were opened to tourists in their current state. Since then, only archaeological
surveys and minor conservation and improvement works have taken place.

Buildings in the Curtea Domnească Complex

Princely Palace
The Princely Palace (Palatul Domnesc), constructed during the reign of Constantin Brâncoveanu
in 1695, is the centerpiece of the Curtea Domnească complex. It reflects the
distinctive architectural style of the period with its beautiful stone carvings, arched doorways,
and decorative elements. This palace served as the residence of the voievods and features a series
of chambers, each with its unique purpose, including a beautiful chapel.

Chindia Tower
The Chindia Tower, also known as Turnul Chindiei, is an iconic medieval tower located within
the Curtea Domnească complex. Constructed during the reign of Vlad Țepeș in the 15th century,
this tower served both defensive and symbolic purposes.. With its distinctive octagonal shape
and strong stone walls, the Chindia Tower is a testament to the military architecture of the era. It
played a crucial role in guarding the princely court and the town of Târgoviște. The tower's
name, "Chindia," is believed to be a blend of "Chin" (punishment) and "Din" (from), referring to
the punishment chamber located within. Today, the Chindia Tower stands as a significant
historical and architectural landmark, offering panoramic views of the surrounding area from its
upper levels.

Church of the Saint Great Martyr George

Biserica Sfântul Mare Mucenic Gheorghe, Built in 1699, this church is a fine example of
the Brâncovenesc style of architecture. It boasts intricate frescoes, a finely decorated interior, and
an impressive iconostasis. The Church of Saint Great Martyr George has historical and religious
significance and has undergone restoration efforts to preserve its original beauty.

Stone Pavilion
Situated within the princely gardens, the Stone Pavilion (Foișorul de Piatră) is a charming
structure built in 1701. It was used for various purposes, including relaxation and hosting
important guests. The pavilion features elegant stone columns and a serene atmosphere, making
it a notable part of the Curtea Domnească complex.

Casa Iazagiului
Constructed in 1701 as part of the complex's expansion, Casa Iazagiului (The Iazagi House)
served as an additional residence within the grounds. It features architectural elements
characteristic of the Brâncovenesc style and was likely used for various administrative and
residential purposes during its history.

Casa Coconilor

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Built alongside Casa Iazagiului (The Coconilor House) in 1701, Casa Coconilor is another
architectural gem within the Curtea Domnească complex. Its design reflects the Brâncovenesc
style and may have been used for accommodating officials or guests visiting the court. Like other
structures in the complex, it has historical significance.

Other Outbuildings
In addition to the major buildings mentioned above, the Curtea Domnească complex includes
several other outbuildings, utility structures, and defensive walls. These components were crucial
for the functioning and defense of the princely court. While not as prominently featured, they are
integral to the historical and architectural significance of the complex.

Conflict with the Saxons

Vlad sent the customary tribute to the sultan. After John Hunyadi died on 11 August 1456, his
elder son, Ladislaus Hunyadi became the captain-general of Hungary. He accused Vlad of
having "no intention of remaining faithful" to the king of Hungary.

Medieval seats (or administrative units) of the Transylvanian Saxons/ Vlad invaded the region around Amlaș and Făgăraș on 24 August
to punish the local inhabitants who had supported Dan III/The Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II, who invaded Wallachia during Vlad's reign

Konstantin Mihailović (who served as a janissary in the sultan's army) recorded that Vlad refused
to pay homage to the sultan in an unspecified year. The Renaissance historian Giovanni Maria
degli Angiolelli likewise wrote that Vlad had failed to pay tribute to the sultan for three
years. Both records suggest that Vlad ignored the suzerainty of the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II,
already in 1459, but both works were written decades after the events. [ Tursun Beg (a secretary
in the sultan's court) stated that Vlad only turned against the Ottoman Empire when the sultan
"was away on the long expedition in Trebizon" in 1461. According to Tursun Beg, Vlad started
new negotiations with Matthias Corvinus, but the sultan was soon informed by his spies.
Mehmed sent his envoy, the Greek Thomas Katabolinos (also known as Yunus bey), to
Wallachia, ordering Vlad to come to Constantinople. He also sent secret instructions to
Hamza, bey of Nicopolis, to capture Vlad after he crossed the Danube. Vlad found out the
sultan's "deceit and trickery", captured Hamza and Katabolinos, and had them executed.

76
 The plan of the medieval fortified
Evangelical Lutheran church in Șeica Mare (German: Marktschelken), Sibiu County (German: Kreis Hermannstadt).

After the execution of the Ottoman officials, Vlad gave orders in fluent Turkish to the
commander of the fortress of Giurgiu to open the gates, enabling the Wallachian soldiers to
break into the fortress and capture it. He invaded the Ottoman Empire, devastating the villages
along the Danube.[ He informed Matthias Corvinus about the military action in a letter on
11 February 1462. He stated that more than "23,884 Turks and Bulgarians" had been killed at
his order during the campaign. He sought military assistance from Corvinus, declaring that he
had broken the peace with the sultan "for the honor" of the king and the Holy Crown of
Hungary and "for the preservation of Christianity and the strengthening of the Catholic faith".
The relationship between Moldavia and Wallachia had become tense by 1462, according to a
letter of the Genoese governor of Kaffa.

Having learnt of Vlad's invasion, Mehmed II raised an army of more than 150,000 strong that
was said to be "second in size only to the one" that occupied Constantinople in 1453, according
to Chalkokondyles. The size of the army suggests that the sultan wanted to occupy Wallachia,
according to a number of historians (including Franz Babinger, Radu Florescu, and Nicolae
Stoicescu). On the other hand, Mehmed had granted Wallachia to Vlad's brother, Radu, before
the invasion of Wallachia, showing that the sultan's principal purpose was only the change of the
ruler of Wallachia.

77
 The Battle with
Torches, a painting by Theodor Aman about Vlad's Night attack at Târgoviște

The Ottoman fleet landed at Brăila (which was the only Wallachian port on the Danube) in
May. The main Ottoman army crossed the Danube under the command of the sultan at Nikopol,
Bulgaria on 4 June 1462. Outnumbered by the enemy, Vlad adopted a scorched earth policy and
retreated towards Târgoviște. During the night of 16–17 June, Vlad broke into the Ottoman camp
in an attempt to capture or kill the sultan Either the imprisonment or the death of the sultan
would have caused panic among the Ottomans, which could have enabled Vlad to defeat the
Ottoman army. However, the Wallachians "missed the court of the sultan himself “ and attacked
the tents of the viziers Mahmud Pasha and Isaac. Having failed to attack the sultan's camp, Vlad
and his retainers left the Ottoman camp at dawn. Mehmed entered Târgoviște at the end of
June. The town had been deserted, but the Ottomans were horrified to discover a "forest of the
impaled" (thousands of stakes with the carcasses of executed people), according to
Chalkokondyles.

The sultan's army entered into the area of the impalements, which was seventeen stades long and
seven stades wide. There were large stakes there on which, as it was said, about twenty thousand
men, women, and children had been spitted, quite a sight for the Turks and the sultan himself.
The sultan was seized with amazement and said that it was not possible to deprive of his country
a man who had done such great deeds, who had such a diabolical understanding of how to
govern his realm and its people. And he said that a man who had done such things was worth
much. The rest of the Turks were dumbfounded when they saw the multitude of men on the
stakes. There were infants too affixed to their mothers on the stakes, and birds had made their
nests in their entrails.

The main Ottoman army left Wallachia, but Vlad's brother Radu and his Ottoman troops stayed
behind in the Bărăgan Plain. Radu sent messengers to the Wallachians, reminding them that the
sultan could again invade their country. Although Vlad defeated Radu and his Ottoman allies in

78
two battles during the following months, more and more Wallachians deserted to Radu. Vlad
withdrew to the Carpathian Mountains, hoping that Matthias Corvinus would help him regain his
throne. However, Albert of Istenmező, the deputy of the Count of the Székelys, had
recommended in mid-August that the Saxons recognize Radu. Radu also made an offer to the
burghers of Brașov to confirm their commercial privileges and pay them a compensation of
15,000 ducats.

Imprisonment in Hungary

Renaissance palaces of Matthias Corvinus's

summer residence at Visegrád (engraving from the 1480s)

Matthias Corvinus came to Transylvania in November 1462. The negotiations between Corvinus
and Vlad lasted for weeks, but Corvinus did not want to wage war against the Ottoman
Empire. At the king's order, his Czech mercenary commander, John Jiskra of Brandýs, captured
Vlad near Rucăr in Wallachia. To provide an explanation for Vlad's imprisonment to Pope Pius
II and the Venetians (who had sent money to finance a campaign against the Ottoman Empire),
Corvinus presented three letters, allegedly written by Vlad on 7 November 1462, to Mehmed II,
Mahmud Pasha, and Stephen of Moldavia. According to the letters, Vlad offered to join his
forces with the sultan's army against Hungary if the sultan restored him to his throne. Most
historians agree that the documents were forged to give grounds for Vlad's imprisonment.
Corvinus's court historian, Antonio Bonfini, admitted that the reason for Vlad's imprisonment
was never clarified. Florescu writes:

"[T]he style of writing, the rhetoric of meek submission (hardly compatible with what we
know of Dracula's character), clumsy wording, and poor Latin" are all evidence that the
letters could not be written on Vlad's order. He associates the author of the forgery with a
Saxon priest of Brașov.

Vlad was first imprisoned "in the city of Belgrade" (now Alba Iulia in Romania), according to
Chalkokondyles. Before long, he was taken to Visegrád, where he was held for fourteen years.
No documents referring to Vlad between 1462 and 1475 have been preserved. In the summer of
1475, Stephen III of Moldavia sent his envoys to Matthias Corvinus, asking him to send Vlad to
Wallachia against Basarab Laiotă, who had submitted himself to the Ottomans. Stephen wanted
to secure Wallachia for a ruler who had been an enemy of the Ottoman Empire, because "the

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Wallachians [were] like the Turks" to the Moldavians, according to his letter. According to the
Slavic stories about Vlad, he was only released after he converted to Catholicism.

Third rule and death -Drakula háza -"Dracula's house"

Matthias Corvinus recognized Vlad as the lawful prince of Wallachia, but he did not provide him
with military assistance to regain his principality. Vlad settled in a house in Pest. When a group
of soldiers broke into the house while pursuing a thief who had tried to hide there, Vlad had their
commander executed because they had not asked his permission before entering his home,
according to the Slavic stories about his life. Vlad moved to Transylvania in June 1475. He
wanted to settle in Sibiu and sent his envoy to the town in early June to arrange a house for him.
Mehmed II acknowledged Basarab Laiotă as the lawful ruler of Wallachia. Corvinus ordered the
burghers of Sibiu to give 200 golden florins to Vlad from the royal revenues on 21 September,
but Vlad left Transylvania for Buda in October.

Vlad bought a house in Pécs that became known as Drakula háza ("Dracula's house" in
Hungarian). In January 1476 John Pongrác of Dengeleg, Voivode of Transylvania urged the
people of Brașov to send to Vlad all those of his supporters who had settled in the town, because
Corvinus and Basarab Laiotă had concluded a treaty. [120] The relationship between the
Transylvanian Saxons and Basarab remained tense, and the Saxons gave shelter to Basarab's
opponents during the following months. Corvinus dispatched Vlad and the Serbian Vuk
Grgurević to fight against the Ottomans in Bosnia in early 1476. [1][121] They
captured Srebrenica and other fortresses in February and March 1476. [1] In the Bosnian
campaign, Vlad once again resorted to his terror tactics, mass impaling captured Turkish soldiers
and massacring civilians in conquered settlements. His troops mostly destroyed
Srebrenica, Kuslat, and Zvornik.

Mehmed II invaded Moldavia and defeated Stephen III in the Battle of Valea Albă on 26 July
1476. Stephen Báthory and Vlad entered Moldavia, forcing the sultan to lift the siege of
the fortress at Târgu Neamț in late August, according to a letter of Matthias Corvinus. The
contemporaneous Jakob Unrest added that Vuk Grgurević and a member of the noble Jakšić
family also participated in the struggle against the Ottomans in Moldavia.

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Basarab Laiotă, who tried to defend his throne against Vlad with Ottoman support
DEATH OF VLAD

The exact circumstances of his death are unclear. The Austrian chronicler Jacob Unrest stated
that a disguised Turkish assassin murdered Vlad in his camp. In contrast, Russian
statesman Fyodor Kuritsyn –who interviewed Vlad's family after his demise– reported that the
voivode was mistaken for a Turk by his own troops during battle, causing them to attack and kill
him. Florescu and Raymond T. McNally commented this account by noting that Vlad had often
disguised himself as a Turkish soldier as part of military ruses. According to Leonardo Botta, the
Milanese ambassador to Buda, the Ottomans cut Vlad's corpse into pieces. Bonfini wrote that
Vlad's head was sent to Mehmed II; it was eventually placed on a high stake in
Constantinople. His severed head allegedly was displayed and buried in Voivode Street
(today Bankalar Caddesi) in Karaköy. It is rumoured that Voyvoda Han, located on Bankalar
Caddesi No. 19, was the last stop of Vlad Tepeş's skull. Local peasant traditions maintain that
what was left of Vlad's corpse was later discovered in the marshes of Snagov by monks from the
nearby monastery.

The place of his burial is unknown. According to popular tradition (which was first recorded in
the late 19th century), Vlad was buried in the Monastery of Snagov. However, the excavations
carried out by Dinu V. Rosetti in 1933 found no tomb below the supposed "unmarked
tombstone" of Vlad in the monastery church. Rosetti reported: "Under the tombstone attributed
81
to Vlad, there was no tomb. Only many bones and jaws of horses. Historian Constantin
Rezachevici said Vlad was most probably buried in the first church of the Comana Monastery,
which had been established by Vlad and was near the battlefield where he was killed.

Vlad had two wives, according to modern specialists. His first wife may have been an
illegitimate daughter of John Hunyadi, according to historian Alexandru Simon. Vlad's second
wife was Justina Szilágyi, who was a cousin of Matthias Corvinus. She was the widow of Vencel
Pongrác of Szentmiklós when "Ladislaus Dragwlya" married her, most probably in 1475. She
survived Vlad Dracul, and married thirdly Pál Suki, then János Erdélyi.Vlad's eldest son, [
Mihnea, was born in 1462 unnamed second son was killed before 1486. Vlad's third son,
Vlad Drakwlya, unsuccessfully laid claim to Wallachia around 1495. He was the forefather of
the noble Drakwla family.

Legacy-Reputation for cruelty

Works containing the stories about Vlad's cruelty were published in Low German in the Holy
Roman Empire before 1480. The stories were allegedly written in the early 1460s, because they
describe Vlad's campaign across the Danube in early 1462, but they do not refer to Mehmed II's
invasion of Wallachia in June of the same year. They provide a detailed narration of the conflicts
between Vlad and the Transylvanian Saxons, showing that they originated "in the literary minds
of the Saxons". The stories about Vlad's plundering raids in Transylvania were clearly based on
an eyewitness account, because they contain accurate details (including the lists of the churches
destroyed by Vlad and the dates of the raids). They describe Vlad as a "demented psychopath, a
sadist, a gruesome murderer, a masochist", worse than Caligula and Nero. However, the stories
emphasizing Vlad's cruelty are to be treated with caution because his brutal acts were very
probably exaggerated (or even invented) by the Saxons.

Stories about Vlad's brutal acts began circulating during his lifetime. After his arrest, courtiers of
Matthias Corvinus promoted their spread. The papal legate, Niccolo Modrussiense, had already
written about such stories to Pope Pius II in 1462. Two years later, the Pope included them in
his Commentaries.

It was even rumored that Vlad once dipped his bread into the blood of his impaled victims, but
this so far remains legendary, as the story has not been confirmed.

Meistersinger Michael Beheim wrote a lengthy poem about Vlad's deeds, allegedly based on his
conversation with a Catholic monk who had managed to escape from Vlad's prison. The poem,
called Von ainem wutrich der heis Trakle waida von der Walachei ("Story of a Despot Called
Dracula, Voievod of Wallachia"), was performed at the court of Frederick III, Holy Roman
Emperor, in Wiener Neustadt during the winter of 1463. According to one of Beheim's stories,
Vlad had two monks impaled to assist them to go to heaven, also ordering the impalement of
their donkey because it began braying after its masters' death. [149] Beheim also accused Vlad of
duplicity, stating that Vlad had promised support to both Matthias Corvinus and Mehmed II but
did not keep the promise.

In 1475, Gabriele Rangoni, Bishop of Eger (and a former papal legate), understood that Vlad had
been imprisoned because of his cruelty. Rangoni also recorded the rumour that while in prison
Vlad caught rats to cut them up into pieces or stuck them on small pieces of wood, because he

82
was unable to "forget his wickedness".Antonio Bonfini also recorded anecdotes about Vlad in
his Historia Pannonica around 1495. Bonfini wanted to justify both the removal and the
restoration of Vlad by Matthias. He described Vlad as "a man of unheard cruelty and
justice".Bonfini's stories about Vlad were repeated in Sebastian
Münster's Cosmography. Münster also recorded Vlad's "reputation for tyrannical justice".

Turkish messengers came to [Vlad] to pay respects, but refused to take off their turbans,
according to their ancient custom, whereupon he strengthened their custom by nailing
their turbans to their heads with three spikes, so that they could not take them off.

— Antonio Bonfini: Historia Pannonica[

German stories

1499 German woodcut showing Dracule waide dining among the impaled corpses of his victims
The invention of movable type printing contributed to the popularity of the stories about Vlad,
making them one of the first "bestsellers" in Europe. To enhance sales, they were published in
books with woodcuts on their title pages that depicted horrific scenes. For instance, the editions
published in Nuremberg in 1499 and in Strasbourg in 1500 depict Vlad dining at a table
surrounded by dead or dying people on poles.

... [Vlad] had a big copper cauldron built and put a lid made of wood with holes in it on
top. He put the people in the cauldron and put their heads in the holes and fastened them
there; then he filled it with water and set a fire under it and let the people cry their eyes out
until they were boiled to death. And then he invented frightening, terrible, unheard of
83
 tortures. He ordered that women be impaled together with their suckling babies on the
same stake. The babies fought for their lives at their mother's breasts until they died. Then
he had the women's breasts cut off and put the babies inside headfirst; thus he had them
impaled together.

— About a mischievous tyrant called Dracula vodă (No. 12–13)

Slavic stories
There are more than 20 manuscripts (written between the 15th and 18th centuries) which
preserved the text of the Skazanie o Drakule voievode ("The Tale about Voivode Dracula"). The
manuscripts were written in Russian, but they copied a text that had originally been recorded in
a South Slavic language, because they contain expressions alien to the Russian language but used
in South Slavic idioms (such as diavol for "evil"). The original text was written in Buda between
1482 and 1486.

The nineteen anecdotes in the Skazanie are longer than the German stories about Vlad. They are
a mixture of fact and fiction, according to historian Raymond T. McNally. Almost half of the
anecdotes emphasize, like the German stories, Vlad's brutality, but they also underline that his
cruelty enabled him to strengthen the central government in Wallachia. For instance,
the Skazanie writes of a golden cup that nobody dared to steal at a fountain because Vlad "hated
stealing so violently ... that anybody who caused any evil or robbery ... did not live long",
thereby promoting public order, and the German story about Vlad's campaign against Ottoman
territory underlined his cruel acts while the Skazanie emphasized his successful diplomacy
calling him "zlomudry" or "evil-wise". On the other hand, the Skazanie sharply criticized Vlad
for his conversion to Catholicism, attributing his death to this apostasy. Some elements of the
anecdotes were later added to Russian stories about Ivan the Terrible of Russia.

Vlad in Kashmir, India ?

Vlad emigrated to Kashmir long ago, accomianied by a group of Romanian gypsies says Prof.
Dr Ullrich Kleinhempel. This theorey is based on a Romanian Tradition.Here, the memory of
north-west Indian origins is still alive. With some conjecture:The figure of a 'Count Dragon':
Vlad (=Lord) Dracula (= Dragon) is liminal, and finds historical representations from time to
time. As such He/It is at home in the 'liminal spaces' of the Karpathians or the Western
Himalayas.omanians are a South Eastern European ethnic group primarily associated with
Romania, a country that is located at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. The
Romanian people primarily speak Romanian, a Romance language that evolved from Latin,
reflecting the historical influence of the Roman Empire in the region.

The origins of the Romanian people are complex and multi-faceted. The ethnic identity of
Romanians is primarily derived from the Dacians, an ancient people who inhabited the region
before Roman conquest, and the Romans themselves, who colonized Dacia in the 2nd century
AD. Over time, the population has also been influenced by various migrations and invasions,
including Slavic, Hungarian, Ottoman, and other groups.

84
The claim that Romanians are of Indian origin is not supported by historical or genetic evidence.
While there are theories about the migration of peoples and cultural exchanges across regions,
particularly through the Indo-European migrations, the predominant historical narrative
emphasizes the Roman and Dacian roots of the Romanian people. In summary, Romanians are
primarily descended from a mix of Dacian and Roman ancestry, with additional influences from
various other groups throughout history, but they are not of Indian origin.

Assertion by modern standards

The mass murders that Vlad carried out indiscriminately and brutally would most likely amount
to acts of genocide and war crimes by current standards. Romanian defense minister Ioan Mircea
Pașcu asserted that Vlad would have been condemned for crimes against humanity had he been
put on trial at Nuremberg.

Possible hemolacria

According to research published in 2023 based on the analysis of samples collected from letters
written by Vlad, he may have had a rare condition known as haemolacria, which causes a
person's tears to be partially composed of blood.

National hero

Ruins of Poenari Castle, the scene of a popular tale about Vlad

85
 Theodor Aman's painting
depicting Vlad the
Impaler and the Turkish
envoys offers a visual
representation of a
historical event. Without
more detailed
information, such as a
description of the
painting's style,
composition, or the
specific historical context
it portrays, it is hard to
provide deeper insights.
However, we can assume
the artwork likely aims to
capture the tension or
power dynamics present
during the encounter
between Vlad and the
envoys. The painting may
highlight Vlad's infamous
reputation for cruelty or
his political shrewdness
through visual cues.
Further study of the
painting can reveal
historical details and
artistic choices of the
artist.

Vlad the Impaler and the Turkish envoys, painting by Theodor Aman

The Cantacuzino Chronicle was the first Romanian historical work to record a tale about Vlad
the Impaler, narrating the impalement of the old boyars of Târgoviște for the murder of his
brother, Dan. The chronicle added that Vlad forced the young boyars and their wives and
children to build the Poenari Castle. The legend of the Poenari Castle was mentioned in 1747 by
Neofit I, Metropolitan of Ungro–Wallachia, who complemented it with the story of Meșterul
Manole, who allegedly walled in his bride to prevent the crumbling of the walls of the castle
during the building project. In the early 20th century, Constantin Rădulescu-Codin, a teacher
in Muscel County where the castle was situated, published a local legend about Vlad's letter of
grant "written on rabbit skin" for the villagers who had helped him to escape from Poenari Castle
to Transylvania during the Ottoman invasion of Wallachia. In other villages of the region, the
donation is attributed to the legendary Radu Negru.

Rădulescu-Codin recorded further local legends, some of which are also known from the German
and Slavic stories about Vlad, suggesting that the latter stories preserved oral tradition. For
instance, the tales about the burning of the lazy, the poor, and the lame at Vlad's order and the
execution of the woman who had made her husband too short a shirt can also be found among
the German and Slavic anecdotes. The peasants telling the tales knew that Vlad's sobriquet was
connected to the frequent impalements during his reign, but they said only such cruel acts could
secure public order in Wallachia.

Most Romanian artists have regarded Vlad as a just ruler and a realistic tyrant who punished
criminals and executed unpatriotic boyars to strengthen the central government. Ion Budai-
Deleanu wrote the first Romanian epic poem focusing on him. Deleanu's Țiganiada (Gypsy
Epic) (which was published only in 1875, almost a century after its composition) presented Vlad
as a hero fighting against the boyars, Ottomans, strigoi (or vampires), and other evil spirits at the
head of an army of gypsies and angels. The poet Dimitrie Bolintineanu emphasized Vlad's
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triumphs in his Battles of the Romanians in the middle of the 19th century. He regarded Vlad as
a reformer whose acts of violence were necessary to prevent the despotism of the boyars. One of
the greatest Romanian poets, Mihai Eminescu, dedicated a historic ballad, The Third Letter, to
the valiant princes of Wallachia, including Vlad. He urges Vlad to return from the grave and to
annihilate the enemies of the Romanian nation:

You must come, O dread Impaler, confound them to your care.

Split them in two partitions, here the fools, the rascals there;
Shove them into two enclosures from the broad daylight enisle 'em,
Then set fire to the prison and the lunatic asylum.

— Mihai Eminescu: The Third Letter

In the early 1860s, the painter Theodor Aman depicted the meeting of Vlad and the Ottoman
envoys, showing the envoys' fear of the Wallachian ruler.

Since the middle of the 19th century, Romanian historians have treated Vlad as one of the
greatest Romanian rulers, emphasizing his fight for the independence of the Romanian
lands. Even Vlad's acts of cruelty were often represented as rational acts serving national
interest. Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol was one of the first historians to emphasize that Vlad
could only stop the internal fights of the boyar parties through his acts of terror.
Constantin C. Giurescu remarked, "The tortures and executions which [Vlad] ordered
were not out of caprice, but always had a reason, and very often a reason of state".Ioan
Bogdan was one of the few Romanian historians who did not accept this heroic image. In
his work published in 1896, Vlad Țepeș and the German and Russian Narratives, he
concluded that the Romanians should be ashamed of Vlad, instead of presenting him as "a
model of courage and patriotism".According to an opinion poll conducted in 1999, 4.1% of
the participants chose Vlad the Impaler as one of "the most important historical
personalities who have influenced the destiny of the Romanians for the better"

Vampire folklore is a rich tapestry woven into the cultural fabric of numerous societies across the
globe. This paper undertakes a comprehensive examination of the diverse beliefs and legends
surrounding vampires from various regions, illuminating both common themes and unique
variations. By analyzing the similarities and differences in vampire mythology, this study aims to
shed light on the universal human fascination with these enigmatic creatures of the
night.Vampires, beings of the undead who subsist on the life force of the living, have captured the
imagination of humanity for centuries. While the image of the vampire may vary from one culture
to another, the underlying concept persists across continents and civilizations. This comparative
analysis seeks to delve into the nuances of vampire folklore, exploring the cultural, historical, and
psychological factors that have shaped the perception of vampires in different societies.
In Eastern European folklore, particularly in regions such as Romania and Hungary, vampires are
often depicted as malevolent spirits or revenants who rise from the grave to prey upon the living.
Beliefs in vampires were prevalent in rural communities, where rituals and protective measures
were employed to ward off these nocturnal predators. Common features of Eastern European
vampire lore include the fear of the undead, the use of garlic and holy symbols as deterrents, and
the belief in vampiric contagion.

87
In Asian folklore, vampires take on a variety of forms and characteristics, reflecting the cultural
diversity of the continent. In Chinese mythology, for instance, the “jiangshi” or “hopping
vampire” is a reanimated corpse that feeds on the qi, or life force, of the living. Meanwhile, in
Japan, the “bake” or “tsukumogami” may possess vampiric traits, such as draining energy or
blood, albeit in a more subtle manner. Additionally, Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and
Malaysia have their variations of vampire-like beings, such as the “phi dip chin” and
“penanggalan,” respectively.

In African folklore, vampiric entities are often associated with witchcraft and sorcery, with tales
of shape-shifting creatures that stalk the night in search of blood. In regions like Nigeria and
Ghana, the “asasabonsam” is described as a demonic creature with razor-sharp teeth and bat-like
wings, capable of draining the blood of unsuspecting victims. Moreover, beliefs in vampires are
intertwined with traditional religious practices and spiritual beliefs, serving as a cautionary tale
against malevolent forces.

In North and South America, indigenous cultures have their interpretations of vampiric entities,
which often blend with colonial influences and Christian symbolism. Among Native American
tribes, legends of blood-sucking spirits or creatures with vampiric attributes abound, reflecting a
complex interplay of mythology and folklore. Similarly, in Latin America, folk beliefs in
creatures such as the “chupacabra” or the “brujería” draw upon indigenous traditions and
European superstitions, creating a rich tapestry of vampire folklore in the region.
The study of vampire folklore around the world reveals both universal themes and cultural
specificities that reflect the diverse beliefs and traditions of different societies. While the image of
the vampire may vary from one culture to another, certain motifs such as bloodlust, immortality,
and the fear of the unknown persist across continents and civilizations. By examining the
similarities and differences in vampire mythology, we gain insight into the human psyche and the
enduring allure of these enigmatic creatures of the night.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

88
 V

Related Concepts

"Nosferatu"
The word was popularized in part by its association with the 1922 film.

NOSFARATU has been presented as an archaic Romanian word synonymous with "vampire".
It was largely popularized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Western fiction such as
the gothic novel Dracula (1897) and the German expressionist film Nosferatu (1922). One of the
suggested etymologies of the term is that it is derived from the Romanian Nesuferitul ('the
offensive one' or 'the insufferable one').The etymology of the word nosferatu remains
undetermined. There is no doubt that it achieved currency through Bram Stoker's 1897
novel Dracula and its unauthorised first cinematic adaptation, Nosferatu (1922). Stoker
identified his source for the term as 19th-century British author and speaker Emily Gerard. It is
commonly thought that Gerard introduced the word into print in an 1885 magazine article,
"Transylvanian Superstitions",[2] and in her travelogue The Land Beyond the
Fores ("Transylvania" is Latin for "[the land] across/beyond the forest"). She merely refers to
"Nosferatu" as the Romanian word for vampire:

More decidedly evil, however, is the vampire, or nosferatu, in which every Romanian peasant
believes as firmly as he does in heaven or hell. There are two sorts of vampires—living and
dead. The living vampire is in general the illegitimate offspring of two illegitimate persons, but
even a flawless pedigree will not ensure anyone against the intrusion of a vampire into his family
vault, since every person killed by a nosferatu becomes likewise a vampire after death, and will
continue to suck the blood of other innocent people till the spirit has been exorcised, either by
opening the grave of the person suspected and driving a stake through the corpse, or firing a
pistol shot into the coffin. In very obstinate cases it is further recommended to cut off the head
and replace it in the coffin with the mouth filled with garlic, or to extract the heart and burn it,
strewing the ashes over the grave.[2]

89
However, the word had already appeared in an 1865 German-language article by Wilhelm
Schmidt. Schmidt's article discusses Transylvanian customs and appeared in an Austro-
Hungarian magazine, which Gerard could have encountered as a reviewer of German literature
living in Austria-Hungary. Schmidt's article also mentions the legendary Scholomance by name,
which parallels Gerard's "Transylvanian Superstitions".Schmidt does not identify the language
explicitly, but he puts the word nosferatu in a typeface which indicates it to be a language other
than German.

Schmidt's description is unambiguous in identifying nosferatu as a "Vampyr".

At this point, I come to the vampire – nosferatu. It is this, the illegitimate offspring of two
illegitimately begotten people or the unfortunate spirit of one killed by a vampire, who can
appear in the form of dog, cat, toad, frog, louse, flea, bug, in any form, in short, and plays
his evil tricks on newly engaged couples as incubus or succubus– zburatorul – by name, just
like the Old Slavonic or Bohemian Blkodlak [sic], Vukodlak or Polish Mora and
Russian Kikimora. That which was believed about this and used as a defensemore than 100
years ago is still true today, and there can hardly dare to be a village which would not be in
a position to present a personal experience or at least hearsay with firm conviction of the
veracity.
Schmidt expanded on his 1865 article in an 1866 monograph, adding the observation that the
vampire was the "uncanniest spawn of national-slavic fantasy" and that his description was the
Romanian perception.

However, nosferatu in that form does not appear to be a standard word in any known historical
phase of Romanian (aside from that introduced by the novel and the films). Internal evidence
in Dracula suggests that Stoker believed the term meant "not dead" in Romanian, and thus he
may have intended the word undead to be its calque.

Peter Haining identifies an earlier source for nosferatu as Roumanian Superstitions (1861)
by Heinrich von Wlislocki. However, Wlislocki seems only to have written in German, and
according to the Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon [hu], Wlislocki was born in 1856 (d. 1907), which
makes his authorship of an English-titled 1861 source doubtful. Certain details of Haining's
citation also conflict with David J. Skal, so this citation seems unreliable. Skal identifies a
similar reference to the word "nosferat" in an article by Wlislocki dating from 1896. Since this
postdates Gerard and has a number of parallels to Gerard's work, Skal considers it likely that
Wlislocki is derivative from Gerard. There is also evidence to suggest that Haining derived his
citation for Roumanian Superstitions from a confused reading of an extract in Ernest Jones's
book, On the Nightmare (1931).

Wlislocki's later description of "der Nosferat" is more extensive than either Schmidt's or
Gerard's. The former two German-language sources particularly emphasize the dual role of the
creature as both blood-drinker and incubus/succubus. Wlislocki's nosferat is said to drink the
blood of older people, while seeking to have sexual intercourse with young people and especially
newlyweds, often being blamed for illegitimate children (who become moroi), impotence, and
infertility. From the description by Wlislocki, who was a half-Saxon native of Kronstadt
(Hungarian Brassó, Romanian Brașov, one of Saxon Transylvania's "seven cities"), it is difficult
not to get the impression that both the term and the idea must have been quite well known in his

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community, which makes the inability to confirm its existence in Romanian literature rather
puzzling.

One proposed etymology of nosferatu is that the term originally came from
the Greek nosophoros (Greek: νοσοφόρος), meaning "disease-bearing". F. W. Murnau's
film Nosferatu (1922) strongly emphasizes this theme of disease, and Murnau's creative direction
in the film may have been influenced by this etymology (or vice versa). There are several
difficulties with this etymology. Schmidt, Gerard, and Wlislocki, all three sometime residents of
Transylvania, identified the word as Romanian, and even proponents of the "nosophoros"
etymology (as well as most other commentators) seem to have little doubt that this is correct;
Wlislocki particularly was regarded as an expert in Transylvanian languages and folklore and
was a prolific author on the subjects. Curiously, in Wlislocki's 1896 article, he presents a
parenthetical analysis of the related Romanian term solomonar but has nothing to say regarding
the origin and connections of the term nosferat, despite having normalized the spelling of both
relative to Schmidt's earlier account. If this Romanian identification is taken to be correct, the
first objection to the "nosophoros" etymology is that Romanian is a Romance language. While
Romanian does have some words borrowed from Greek, as do most European languages, Greek
is generally considered to be only a minor contributor to the Romanian vocabulary—absent any
other information, any given Romanian word is much more likely to be of Latin origin than
Greek. Second, the word appears to be quite rare in Greek. One instance of a Greek word similar
to νοσοφόρος, νοσηφόρος ("nosēphoros"), is attested in fragments from a 2nd-century AD work
by Marcellus Sidetes on medicine plus another of the Ionic dialect variant νουσοφόρος
("nousophoros") from the Palatine Anthology. These two variant forms are subsumed as
examples of the main νοσοφόρος lemma in the definitive Liddel-Scott Greek–English Lexicon,
but examples of the normalized form itself seem to be lacking. In any event, supporting evidence
for a relationship between this rare and obscure Greek term and nosferatu appears weak.

In some versions of the "nosophoros" etymology, an intermediate form *nesufur-atu, or

sometimes *nosufur-atu is presented but both the original source for this and the justification for
it are unclear. This form is often indicated to be Slavonic or Slavic. It is likely that either Old
Church Slavonic or the protolanguage Proto-Slavic is intended. As with νοσοφόρος, this
supposed Slavonic word does not appear to be attested in primary sources, which severely
undermines the credibility of the argument.

Another common etymology suggests that the word meant "not breathing", which appears to be
attempting to read a derivative of the Latin verb spirare ("to breathe") as a second morpheme
in nosferatu, with the closest hypothetical Romanian word being *nuspirândul. Skal notes that
this is "without basis in lexicography", viewing all these etymologies (including the widely
repeated nosophoros etymology) with skepticism.

A final possibility is that the form given by Gerard and the German folklorists is a well-known
Romanian term without the benefit of normalized spelling, or possibly a misinterpretation of the
sounds of the word due to Gerard's limited familiarity with the language, or possibly a dialectal
variant of the word. The standardization of Romanian was rather incomplete in the 19th century,
as can be seen in Dictionariulu Limbei Romane of 1871, which in a highly Latinized orthography
defines incubu ("incubus") as "unu spiritu necuratu" compared to the modern standard "un spirit
necurat". Three candidate words that have been put forth are necurat ("unclean", usually

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associated with the occult, compare a avea un spirit necurat, to have an evil spirit, be possessed),
nesuferit, and nefârtat ("enemy", lit. "unbrothered"). The nominative masculine definite form of
a Romanian noun in the declension to which these words belong takes the ending "-ul" or even
the shortened "u", as in Romanian "l" is usually lost in the process of speaking, so the definite
forms nefârtatu, necuratu and nesuferitu are commonly encountered.

Nosferatu is a 2024 American Gothic horror film written and directed by Robert Eggers. It is a
remake of the film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922), itself inspired by Bram Stoker's
novel Dracula (1897). In the early 1800s, a young girl named Ellen pleads for a supernatural
being to ease her loneliness. Her cries awaken a mysterious creature who makes her pledge
herself to him eternally and seduces her.

In 1838, Ellen has married Thomas Hutter, and the couple live in the German town of Wisburg.
Thomas accepts a lucrative commission from his employer, Herr Knock, to sell the decrepit
Grünewald Manor to the reclusive Count Orlok. Ellen, disturbed by a pleasurable dream of
marrying Death, begs Thomas to stay, to no avail. He leaves her in the care of his wealthy friend
Friedrich Harding and his wife Anna, along with their two young daughters Clara and Louise.

Arriving at the Carpathians in Transylvania, Thomas is surrounded by the local peasantry and
seemingly shunned for associating with Orlok. He manages to secure a night at the inn by paying
twice the rate and is warned by an old woman not to visit Orlok. That night, he witnesses a group
of Roma exhuming and impaling an alleged vampire's corpse with a stake, making the corpse
expel blood. The following morning, he finds the hamlet deserted and his horse gone. He
continues on foot until an unmanned carriage carries him to Orlok's castle.

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Upon their meeting, the strange and menacing Orlok forces Thomas to complete the property
sale. Orlok demonstrates preternatural abilities that unsettle Thomas. When he accidentally cuts
himself during dinner, he blacks out and awakens to find a bite mark on his chest. The following
night, Orlok demands Thomas' locket, containing a lock of Ellen's hair, and does not give it back.
He then coerces Thomas into signing a document written in occult script, which Orlok implies is
the contract for selling the manor. Thomas, becoming increasingly sick and fearful, demands to
leave, but Orlok rebuffs him and demands he remain and recover before departing. After
awakening to find yet more bite marks on his chest, Thomas attempts to escape the castle and
instead ends up in a crypt where he finds the Count asleep in a coffin, his body naked and
decayed. He attacks him with a pickaxe, but Orlok awakens and pursues Thomas. Thomas
escapes Orlok and his wolves by falling into a river beneath the castle, from which he is
recovered and cared for by Eastern Orthodox nuns at a nearby church. They explain that Orlok
was a solomonar, who became a vampire after making a pact with the Devil himself. Meanwhile,
Orlok sets sail for Wisburg inside his coffin on a ship with plague-carrying rats, killing the crew
during the voyage.

Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, unable to treat Ellen's frequent sleepwalking and seizures, consults with his
former mentor, Albin Eberhart von Franz, a Swiss scientist ostracized for his occult beliefs. Von
Franz believes Ellen is under the spell of a demonic, plague-bearing vampire called the
Nosferatu. Knock is institutionalized after killing and eating sheep raw. Sievers and von Franz
search Knock's office, believing he serves the Nosferatu, who they discover is Orlok.

Thomas returns to Wisburg as Orlok's plague ravages the populace. Knock escapes, killing a
porter, and escorts Orlok to Grünewald Manor. Orlok appears to Ellen and confesses that, while
he is incapable of love, her pledge has intertwined their destinies and made his desire to possess
her insatiable. The document he tricked Thomas into signing is revealed to void the Hutters'
marriage. Knowing that his bond with Ellen cannot be sustained by force, Orlok says she must
willingly submit to him within three nights, else he will kill Thomas and allow the plague to
consume Wisburg. Ellen later has troubled sex with Thomas after confessing her past with Orlok.
Orlok retaliates by killing Anna and her children. Driven mad with grief, Friedrich dies from the
plague while violating his wife's corpse.

Von Franz's research suggests that the Nosferatu can be destroyed by a fair maiden's willing
sacrifice. Knowing only she can stop the plague, Ellen conspires with von Franz to keep Thomas
away. Thomas, von Franz, and Sievers go to Grünewald Manor, where they accidentally kill
Knock after finding him sleeping in Orlok's coffin. Realizing von Franz's deception, Thomas
rushes back to save Ellen as von Franz destroys the vault. Ellen summons Orlok to her bedroom
and re-pledges herself to him, allowing him to feed on her until sunrise, when the sunlight kills
him. Thomas returns and holds Ellen's hand as she dies, while von Franz confirms that her
sacrifice has freed them from the plague of Nosferatu.

And then, you start looking at the really early vampire accounts, and you're like, 'They're not
even drinking blood, they're just strangling people, or suffocating people, or fucking them to
death.' And that was really interesting". He also decided to let Orlok drink from the victims'
chest instead of their neck, as old folklores often imagined vampires drinking blood from the
chest right above the heart.

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The character of Orlok is partially inspired by Vlad Dracula, the 15th-century Voivode of
Wallachia, whom the original Dracula was named after. Eschewing the monstrous appearance of
Murnau's Orlok or the Anglo-literary vampire appearance, Eggers preferred the appearance of
a folk vampire, claiming that "there's never been a version of Dracula or Nosferatu dressed like
a Transylvanian nobleman with authentic Hungarian attire from the 16th century." The count
was written more like an undead corpse, instead of looking sexy or as an actual monster, an
element from early vampire myths. Conceptualizing Orlok as an ancient Romanian count, Eggers
made the decision to have him speak a reconstructed form of the Dacian language in the film,
while Romanian and Romani are spoken by other Transylvanian residents. The film also makes
a nod to director Victor Sjöström's silent classic, The Phantom Carriage (1921). Eggers also
explored the work of French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot and his findings on so-
called hysteria and took inspiration from Andrzej Żuławski's films Possession (1981), The
Devil (1972) and The Third Part of the Night (1971).

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 Count Dracula
Count Dracula is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula. He is
considered the prototypical and archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of
the character are believed by some to have been inspired by the 15th-
century Wallachian prince Vlad the Impaler, who was also known as Vlad Dracula, and by
Sir Henry Irving and Jacques Damala, actors with aristocratic backgrounds that Stoker had met
during his life.

One of Dracula's most iconic powers is his ability to turn others into vampires by biting them and
infecting them with the vampiric disease. Other characteristics have been added or altered in
subsequent popular fictional works, including books, films, cartoons, and video games.Bram
Stoker's novel takes the form of an epistolary tale, in which Count Dracula's characteristics,
powers, abilities, and weaknesses are narrated by multiple narrators, from different
perspectives.Count Dracula is an undead, centuries-old vampire, and a Transylvanian nobleman
who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun. He inhabits a decaying castle in
the Carpathian Mountains near the Borgo Pass. Unlike the vampires of Eastern
European folklore, which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like creatures, Dracula is handsome
and charismatic, with a veneer of aristocratic charm. In his conversations with Jonathan Harker,
he reveals himself as deeply proud of his boyar heritage and nostalgic for the past, which he
admits has become only a memory of heroism, honour, and valour in modern times.

Early life
Details of his early life are undisclosed, but it is mentioned that he was in life a most wonderful
man. Soldier, statesman, and alchemist. Which latter was the highest development of the
scientific knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond compare, and a heart
that knew no fear and no remorse... there was no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not
essay.

Dracula studied the black arts at the academy of Scholomance in the Carpathian Mountains,
overlooking the town of Sibiu (also known as Hermannstadt) and has a deep knowledge of
alchemy and magic. Taking up arms, as befitting his rank and status as a voivode, he led troops
against the Turks across the Danube. According to his nemesis Abraham Van Helsing, "He must
indeed have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river
on the very frontier of Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man: for in that time, and
for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well as the bravest
of the sons of the land beyond the forest." Dead and buried in a great tomb in the chapel of his
castle, Dracula returns from death as a vampire and lives for several centuries in his castle
with three terrifyingly beautiful female vampires beside him.

95
Cover of Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories, a collection of short stories authored by Bram Stoker//33 uins of Whitby
As a creature resembling a large dog which came ashore atR the Whitby headland,
Abbey in Whitby.
Count Dracula runs up the 199 steps to the graveyard of St Mary's Church in the shadow of the
abbey ruins

In "Dracula's Guest", the narrative follows an unnamed Englishman traveller as he wanders

around Munich before leaving for Transylvania. It is Walpurgis Night and the young Englishman
foolishly leaves his hotel, in spite of the coachman's warnings, and wanders through a dense
forest alone. Along the way, he feels that he is being watched by a tall and thin stranger.

The short story climaxes in an old graveyard, where the Englishman encounters a sleeping
female vampire called Countess Dolingen in a marble tomb with a large iron stake driven into it.
This malevolent beautiful vampire awakens from her marble bier to conjure a snowstorm before
being struck by lightning and returning to her eternal prison. The Englishman's troubles are not
quite over, as he is dragged away by an unseen force and rendered unconscious. He awakens to
find a gigantic wolf lying on his chest and licking his throat. It keeps him warm and protects him
until help arrives. When the Englishman is finally taken back to his hotel, a telegram awaits him
from his expectant host Dracula, with a warning about "dangers from snow and wolves and
night".

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In Dracula, the eponymous vampire has decided to move from Transylvania to London. He
summons Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, to provide legal support for a real
estate transaction overseen by Harker's employer. Dracula at first charms Harker with his
cordiality and historical knowledge, and even rescues him from the clutches of the three female
vampires in the castle. In truth, Dracula wishes to keep Harker alive long enough to complete the
legal transaction and to learn as much as possible about England.

Dracula leaves his castle and boards a Russian ship, the Demeter, taking along with him 50
boxes of Transylvanian soil, which he needs to regain his strength and rest during daylight.
During the voyage to Whitby, a coastal town in northern England, he sustains himself on the
ship's crew members. Only one body is later found, that of the captain, who is found tied up to
the ship's helm. The captain's log is recovered and tells of strange events that had taken place
during the ship's journey. Dracula leaves the ship in the form of a dog and runs up the 199
steps to the graveyard of St Mary's Church in the shadow of the Whitby Abbey ruins.

Soon, the Count begins menacing Harker's fiancée, Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray, and her
friend, Lucy Westenra. There is also a notable link between Dracula and Renfield, a patient in
an insane asylum overseen by John Seward, who is compelled to consume spiders, birds, and
other creatures—in ascending order of size—to absorb their "life force". Renfield acts as a kind
of sensor, reacting to Dracula's proximity and supplying clues accordingly. Dracula visits Lucy's
bed chamber on a nightly basis, draining her of blood while simultaneously infecting her with the
curse of vampirism. Not knowing the cause for Lucy's deterioration, her three suitors –
Seward, Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris – call upon Seward's mentor, the Dutch
doctor Abraham Van Helsing. Van Helsing soon deduces her condition's supernatural origins,
and tries to keep the vampire at bay with garlic. Nevertheless, Dracula attacks Lucy's house one
final time, killing her mother and transforming Lucy herself into one of the undead.

Colorized stills of Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing confronting Bela Lugosi in Dracula (1931)

Harker escapes Dracula's castle and returns to England, barely alive and deeply traumatized. On
Seward's suggestion, Mina seeks Van Helsing's assistance in assessing Harker's health. She reads
his journal and passes it along to Van Helsing. This unfolds the first clue to the identity of Lucy's
assailant, which later prompts Mina to collect all of the events of Dracula's appearance in news
articles, saved letters, newspaper clippings and the journals of each member of the group. This
assists the group in investigating Dracula's movements and later discovering that Renfield's
behaviour is directly influenced by Dracula. They then discover that Dracula has purchased a

97
residence next door to Seward's. The group gathers intelligence to track down Dracula and
destroy him.

After the undead Lucy attacks several children, Van Helsing, Seward, Holmwood and Morris
enter her crypt and destroy her to save her soul. Later, Harker joins them, and the party works to
discover Dracula's intentions. Harker aids the party in tracking down the locations of the boxes
to the various residences of Dracula and discovers that Dracula purchased multiple real estate
properties throughout London under the alias 'Count De Ville'. Dracula's main plan was to
move each of his 50 boxes of earth to his various properties in order to arrange multiple lairs
throughout and around the perimeter of London.

The party pries open each of the graves, places sacramental wafers within each of them, and
seals them shut. This deprives Dracula of his ability to seek safety in those boxes. [23] Dracula
gains entry into Seward's residence by coercing an invitation out of Renfield. As he attempts to
enter the room in which Harker and Mina are staying, Renfield tries to stop him; Dracula then
mortally wounds him. With his dying breath, Renfield tells Seward and Van Helsing that Dracula
is after Mina. Van Helsing and Seward discover Dracula biting Mina and forcing her to drink his
blood. The group repels Dracula using crucifixes and sacramental bread, forcing him to flee by
turning into a dark vapour. The party continues to hunt Dracula to search for his remaining lairs.
Although Dracula's 'baptism' of Mina grants him a telepathic link to her, it backfires when Van
Helsing hypnotizes Mina and uses her supernatural link with Dracula to track him as he flees
back to Transylvania.

The heroes follow Dracula back to Transylvania, and in a climactic battle with
Dracula's Romani bodyguards, finally destroy him. Despite the popular image of Dracula having
a stake driven through his heart to kill him, Mina's narrative describes his decapitation by
Harker's kukri while Morris simultaneously pierces his heart with a Bowie knife (Mina Harker's
Journal, 6 November, Dracula Chapter 27). His body then turns into dust, but not before Mina
sees an expression of peace on his face.

Van Helsing
Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Dutch: [ˈaːbraːɦɑɱ vɑn ˈhɛlsɪŋ]) is a fictional character from
the 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker. Van Helsing is a
Dutch polymath doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by
the string of letters that follows his name: "MD, D.Ph., D.Litt., etc.", indicating a wealth of
experience, education and expertise. He is a doctor, professor, lawyer, philosopher, scientist,
and metaphysician. The character is best known through many adaptations of the story as
a vampire slayer, monster hunter and the arch-nemesis of Count Dracula, and the prototypical
and the archetypal parapsychologist in subsequent works of paranormal fiction. Some later
works tell new stories about Van Helsing, while others, such as Dracula (2020) and I Woke Up a
Vampire (2023) have characters that are his descendants.

In the novel, Professor Van Helsing is called in by his former student, John Seward, to assist
with the mysterious illness of Lucy Westenra. Van Helsing's friendship with Seward is based in

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part upon an unknown prior event in which Van Helsing suffered a grievous wound, and Seward
saved his life by sucking out the gangrene. It is Van Helsing who first realizes that Lucy is the
victim of a vampire, and he guides Seward and his friends in their efforts to save Lucy.

Van Helsing had a son who died. He says that his son, had he lived, would have had a similar
appearance to Lucy's suitor Arthur Holmwood ("My heart bleed for that poor boy, that dear boy,
so of the age of mine own boy had I been so blessed that he live, and with his hair and eyes the
same"). Consequently, Van Helsing developed a particular fondness for Holmwood. Van
Helsing's wife went insane from grief after their son's death, but as a Catholic, he refuses to
divorce her ("with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by Church's law, though no wits, all gone,
even I, who am faithful husband to this now-no-wife").

Van Helsing is one of the few characters in the novel who is fully physically described in one
place. In chapter 14, Mina Harker describes him as:

a man of medium height, strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep
chest and a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise of the
head strikes me at once as indicative of thought and power. The head is noble, well-sized,
broad, and large behind the ears. The face, clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a
large resolute, mobile mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive
nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big bushy brows come down and the mouth tightens.
The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost straight and then sloping back above
two bumps or ridges wide apart, such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly
tumble over it, but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set widely
apart and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods.

— Mina Harker's Journal, chapter 14, Dracul

Van Helsing's personality is described by John Seward, his former student, thus:

He is a seemingly arbitrary man, this is because he knows what he is talking about better
than anyone else. He is a philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced
scientists of his day, and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron
nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, and indomitable resolution, self-command, and toleration
exalted from virtues to blessings, and the kindliest and truest heart that beats, these form
his equipment for the noble work that he is doing for mankind, work both in theory and
practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy.

— Letter From Dr Seward to Arthur Holmwood, chapter 9, Dracula

In the novel, Van Helsing is described as having what is apparently a thick foreign accent, in that
he speaks in broken English and he uses German phrases such as "Mein Gott" (English: My
God).

Adaptations of the novel have tended to play up Van Helsing's role as a vampire expert,
sometimes to the extent that it is depicted as his major occupation. In the novel, however, Dr.

99
Seward requests Van Helsing's assistance simply because Lucy's affliction has him baffled and
Van Helsing "knows as much about obscure diseases as anyone in the world".

Development
In an 1897 interview in The British Weekly, Stoker said that Van Helsing was "founded on a real
character".In Stoker's 1898 introduction to the Swedish and Icelandic versions of Dracula, he
writes from an in-universe perspective that "the highly regarded scientist, who appears under a
pseudonym here, may likewise be too famous throughout the educated world for his real name −
which I prefer not to mention − to remain hidden from the public, especially from those people
who have learned firsthand to appreciate and respect his brilliant mind and masterly skill, though
they no more adhere to his views on life than I do."

Van Helsing may have been inspired by characters from Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla (1871–72),
including Dr Martin Hesselius, "who makes little comment upon the strange narrative he
introduces", and Baron Vordenburg, "who has read 'all the great and little works' on vampires
and who has 'extracted a system of principles' that govern vampire existence".

Colorized stills of Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing confronting Béla Lugosi in Dracula (1931)

100
101
Count Dracula, having acquired ownership of the Carfax estate near London through
solicitor Jonathan Harker, moves to the estate and begins menacing England. His victims include
Lucy Westenra, who is on holiday in Whitby. The aristocratic girl has suitors such as John
Seward, Arthur Holmwood, and Quincey Morris, and has a best friend in Mina Murray, Harker's
fiancée. Seward, who works as a doctor in an insane asylum – where one of the patients, the
incurably mad Renfield, has a psychic connection to Dracula – contacts Professor Van Helsing
about Lucy's peculiar condition. Van Helsing, recognizing marks upon her neck, eventually
deduces that she has been losing blood from a vampire bite. He administers multiple blood
transfusions. Van Helsing, Seward, Arthur, and Morris each donate blood to her, but each night
she continues to lose blood. He prescribes her garlic, makes a necklace of garlic flowers for her,
and hangs garlic about her room. He also gives her a crucifix to wear around her neck. Lucy's
demise was brought by her mother, who cleared the room of garlic and opened the window for
fresh air; a servant had stolen the gold crucifix. Lucy dies and after the funeral returns as a
vampire, seeking out children. Eventually, Van Helsing, Arthur, Morris and Seward free
the undead Lucy from her vampiric curse: Arthur uses a hammer to drive the stake through her
heart and Van Helsing cuts off her head and puts garlic in her mouth.

Mina, now married to Harker, becomes increasingly worried about his brain fever. Van Helsing
reviews his journal and Harker's health returns when he learns that his experiences in
Transylvania were real. Mina discovers that various letters and accounts provide further
intelligence on Dracula's movements, and shares these with Harker, Seward, Morris, and Van
Helsing. They learn that Dracula's residence in Carfax is near Seward's, and Van Helsing's
research reveals Dracula's weaknesses and strengths. Seward and Van Helsing also write to a
university acquaintance to aid in further research. Staying at Seward's residence to better plan
strategies in their efforts to deal with Dracula, they have frequent meetings and each member is
assigned duties. At a later meeting a bat is seen at a window.

To destroy Dracula and prevent further spread of evil, the party enters his estate at Carfax and as
a group encounters him for the first time. They discover that he has been purchasing properties in
and around London, with plans to distribute 50 boxes of Transylvanian earth to them, used as
graves so each property would become a safe lair. They visit these lairs and place sacramental
bread in the boxes of the earth to "sterilize" them, preventing Dracula from further using them.
Dracula entices Renfield to invite him into Seward's residence. Renfield is found critically
injured by Seward and Van Helsing who operate on him, and Renfield informs them that Dracula
went to see Mina. They go to Mina's room and find Harker hypnotized while Dracula is giving
Mina the 'Vampire's Baptism of Blood', cursing her and the group for plotting against him. The
party uses sacred items to repel Dracula, who flees into a different room as a vapor. Dracula then
destroys all the texts Mina had produced, except for one which was hidden, and breaks Renfield's
neck before leaving.

Van Helsing places a wafer of sacramental bread upon Mina's forehead to bless her but it burns
her flesh, leaving a scar. Mina, feeling that she is now connected with Dracula, asks Van Helsing
to hypnotize her before dawn, the only time she feels she could freely speak. Through this
hypnosis they learn that Mina has a telepathic link with Dracula, that she could tell everything he
hears and feels, which could be used to track his movements. Mina agrees that any plans should
be kept from her for fear that Dracula could read her thoughts. The group has additional
encounters with Dracula as they continue to search for his residences throughout London and

102
sterilize the boxes. Learning that his final grave is aboard a boat, Van Helsing deduces that
Dracula is fleeing back to his castle.

When the party pursues Dracula to Transylvania, they split into groups. While Mina and Van
Helsing travel straight to Dracula's castle, the others attempt to ambush the boat on which
Dracula is a passenger. Van Helsing's influence over Mina diminishes each day, and her behavior
changes as she sleeps more during the day, loses her appetite for food, and ceases to write in her
journal. He finds that she cannot cross a circle of crumbled sacramental bread. Later, Dracula's
vampiric wives approach their camp but they too are unable to cross into the circle of bread.
Failing at their attempts to lure Van Helsing and Mina out of the circle, they flee back to
Dracula's castle just before sunrise. Van Helsing binds Mina at a cave to keep her from danger as
he goes into Dracula's castle to kill the vampires.

As Van Helsing runs through the castle searching its rooms, he finds Dracula's empty tomb and
the three female vampires he saw earlier. He begins to do his operation on the first vampire but
finds himself entranced by her beauty and unable to bring himself to harm her. In his feelings of
enchantment, he even contemplates love for her. He is broken out of this enchantment when he
hears a "soul wail" from Mina, awakening him. He proceeds to drive stakes into their hearts and
sever their heads, one by one.

Van Helsing returns to Mina and they see the rest of their party as they chase a group of gypsies
down the Borgo Pass and corner them. Armed with knives and firearms they overtake the
gypsies and open the final box of Dracula; Jonathan Harker brings his Kukri knife down on
Dracula's throat as the bowie knife of Quincey Morris simultaneously impales Dracula's heart in
the final moments of daylight. At this moment Dracula's body crumbles to dust. After the
struggle, Quincey is seen to have been fatally wounded.

Six years later, Van Helsing takes a grandfatherly role in regard to the young Quincey Harker,
Jonathan and Mina's son.

Equipment

Van Helsing is seen utilising many tools to aid him and his party in fending off Dracula, warding
off vampires and in general defeating the undead:

 Skeleton keys used for lock picking to open the doors to many of Dracula's lairs located
throughout London.
 Wreath of withered garlic blossoms
 Silver crucifix
 Sacred wafer brought from Amsterdam contained in an envelope or crushed and sprinkled
around him in a circle as a protective barrier.
 Electric lamps which could be attached or secured against the chest.
 Revolver and knife for use against enemies weaker than Dracula.
 The branch of a wild rose could be placed on top of a coffin containing a vampire,
immobilising it.[19]

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 Mountain ash used to repel the undead.
 Wooden stake and hammer to pierce a vampire's heart.
 Golden crucifix necklace, given to Lucy.

Characteristics

"Listen to them—the children of the night. What music they make!".

— Count Dracula to Jonathan Harker, referring to the howling of the wolves. Dracula,
Chapter 2.

Although early in the novel Dracula dons a mask of cordiality, he often flies into fits of rage
when his plans are frustrated. When Dracula's brides attempt to seduce Jonathan Harker, Dracula
physically assaults one and ferociously berates them for their insubordination.

Dracula has an appreciation for ancient architecture and prefers purchasing old houses, saying "a
new home would kill me" and that it takes a century to make one habitable.

Dracula is very proud of his warrior heritage, proclaiming his pride to Harker on how the
Székely people are infused with the blood of heroes. He also expresses an interest in the history
of the British Empire, speaking admiringly of its people. He has a somewhat primal and
predatory worldview, pities ordinary humans for their revulsion to their darker impulses, feels
human emotions and often says that he can love.

104
Though usually portrayed as having a strong Eastern European accent, the original novel only
specifies that his spoken English is excellent, though strangely toned.

His appearance varies in age. He is described early in the novel as thin, with a long white
moustache, pointed ears and sharp teeth. It is also noted later in the novel (Chapter 11
subsection "The Escaped Wolf") by a zookeeper who sees him that he has a hooked nose and a
pointed beard with a streak of white in it. He is dressed all in black and has hair on his palms.
Harker describes him as an old man, "cruel looking" and giving an effect of "extraordinary
pallor".

I saw... Count Dracula... with red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile
that Judas in hell might be proud of.

— Jonathan Harker's journal, Dracula, Chapter 4

As the novel progresses, Dracula is described as taking on a more and more youthful appearance.
After Harker strikes him with a shovel, he is left with a scar on his forehead which he bears
throughout the course of the novel.Dracula also possesses great wealth, and has Romani people
in his homeland who are loyal to him as servants and protectors.

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Powers and weaknesses
Count Dracula is portrayed in the novel using many different supernatural abilities, and is
believed to have gained his abilities through dealings with the devil. Chapter 18 of the novel
describes many of the abilities, limitations and weaknesses of vampires and Dracula in
particular. Dracula has superhuman strength which, according to Van Helsing, is equivalent to
that of 20 strong men. He does not cast a shadow or have a reflection from mirrors. He is
immune to conventional means of attack; a sailor tries to stab him in the back with a knife, but
the blade goes through his body as though it is air. He can defy gravity to a certain extent and
possesses superhuman agility, able to climb vertical surfaces upside down in a reptilian manner.
He can travel onto unhallowed ground, such as the graves of suicides and those of his victims.
He has powerful hypnotic, telepathic and illusionary abilities. He also has the ability to "within
limitations" vanish and reappear elsewhere at will. If he knows the path, he can come out from
anything or into anything regardless of how close it is bound or even if it is soldered shut.

Dracula has amassed cunning and wisdom throughout centuries and is unable to die
of senescence. He can command animals such as rats, owls, bats, moths, foxes and wolves. His
control is limited, as seen when the party first enters his house in London. He summons
thousands of rats to swarm and attack the group and Holmwood summons his trio of terriers to
battle them. The dogs prove very efficient rat killers. Terrified by their onslaught, the rats flee of
their own volition.

Dracula can also manipulate the weather and, within his range, is able to direct the elements,
such as storms, fog and mist.

Changing Form
Dracula can change form at will, able to grow and become small, his featured forms in the novel
being that of a bat, a large dog and a fog or mist. When the moonlight is shining, he can travel as
elemental dust within its rays. He is able to pass through tiny cracks or crevices while retaining
his human form or in the form of a vapour; described by Van Helsing as the ability to slip
through a hairbreadth space of a tomb door or coffin. This is also an ability used by his victim
Lucy as a vampire. When the party breaks into her tomb, they open the sealed coffin to find her
corpse is no longer located within.

Vampirism
One of Dracula's powers is the ability to turn others into vampires by biting them. According to
Van Helsing:

When they become such, there comes with the change the curse of immortality; they cannot
die, but must go on age after age adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world.
For all that die from the preying of the Undead become themselves Undead, and prey on
their kind. And so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the ripples from a stone thrown
in the water. Friend Arthur, if you had met that kiss which you know of before poor Lucy
die, or again, last night when you open your arms to her, you would in time, when you had
died, have become nosferatu, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would for all time make
more of those Un-Deads that so have filled us with horror.

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 — Dr. Seward's journal, Dracula, Chapter 16
The vampire bite itself does not cause death. It is the method vampires use to drain blood of the
victim and to increase their influence over them. This is described by Van Helsing:

The nosferatu do not die like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger, and being
stronger, have yet more power to work evil.

— Dr. Seward's journal, Dracula, Chapter 18

Victims who are bitten by a vampire and do not die, are hypnotically influenced by them:

Those children whose blood she suck are not yet so much worse; but if she live on, Un-
Dead, more and more lose their blood and by her power over them they come to her.

— Mina Harker's journal, Dracula, Chapter 18

Van Helsing later describes the aftermath of a bitten victim when the vampire has been
killed:

But if she die in truth, then all cease; the tiny wounds of the throats disappear, and they go
back to their plays unknowing of whatever has been.

— Mina Harker's journal, Dracula, Chapter 18

As Dracula slowly drains Lucy's blood, she dies from acute blood loss and later transforms into a
vampire, despite the efforts of Seward and Van Helsing to provide her with blood transfusions.
He is aided by powers of necromancy and divination of the dead, that all who die by his hand
may reanimate and do his bidding.

Bloodletting
Dracula requires no other sustenance but fresh human blood, which has the effect of rejuvenating
him and allowing him to grow younger. His power is drawn from the blood of others, and he
cannot survive without it. Although drinking blood can rejuvenate his youth and strength, it does
not give him the ability to regenerate; months after being struck on the head by a shovel, he still
bears a scar from the impact.

Dracula's preferred victims are women. Harker states that he believes Dracula has a state of
fasting as well as a state of feeding. He tells Mina exerting his abilities raises a desire to feed. [38]

Vampire's Baptism of Blood

Count Dracula is depicted as the "King Vampire", and can control other vampires. To punish
Mina and the party for their efforts against him, Dracula bites her on at least three occasions. He
also forces her to drink his blood; this act curses her with the effects of vampirism and gives him
a telepathic link to her thoughts. Hypnotism only works before dawn.Van Helsing refers to the
act of drinking blood by both the vampire and the victim "the Vampire's Baptism of Blood".

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 See you, their best beloved one, are now to me, flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, kin of
my kin, my bountiful wine-press for a while, and shall be later on my companion and my
helper. You shall be avenged in turn, for not one of them but shall minister to your needs.
But as yet you are to be punished for what you have done. You have aided in thwarting me.
Now you shall come to my call. When my brain says 'Come!' to you, you shall cross land or
sea to do my bidding.
The effects changes Mina physically and mentally over time. A few moments after Dracula
attacks her, Van Helsing takes a wafer of sacramental bread and places it on her forehead to bless
her; when the bread touches her skin, it burns her and leaves a scar on her forehead. Her teeth
start growing longer but do not grow sharper. She begins to lose her appetite, feeling repulsed by
normal food, begins to sleep more and more during the day; cannot wake unless at sunset and
stops writing in her diary. When Van Helsing later crumbles the same bread in a circle around
her, she is unable to cross or leave the circle, discovering a new form of protection.

Dracula's death would release the curse on any living transformed vampire. Van Helsing reveals
that even were he to escape, his continued existence would ensure whether or not he victimized
Mina further, she would become a vampire upon her eventual natural death.

Limitations of his powers

Dracula is much less powerful in daylight and is only able to shift his form at dawn, noon,
and dusk (he can shift his form freely at night or if he is at his grave). The sun is not fatal to
him, as sunlight does not burn and destroy him upon contact, though most of his abilities
cease.The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning guards us in its course. Until it sets to-
night, that monster must retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the
limitations of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear through
cracks or chinks or crannies. If he goes through a doorway, he must open the door like a
mortal.

— Jonathan Harker's journal, Dracula, Chapter 22

His power ceases, as does that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. Only at certain
times can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is bound, he can
only change himself at noon or exact sunrise or sunset.

— Mina Harker's journal, Dracula, Chapter 18

Later interpretations of the character, and vampires in general, would amplify this trait into an
outright fatal weakness, making it so that even the first rays of sunrise are capable of reducing a
vampire to ash.

He is also limited in his ability to travel, as he can only cross running water at low or high tide.
Owing to this, he is unable to fly across a river in the form of a bat or mist or even by himself
board a boat or step off a boat onto a dock unless he is physically carried over with assistance.
He is also unable to enter a place unless invited to do so by someone of the household, even a
visitor; once invited, he can enter and leave the premises at will.

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Weaknesses- Thirst
Dracula is commonly depicted with a bloodlust which he is seemingly unable to control.
Adaptations sometimes call this uncontrollable state 'the thirst'.

Religious symbolism
There are items which afflict him to the point he has no power and can even calm him from his
insatiable appetite for blood. He is repulsed by garlic, as well as sacred items and symbols such
as crucifixes and sacramental bread.

...at the instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood was trickling over my
chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I did so half round to look for some sticking plaster.
When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he
suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away and his hand touched the string of beads
which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly
that I could hardly believe that it was ever there.

— Jonathan Harker's journal, Dracula, Chapter 2

Placing the branch of a wild rose upon the top of his coffin will render him unable to escape it; a
sacred bullet fired into the coffin could kill him so that he remain true-dead.

Mountain-ash is also described as a form of protection from a vampire, although the effects are
unknown.[45] This was believed to be used as protection against evil spirits and witches during
the Victorian era.

Death-sleep
The state of rest to which vampires are prone during the day is described in the novel as a
deathlike sleep in which the vampire sleeps open-eyed, is unable to awaken or move, and also
may be unaware of any presence of individuals who may be trespassing. Dracula is portrayed as
being active in daylight at least once to pursue a victim. Dracula also purchases many properties
throughout London 'over the counter' which shows that he does have the ability to have some
type of presence in daylight.

on a pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count! He was either dead or asleep. I could not say which,
for eyes were open and stony, but without the glassiness of death, and the cheeks had the warmth
of life through all their pallor. The lips were as red as ever. But there was no sign of movement,
no pulse, no breath, no beating of the heart. I bent over him, and tried to find any sign of life, but
in vain... I thought he might have the keys on him, but when I went to search I saw the dead eyes,
and in them dead though they were, such a look of hate, though unconscious of me or my
presence, that I fled from the place, and leaving the Count's room by the window.
He requires Transylvanian soil to be nearby to him in a foreign land or to be entombed within his
coffin within Transylvania in order to successfully rest; otherwise, he will be unable to recover
his strength. This has forced him to transport many boxes of Transylvanian earth to each of his
residences in London. He is most powerful when he is within his Earth-Home, Coffin-Home,
Hell-Home, or any place unhallowed.

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Further, if Dracula or any vampire has had their fill in blood upon feeding, they will be caused to
rest in this dead state even longer than usual.

Other abilities
While universally feared by the local people of Transylvania and even beyond, Dracula
commands the loyalty of the Romani people, as well as a band of Slovaks who transport his
boxes on their way to London and to serve as an armed convoy bringing his coffin back to his
castle. The Slovaks and Romani appear to know his true nature, for they laugh at Harker when he
tries to communicate his plight, and betray Harker's attempt to send a letter through them by
giving it to the Count.

Dracula seems to be able to hold influence over people with mental disorders, such as Renfield,
who is never bitten but who worships Dracula, referring to him over the course of the novel as
"Master" and "Lord". Dracula also afflicts Lucy with chronic sleepwalking, putting her into a
trance-like state that allows them not only to submit to his will but also seek him and satisfy his
need to feed.Dracula's powers and weaknesses vary greatly in the many adaptations. Previous
and subsequent vampires from different legends have had similar vampire characteristics.

Dracula has been portrayed by more actors in more visual media adaptations of the novel than
any other horror character.[51] Actors who have played him include Max Schreck, Bela
Lugosi, John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., Christopher Lee, Francis Lederer, Denholm
Elliott, Jack Palance, Louis Jourdan, Rudolf Martin, Frank Langella, Klaus Kinski, Gary
Oldman, Leslie Nielsen, George Hamilton, David Niven, Charles Macaulay, Keith-Lee
Castle, Ray Liotta, Gerard Butler, Duncan Regehr, Richard Roxburgh, Marc Warren, Rutger
Hauer, Stephen Billington, Thomas Kretschmann, Dominic Purcell, Jonathan Rhys
Meyers, Luke Evans, Christian Camargo, Claes Bang, Nicolas Cage, Javier Botet and Bill
Skarsgård. In 2003, Count Dracula, as portrayed by Lugosi in the 1931 film, was named as
the 33rd greatest movie villain by the AFI. In 2013, Empire magazine ranked Lee's portrayal as
Dracula the 7th Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time.

Modern and postmodern analyses of the character

Stoker came across the name Dracula in his reading on Romanian history, and chose this to
replace the name (Count Wampyr) that he had originally intended to use for his villain. Some
Dracula scholars, led by Elizabeth Miller, have questioned the depth of this connection as early
as 1998. They argue that Stoker in fact knew little of the historic Vlad III, "Vlad the Impaler",
and that he used only the name "Dracula" and some miscellaneous scraps of Romanian
history. Also, there are no comments about Vlad III in the author's working notes.

While having a conversation with Jonathan Harker in Chapter 3, Dracula refers to his own
background, and these speeches show elements which Stoker directly copied from An Account of
the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia: With Various Political Observations Relating to
Them by William Wilkinson. Stoker mentions the Voivode of the Dracula race who fought
against the Turks after the defeat in the Battle of Kosovo, and was later betrayed by his brother,
historical facts which unequivocally point to Vlad III, described as "Voïvode Dracula" by
Wilkinson:

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 Full-size
portrait of Vlad Țepeș in the "Gallery of the Ancestors" of the House of Esterházy, 17th century, Forchtenstein Castle/Shakespearean
actor and friend of Stoker's Sir Henry Irving is widely considered to be a real-life inspiration for the character of Dracula.

Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk
on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that his own unworthy brother,
when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them!
Was it not this Dracula, indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again
and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, when he was
beaten back, came again, and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field
where his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately
triumph! (Chapter 3, pp. 19)
The Count's intended identity is later commented by Professor Van Helsing, referring to a letter
from his friend Arminius:

He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the
great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. (Chapter 18, pp. 145)
This indeed encourages the reader to identify the Count with the Voivode Dracula first
mentioned by him in Chapter 3, the one betrayed by his brother: Vlad III Dracula, betrayed by
his brother Radu the Handsome, who had chosen the side of the Turks. But as noted by the Dutch

111
author Hans Corneel de Roos, in Chapter 25, Van Helsing and Mina drop this rudimentary
connection to Vlad III and instead describe the Count's personal past as that of "that other of his
race" who lived "in a later age". By smoothly exchanging Vlad III for a nameless double, Stoker
avoided his main character being unambiguously linked to a historical person traceable in any
history book.

Similarly, the novelist did not want to disclose the precise site of the Count's residence, Castle
Dracula. As confirmed by Stoker's own handwritten research notes, the novelist had a specific
location for the Castle in mind while writing the narrative: an empty mountain top in the
Transylvanian Kelemen Alps near the former border with Moldavia.[59] Efforts to promote
the Poenari Castle (ca. 200 km away from the novel's place of action near the Borgo Pass) as the
"real Castle Dracula" have no basis in Stoker's writing; although it bears much similarity to the
fictional Castle Dracula, no written evidence shows Stoker to have heard of it. Regarding
the Bran Castle near Brașov, Stoker possibly saw an illustration of Castle Bran (Törzburg)
in Charles Boner's 1865 book on Transylvania, Transylvania: Its Products and Its People.[60]
[61]
Although Stoker may have been inspired by its romantic appearance, neither Boner,
nor Mazuchelli nor Crosse (who also mention Terzburg or Törzburg) associate it with Vlad III;
for the site of his fictitious Castle Dracula, Stoker preferred an empty mountain top.

Stoker's detailed notes reveal he was well aware of the ethnic and geopolitical differences
between the Roumanians/Wallachs/Wallachians, descendants of the Dacians, and the
Székelys/Szeklers, allies of the Magyars or Hungarians, whose interests were opposed to that of
the Wallachians. In the novel's original typewritten manuscript, the Count speaks of throwing off
the "Austrian yoke", which corresponds to the Szekler political point of view. This expression is
crossed out and replaced by "Hungarian yoke" (as appearing in the printed version), which
matches the historical perspective of the Wallachians. Some take this to mean that Stoker opted
for the Wallachian, not the Szekler interpretation, thus lending more consistency to his count's
Romanian identity. Although not identical to Vlad III, the vampire is portrayed as one of the
"Dracula race".

The stories about Vlad made him the best-known medieval ruler of the Romanian lands in
Europe. However, Bram Stoker's Dracula, which was published in 1897, was the first book to
make a connection between Dracula and vampirism. Stoker had his attention drawn to the blood-
sucking vampires of Romanian folklore by Emily Gerard's article about Transylvanian
superstitions (published in 1885). His limited knowledge about the medieval history of
Wallachia came from William Wilkinson's book entitled Account of the Principalities of
Wallachia and Moldavia with Political Observations Relative to Them, published in 1820.

Stoker "apparently did not know much about" Vlad the Impaler, "certainly not enough for us to
say that Vlad was the inspiration for" Count Dracula, according to Elizabeth Miller. For instance,
Stoker wrote that Dracula had been of Székely origin only because he knew about both Attila the
Hun's destructive campaigns and the alleged Hunnic origin of the Székelys. Stoker's main source,
Wilkinson, who accepted the reliability of the German stories, described Vlad as a wicked
man. Actually, Stoker's working papers for his book contain no references to the historical
figure, the name of the character being named in all drafts but the later ones 'Count Wampyr'.
Consequently, Stoker borrowed the name and "scraps of miscellaneous information" about the
history of Wallachia when writing his book about Count Dracula.

112
Appearance and representations
Pope Pius II's legate, Niccolò Modrussa, painted the only extant description of Vlad, whom he
had met in Buda.] A copy of Vlad's portrait has been featured in the "monster portrait gallery" in
the Ambras Castle at Innsbruck. The picture depicts "a strong, cruel, and somehow tortured man"
with "large, deep-set, dark green, and penetrating eyes", according to Florescu. The colour of
Vlad's hair cannot be determined because Modrussa mentions that Vlad was black-haired, while
the portrait seems to show that he had fair hair. The picture depicts Vlad with a large lower lip.

Vlad's bad reputation in the German-speaking territories can be detected in a number of

Renaissance paintings. He was portrayed among the witnesses of Saint Andrew's martyrdom in a
15th-century painting, displayed in the Belvedere in Vienna. A figure similar to Vlad is one of
the witnesses of Christ in the Calvary in a chapel of the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.

[Vlad] was not very tall, but very stocky and strong, with a cold and terrible appearance, a
strong and aquiline nose, swollen nostrils, a thin and reddish face in which the very long
eyelashes framed large wide-open green eyes; the bushy black eyebrows made them appear
threatening. His face and chin were shaven but for a moustache. The swollen temples
increased the bulk of his head. A bull's neck connected [with] his head from which black
curly locks hung on his wide-shouldered person.

— Niccolò Modrussa's description of Vlad the Impaler

A likeness of Vlad the Impaler is believed to be

depicted in a 1460 Calvary of Christ painting

located at Maria am Gestade church in Vienna.

This identification is based on visual analysis

and historical context, suggesting the artist

may have been aware of or influenced by

Vlad's reputation or appearance. The specific

details of the portrayal and the reasons for its

inclusion are subjects of art historical debate.

Further research into the iconography and the

artist's potential motivations is ongoing.

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  Pilate Judging Jesus Christ, 1463, National Gallery, Ljubljana
 Full-size portrait of Vlad Țepeș in the "Gallery of Ancestors" of the House of Esterházy,
17th century, Forchtenstein Castle

A woodcut depicting Vlad on the title page of a German pamphlet about him, published in Nuremberg in 1488/A 1491
engraving from Bamberg, Germany, depicting Dracole wayda/Likeness of Vlad found in Calvary of Christ painting,
1460, Maria am Gestade, Vienna

114
The connections between Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew are primarily
through the historical figure Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (known as Vlad the Impaler), and the
Romanian folklore that inspired Stoker's novel. St. Andrew's Eve (November 29th) is a day when, in
Romanian folklore, vampires are believed to be at their strongest and most active. Vlad III, who is the
historical figure on which Stoker's Dracula is based, was known for his brutality and cruelty, which
resonated with the folklore surrounding vampires in Romania. St. Andrew's Eve and the legends
surrounding St. Andrew in Romanian folklore are intertwined with the stories of vampires and evil spirits,
which Stoker incorporated into his novel.

In Romanian folklore, the night of St. Andrew's Eve is a time when vampires and other evil spirits are
believed to be active and roaming freely. This folklore aligns with Stoker's depiction of Dracula, who
also operates during the dark hours.
Stoker's character Dracula is based on Vlad III, the Prince of Wallachia. Vlad the Impaler was a real
historical figure known for his ruthlessness and cruelty. The legends surrounding Vlad the Impaler,
particularly his brutality, contributed to the negative image and fears surrounding vampires in
Romanian folklore. Bram Stoker was deeply influenced by Romanian folklore and the legends
surrounding Vlad the Impaler when writing Dracula. He drew on the historical figure and the folktales
to create a compelling and chilling vampire character.
The novel Dracula also incorporates Christian symbolism, as Dracula and his minions are depicted as
being repelled by Christian symbols like the crucifix. This further reinforces the connection to the
religious context of St. Andrew's martyrdom and the belief in evil spirits

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The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew, 1470–1480, Belvedere Galleriesoooooooooooooooooo

116
 VI
Christian Themes
Here's a more detailed look at the Christian themes in Dracula:
1. Good vs. Evil: The story presents a clear conflict between the forces of light and darkness,
with Dracula embodying evil and the characters of Van Helsing and the others representing
good.
2. Faith and the Supernatural: The characters, particularly Van Helsing, rely on their faith and
Christian symbols like the crucifix to combat the supernatural powers of Dracula and his
minions.
3. Salvation and Damnation: The novel explores the concepts of salvation and damnation, with
Dracula's actions leading to the spiritual corruption and potential eternal damnation of those he
infects.
4. Dracula as a Mirror of Christ: Some scholars argue that Dracula can be seen as a distorted
representation of Christ, with his power over the undead and his ability to corrupt souls mirroring
the potential for good and evil in humanity.
5. The Role of the Cross: The crucifix is a prominent symbol in the novel, representing Christ's
sacrifice and serving as a weapon against the supernatural.
6. Other Christian Imagery: The novel also utilizes other Christian imagery, such as the idea of
the "Mark of Cain" to represent the corruption and evil associated with Dracula, according to a
study from ScholarWorks@UNO.
In essence, Dracula can be understood as a complex exploration of Christian themes, using the
horror of the supernatural to examine the struggle between good and evil and the importance of
faith in the face of darkness. Predecessor to him is a vampire is a mythical creature that subsists
by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European
folklore, vampires are undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and caused
mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods which they inhabited while they were alive. They
wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly
different from today's gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century.

Vampiric entities have been recorded in cultures around the world; the term vampire was
popularized in Western Europe after reports of an 18th-century mass hysteria of a pre-existing
folk belief in Southeastern and Eastern Europe that in some cases resulted in corpses being
staked and people being accused of vampirism. Local variants in Southeastern Europe were also
known by different names, such
as shtriga in Albania, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania, cognate to Italian strega,
meaning 'witch'.

In modern times, the vampire is generally held to be a fictitious entity, although belief in similar
vampiric creatures (such as the chupacabra) still persists in some cultures. Early folk belief in
vampires has sometimes been ascribed to the ignorance of the body's process

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of decomposition after death and how people in pre-industrial societies tried to rationalize this,
creating the figure of the vampire to explain the mysteries of death. Porphyria was linked with
legends of vampirism in 1985 and received much media exposure, but has since been largely
discredited.

The charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in 1819 with the
publication of "The Vampyre" by the English writer John Polidori; the story was highly
successful and arguably the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century. Bram
Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula is remembered as the quintessential vampire novel and provided the
basis of the modern vampire legend, even though it was published after fellow Irish
author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novel Carmilla. The success of this book spawned a
distinctive vampire genre, still popular in the 21st century, with books, films, television shows,
and video games. The vampire has since become a dominant figure in the horror genre.

Etymology and word distribution

The exact etymology is unclear. The term "vampire" finds its earliest records in English, Latin
and French, and references to vampirism were found in Russia, Poland and North Macedonia.
The English term was derived (possibly via French vampyre) from the German Vampir, in turn
derived in the early 18th century from the Serbian вампир (vampir). Though this being a
popular explanation, a pagan worship of upyri was already arrested in Old Russian in the 11–
13th century. Some claim an origin from Lithuanian. Oxford and others maintain a Turkish
origin (from Turkish uber, meaning "witch"), which passed to English via Hungarian and French
derivation. In addition, others sustain that the modern word "Vampire" is derived from the Old
Slavic and Turkic languages form "онпыр (onpyr)", with the addition of the "v" sound in front of
the large nasal vowel (on), characteristic of Old Bulgarian.

Czech linguist Václav Machek proposes Slovak verb vrepiť sa 'stick to, thrust into', or its
hypothetical anagram vperiť sa (in Czech, the archaic verb vpeřit means 'to thrust violently') as
an etymological background, and thus translates upír as 'someone who thrusts, bites'. The term
was introduced to German readers by the Polish Jesuit priest Gabriel Rzączyński in 1721.The
word vampire (as vampyre) first appeared in English in 1732, in news reports about vampire
"epidemics" in eastern Europe. After Austria gained control of northern Serbia and Oltenia with
the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, officials noted the local practice of exhuming bodies and
"killing vampires".These reports, prepared between 1725 and 1732, received widespread
publicity.

Folk beliefs
The notion of vampirism has existed for millennia. Cultures such as
the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, Manipuri and Romans had tales of demons and
spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires. Despite the occurrence of vampiric
creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity known today as the vampire
originates almost exclusively from early 18th-century southeastern Europe, when verbal
traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published. In most cases,
vampires are revenants of evil beings, suicide victims, or witches, but they can also be created by
a malevolent spirit possessing a corpse or by being bitten by a vampire. Belief in such legends

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became so pervasive that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of
people believed to be vampires.

Description and common attributes

Vampire (1895) by Edvard Munch

It is difficult to make a single, definitive description of the folkloric vampire, though there are
several elements common to many European legends. Vampires were usually reported as bloated
in appearance, and ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour; these characteristics were often attributed
to the recent drinking of blood, which was often seen seeping from the mouth and nose when one
was seen in its shroud or coffin, and its left eye was often open. It would be clad in the linen
shroud it was buried in, and its teeth, hair, and nails may have grown somewhat, though in
general fangs were not a feature. Chewing sounds were reported emanating from graves.

Creating vampires
The causes of vampiric generation were many and varied in original folklore.
In Slavic and Chinese traditions, any corpse that was jumped over by an animal, particularly a
dog or a cat, was feared to become one of the undead. A body with a wound that had not been
treated with boiling water was also at risk. In Russian folklore, vampires were said to have once
been witches or people who had rebelled against the Russian Orthodox Church while they were
alive.

In Albanian folklore, the dhampir is the hybrid child of the karkanxholl (a lycanthropic creature
with an iron mail shirt) or the lugat (a water-dwelling ghost or monster). The dhampir sprung of
a karkanxholl has the unique ability to discern the karkanxholl; from this derives the
expression the dhampir knows the lugat. The lugat cannot be seen, he can only be killed by the
dhampir, who himself is usually the son of a lugat. In different regions, animals can be revenants
as lugats; also, living people during their sleep. Dhampiraj is also an Albanian surname.

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 Illustration of a vampire from Max
Ernst's Une Semaine de Bonté (1934)

Prevention
Cultural practices often arose that were intended to prevent a recently deceased loved one from
turning into an undead revenant. Burying a corpse upside-down was widespread, as was placing
earthly objects, such as scythes or sickles near the grave to satisfy any demons entering the body
or to appease the dead so that it would not wish to arise from its coffin. This method resembles
the ancient Greek practice of placing an obolus in the corpse's mouth to pay the toll to cross
the River Styx in the underworld. The coin may have also been intended to ward off any evil
spirits from entering the body, and this may have influenced later vampire folklore. This tradition
persisted in modern Greek folklore about the vrykolakas, in which a wax cross and piece of

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pottery with the inscription "Jesus Christ conquers" were placed on the corpse to prevent the
body from becoming a vampire.

Other methods commonly practised in Europe included severing the tendons at the knees or
placing poppy seeds, millet, or sand on the ground at the grave site of a presumed vampire; this
was intended to keep the vampire occupied all night by counting the fallen grains, indicating an
association of vampires with arithmomania. Similar Chinese narratives state that if a vampiric
being came across a sack of rice, it would have to count every grain; this is a theme encountered
in myths from the Indian subcontinent, as well as in South American tales of witches and other
sorts of evil or mischievous spirits or beings.

Identifying vampires
Many rituals were used to identify a vampire. One method of finding a vampire's grave involved
leading a virgin boy through a graveyard or church grounds on a virgin stallion—the horse
would supposedly balk at the grave in question. Generally a black horse was required, though in
Albania it should be white. Holes appearing in the earth over a grave were taken as a sign of
vampirism.

Corpses thought to be vampires were generally described as having a healthier appearance than
expected, plump and showing little or no signs of decomposition. In some cases, when suspected
graves were opened, villagers even described the corpse as having fresh blood from a victim all
over its face. Evidence that a vampire was active in a given locality included death of cattle,
sheep, relatives or neighbours. Folkloric vampires could also make their presence felt by
engaging in minor poltergeist-styled activity, such as hurling stones on roofs or moving
household objects, and pressing on people in their sleep.

Protection

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Garlic, Bibles, crucifixes, rosaries, holy water, and mirrors have all been seen in various folkloric traditions as means of
warding against or identifying vampires.

Apotropaics—items able to ward off revenants—are common in vampire folklore. Garlic is a

common example; a branch of wild rose and hawthorn are sometimes associated with causing
harm to vampires, and in Europe, mustard seeds would be sprinkled on the roof of a house to
keep them away. Other apotropaics include sacred items, such as crucifix, rosary, or holy water.
Some folklore also states that vampires are unable to walk on consecrated ground, such as that of
churches or temples, or cross running water.

Although not traditionally regarded as an apotropaic, mirrors have been used to ward off
vampires when placed, facing outwards, on a door (in some cultures, vampires do not have a
reflection and sometimes do not cast a shadow, perhaps as a manifestation of the vampire's lack
of a soul or their weakness to silver). This attribute is not universal (the
Greek vrykolakas/tympanios was capable of both reflection and shadow), but was used by Bram
Stoker in Dracula and has remained popular with subsequent authors and filmmakers.

Some traditions also hold that a vampire cannot enter a house unless invited by the owner; after
the first invitation they can come and go as they please. Though folkloric vampires were believed
to be more active at night, they were not generally considered vulnerable to sunlight.

Reports in 1693 and 1694 concerning citings of vampires in Poland and Russia claimed that
when a vampire's grave was recognized, eating bread baked with its blood mixed into the flour,
or simply drinking it, granted the possibility of protection. Other stories (primarily the Arnold
Paole case) claimed the eating of dirt from the vampire's grave would have the same effect.

Methods of destruction

A runestone with an inscription to keep the deceased in its grave

Methods of destroying suspected vampires varied, with staking the most commonly cited
method, particularly in South Slavic cultures. Ash was the preferred wood in Russia and the

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Baltic states, or hawthorn in Serbia, with a record of oak in Silesia. Aspen was also used for
stakes, as it was believed that Christ's cross was made from aspen (aspen branches on the graves
of purported vampires were also believed to prevent their risings at night). Potential vampires
were most often staked through the heart, though the mouth was targeted in Russia and northern
Germanyand the stomach in north-eastern Serbia. Piercing the skin of the chest was a way of
"deflating" the bloated vampire. This is similar to a practice of "anti-vampire burial": burying
sharp objects, such as sickles, with the corpse, so that they may penetrate the skin if the body
bloats sufficiently while transforming into a revenant.

Decapitation was the preferred method in German and western Slavic areas, with the head buried
between the feet, behind the buttocks or away from the body. This act was seen as a way of
hastening the departure of the soul, which in some cultures was said to linger in the corpse. The
vampire's head, body, or clothes could also be spiked and pinned to the earth to prevent rising.

800-
year-old skeleton found in Bulgaria stabbed through the chest with an iron rod
Romani people drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart and placed bits of steel in the
mouth, over the eyes, ears and between the fingers at the time of burial. They also placed
hawthorn in the corpse's sock or drove a hawthorn stake through the legs. In a 16th-century
burial near Venice, a brick forced into the mouth of a female corpse has been interpreted as a
vampire-slaying ritual by the archaeologists who discovered it in 2006. In Bulgaria, over 100
skeletons with metal objects, such as plough bits, embedded in the torso have been discovered.

Further measures included pouring boiling water over the grave or complete incineration of the
body. In Southeastern Europe, a vampire could also be killed by being shot or drowned, by
repeating the funeral service, by sprinkling holy water on the body, or by exorcism. In Romania,
garlic could be placed in the mouth, and as recently as the 19th century, the precaution of
shooting a bullet through the coffin was taken. For resistant cases, the body

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was dismembered and the pieces burned, mixed with water, and administered to family members
as a cure. In Saxon regions of Germany, a lemon was placed in the mouth of suspected vampires.

Ancient beliefs

Lilith, 1887 by John Collier. Stories of Lilith depict her as a demon drinking blood.

Tales of supernatural beings consuming the blood or flesh of the living have been found in nearly
every culture around the world for many centuries.The term vampire did not exist in ancient

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times. Blood drinking and similar activities were attributed to demons or spirits who would eat
flesh and drink blood; even the devil was considered synonymous with the vampire. Almost
every culture associates blood drinking with some kind of revenant or demon, or in some cases a
deity. In India tales of vetālas, ghoulish beings that inhabit corpses, have been compiled in
the Baitāl Pacīsī; a prominent story in the Kathāsaritsāgara tells of King Vikramāditya and his
nightly quests to capture an elusive one. Piśāca, the returned spirits of evil-doers or those who
died insane, also bear vampiric attributes.

The Persians were one of the first civilizations to have tales of blood-drinking demons: creatures
attempting to drink blood from men were depicted on excavated pottery shards.
Ancient Babylonia and Assyria had tales of the mythical Lilitu synonymous with and giving rise
to Lilith (Hebrew ‫ )לילית‬and her daughters the Lilu from Hebrew demonology. Lilitu was
considered a demon and was often depicted as subsisting on the blood of babies, and estries,
female shapeshifting, blood-drinking demons, were said to roam the night among the population,
seeking victims. According to Sefer Hasidim, estries were creatures created in the twilight hours
before God rested. An injured estrie could be healed by eating bread and salt given to her by her
attacker.

Greco-Roman mythology described the Empusae, the Lamia, the Mormo and the striges. Over
time the first two terms became general words to describe witches and demons respectively.
Empusa was the daughter of the goddess Hecate and was described as a demonic, bronze-footed
creature. She feasted on blood by transforming into a young woman and seduced men as they
slept before drinking their blood. The Lamia preyed on young children in their beds at night,
sucking their blood, as did the gelloudes or Gello.[74] Like the Lamia, the striges feasted on
children, but also preyed on adults. They were described as having the bodies of crows or birds
in general, and were later incorporated into Roman mythology as strix, a kind of nocturnal bird
that fed on human flesh and blood.

In Turkic mythology, an ubır is a vampiric creature characterized by various regional depictions.

According to legends, individuals heavily steeped in sin and practitioners of black
magic transform into ubırs upon their death, taking on a bestial form within their graves. Ubırs
possess the ability to shape-shift, assuming the forms of both humans and various animals.
Furthermore, they can seize the soul of a living being and exert control over its body. Someone
inhabited by a vampire constantly experiences hunger, becoming increasingly aggressive when
unable to find sustenance, ultimately resorting to drinking human blood.

Medieval and later European folklore

Many myths surrounding vampires originated during the medieval period. With the arrival
of Christianity in Greece, and other parts of Europe, the vampire "began to take on decidedly
Christian characteristics." As various regions of the continent converted to Christianity, the
vampire was viewed as "a dead person who retained a semblance of life and could leave its
grave-much in the same way that Jesus had risen after His death and burial and appeared before
His followers." In the Middle Ages, the Christian Churches reinterpreted vampires from their
previous folk existence into minions of Satan, and used an allegory to communicate a doctrine
to Christians: "Just as a vampire takes a sinner's very spirit into itself by drinking his blood, so
also can a righteous Christian by drinking Christ's blood take the divine spirit into himself." The

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interpretation of vampires under the Christian Churches established connotations that are still
associated in the vampire genre today. [81] For example, the "ability of the cross to hurt and ward
off vampires is distinctly due to its Christian association."

Lithograph showing townsfolk burning the exhumed skeleton

of an alleged vampire
The 12th-century British historians and chroniclers Walter Map and William of
Newburgh recorded accounts of revenants, though records in English legends of vampiric beings
after this date are scant. The Old Norse draugr is another medieval example of an undead
creature with similarities to vampires Vampiric beings were rarely written about in Jewish
literature; the 16th-century rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra (Radbaz) wrote of an
uncharitable old woman whose body was unguarded and unburied for three days after she died
and rose as a vampiric entity, killing hundreds of people. He linked this event to the lack of
a shmirah (guarding) after death as the corpse could be a vessel for evil spirits.

In 1645, the Greek librarian of the Vatican, Leo Allatius, produced the first methodological
description of the Balkan beliefs in vampires (Greek: vrykolakas) in his work De Graecorum
hodie quorundam opinationibus ("On certain modern opinions among the Greeks"). Vampires
properly originating in folklore were widely reported from Eastern Europe in the late 17th and
18th centuries. These tales formed the basis of the vampire legend that later entered Germany
and England, where they were subsequently embellished and popularized. An early recording of
the time came from the region of Istria in modern Croatia, in 1672; Local reports described a
panic among the villagers inspired by the belief that Jure Grando had become a vampire after
dying in 1656, drinking blood from victims and sexually harassing his widow. The village leader
ordered a stake to be driven through his heart. Later, his corpse was also beheaded.

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 Title page of treatise on the chewing and smacking of the dead in
graves (1734), a book on vampirology by Michael Ranft

From 1679, Philippe Rohr devotes an essay to the dead who chew their shrouds in their graves, a
subject resumed by Otto in 1732, and then by Michael Ranft in 1734. The subject was based on
the observation that when digging up graves, it was discovered that some corpses had at some
point either devoured the interior fabric of their coffin or their own limbs. Ranft described in his
treatise of a tradition in some parts of Germany, that to prevent the dead from masticating they
placed a mound of dirt under their chin in the coffin, placed a piece of money and a stone in the
mouth, or tied a handkerchief tightly around the throat. In 1732 an anonymous writer writing as
"the doctor Weimar" discusses the non-putrefaction of these creatures, from a theological point
of view. In 1733, Johann Christoph Harenberg wrote a general treatise on vampirism and
the Marquis d'Argens cites local cases. Theologians and clergymen also address the topic.

Some theological disputes arose. The non-decay of vampires' bodies could recall the incorruption
of the bodies of the saints of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Indeed, vampires were
traditionally considered highly problematic within Christianity, as their apparent immortal
existence ran against the Christian belief that all true believers may look forward to an eternal
existence with body and soul as they were resurrected, but only at the end of time when
Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead. Those who are resurrected as immortal before this
are thus in no way part of the divine plan of salvation. The imperfect state of the vampire body
and how they, in spite of their immortal nature, still needed to feed of the blood of the living,
further reflected the problematic aspect of the vampires. Contrary to how the incorruptible saints
foreshadowed the immortality promised all true Christians at the end of time, the immortality of
the undead vampires was thus not a sign of salvation, but of perdition. The unholy dimension of
vampirism may also be reflected in how, in parts of Russia, the very word heretic, eretik, was
synonymous with a vampire. Whoever denied God or his commandments became an eretik after
his death, the improperly immortal figure that wandered the night in search of people to feed on.

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[95]
A paragraph on vampires was included in the second edition (1749) of De servorum Dei
beatificatione et sanctorum canonizatione, On the beatification of the servants of God and
on canonization of the blessed, written by Prospero Lambertini (Pope Benedict XIV).[96] In his
opinion, while the incorruption of the bodies of saints was the effect of a divine intervention, all
the phenomena attributed to vampires were purely natural or the fruit of "imagination, terror and
fear". In other words, vampires did not exist.

18th-century vampire controversy

Dom Augustine Calmet (1750)

In the early 18th century, despite the decline of many popular folkloric beliefs during the Age of
Enlightenment, there was a dramatic increase in the popular belief in vampires, resulting in a

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mass hysteria throughout much of Europe. The panic began with an outbreak of alleged vampire
attacks in East Prussia in 1721 and in the Habsburg monarchy from 1725 to 1734, which spread
to other localities. The first infamous vampire case involved the corpses of Petar Blagojević from
Serbia. Blagojević was reported to have died at the age of 62, but allegedly returned after his
death asking his son for food. When the son refused, he was found dead the following day.
Blagojević supposedly returned and attacked some neighbours who died from loss of blood.

In the second case, Miloš Čečar, an ex-soldier-turned-farmer who allegedly was attacked by a
vampire years before, died while haying. After his death, people began to die in the surrounding
area; it was widely believed that Miloš had returned to prey on the neighbours.

The Blagojević and Čečar incidents were well-documented. Government officials examined the
bodies, wrote case reports, and published books throughout Europe. The problem was
exacerbated by rural epidemics of so-called vampire attacks, undoubtedly caused by the higher
amount of superstition that was present in village communities, with locals digging up bodies
and in some cases, staking them. Even government officials engaged in the hunting and staking
of vampires.[

The hysteria, commonly referred to as the "vampire controversy," continued for a generation. At
least sixteen contemporary treatises discussed the theological and philosophical implications of
the vampire epidemic. Dom Augustine Calmet, a French theologian and scholar, published a
comprehensive treatise in 1751 titled Treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires or
Revenants which investigated and analysed the evidence for vampirism. [100][b] Numerous readers,
including both Voltaire (critical) and numerous demonologists (supportive), interpreted the
treatise as claiming that vampires existed.

The controversy in Austria ceased when Empress Maria Theresa sent her personal
physician, Gerard van Swieten, to investigate the claims of vampiric entities. Van Swieten
concluded that vampires did not exist and the Empress passed laws prohibiting the opening of
graves and the desecration of bodies, thus ending the vampire epidemic. Other European
countries followed suit. Despite this condemnation, the vampire lived on in artistic works and in
local folklore.

Non-European beliefs
Beings having many of the attributes of European vampires appear in the folklore of Africa,
Asia, North and South America, and India. Classified as vampires, all share the thirst for blood.

Africa
Various regions of Africa have folktales featuring beings with vampiric abilities: in West
Africa the Ashanti people tell of the iron-toothed and tree-dwelling asanbosam, and the Ewe
people of the adze, which can take the form of a firefly and hunts children. The
eastern Cape region has the impundulu, which can take the form of a large taloned bird and can
summon thunder and lightning, and the Betsileo people of Madagascar tell of the ramanga, an
outlaw or living vampire who drinks the blood and eats the nail clippings of nobles. In colonial
East Africa, rumors circulated to the effect that employees of the state such as firemen and
nurses were vampires, known in Swahili as wazimamoto.

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Americas
The Rougarou is an example of how a vampire belief can result from a combination of beliefs,
here a mixture of French and African Vodu or voodoo. The term Rougarou possibly comes from
the French loup-garou (meaning "werewolf") and is common in the culture of Mauritius. The
stories of the Rougarou are widespread through the Caribbean Islands and Louisiana in the
United States. Similar female monsters are the Soucouyant of Trinidad, and
the Tunda and Patasola of Colombian folklore, while the Mapuche of southern Chile have the
bloodsucking snake known as the Peuchen. Aloe vera hung backwards behind or near a door was
thought to ward off vampiric beings in South American folklore. Aztec mythology described
tales of the Cihuateteo, skull-faced spirits of those who died in childbirth who stole children and
entered into sexual liaisons with the living, driving them mad.

During the late 18th and 19th centuries the belief in vampires was widespread in parts of New
England, particularly in Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut. There are many documented
cases of families disinterring loved ones and removing their hearts in the belief that the deceased
was a vampire who was responsible for sickness and death in the family, although the term
"vampire" was never used to describe the dead. The deadly disease tuberculosis, or
"consumption" as it was known at the time, was believed to be caused by nightly visitations on
the part of a dead family member who had died of consumption themselves. [112] The most
famous, and most recently recorded, case of suspected vampirism is that of nineteen-year-
old Mercy Brown, who died in Exeter, Rhode Island, in 1892. Her father, assisted by the family
physician, removed her from her tomb two months after her death, cut out her heart and burned it
to ashes.

Sarah Roberts (1872–1913) was an Englishwoman who died and was buried in Pisco, Peru. After
her death, a legend evolved that she was a vampire and bride of Dracula. On June 9, 1993, the
80th anniversary of her death, locals in Pisco feared she would come back to life and take her
revenge.

Asia
Vampires have appeared in Japanese cinema since the late 1950s; the folklore behind it is
western in origin. The Nukekubi is a being whose head and neck detach from its body to fly
about seeking human prey at night.[116] Legends of female vampiric beings who can detach parts
of their upper body also occur in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. There are two main
vampiric creatures in the Philippines: the Tagalog Mandurugo ("blood-sucker") and
the Visayan Manananggal ("self-segmenter"). The mandurugo is a variety of the aswang that
takes the form of an attractive girl by day, and develops wings and a long, hollow, threadlike
tongue by night. The tongue is used to suck up blood from a sleeping victim.
[117]
The manananggal is described as being an older, beautiful woman capable of severing its
upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge batlike wings and prey on unsuspecting,
sleeping pregnant women in their homes. They use an elongated proboscis-like tongue to
suck fetuses from these pregnant women. They also prefer to eat entrails (specifically
the heart and the liver) and the phlegm of sick people.

The Malaysian Penanggalan is a woman who obtained her beauty through the active use
of black magic or other unnatural means, and is most commonly described in local folklore to be

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dark or demonic in nature. She is able to detach her fanged head which flies around in the night
looking for blood, typically from pregnant women. Malaysians hung jeruju (thistles) around the
doors and windows of houses, hoping the Penanggalan would not enter for fear of catching its
intestines on the thorns. The Leyak is a similar being from Balinese folklore of Indonesia.
A Kuntilanak or Matianak in Indonesia, or Pontianak or Langsuir in Malaysia is a woman
who died during childbirth and became undead, seeking revenge and terrorising villages. She
appeared as an attractive woman with long black hair that covered a hole in the back of her neck,
with which she sucked the blood of children. Filling the hole with her hair would drive her off.
Corpses had their mouths filled with glass beads, eggs under each armpit, and needles in their
palms to prevent them from becoming langsuir. This description would also fit the Sundel
Bolongs.

Dracula Vampire Halloween Cosplay Costume/A stilt house typical of the Tai Dam ethnic minority of Vietnam,
whose communities were said to be terrorized by the blood-sucking ma cà rồng

In Vietnam, the word used to translate Western vampires, "ma cà rồng", originally referred to a
type of demon that haunts modern-day Phú Thọ Province, within the communities of the Tai
Dam ethnic minority. The word was first mentioned in the chronicles of 18th-
century Confucian scholar Lê Quý Đôn, who spoke of a creature that lives among humans, but
stuffs its toes into its nostrils at night and flies by its ears into houses with pregnant women to
suck their blood. Having fed on these women, the ma cà rồng then returns to its house and cleans
itself by dipping its toes into barrels of sappanwood water. This allows the ma cà rồng to live
undetected among humans during the day, before heading out to attack again by night.

Jiangshi, sometimes called "Chinese vampires" by Westerners, are reanimated corpses that hop
around, killing living creatures to absorb life essence (qì) from their victims. They are said to be
created when a person's soul (pò) fails to leave the deceased's body. Jiangshi are usually
represented as mindless creatures with no independent thought. This monster has greenish-white
furry skin, perhaps derived from fungus or mould growing on corpses. Jiangshi legends have
inspired a genre of jiangshi films and literature in Hong Kong and East Asia. Films
like Encounters of the Spooky Kind and Mr. Vampire were released during the jiangshi cinematic
boom of the 1980s and 1990s.

Modern beliefs

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In modern fiction, the vampire tends to be depicted as a suave, charismatic villain. Vampire
hunting societies still exist, but they are largely formed for social reasons. Allegations of vampire
attacks swept through Malawi during late 2002 and early 2003, with mobs stoning one person to
death and attacking at least four others, including Governor Eric Chiwaya, based on the belief
that the government was colluding with vampires. Fears and violence recurred in late 2017, with
6 people accused of being vampires killed.

In early 1970, local press spread rumours that a vampire haunted Highgate Cemetery in London.
Amateur vampire hunters flocked in large numbers to the cemetery. Several books have been
written about the case, notably by Sean Manchester, a local man who was among the first to
suggest the existence of the "Highgate Vampire" and who later claimed to have exorcised and
destroyed a whole nest of vampires in the area. In January 2005, rumours circulated that an
attacker had bitten a number of people in Birmingham, England, fuelling concerns about a
vampire roaming the streets. Local police stated that no such crime had been reported and that
the case appears to be an urban legend.

The chupacabra ("goat-sucker") of Puerto Rico and Mexico is said to be a creature that feeds
upon the flesh or drinks the blood of domesticated animals, leading some to consider it a kind of
vampire. The "chupacabra hysteria" was frequently associated with deep economic and political
crises, particularly during the mid-1990s.

In Europe, where much of the vampire folklore originates, the vampire is usually considered a
fictitious being; many communities may have embraced the revenant for economic purposes. In
some cases, especially in small localities, beliefs are still rampant and sightings or claims of
vampire attacks occur frequently. In Romania during February 2004, several relatives of Toma
Petre feared that he had become a vampire. They dug up his corpse, tore out his heart, burned it,
and mixed the ashes with water in order to drink it.

Origins of vampire beliefs

Commentators have offered many theories for the origins of vampire beliefs and related mass
hysteria. Everything ranging from premature burial to the early ignorance of the
body's decomposition cycle after death has been cited as the cause for the belief in vampires.[137]

Pathology-Decomposition
Author Paul Barber stated that belief in vampires resulted from people of pre-industrial
societies attempting to explain the natural, but to them inexplicable, process of death and
decomposition. People sometimes suspected vampirism when a cadaver did not look as they
thought a normal corpse should when disinterred. Rates of decomposition vary depending on
temperature and soil composition, and many of the signs are little known. This has led vampire
hunters to mistakenly conclude that a dead body had not decomposed at all or to interpret signs
of decomposition as signs of continued life.

Corpses swell as gases from decomposition accumulate in the torso and the increased pressure
forces blood to ooze from the nose and mouth. This causes the body to look "plump", "well-fed",
and "ruddy"—changes that are all the more striking if the person was pale or thin in life. In
the Arnold Paole case, an old woman's exhumed corpse was judged by her neighbours to look

132
more plump and healthy than she had ever looked in life. The exuding blood gave the
impression that the corpse had recently been engaging in vampiric activity. Darkening of the
skin is also caused by decomposition. The staking of a swollen, decomposing body could cause
the body to bleed and force the accumulated gases to escape the body. This could produce a
groan-like sound when the gases moved past the vocal cords, or a sound reminiscent
of flatulence when they passed through the anus. The official reporting on the Petar
Blagojevich case speaks of "other wild signs which I pass by out of high respect". After death,
the skin and gums lose fluids and contract, exposing the roots of the hair, nails, and teeth, even
teeth that were concealed in the jaw. This can produce the illusion that the hair, nails, and teeth
have grown. At a certain stage, the nails fall off and the skin peels away, as reported in the
Blagojevich case—the dermis and nail beds emerging underneath were interpreted as "new skin"
and "new nails".

Premature burial
Vampire legends may have also been influenced by individuals being buried alive because of
shortcomings in the medical knowledge of the time. In some cases in which people reported
sounds emanating from a specific coffin, it was later dug up and fingernail marks were
discovered on the inside from the victim trying to escape. In other cases the person would hit
their heads, noses or faces and it would appear that they had been "feeding". A problem with this
theory is the question of how people presumably buried alive managed to stay alive for any
extended period without food, water or fresh air. An alternate explanation for noise is the
bubbling of escaping gases from natural decomposition of bodies. Another likely cause of
disordered tombs is grave robbery.

Disease
Folkloric vampirism has been associated with clusters of deaths from unidentifiable or
mysterious illnesses, usually within the same family or the same small community. The
epidemic allusion is obvious in the classical cases of Petar Blagojevich and Arnold Paole, and
even more so in the case of Mercy Brown and in the vampire beliefs of New England generally,
where a specific disease, tuberculosis, was associated with outbreaks of vampirism. As with the
pneumonic form of bubonic plague, it was associated with breakdown of lung tissue which
would cause blood to appear at the lips.

In 1985, biochemist David Dolphin proposed a link between the rare blood
disorder porphyria and vampire folklore. Noting that the condition is treated by
intravenous haem, he suggested that the consumption of large amounts of blood may result in
haem being transported somehow across the stomach wall and into the bloodstream. Thus
vampires were merely sufferers of porphyria seeking to replace haem and alleviate their
symptoms.

The theory has been rebuffed medically as suggestions that porphyria sufferers crave the haem in
human blood, or that the consumption of blood might ease the symptoms of porphyria, are based
on a misunderstanding of the disease. Furthermore, Dolphin was noted to have confused fictional
(bloodsucking) vampires with those of folklore, many of whom were not noted to drink blood.
Similarly, a parallel is made between sensitivity to sunlight by sufferers, yet this was associated
with fictional and not folkloric vampires. In any case, Dolphin did not go on to publish his work

133
more widely. Despite being dismissed by experts, the link gained media attention and entered
popular modern folklore.

Juan Gómez-Alonso, a neurologist, examined the possible link of rabies with vampire folklore.
The susceptibility to garlic and light could be due to hypersensitivity, which is a symptom of
rabies. It can also affect portions of the brain that could lead to disturbance of normal sleep
patterns (thus becoming nocturnal) and hypersexuality. Legend once said a man was not rabid if
he could look at his own reflection (an allusion to the legend that vampires have no
reflection). Wolves and bats, which are often associated with vampires, can be carriers of rabies.
The disease can also lead to a drive to bite others and to a bloody frothing at the mouth.[151][152]

Psychodynamic theories
In his 1931 treatise On the Nightmare, Welsh psychoanalyst Ernest Jones asserted that vampires
are symbolic of several unconscious drives and defence mechanisms. Emotions such as love,
guilt, and hate fuel the idea of the return of the dead to the grave. Desiring a reunion with loved
ones, mourners may project the idea that the recently dead must in return yearn the same. From
this arises the belief that folkloric vampires and revenants visit relatives, particularly their
spouses, first.

In cases where there was unconscious guilt associated with the relationship, the wish for reunion
may be subverted by anxiety. This may lead to repression, which Sigmund Freud had linked with
the development of morbid dread. Jones surmised in this case the original wish of a (sexual)
reunion may be drastically changed: desire is replaced by fear; love is replaced by sadism, and
the object or loved one is replaced by an unknown entity. The sexual aspect may or may not be
present. Some modern critics have proposed a simpler theory: People identify with immortal
vampires because, by so doing, they overcome, or at least temporarily escape from, their fear of
dying.

Jones linked the innate sexuality of bloodsucking with cannibalism, with a folkloric connection
with incubus-like behaviour. He added that when more normal aspects of sexuality are repressed,
regressed forms may be expressed, in particular sadism; he felt that oral sadism is integral in
vampiric behaviour.

Political interpretations

134
 Political cartoon from 1885,
The aristocratic Count Dracula,
depicting the Irish National League as the "Irish Vampire" preying on a sleeping woman
alone in his castle apart from a few demented retainers, appearing only at night to feed on his
peasantry, is symbolic of the parasitic ancien régime. In his entry for "Vampires" in
the Dictionnaire philosophique (1764), Voltaire notices how the mid-18th century coincided
with the decline of the folkloric belief in the existence of vampires but that now "there were
stock-jobbers, brokers, and men of business, who sucked the blood of the people in broad
daylight; but they were not dead, though corrupted. These true suckers lived not in cemeteries,
but in very agreeable palaces".
Karl Marx defined capital as "dead labour which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living
labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks". Werner Herzog, in his Nosferatu the

135
Vampyre, gives this political interpretation an extra ironic twist when protagonist Jonathan
Harker, a middle-class solicitor, becomes the next vampire; in this way the
capitalist bourgeois becomes the next parasitic class.

Psychopathology
A number of murderers have performed seemingly vampiric rituals upon their victims. Serial
killers Peter Kürten and Richard Trenton Chase were both called "vampires" in the tabloids after
they were discovered drinking the blood of the people they murdered. In 1932, an unsolved
murder case in Stockholm, Sweden, was nicknamed the "Vampire murder", because of the
circumstances of the victim's death. The late-16th-century Hungarian countess and mass
murderer Elizabeth Báthory became infamous in later centuries' works, which depicted her
bathing in her victims' blood to retain beauty or youth.

Vampire bats

A vampire bat in Peru

Although many cultures have stories about them, vampire bats have only recently become an
integral part of the traditional vampire lore. Vampire bats were integrated into vampire folklore
after they were discovered on the South American mainland in the 16th century. [163] There are no
vampire bats in Europe, but bats and owls have long been associated with the supernatural and
omens, mainly because of their nocturnal habits.

The three species of vampire bats are all endemic to Latin America, and there is no evidence to
suggest that they had any Old World relatives within human memory. It is therefore impossible
that the folkloric vampire represents a distorted presentation or memory of the vampire bat. The
bats were named after the folkloric vampire rather than vice versa; the Oxford English
Dictionary records their folkloric use in English from 1734 and the zoological not until 1774.
The danger of rabies infection aside, the vampire bat's bite is usually not harmful to a person, but
the bat has been known to actively feed on humans and large prey such as cattle and often leaves
the trademark, two-prong bite mark on its victim's skin.

The literary Dracula transforms into a bat several times in the novel, and vampire bats
themselves are mentioned twice in it. The 1927 stage production of Dracula followed the novel
in having Dracula turn into a bat, as did the film, where Béla Lugosi would transform into a
bat. The bat transformation scene was used again by Lon Chaney Jr. in 1943's Son of Dracula.[

136
In modern culture
The vampire is now a fixture in popular fiction. Such fiction began with 18th-century poetry and
continued with 19th-century short stories, the first and most influential of which was John
Polidori's "The Vampyre" (1819), featuring the vampire Lord Ruthven. Lord Ruthven's exploits
were further explored in a series of vampire plays in which he was the antihero. The vampire
theme continued in penny dreadful serial publications such as Varney the Vampire (1847) and
culminated in the pre-eminent vampire novel in history: Dracula by Bram Stoker, published in
1897.

Over time, some attributes now regarded as integral became incorporated into the vampire's
profile: fangs and vulnerability to sunlight appeared over the course of the 19th century, with
Varney the Vampire and Count Dracula both bearing protruding teeth, and Count
Orlok of Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) fearing daylight. The cloak appeared in stage productions of
the 1920s, with a high collar introduced by playwright Hamilton Deane to help Dracula 'vanish'
on stage. Lord Ruthven and Varney were able to be healed by moonlight, although no account of
this is known in traditional folklore. Implied though not often explicitly documented in
folklore, immortality is one attribute which features heavily in vampire films and literature.
Much is made of the price of eternal life, namely the incessant need for the blood of former
equals.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

137
 VII
Sexual Magnetism
Dracula's sexual magnetism in Bram Stoker's novel is a complex and multi-layered theme. It's
not simply about physical attraction; it's also about power, control, and a twisted, almost erotic,
manipulation of his victims. His vampiric nature, with the act of turning humans into vampires,
is seen as intensely sexual. This extends to his relationships with both men and women, with
some interpretations suggesting a homoerotic undertone, particularly in his relationship with
Jonathan Harker.
Here's a more detailed look at the various aspects of Dracula's sexual magnetism:
1. The Vampiric Act as a Sexual Encounter:
 Dracula's act of biting and turning humans into vampires is described with a strong sexual
undertone, akin to a sexual assault.
 The act of feeding on blood, both in the novel and in later adaptations, is often portrayed as a
sensual and potentially erotic experience, especially for the female victims.
 The transformation of a human into a vampire is seen as a sexual act, with Dracula's dominance
and power over his victims.
2. Homosexual Implications:
 Some interpretations suggest a homoerotic relationship between Dracula and Jonathan Harker,
particularly through the descriptions of their interactions and the way Harker views Dracula.
 Dracula's actions and words, such as his ownership of Harker ("This man belongs to me!") and
the promise to the female vampires to "kiss him at your will," reinforce the idea of a sexual
power dynamic.
 The fact that Dracula must be "penetrated" by a man to be destroyed also adds to these
interpretations.
3. Dominance and Control:
 Dracula's power and control over his victims, both male and female, are presented as a form of
sexual dominance.
 The novel explores themes of sexual control and the fear of female sexuality, with Dracula
representing the male fear of female power and independence.
 Dracula's actions, such as the attacks on Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker, are seen as sexual
assaults and a way to exert control over them.
4. The Fusion of Sex, Sin, and Death:
 Some interpretations suggest that Dracula's machinations are connected to a "fusion of sex, sin,
and death," where his sexual acts are linked to a form of corruption and ultimately death.
 The "fusion of sex, sin, and death" is further emphasized by the connection of Dracula to plagues
and venereal diseases, reflecting the dangers of his sexual activities.
5. Bisexuality and Gender Fluidity:
 Dracula's victimization of both men and women has led to interpretations of his bisexual
preferences, as well as his ability to generate gender fluidity.
 Dracula threatens the accepted heterosexual monogamy by effeminizing Jonathan and
masculinizing Lucy, challenging the traditional gender roles.
In essence, Dracula's sexual magnetism is a multifaceted phenomenon that combines physical
attraction, power dynamics, and the darker aspects of sexuality and desire. It's a complex theme
that has been interpreted in various ways, reflecting the societal anxieties and attitudes towards
sexuality during the Victorian era and beyond.

138
 Vampire texts circulated before Dracula, of course. The penny-dreadful, Varney the
Vampyre (1845-47, pictured above) depicts the vampire as a sexual predator. Sheridan Le
Fanu’s Carmilla (1872) invites a queer reading of this trope when the female vampire visits her
sensitive victim’s bedroom.

139
140
 Michael Slade-28 December 2016

I first read DRACULA in my preteens, but without annotations. So now, I'm

reading it again with an expert to guide me in squeezing out every drop
of blood.

Wolf: Just what is going on here? A vengeful cuckoldry? A menage a trois?

Mutual oral sexuality? The impregnation of Mina? Stoker, no doubt, would
be horrified at these suggestions and yet each of them is in some way
valid. No wonder Mina cries out against herself "Unclean, unclean!" and
vows not to touch or kiss Jonathan Harker again.

Who says you can't go back?

I am, and lovin' it!

There's nothing quite like severely repressed Victorian sexuality to

scream for smelling salts!

"The moonlight was so bright that through the thick yellow blind the room
was light enough to see. On the bed beside the window lay Jonathan
Harker, his face flushed and breathing heavily as though in a stupor.
Kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the white-clad
figure of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. His face
was turned from us, but the instant we saw we all recognized the Count,
in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his left hand he held

141
both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms at full
tension. His right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her
face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood,
and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare chest which was shown
by his torn-open dress. The attitude of the two had a terrible resemblance
to a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink.
As we burst into the room, the Count turned his face, and the hellish look
that I had heard described seemed to leap into it. His eyes flamed red
with devilish passion. The great nostrils of the white aquiline nose opened
wide and quivered at the edge, and the white sharp teeth, behind the full
lips of the blood dripping mouth, clamped together like those of a wild
beast. With a wrench, which threw his victim back upon the bed as
though hurled from a height, he turned and sprang at us. But by this time
the Professor had gained his feet, and was holding towards him the
envelope which contained the Sacred Wafer. The Count suddenly
stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside the tomb, and cowered back.
Further and further back he cowered, as we, lifting our crucifixes,
advanced. The moonlight suddenly failed, as a great black cloud sailed
across the sky. And when the gaslight sprang up under Quincey's match,
we saw nothing but a faint vapour. This, as we looked, trailed under the
door, which with the recoil from its bursting open, had swung back to its
old position. Van Helsing, Art, and I moved forward to Mrs. Harker, who by
this time had drawn her breath and with it had given a scream so wild, so
ear-piercing, so despairing that it seems to me now that it will ring in my
ears till my dying day. For a few seconds she lay in her helpless attitude
and disarray. Her face was ghastly, with a pallor which was accentuated
by the blood which smeared her lips and cheeks and chin. From her throat
trickled a thin stream of blood. Her eyes were mad with terror. Then she
put before her face her poor crushed hands, which bore on their
whiteness the red mark of the Count's terrible grip, and from behind them
came a low desolate wail which made the terrible scream seem only the
quick expression of an endless grief. Van Helsing stepped forward and
drew the coverlet gently over her body, whilst Art, after looking at her
face for an instant despairingly, ran out of the room."
https://www.facebook.com/MountieNoir/posts/the-moonlight-was-so-
bright-that-through-the-thick-yellow-blind-the-room-was-lig/
921983131236425/

142
143
144
145
 FILMOGRAPHY on DRACULA

Yea Actor playing

Title Notes
r Dracula

1921 Dracula's Death Erik Vanko Lost film

1922 Nosferatu Max Schreck Renamed Count Orlok for legal reasons

Dracula Bela Lugosi

1931
Spanish version using the same sets as the
Drácula Carlos Villarías Lugosi version, but with a different cast
and crew.

1943 Son of Dracula Lon Chaney Jr.

House of
1944
Frankenstein
John Carradine

1945 House of Dracula

Abbott and
1948 Costello Meet Bela Lugosi
Frankenstein

Drakula
1953 Atıf Kaptan
İstanbul'da

1958 Dracula Christopher Lee

146
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

The Return of
Francis Lederer
Dracula

1964 Batman Dracula Jack Smith

Dracula: Prince
Christopher Lee
of Darkness

1966

Billy the Kid vs

John Carradine
Dracula

Mad Monster
Allen Swift Animated film
Party?

1967

Blood of
Alexander D'Arcy
Dracula's Castle

Dracula Has
Risen from the Christopher Lee
Grave
1968

Episode of UK TV series Mystery and

Dracula Denholm Elliott
Imagination

1969 Las vampiras John Carradine

147
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

The Magic
Christian

Count Dracula

Taste the Blood

of Dracula
Christopher Lee

One More Time

1970
Scars of Dracula

Cuadecuc,
vampir

Paul Albert
Jonathan
Krumm

Dracula vs.
Zandor Vorkov
Frankenstein
1971

Night Gallery Francis Lederer Episode: "The Devil Is Not Mocked"

1972 Blacula Charles Macaulay

148
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

Mad Mad Mad

Allen Swift Animated film
Monsters

Dracula A.D.
Christopher Lee
1972

Count Dracula's
Paul Naschy
Great Love

The Satanic Rites

1973 Christopher Lee
of Dracula

Bram Stoker's
Jack Palance Television film
Dracula

Blood for
Udo Kier
Dracula
1974

Legend of the 7 John Forbes-

Golden Vampires Robertson

Vampira David Niven Released in US as Old Dracula

1975 Lady Dracula Stephen Boyd Germany (theatrically released in 1977)

1976 Dracula and Son Christopher Lee

149
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

Dracula's Dog Michael Pataki

1977

Count Dracula Louis Jourdan Television film

1978 Doctor Dracula John Carradine

Nosferatu the Remake of Nosferatu (1922) with the

Klaus Kinski
Vampyre novel's character names restored.

Cliffhangers Michael Nouri Episode: "The Curse of Dracula"

Love at First Bite George Hamilton

1979
Nocturna John Carradine

Dracula Frank Langella

The Halloween
That Almost Judd Hirsch Television film
Wasn't

Fracchia Vs.
1985 Edmund Purdom
Dracula

The Monster
1987 Duncan Regehr
Squad

150
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

Waxwork Miles O'Keeffe

Scooby-Doo and
Zale Kessler Animated film
the Ghoul School
1988

Scooby-Doo! and
the Reluctant Hamilton Camp Animated film
Werewolf

The Super Mario

Bros. Super Jim Ward Episode: "Bats in the Basement"
Show

1989
Captain N: The
Garry Chalk Animated TV series
Game Master

Superboy Lloyd Bochner Episode: "Young Dracula"

Attack of the
1990 S. Scott Bullock Episode: "Spatula, Prinze of Dorkness"
Killer Tomatoes

1990– Dracula: The

Geordie Johnson TV series
1991 Series

Bram Stoker's
1992 Gary Oldman
Dracula

1993 The Young Bob Peck Episode: "Transylvania, January 1918"

151
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

Indiana Jones
Chronicles

Bram Stoker's
Lee Carus-Wescott Video game
Dracula

U.F.O. Antony Georghiou

1994 Monster Force Robert Bockstael

Monster Mash Anthony Crivello

1995
Dracula: Dead
Leslie Nielsen
and Loving It

Castlevania:
Symphony of the — Video game
Night
1997

The Creeps Phil Fondacaro

2000 Dracula 2000 Gerard Butler

Buffy the
Rudolf Martin Episode: "Buffy vs. Dracula"
Vampire Slayer

Dark Prince: The Rudolf Martin Television film

152
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

True Story of
Dracula

Dracula, the
2001 Tom Hewitt
Musical

Dracula: Pages
from a Virgin's Zhang Wei-Qiang
Diary
2002

Dracula Patrick Bergin

Dracula II:
Stephen Billington
Ascension

2003
Castlevania:
Lament of — Video game
Innocence

Van Helsing

Richard Roxburgh

Van Helsing Video game

2004

Blade: Trinity Dominic Purcell

Dracula 3000 Langley Kirkwood

153
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

Indian Malayalam-language television

Dracula Wins Dieus
series on Asianet.

The Batman vs.

Peter Stormare Animated film
Dracula

2005
Dracula III:
Rutger Hauer
Legacy

Castlevania:
Curse of Douglas Rye Video game
Darkness

The Grim
2005–
Adventures of Phil LaMarr Animated TV series
2008
Billy & Mandy

Castlevania:
Douglas Rye Video game
Portrait of Ruin
2006

Dracula Marc Warren Television film

2006–
Young Dracula Keith-Lee Castle TV series
2014

Castlevania: The
2007 Dracula X Patrick Seitz Video game
Chronicles

154
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

Indian Telugu-language television series

Dracula Wins Dieus
on Gemini TV.

Dracula: Origin Kevin Delaney Video game

Supernatural Todd Stashwick Episode: "Monster Movie"

2008 Castlevania:
Video game
Order of Ecclesia

Patrick Seitz

Castlevania
Video game
Judgment

The Librarian:
Curse of the Bruce Davison
Judas Chalice

House of the Michael R.

Wolf Man Thomas

Castlevania: The
— Video game
2009 Arcade

Castlevania: The
Adventure — Video game
ReBirth

2010 Castlevania: Patrick Seitz Video game

155
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

Harmony of
Despair

Castlevania:
Robert Carlyle Video game
Lords of Shadow

Family Guy Seth MacFarlane Episode: "Livin' on a Prayer"

Thomas
Dracula 3D
Kretschmann

2012

Hotel
Adam Sandler Animated film
Transylvania

Dracula Reborn Stuart Rigby Television film

2013 Castlevania:
Lords of Shadow Robert Carlyle Video game
– Mirror of Fate

Jonathan Rhys
Dracula TV series
Meyers

Sudheer
Dracula 2012 Indian horror film
Sukumaran

Dear Dracula Ray Liotta Animated film

156
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

Dracula: The
Luke Roberts
Dark Prince

Castlevania:
Lords of Shadow Robert Carlyle Video game
2
2014

Dracula Untold Luke Evans

Hotel
2015 Adam Sandler Animated film
Transylvania 2

Penny Dreadful Christian Camargo TV series

2016
Welcome To
Michael Sorich Animated film
Monster High

Monster High:
Michael Sorich Animated film
Electrified
2017

Monster Family Jason Isaacs Animated film

Monster High:
2017– The Adventures
Michael Sorich Animated TV series
2018 of the Ghoul
Squad

2017– Hotel David Berni Animated TV series

157
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

2020 Transylvania Ivan Sherry

2017–
Castlevania Graham McTavish Animated TV series
2021

Hotel
Transylvania 3:
Adam Sandler Animated film
Summer
Vacation

2018

Hotel
Transylvania 3:
Brock Powell Video game
Monsters
Overboard

Van Helsing Tricia Helfer TV series

2019 Jack Merluzzi

Castlevania:
Video game
Grimoire of Souls
Vinay Murthy

Dracula Claes Bang TV miniseries

2020
Anirban Indian Bengali-language film loosely based
Dracula Sir
Bhattacharya on the legend of the Dracula.

2021 Monster Pets Brian Hull Replacing Adam Sandler.

158
Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

Monster Family
2: Nobody's Jason Isaacs Animated film
Perfect

Hotel
Transylvania: Brian Hull Replacing Adam Sandler.
Transformania

Hotel
Transylvania:
Brian Hull Video game
Scary-Tale
Adventures

Monster High:
2022 Steve Valentine Television film
The Movie

Monster High Ken Marino Animated TV series

Dracula: The
Original Living Jake Herbert
Vampire

The Invitation Thomas Doherty

2023 Renfield Nicolas Cage

The Last Voyage Javier Botet

of the Demeter

159
 Yea Actor playing
Title Notes
r Dracula

Renfield: Bring
— Video game
Your Own Blood

Matthew
Goode (implied to
Abigail
be the real name
of Kristof Lazar)
2024

Second Remake of Nosferatu (1922) also

Nosferatu Bill Skarsgård
renamed Count Orlok.

Motel
2025 TBA Animated TV series
Transylvania

Bibliography
Books

 Aldiss, Brian Wilson; Wingrove, David (1986). Trillion Year Spree: The History of
Science Fiction. Internet Archive. Atheneum. ISBN 978-0-689-11839-5.
 Arnds, Peter (2015). "Gypsies and Jews as Wolves in Realist Fiction". Lycanthropy in
German Literature. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 69–
96. doi:10.1057/9781137541635_5. ISBN 978-1-137-54163-5.
 Auerbach, Nina; Skal, David J., eds. (1997). Dracula: Authoritative Text, Contexts,
Reviews and Reactions, Dramatic and Film Variations, Criticism. W.W.
Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-97012-8.
o Roth, Phyllis J. "Suddenly Sexual Women in Bram Stoker's Dracula". In Auerbach &
Skal (1997).
 Baldick, Chris (1996). In Frankenstein's Shadow: Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-
Century Writing. Clarendon Paperbacks (1 ed.). Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-
812249-4.
 Bauman, Zygmunt (1991). Modernity and the Holocaust. Polity Press. ISBN 978-0-745-
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o Nystrom, Lisa. "Blood, Lust, and the Fe/Male Narrative in Bram Stoker's Dracula
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 Browning, John Edgar; Picart, Caroline Joan, eds. (2011). Dracula in Visual Media:
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 Farson, Daniel (1975). The Man Who Wrote Dracula: A Biography of Bram Stoker.
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and Its Enduring Legacy. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-3533-0.
 Glover, David (1996). Vampires, Mummies, and Liberals: Bram Stoker and the Politics
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War on Virtue from Wesley to Dracula. University of Virginia
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 o Milbank, Alison. "'Powers Old and New': Stoker's Alliances with Anglo-Irish
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 Hughes, William (2009). Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Reader's Guide. A&C
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 Leblanc, Benjamin H. (1997). "The Death of Dracula: A Darwinian Approach to the
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5. OCLC 244770292.
 Masters, Anthony (1972). The Natural History of the Vampire. G. P. Putnam's
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 McGrath, Patrick (1997). "Preface: Bram Stoker and his Vampire". In Davison, Carol
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 McNally, Raymond T.; Florescu, Radu (1994). In Search of Dracula: The History of
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 Mighall, Robert (1999). A Geography of Victorian Gothic Fiction: Mapping History's
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 Miller, Elizabeth (2001). Dracula. Parkstone Press. ISBN 9781874287247.
 Miller, Elizabeth (2005a). A Dracula Handbook. Xlibris. ISBN 978-1-4134-8095-5.
 Miller, Elizabeth, ed. (2005). "Bram Stoker's Working Papers for Dracula". Dictionary of
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Thompson Gale. ISBN 078766841-9.
o Frayling, Christopher; Miller, Elizabeth. "Bram Stoker's Working Papers for
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 Miller, Elizabeth (2006). Dracula: Sense and Nonsense (2nd ed.). Desert Island
Books. ISBN 9781905328154.
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In Punter (2012), pp. 197–210.
 Ronay, Gabriel (1972). The Truth About Dracula. Stein and Day. ISBN 9780812815245.
 Senf, Carol A (2010). Bram Stoker. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-2306-9.
 Skal, David J. (2016). Something in the Blood: the Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man
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010-1.
 Stephanou, Aspasia (2014). Reading Vampire Gothic through Blood: Bloodlines.
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 Stoker, Bram (2019). Eighteen-Bisang, Robert; Miller, Elizabeth (eds.). Drafts of
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 Andriescu Garcia, Anca (2018). "Dracula – Hybridity and Metafiction". Acta

Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica. 10 (1): 53–73. doi:10.2478/ausp-2018-0004.
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 Bierman, Joseph S. (1 January 1977). "The Genesis and Dating of 'Dracula' from Bram
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 Caine, Hall (24 April 1912). "Bram Stoker". The Daily Telegraph. p. 16.
 Case, Alison (1993). "Tasting the Original Apple: Gender and the Struggle for Narrative
Authority in 'Dracula'". Narrative. 1 (3): 223–243. ISSN 1063-3685. JSTOR 20107013.
 Cengel, Katya (October 2020). "How the Vampire Got His Fangs". Smithsonian
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 Chevalier, Noel (2002). "Dracula: Sense & Nonsense by Elizabeth Miller
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 Clasen, Mathias (2012). "Attention, Predation, Counterintuition: Why Dracula Won't
Die". Style. 46 (3–4): 378–398. ISSN 0039-4238. JSTOR 10.5325/style.46.3-4.378.
 Craft, Christopher (1984). "'Kiss Me with those Red Lips': Gender and Inversion in Bram
Stoker's Dracula". Representations (8): 107–133. doi:10.2307/2928560. ISSN 0734-
6018. JSTOR 2928560.
 Croley, Laura Sagolla (1995). "The Rhetoric of Reform in Stoker's 'Dracula': Depravity,
Decline, and the Fin-de-Siècle 'Residuum'". Criticism. 37 (1): 85–108. ISSN 0011-
1589. JSTOR 23116578.
 Curran, Bob (2000). "Was Dracula an Irishman?". History Ireland. 8 (2).
 Dearden, Lizzie (20 May 2014). "Radu Florescu Dead: Legacy of the Romanian 'Dracula
professor'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 January 2021.
 Doniger, Wendy (20 November 1995). "Sympathy for the Vampire". The Nation. pp. 608–
612.
 Fitts, Alexandra (1998). "Alejandra Pizarnik's 'La condesa Sangrienta' and the Lure of
the Absolute". Letras Femeninas. 24 (1/2): 23–35. ISSN 0277-4356. JSTOR 23021659.
 Halberstam, Judith (1993). "Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker's
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 Hennelly, Mark M. (2001). "Framing the Gothic: From Pillar to Post-
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 Hensley, Wayne E. (2002). "The Contribution of F. W. Murnau's 'Nosferatu' to the
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4260. JSTOR 43797068.
 Ingelbien, Raphaël (2003). "Gothic Genealogies: Dracula, Bowen's Court, And Anglo-
Irish Psychology". ELH. 70 (4): 1089–1105. doi:10.1353/elh.2004.0005. ISSN 1080-
6547. S2CID 162335122.
 Kane, Michael (1997). "Insiders/Outsiders: Conrad's 'The Nigger of the "Narcissus"' and
Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'". The Modern Language Review. 92 (1): 1–
21. doi:10.2307/3734681. ISSN 0026-7937. JSTOR 3734681.
 Kuzmanovic, Dejan (2009). "Vampiric Seduction and Vicissitudes of Masculine Identity
in Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'". Victorian Literature and Culture. 37 (2): 411–
425. doi:10.1017/S1060150309090263. ISSN 1060-1503. JSTOR 40347238. S2CID 5492
1027.
 McAlduff, Paul S. (2012). "The Publication of Dracula". Journal of Dracula
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 McKee, Patricia (2002). "Racialization, Capitalism, and Aesthetics in Stoker's
"Dracula"". NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction. 36 (1): 42–
60. doi:10.2307/1346114. ISSN 0029-5132. JSTOR 1346114.
 Miller, Elizabeth (August 1996). "Filing for Divorce: Vlad Tepes vs. Count
Dracula". The Borgo Post: 2.
 Miller, Elizabeth (1999). "Back to the Basics: Re-Examining Stoker's Sources for
'Dracula'". Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 10 (2 (38)): 187–196. ISSN 0897-
0521. JSTOR 43308384.
 Moretti, Franco (1982). "The Dialectic of Fear". New Left Review. 13: 67–85.
 Moses, Michael Valdez (1997). "The Irish Vampire: Dracula, Parnell, and the Troubled
Dreams of Nationhood". Journal X: A Journal in Culture and Criticism. 2 (1).
 Neocleous, Mark (2003). "The Political Economy of the Dead: Marx's
Vampires". History of Political Thought. 24 (4): 668–684. ISSN 0143-
781X. JSTOR 26220011.
 Renshaw, Daniel (2022). "'A fine fellow ... although rather Semitic': Jews and
Antisemitism in Jules Verne's Le Château des Carpathes and Bram Stoker's
Dracula". Jewish Culture and History. 23 (4): 289–
306. doi:10.1080/1462169X.2022.2131060.
 Retamar, Roberto Fernández; Winks, Christopher (2005). "On Dracula, the West,
America, and Other Inventions". The Black Scholar. 35 (3): 22–
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47429554.
 Rhodes, Gary D. (1 January 2010). "Drakula Halála (1921): The Cinema's First
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 Sanders, Elizabeth (2015). "An Up-to-date Religion: The Challenges and Constructions
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 Schaffer, Talia (1994). "'A Wilde Desire Took Me': The Homoerotic History of
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 Sommerlad, Joe (13 July 2017). "Celebrating Eiko Ishioka's extraordinary costumes for
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 Stevenson, John Allen (1988). "A Vampire in the Mirror: The Sexuality of
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 Stewart, Bruce (1999). "Bram Stoker's Dracula: Possessed by the Spirit of the
Nation?". Irish University Review. 29 (2): 238–255. ISSN 0021-1427. JSTOR 25484813.
 Tchaprazov, Stoyan (2015). "The Slovaks and Gypsies of Bram Stoker's Dracula:
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 Tomaszweska, Monika (2004). "Vampirism and the Degeneration of the Imperial Race:
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 Warren, Louis S. (2002). "Buffalo Bill Meets Dracula: William F. Cody, Bram Stoker,
and the Frontiers of Racial Decay" (PDF). The American Historical
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 Walker, Richard J. (2007), "The Blood is the Life: Bram Stoker's Infected
Capital", Labyrinths of Deceit, Culture, Modernity and Identity in the Nineteenth
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849-2, retrieved 7 February 2025
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 "Why Christopher Lee's Dracula Didn't Suck". The Daily Telegraph. 13 June
2015. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
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 Vorachek, Laura (2009). "Mesmerists and Other Meddlers: Social Darwinism,
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 Zanger, Jules (1991). "A Sympathetic Vibration: Dracula and the Jews". English
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Contemporary critical reviews

 "Book Reviews Reviewed". The Academy: A Weekly Review of Literature, Science, and
Art. 31 July 1897. p. 98.
 "Current Literature: Hutchinson & Co's Publications". The Advertiser. 22 January 1898.
p. 8.
 "Untitled". The Bookseller: A Newspaper of British and Foreign Literature. 3 September
1897. p. 816.
 "Untitled". The Daily Mail. 1 June 1897. p. 3.
 "Books of the Day". The Daily Telegraph. 3 June 1897. p. 6.
 "Dracula". The Glasgow Herald. 10 June 1897. p. 10.
 "Supped Full with Horrors". The Land of Sunshine. June 1899. p. 261.
 "A Romance of Vampirism". Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. 30 May 1897. p. 80.
 "Untitled". Of Literature, Science, and Art (Fiction Supplement). 12 June 1897. p. 11.
 "Novels". The Manchester Guardian. 15 June 1897. p. 9.
 "A Fantastic Theme Realistically Treated". New-York Tribune (Illustrated Supplement).
19 November 1899.
 "Untitled". Publisher's Circular and Booksellers' Record of British and Foreign
Literature. 7 August 1897. p. 131.
 "Recent Novels". Review of Politics, Literature, Theology, and Art. 79: 150–151. 31 July
1897.
 "The Insanity of the Horrible". The San Francisco Wave. 9 December 1899. p. 5.
 "Review: Dracula". Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art. 3 July
1897. p. 21.
 "Books to Read, and Others". Vanity Fair: A Weekly Show of Political, Social, and
Literary Wares. 29 June 1897. p. 80.
Websites

 Buzwell, Greg (14 May 2014). "Bram Stoker's stage adaptation of Dracula". The British
Library. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
 "Most portrayed literary character in film". Guinness World Records. 2015. Archived
from the original on 31 January 2025. Retrieved 28 February 2025.
 Rubery, Matthew (2 March 2011). "Sensation Fiction". Oxford Bibliographies. Oxford
University Press. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
Further reading
Studies on Dracula's notes
The following is a list of books or articles that study all or part of Bram Stoker's notes
for Dracula.

 Bierman, Joseph S. (1 January 1977). "The Genesis and Dating of 'Dracula' from
Bram Stoker's Working Notes". Notes and Queries. CCXXII (jan): 39–
41. doi:10.1093/notesj/CCXXII.jan.39. ISSN 0029-3970.

166
 Eighteen-Bisang, Robert; Miller, Elizabeth, eds. (2008). Bram Stoker's Notes for
Dracula: A Facsimile Edition. McFarland & Co. Pub. ISBN 978-0-7864-5186-
9. OCLC 335291872.
 Frayling, Christopher (1992). Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula.
Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-16792-0.
 Leatherdale, Clive, ed. (1987). The Origins of Dracula: The Background to Bram
Stoker's Gothic Masterpiece. Kimber. ISBN 978-0-7183-0657-1.
 Miller, Elizabeth, ed. (2005). "Bram Stoker's Working Papers for
Dracula". Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 304: Bram Stoker's Dracula, A
Documentary Volume. Thompson Gale. ISBN 078766841-9.
 McNally, Raymond T.; Florescu, Radu (1973). Dracula: A Biography of Vlad the
Impaler. Hawthorne Books. ISBN 9780801522208.
 Miller, Elizabeth (2006). Dracula: Sense and Nonsense (2nd ed.). Desert Island
Books. ISBN 9781905328154.
 Roth, Phyllis A. (1982). Bram Stoker. Twayne's English Authors Series. Twayne
Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8057-6828-2.
 Stoker, Bram (2007). Dracula: A Centennial Edition. New York: Signet
Classics. ISBN 978-0-451-53066-0.
 Stoker, Bram; Klinger, Leslie S. (2008). The New Annotated Dracula. W.W. Norton
& Co. ISBN 978-0-393-06450-6. OCLC 227016511.
Other

 Demetrakopoulos, Stephanie (1977). "Feminism, Sex Role Exchanges, and Other

Subliminal Fantasies in Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'". Frontiers: A Journal of Women
Studies. 2 (3): 104–113. doi:10.2307/3346355. ISSN 0160-9009. JSTOR 3346355.
 Houston, Gail Turley (2005). From Dickens to Dracula: Gothic, Economics, and
Victorian Fiction. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-511-12624-
7. OCLC 61394818.
 Hughes, William (2000). Beyond Dracula: Bram Stoker's Fiction and Its Cultural
Context. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-349-40967-9. OCLC 1004391205.
 Keogh, Calvin W. (2014). "The Critics' Count: Revisions of Dracula and the
Postcolonial Irish Gothic". Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary
Inquiry. 1 (2): 189–206. doi:10.1017/pli.2014.8. ISSN 2052-2614. S2CID 19306711
5.
 McNally, Raymond T. (1983). Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood
Countess of Transylvania. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780070456716.
Spooner, Catherine (2006). Contemporary Gothic. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-86189-
301-7

167