For HALLOWEEN

1
For HALLOWEEN

• A little extra insight

2
The Vampire Legend

• Is there a real place called Transylvania?
• Yes, in present day Romania
• Was there a real Dracula?
• Yes
• but he wasnt a vampire

3
The Vampire Legend

• He is known as some combination of Vlad Tepes
  Dracula
• He was born in 1431
• His name Dracula means son of Dracul (Dragon)
• His father, Vlad Dracul was effectively a knight
  in an military/religious order whose purpose was
  to protect the interests of Catholicism,and drive
  the Turks out of the region

4
The Vampire Legend

• The order's official dress - a black cape over a
  red garment - was worn only on Fridays
• Vlad Tepes Draculas father led Walachia 1436 to
  1447 when he was assassinated
• Vlad was a political prisoner in Turkey from
  1442-1447

5
The Vampire Legend

• Vlad Tepes Dracula ruled Walachia in 1448 for 2
  months, again in 1456-1462 and 1475-1476
• Tepes The Impaler for his use of impalement
  as punishment for crimes
• He was constantly battling the Turks and the
  Hungarians throughout his life (when out of
  prison)
• In 1462, to repel a major Turkish invasion he had
  the carcasses of some 20,000 Turkish captives
  impaled on thousands of stakes, a horror scene
  which was nicknamed the "Forest of the Impaled.

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The Vampire Legend

• Dracul can also mean Devil so elsewhere in Europe
  he was sometimes know as Dracula son of the
  Devil
• He is remembered favorably in Romania because of
  his attempts to keep the Hungarians and Turks out
  and low crime rates

7
The Vampire Legend

• Bram Stoker modified the real Dracula to use in
  his Dracula novel of 1897
• Various legends and folklore of the region were
  used in the novel
• Draculas body was not found when it was dug up
• For some reason, some bodies dont decay very
  quickly and so appear undead if dug up
• A stake (or knitting needle) through the heart
  was used to keep the dead dead (believe it or not)