In 1442, when Vlad was 9 years old, his father was killed by Vladislav II and the throne was taken. Vlad and his two brothers were taken prisioner by the Sulten Murad II of Turkey. Although Vlad and his younger brother Radu were spared, his older brother was tortured and killed. Vlad witness many such events during his stay in Turkey.

At 17, he broke free from Turkish imprisionment and with small Turkish troops he marched back to Wallachia to persue his rightful throne. He was defeated by Vladislav II again, but retained his troops and returned to a section of Wallachia. In July of 1456 Vlad again marched against Vladislav II and victory was won. On Easter Sunday he arrested all the Boyar families that had aided Vladislav II obtain the throne. Dracul considered them ultimately responsible for his father and brother’s death, and so for revenge he impaled all the elder boyar and marched the younger away from the capital city to Poenari, a 50 mile trek. Upon arrival, those boyars that did not die on the way were at once ordered to build a fortress at Poenari. This fortress became known as the castle Dracula, even though Vlad spent very little of his time there.

Vlad Dracul was a prince in the district of Wallachia, Romania. His father was an inductee to the Knights of the Order whose emblem was the dragon. This is believed to be one source for the name Dracul, as in Romanian ‘dracul’ means dragon as well as devil.

During his rein in Wallachia, Vlad Dracul was known for the torturous deaths he imposed on criminals. His often had criminals skinned, boiled, decapitated, blinded, strangled, hanged, burned, hacked, nailed, buried alive, and he enjoyed simple tortures such as cutting off noses, ears and sexual organs. But, his signature sentence of death was impalement of the body on long stakes. In 1462 Vlad lead an invasion against the Sulten Mehmed II of Turkey. His invasion failed and as a result the Sulten sent troops after Vlad into Wallachia. Vlad, refusing to be beaten by his Turkish enemies while knowing that his troops were far outnumbered, retreated into the capital city. The Turks marched after, only to discover the bodies of 20,000 Turkish captives hanging on stakes outside the city. It is for this reason that ’Tepes’ (Romanian for impale) was added to Vlad Dracul’s name, and that he became commonly known as Vlad the Impaler. What makes this notorious prince part of the vampire myth is not only the fact that he was the basis for Bram Stoker’s character Dracula, but also because it was rumored that Vlad Dracul drank the blood of his victims.

Another famous and undisputed inspiration for the classic vampire is the Lady Elizabeth Bathory. Born in 1560, Bathory was a Hungarian countess raised at the Bathory estate in Ecsed, Transylvania. After her marriage in 1575, Bathory took over her husband’s estate and began her cruel and murderous reign over her servants. She is said to have indulged in the torture of young servant girls, her favorite torture being that of sticking pins in sensitive parts of the body, such as under fingernails. In one famous instance, Bathory is said to have hit a servant girl for badly brushing Bathory’s hair. When blood from the girls nose got on Bathory’s hand, she realized that the blood made her skin appear younger. The Lady is said to have bathed in the blood of young virgins from that point forward. In 1610, Bathory was arrested for the murder of a noble woman. During her trial and register of 600 victims was found in her living quarters.

Madness came upon Her like an amorous lover’s seed Lifesblood splashed upon Her skin In gouts torture unleashed