Vlad The Impaler Essay

When people hear the name Count Dracula, they often picture a vampire with slicked back black hair who has pointy canine teeth. He is white or extremely pale and he wears a suit and a cape. This image comes from Halloween costumes, which are based from the character from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula. The character from Dracula from Bram Stoker’s novel didn’t technically exist, but there was a Count that went by the name of Vlad the Impaler. He was not a vampire; however, he was guilty of committing some pretty violent murders. Separating the legend from facts, and find out why leads to the discovery that Vlad the Impaler was a bigger monster than Bram Stoker could have ever created. Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, is about a man named Jonathan

His first reign lasted only two months. Then, he reigned from 1456-1462. This is when he started his torturing and earned his name as “Vlad the Impaler”. During his reign, Vlad built at castle by the Arges River, where most of his victims died. There was not much written in history about Vlad III. However, there were several stories and pamphlets that were written that told about the horrible tortures that Vlad was doing. Some think that these were written to ruin the reputation of Vlad so that he would be dethroned and a new leader would be found. Some think that the pamphlets were written just for entertainment or to scare people. (unmuseum.org). Although there may not be a lot of history documented about Vlad III, there are plenty of stories that tell of his terror when you research him. Vlad impaled his victims in several ways. The most common was to use a not-to-sharp stake that was oiled, and insert it through the rectum. The stake was forced up through the body until it came out through the mouth. Another way that Vlad impaled his victims was through the stomach or chest. Sometimes, he would impale babies and then kill their mother using the same stake, while the baby was still attached. Sometimes he impaled people upside