"Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!"
So here's some friendly advice...if you're ever visiting a friend's house and this is the greeting that you receive...RUN!
More than 500 years ago, Prince Vlad "the Impaler" Tepes, aka Dracula, ruled Wallachia on the frontier of the Ottoman Empire and gained notoriety throughout Europe as a fierce and murderous tyrant. How bad was he? Well, his name alone translates as "son of the devil". In 1462, Vlad impaled/ displayed over 20,000 Transylvanian men to simply intimidate the approaching Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Impalement- Vlad style- includes the use of a long wooden stake that was pierced between the legs of a victim's body and then planted in the ground. Over several days, the victim would slide down the stake under the force of his own weight- destroying his internal organs and ultimately bleeding to death. OUCH! Another famous story tells of the time when two ambassadors paid a visit to Vlad's court at Tirgoviste. Refusing to remove their turbans at the presence of Prince Vlad, the ruthless tyrant ordered that their headpieces be nailed to their heads- such that they should never have to remove them again. Nice guy, huh?
Over the centuries, millions of people in Europe read and heard outlandish tales about Vlad Dracula, but the one legend that has probably had the biggest impact on today's society is this: dedicating his life to defending the Church from the Ottoman Empire, Vlad became distraught upon learning of his wife's death while he was away at battle. As a result, he sold his soul to the devil to punish the same God whom he had spent his life defending. The price he had to pay for this act, though, was costly. He was now destined to live the life of a vampire.
Well, this part of Vlad's illustrious life engaged the curiosity of a young Irish novelist. Centuries later, writer Bram Stoker combined the Prince's bloodthirsty historical reputation with popular vampire folklore, and the literary Gothic character Count Dracula was born in 1897.
Please read chapters 1-4 by next Thursday...or somebody may be paying you a nocturnal visit. Vah, ah, ah, ah...
More than 500 years ago, Prince Vlad "the Impaler" Tepes, aka Dracula, ruled Wallachia on the frontier of the Ottoman Empire and gained notoriety throughout Europe as a fierce and murderous tyrant. How bad was he? Well, his name alone translates as "son of the devil". In 1462, Vlad impaled/ displayed over 20,000 Transylvanian men to simply intimidate the approaching Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Impalement- Vlad style- includes the use of a long wooden stake that was pierced between the legs of a victim's body and then planted in the ground. Over several days, the victim would slide down the stake under the force of his own weight- destroying his internal organs and ultimately bleeding to death. OUCH! Another famous story tells of the time when two ambassadors paid a visit to Vlad's court at Tirgoviste. Refusing to remove their turbans at the presence of Prince Vlad, the ruthless tyrant ordered that their headpieces be nailed to their heads- such that they should never have to remove them again. Nice guy, huh?
Over the centuries, millions of people in Europe read and heard outlandish tales about Vlad Dracula, but the one legend that has probably had the biggest impact on today's society is this: dedicating his life to defending the Church from the Ottoman Empire, Vlad became distraught upon learning of his wife's death while he was away at battle. As a result, he sold his soul to the devil to punish the same God whom he had spent his life defending. The price he had to pay for this act, though, was costly. He was now destined to live the life of a vampire.
Well, this part of Vlad's illustrious life engaged the curiosity of a young Irish novelist. Centuries later, writer Bram Stoker combined the Prince's bloodthirsty historical reputation with popular vampire folklore, and the literary Gothic character Count Dracula was born in 1897.
Please read chapters 1-4 by next Thursday...or somebody may be paying you a nocturnal visit. Vah, ah, ah, ah...
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