Dracula

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The Real Count Dracula May Have Cried Bloody Tears
The Real Count Dracula
May Have Cried Bloody Tears
new study
Aug 11, 2023 11:54 AM CDT

The Real Count Dracula May Have Cried Bloody Tears

Scientists have the peptides to prove it

(Newser) - The brutal 15th-century ruler Count Vlad Draculea may or may not be the inspiration for the fictional Dracula, but he had a blood-themed quirk of his own: Scientists say he likely cried tears tinged with blood. In the journal ACS Analytical Chemistry , researchers say they analyzed three letters written by...

Library Finds the Actual Books Bram Stoker Used for Dracula

London Library says it found 26 volumes in its collection with his scribbles, turned corners

(Newser) - Back in the 1890s, somebody spent a lot of time in the London Library reading about werewolves and the supernatural. This person also committed a cardinal sin of library goers—he defaced the books with his own notes in the margins and folded down the corners of pages. But as...

Dracula's Castle Now Being Guarded by Bears

And tourists are being kept away

(Newser) - After 600 or so years, it's once again wise to give Dracula's castle a wide berth. The AP reports the historic Poenari Castle in Romania was closed to tourists late last month "for the safety of visitors." Apparently tourists climbing the nearly 1,500 steps to...

It's Known as Dracula's Castle, to Its Owner's Dismay

Dominic Habsburg aims to educate tourists about its true history

(Newser) - Just about everyone associates Bran Castle with Dracula—except its owner. For Archduke Dominic Habsburg, the Romanian fortress is the former home of his grandparents, Queen Marie and King Ferdinand I, who made it "a happy place of light and flowers." Today, however, few know anything about the...

You Can Spend Halloween in a Coffin at Dracula's Castle

Don't let the vampire bite

(Newser) - You could spend a night in Dracula’s Transylvanian castle—but sleep is no guarantee. Airbnb is offering two guests an overnight stay at Bran Castle in the mountains of Transylvania, fittingly, on Halloween night. The great grandnephew of Bram Stoker, who based his 19th-century novel on the very place,...

Want Free Music? Give Blood—in Transylvania

Romania tries unconventional way to draw blood from stony population

(Newser) - Romania is tapping into the Dracula legend, offering concert-goers free tickets in exchange for their blood. The campaign is part of a push to increase blood donations in a country where only 1.7% of the people donate blood. Adrian Chereji, marketing director for the UNTOLD Festival, said today the...

Secret Tunnel by 'Dracula's Dungeon' Uncovered

Blocked tunnel may lead to bath at Tokat's city center

(Newser) - Archaeologists still aren't entirely sure where a secret passageway beneath a castle in Turkey leads, but visitors can now explore it for themselves. Not far from where Vlad the Impaler—the inspiration for Dracula— was reportedly held in one of two dungeons inside Tokat Castle, the tunnel stretches for...

Archaeologist Thinks He's Found 'Dracula's Dungeon'

In Turkey's Tokat Castle

(Newser) - An archaeologist who has been part of the restoration and excavation effort at Turkey's Tokat Castle believes he has uncovered the dungeons where Vlad the Impaler was once held. Ibrahim Cetin tells the Hurriyet Daily News that the two dungeons that were found were "built like a prison....

Historian Who Revealed Real Dracula Dies

Florescu linked legends to Vlad the Impaler

(Newser) - The historian who linked legends of Dracula to sadistic 15th-century Romanian ruler Vlad the Impaler has died at the age of 88. Romanian-born professor Radu Florescu, who fled his homeland on the Orient Express as World War II broke out, gained fame in the '70s with In Search of ...

For Sale: Dracula's Castle
 For Sale: Dracula's Castle 
May 12, 2014 4:00 AM CDT

For Sale: Dracula's Castle

Transylvanian property owner seeks bites

(Newser) - A one-of-its-kind property is available for buyers looking for a big stake in the Transylvanian property market: the castle that once housed the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. Bran Castle, long one of Romania's top tourist attractions, has been owned by everybody from Teutonic knights to Communist governments...

Hey Twilight Fans: Edward Really Is Related to Dracula

Ancestry.com unveils Robert Pattinson's relation to Dracula

(Newser) - This is sure to send all those Twilight-obsessed tweens into a tizzy: Robert Pattinson, aka Edward Cullen of the Twilight films, is related to Dracula. At least, he’s related to Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula character, the AP reports. Twilight author Stephenie Meyer is...

Comedian? Poet? Vampire? Anything but Governor

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich probably didn’t help his case with his whirlwind media tour yesterday, “but he just might establish himself as an unofficial poet laureate of the criminal justice system,” Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post. Blago quoted Tennyson and Kipling all day, proclaimed his innocence, compared...

Psychologists: Victorian Novels Helped Us Evolve

Victorian literature upheld cooperation, personal sacrifice

(Newser) - Victorian novels didn't just tout moralistic values of 19th-century British society, they helped altruistic genes flourish, a study claims. Evolutionary psychologists say classic characters such as Mr. Darcy and Count Dracula helped instill and promote a sense of right and wrong in society, the Guardian reports, specifically the notion that...

Fangs for the Memories: Dracula's Castle Up for Sale

Heir seeks $135m stake

(Newser) - Count Dracula's Castle, complete with screeching bats, is up for sale—for a mere $135 million stake. Officially known as Bran Castle,  the 700-year-old Transylvanian abode has only a tenuous link to Prince Vlad the Impaler, the bloodthirsty inspiration for writer Bram Stoker's legendary villain, but has became a...

14 Stories