Dracula Slept Here
Sighişoara, Romania
September 15, 2008
Sighişoara, Romania
September 15, 2008
No, Count Dracula didn’t sleep here but allegedly his inspiration – Vlad Dracul aka Vlad the Impaler – did. There is much debate over the extent of Bran Stoker’s knowledge of the House of Drăculeşti and Transylvanian history in general. In those pre-information age days it appears Mr. Stoker sourced the background for his famous gothic novel from the few available volumes of Romanian history and various popular essays on Transylvania folklore. Apparently he stumbled across the reference to Vlad Dracul after the manuscript was compleat and only then renamed his aristocratic lead character. So it seems ironic that the real-life Vlad the Impaler who earned his moniker due to his penchant for impaling people he didn’t like was responsible for the gruesome deaths of thousands more people than the comparably tame fictional Count.
Despite the tenuous connection, the town of Sighişoara isn’t above exploiting the tourist potential and it isn’t hard to get yourself a Dracula mug or mousepad anywhere around town. That being said, the town shows an admirable restraint and apparently vetoed a proposal for a Dracula theme park a few years ago. Thankfully they prefer to focus visitors’ attentions on the delightful medieval architecture and rich Transylvanian history.
