0:13

straw, ash,

0:15

bone and

0:17

sickle, bleeding

0:19

saints and

0:22

forest witches,

0:24

the past

0:26

unbearied, the

0:29

books unsealed,

0:31

the old

0:34

celebration, returning.

0:45

Hello, welcome to to study. Please

0:47

come in, have a seat.

0:49

All the books the books New

0:51

or those used to research our

0:54

show. the And the individual to

0:56

my right here, along with

0:58

Managing Domestic Duties, serves as our

1:00

reader for any passages that

1:02

will be directly quoted from these

1:04

sources. quoted name is sources. Her Carr

1:06

as well. Carswell. Hello.

1:09

So in our holiday our holiday season

1:11

now. know for bone and sickle

1:13

listeners, the Time time begins before Halloween

1:15

and then through through that first

1:17

week of December when the crepus

1:19

comes and on into Christmas into December

1:21

when... when we'll will be presenting our

1:23

Christmas ghost story. and in

1:26

there too! there too. Yes, I only only bring

1:28

this up to say this that things

1:30

around here get a little here get a

1:33

little are There are stressors issues that come

1:35

up, up, but but I'm happy happy to

1:37

report that those noises were hearing

1:39

in the basement last month. month

1:42

have stopped. Plummer said Plumber said

1:44

everything looks good down there and and I've

1:46

had the clock picked up for

1:48

a good cleaning and maintenance maintenance so We

1:50

hope to have that back and and off

1:52

the minutes of the new year. new year,

1:54

maybe sooner. Too bad bad the

1:56

plumber didn't come until until the

1:58

the stopped. stopped. Well, he

2:01

said everything looked good. He didn't find

2:03

anything and didn't hear any noises, so

2:05

it really doesn't tell you much. I

2:09

guess I'd rather just listen to him

2:11

than to your bees. Mrs. Carswell's bees

2:13

have been acting strange and she seems

2:15

to think they have the answer. I

2:18

never said that. I just pointed out

2:20

that they were all over the bill

2:22

code doors because they sent something's going

2:24

on in the basement. Well it stopped

2:26

and as far as that other thing...

2:28

You don't want to talk about it.

2:31

Look, I'm sorry I went into your

2:33

room, but it was my wedge aboard

2:35

you had in there. That's not it.

2:39

Right. I thought we agreed you

2:41

just had a sore throat. I

2:43

don't even remember it, so we

2:45

don't need to talk about any

2:48

horrible things that I say. I'm

2:50

just saying that a voice can

2:52

come out kind of strange like

2:54

that if there's inflammation or something?

2:57

Maybe it was vocal fry. Maybe.

2:59

I wouldn't say it sounded exactly

3:01

like that. It

3:03

just feels like a bad

3:05

dream. I've been having terrible

3:08

dreams. I'm sorry to hear

3:10

that, but maybe it would

3:12

be better to think about

3:14

something else. We could do

3:16

our patron thank you as

3:18

a distraction. Thank you to

3:21

our friends. I just keep

3:23

having this one dream. Thank

3:25

you to our friends who

3:27

listen to the show. Sharing

3:30

in our travels through tales

3:33

of long ago. Stories full

3:35

of folklore. Stories full of

3:37

horror. If you give us

3:39

money, we will like you

3:42

more. And our heroes of

3:44

the day are... I'll eat

3:46

them, but... I can do

3:48

it. I have the list.

3:51

We are very grateful to

3:53

the following subscribers who've chipped

3:55

in to make this show

3:57

possible. They are Gleason, James...

4:01

Kane and Gabriel Suarez. It

4:03

just seems so real. What?

4:05

The dream. I have to

4:08

go into the basement. Oh

4:10

yes, the basement. I have

4:12

to get a saw. That's

4:15

where they are. And then

4:17

I hear a voice that

4:19

says, cut the cross, which

4:22

means the cross cut saw.

4:24

There are two types of

4:26

saw, right? Well, yes, a

4:29

cross cut and a ripping

4:31

saw that cuts along the

4:33

grade, not across. That'd be

4:36

right then. I'm supposed to

4:38

cut across your neck. I

4:40

have to saw your head

4:43

off and then I have

4:45

to bake it in the

4:48

oven. Oh. Well,

4:50

you have been

4:53

doing a lot

4:55

of baking lately.

4:58

Maybe... I'm really

5:00

sorry, but that

5:03

is the dream.

5:05

Okay. So this

5:08

is, this one

5:10

is episode 135.

5:13

I told you

5:15

it was horrible.

5:24

The year 1462, Constantinople

5:26

had fallen. Muslim Turks

5:28

swept into Europe with

5:31

a vast superior force,

5:33

striking at Romania, threatening

5:35

all of Christendom. Okay,

5:37

that much at least

5:39

is true in Copeless

5:41

1992 version of Dracula.

5:43

The first film connecting

5:46

Bram Stoker's count with

5:48

Blob the Impaler, though

5:50

it's a bit free

5:52

with the history. Sadly,

5:54

there's no wife named

5:56

Elis Abetta, no misguided

5:59

Romeo and suicide,

6:01

no eventual turning it against

6:03

God, and no weird red

6:05

anatomical armor. But at least

6:08

there's a nod to Flod,

6:10

whose birthday rolls around in

6:12

November, on the 8th in

6:15

1431, and that and the

6:17

Romanian connection between St. Andrew's

6:20

Eve on the 29th and

6:22

vampires, made this seem a

6:24

fitting topic for a month.

6:32

already during his lifetime, Blod

6:34

the Impaylor, Blod Sepish in

6:37

Romanian, had become quite notorious

6:39

in Europe, particularly so in

6:41

German-speaking lands. This happened through

6:44

the circulation of pamphlets, at

6:46

least 13 versions over the

6:49

years, which became a sort

6:51

of 15th century equivalent of

6:54

bestsellers or of lurid news

6:56

tabloids. We'll be hearing

6:58

from two of the oldest

7:01

versions, both written around 1463,

7:03

or shortly thereafter. Probably the

7:05

earliest of the two, written

7:07

anonymously and published in Vienna,

7:10

was titled in German. The

7:12

history of Voivod Dracula. Voivod

7:14

is a Slavic term used

7:16

in this context, to mean

7:19

essentially prince. This narrative, published

7:21

in Vienna, is sometimes called

7:23

the Saint Galen manuscript, named

7:25

for the Swiss City, where

7:28

it's preserved in archives. It

7:31

probably was a source for

7:33

the other German text, a

7:35

rhymed narrative written by Michel

7:38

Beheim, a poet associated with

7:40

the court of the King

7:42

of Germany and Holy Roman

7:44

Emperor Friedrich III. Beheim worked

7:47

within the Meisterzinger tradition, meaning

7:49

his poems were sung, and

7:51

the text includes first-person references

7:54

to a singer assuring his

7:56

audience that these ghastly deeds

7:58

are actually true. as he

8:01

reminds the audience, they're very

8:03

horrible. Beheim and the St.

8:05

Gallen story reference specific monks

8:08

and diplomats who witness the

8:10

events, and key elements in

8:12

these narratives are often corroborated

8:14

by other histories and correspondences

8:17

of the period, making room

8:19

for a bit of poetic

8:21

license, of course. About

8:26

three decades later in 1490,

8:28

Vlod's story appeared also in

8:31

Northwestern Russia. We don't know

8:33

its author, but the monk

8:35

who copied it from a

8:38

lost original mentions that his

8:40

source was written in 1486.

8:42

The Russian narrative includes several

8:45

interesting episodes not mentioned in

8:47

the German stories and provides

8:50

a portrait of the voivode

8:52

that's never so slightly less

8:54

evil. Beginning

8:59

a few years before Vlod's

9:01

death in 1476, pamphlets were

9:03

being printed with woodcut depictions

9:05

of the voivode, sometimes hand-tinted.

9:08

It's not clear which came

9:10

first, but also around this

9:12

time, a portrait painting appeared,

9:14

that iconic image which you've

9:16

seen somewhere with the long

9:19

dark hair, wide mustache and

9:21

the cap adorned with jewels

9:23

and pearls. It's sometimes called

9:25

the Ambrose portrait after its

9:27

current location in Innsbruk's Anbras

9:30

Castle and is a copy

9:32

of a lost original. It

9:35

seems possible that Vlod actually set

9:37

for this portrait, as it more

9:39

or less agrees with the description

9:42

of the voivodes' appearance recorded by

9:44

a papal legget, Nicolo Modrusa, during

9:46

a visit. He was not very

9:49

tall, but very stocky and strong,

9:51

with a cold and terrible appearance.

9:53

A strong and aquiline nose, swollen

9:56

nostrils. thin and

9:58

reddish face face which

10:00

the very long

10:03

very long eyelashes framed large

10:05

wide open green eyes.

10:07

The bushy black eyebrows made

10:09

them appear threatening. His face

10:12

and chin were shaven,

10:14

but for a mustache. Swollen

10:16

temples increased the bulk

10:18

of his head. A bull's

10:21

neck connected with his head,

10:23

from which black Kearney

10:25

locks hung on his his

10:28

wide -shoulded person. person. Now,

10:32

Vlad the Impaler is more

10:34

properly called called Vlad the Third.

10:36

his father, Vlad the Second,

10:39

was was also known as

10:41

Dracul. His son, His son, using

10:43

the Slavonic possessive form

10:45

of that, would be Vlad

10:47

Dracula. That's my stab at

10:49

the the but in other

10:51

words, in would mean of

10:53

Drakul mean of of Vlad Drakul.

10:56

There's confusion about the names

10:59

about the names Dracul and They come

11:01

from the membership of

11:03

Vlad of Vlad the second son his son

11:05

in the of the And because

11:07

because the Romanian word for dragon

11:10

also be used for used for devil,

11:12

there's a to interpret the name

11:14

as the name as Vlad, the devil or son

11:16

of the devil for for Dracula.

11:18

All given the the

11:21

devilish reputation. But

11:24

this derivation from is Christian

11:26

rather than devilish. It's from the

11:28

from the of of Saint

11:30

George, the creature by the by

11:32

the warrior Saint who

11:34

symbolizes the mission of the

11:36

Order of the that one

11:39

that was founded by

11:41

the Holy Roman Emperor Emperor Ziegaswant

11:43

of 1408. in 1408. Their

11:45

mission was to fight

11:47

back Persians into European by the

11:49

Muslim Turks. Muslim So nothing

11:52

to do with a

11:54

devilish dragon cult. So

12:00

what about these impalements? Well,

12:02

they're mentioned with almost tedious

12:05

frequency in these texts. It's

12:07

hardly a chore for the

12:09

sadistic voivode. Beheim describes a

12:12

scene frequently illustrated in the

12:14

pamphlets. He sat

12:17

down to eat in the

12:19

midst of the slaughter. He

12:22

ate his meal at the

12:24

table filled with glee. It

12:27

was his bliss to witness

12:29

the dripping blood of the

12:32

dying. He had the custom

12:34

of washing his hands in

12:36

blood when his dinner table

12:39

was brought to him. Whenever

12:41

he died, if he wished

12:44

for merry and ever new

12:46

amusements, miserable victims were paraded

12:49

by, who, when tortured, screamed

12:51

loudly. This was his joy

12:54

and delight. Among the tortures,

12:56

some had teeth bashed out,

12:59

some had fingers locked off,

13:01

and others lost their limbs.

13:04

This faithless fellow had ears

13:06

mouths and noses cut off

13:09

and hair ripped away to

13:11

the scalp. Some he had

13:13

hung on a pole, others

13:16

had their cheeks burned through.

13:18

If a person had so

13:21

long suffered such pain and

13:23

torture and could no longer

13:26

cry out, then Dracula pulled

13:28

out his sabre and locked

13:31

off his head or choked

13:33

him straight away. Whether

13:36

these be women, men,

13:38

or children, he did

13:40

this often, whenever he

13:43

sought diversion, joy, or

13:45

fun. One of the

13:47

drawbacks to picnicking into

13:49

field of skewered corpses

13:52

is that the older

13:54

ones will begin to

13:56

decay. All three accounts

13:58

describe a interaction

14:01

involving the smell. Here's the

14:03

Russian version. A servant of

14:06

his who set food before

14:08

him could not bear the

14:10

stench of this and stopped

14:12

up his nose and bent

14:14

his head to the side.

14:17

Dracula asked him, why are

14:19

you doing this? And he

14:21

answered, my lord, I cannot

14:23

bear this stench. So Dracula

14:25

ordered that he be impaled

14:28

on a steak on a

14:30

spot saying, you will live

14:32

high here, so this ditch

14:34

will not reach you. Quite

14:36

the problem-solve for this Dracula.

14:43

and now a little geography

14:45

for context. I'm pretty sure

14:48

listeners know that Transylvania was

14:50

a region of modern Romania,

14:52

but it should be noted

14:55

that this country didn't exist

14:57

until 1859. Since the 10th

15:00

century, these lands belonged in

15:02

part to Hungary, and by

15:05

the 15th century, the Ottoman

15:07

Turks exercised increasing control. During

15:10

Dracula's time, Romania consisted of

15:12

three regions. Transylvania on the

15:14

west, Moldavia in the east,

15:17

and Wallachia, below them both

15:19

in the south. Transylvania and

15:22

Moldavia were more securely under

15:24

Hungarian control, while Wallachia was

15:27

slightly more independent and served

15:29

as a buffer to Ottoman-

15:31

ruled Bulgaria across the Danube.

15:35

Dracula was Transylvania was Transylvanian

15:37

only in as much as

15:39

he was born within the

15:42

region in the town of

15:44

Sigishwara but his family left

15:46

for Vlechia when he was

15:48

four and it was there

15:51

that he and his father

15:53

ruled he was Voivode of

15:55

Wolechia. Transylvania was relatively prosperous

15:57

thriving under the influence of

16:00

German immigrants who'd established it

16:02

sort of colony, while they

16:04

weren't exclusively from the German

16:06

region known as Saxony. These

16:09

immigrants were locally known as

16:11

Saxons. The region's commercial assets

16:13

were something bitterly envied by

16:16

Voivodracula, who was repeatedly frustrated

16:18

in efforts to draw them

16:20

into Wallachia. Transylvanians, in fact,

16:22

became a major target of

16:25

his cruelties. Gory details on

16:27

all that coming shortly. And

16:30

so that leaves us to

16:32

ask, what about that castle

16:35

in Transylvania, Braun Castle, the

16:37

one tirelessly promoted by the

16:39

Romanian Tourist Authority as his

16:42

home? It's a beautiful place

16:44

and fun for all the

16:46

draxplitation, but the Wallachian lord

16:49

would have hardly been welcome

16:51

there. Instead, his royal court

16:53

was in Togravista in Wallachia.

16:55

That site is substantially less

16:58

photogenic, being now almost completely

17:00

in ruins. So, Braun Castle

17:02

makes for a nice alternative,

17:05

if historically inaccurate. Now

17:13

a bit more about Vlaad the second

17:15

to set the stage for The Impaylor's

17:17

story. Ever

17:19

since 1417, the Ottomans exerted

17:21

control over Wallachia, imposing a

17:24

tributary tax, basically protection money

17:26

that guaranteed the Turks would

17:28

leave the Wallachians alone, it

17:30

was a burdened Dracula's father

17:32

assumed when he became prince,

17:34

and ironically it was during

17:36

his rule of Wallachia as

17:38

a sort of Turkish vassal

17:40

that flaw the second was

17:43

initiated into the anti-auterman order

17:45

of the dragon. He

17:47

apparently was not a very

17:49

dedicated or reliable dragonist as

17:52

he agreed in 1437 to

17:54

support Sultan Murad, the second

17:56

in his campaign against the

17:58

Hungarians. to make things more

18:00

confusing, by 1441, he was

18:03

in talks with Janosh Huniadi,

18:05

the leader of Hungary's armies,

18:07

about supporting them against the

18:09

Ottomans. Being independent from Hungary

18:11

and technically independent from the

18:14

Ottomans, as long as the

18:16

tribute was paid, would force

18:18

Wallachian rulers to engage in

18:20

risky balancing acts like this.

18:26

If all this gives you

18:28

sort of judgey feelings about

18:30

Flad Dracul not being true

18:33

to his word, wait to

18:35

hear about what he did

18:37

with his sons. In 1442,

18:39

learning of the Voivodes' failure

18:41

to support the Turkish army

18:43

against the Hungarians, the anchored

18:45

Sultan ordered him to his

18:47

court in Adernay, Turkey, along

18:49

with his sons, Rado and

18:51

Dracula. Vlod

18:53

Raku is briefly imprisoned and

18:56

punished with increased Wallachian tributes,

18:58

but in 1443 is released.

19:01

There's a catch, however, he

19:03

has to leave his sons

19:05

behind as insurance. The brothers

19:08

spend the next four years

19:10

in Turkish exile. Dracula would

19:13

have been 12 at the

19:15

beginning and would never again

19:17

see his father who was

19:20

killed in combat a year

19:22

before his release. This

19:25

detention was not an imprisonment

19:27

exactly, but an instance of

19:30

a Turkish custom known as

19:32

Dev Sherme, the so-called child

19:34

levy or blood tax. The

19:37

children in these cases were

19:39

exclusively those of important families

19:41

in the Christian Balkans, held

19:43

not only to ensure parental

19:46

compliance, but to encourage Ottoman

19:48

acculturation. They were educated in

19:50

the palace school studying Turkish,

19:53

Persian, probably Latin, and the

19:55

Karam. They could also be

19:57

used as palace slaves. It

20:00

sometimes speculated that Dracula's exposure

20:02

to the Sultanate inculcated in

20:05

him a taste for autocracy,

20:07

or even his taste in

20:09

wardrobe, as his bejeweled and

20:12

embroidered dress in that portrait

20:14

painting suggests a certain Turkish

20:16

influence. The assimilation of his

20:19

brother Radu, however, was more

20:21

complete. He not only chose

20:23

to stay behind when Dracula

20:26

was released, but fought for

20:28

the Sultan in the siege

20:30

of Constantinople. He may also

20:33

have converted to Islam. And

20:35

more dramatically still, it was

20:37

Radu who would later replace

20:39

Dracula on the Wallachian throne

20:42

in a sort of Shakespearean

20:44

act of sibling betrayal. According

20:47

to the Byzantine historian

20:49

La Oneicos Harko Condilis,

20:51

whose source was Mamud

20:53

Pasha Grand Vizier to

20:55

the Sultan, Radu also

20:57

served the potentate in

21:00

another way. In his

21:02

1465 volume, The Histories,

21:04

he writes that the

21:06

Sultan was in love

21:08

with the boy and

21:10

invited him for conversation

21:12

and then for drinks

21:14

to his bedchamber. The

21:16

boy did not expect to suffer

21:19

such a thing from the Sultan,

21:21

and when he saw the Sultan

21:23

approaching him with that intention, he

21:26

fought him off and refused to

21:28

consent to intercourse with him. The

21:30

Sultan kissed the unwilling boy who

21:33

drew a dagger and struck the

21:35

Sultan on his thigh. He then

21:38

fled in whatever direction he could

21:40

find. Shortly afterwards,

21:42

however, he complies and became

21:45

the Sultan's lover. While Dracula

21:47

and Radu are detained in

21:49

Turkey, their father returned to

21:51

the Wallachian throne attempting to

21:53

negotiate a neutral path between

21:55

Ottoman and Hungarian conflicts.

21:58

culminated in the

22:00

disastrous crusade

22:02

of Varna. A

22:04

dream which the Hungarians,

22:06

aided by the Polish and

22:08

Burgundian forces, were roundly

22:10

defeated. At one point, Drachbul

22:12

captures Hunyadi as he

22:15

flees the Turks, then decides

22:17

to release the Hungarian

22:19

leader. A favor not returned

22:21

several years later when

22:23

Hunyadi decides to invade Wallachia.

22:25

As the boyvote flees

22:27

Togrovista, he is killed by

22:29

Hunyadi's men in a

22:31

Drachula's older brother Mietsha is

22:34

It's also captured, but

22:36

fares even worse. He is

22:38

blinded by red -hot pokers

22:40

and buried alive. Hunyadi

22:44

then places Vladislav II

22:46

on the Wallachian throne, a

22:48

member of a rival

22:50

clan with ties to the

22:52

Hungarian court, the Daneşti.

22:54

But in 1448, shortly after

22:56

Dracula has been released

22:58

by the Turks, Vladislav leaves

23:00

Wallachia, Hunyadi for a

23:02

further campaign against the Ottomans,

23:04

and Dracula, backed by

23:07

his former captive, briefly ceases

23:09

the throne, only to

23:11

be displaced by the returning

23:13

Vladislav two months later. Very

23:15

short reign. After

23:19

several years in exile among

23:21

the Ottomans and Moldavians, Dracula

23:23

takes advantage of disputes that

23:25

have arisen between Vladislav and

23:27

Hunyadi and gathers troops to

23:29

retake his throne. By

23:32

1456, Hunyadi has died,

23:34

Vladislav has been assassinated by

23:36

his own men, and

23:38

Vlad Dracula is again the

23:40

prince of Wallachia. His

23:44

second reign gets serious in

23:47

1459 with a round

23:49

of impalines. On

23:51

Easter Sunday, though his

23:54

first target, the murderers of

23:56

his father and brother. These

23:58

were the Boyars of Palaeus. Kogavista, along

24:00

with their supporters

24:02

and families. and families. The Boyars

24:04

were the land -owning

24:06

aristocracy outside the the

24:09

a a pesky

24:11

that tends to

24:13

stir up resistance

24:15

against against an autocrat. Leonico Saeklacantilos

24:18

in his The Histories that

24:20

that He killed

24:22

them all by impalement.

24:24

in their their wives and

24:26

servants, so that this

24:28

one man caused more murder than

24:30

any other about whom we have

24:32

been able to learn. have In order

24:35

to solidify his hold on power,

24:37

they say that in

24:39

a short time they say

24:42

killed a short time men, women

24:44

and children. and children. Other

24:53

sources allege that the

24:55

more the more robust were spared

24:57

and marched 200 to the

25:00

ruins of of Poenari forced to

25:02

rebuild it. it. This site

25:04

is sometimes identified as Dracula's

25:06

real castle, though it was it

25:08

was restored under his rule,

25:11

the edifice seems to

25:13

have been more of a

25:15

fortress, strategically guarding the the

25:17

Aegis River. Nonetheless, the the difficult

25:19

to access ruins have been

25:22

decorated with a few

25:24

mannequins a on stakes, and on

25:26

is a castle a castle Dracula

25:28

hotel displays. As

25:35

soon as he took

25:37

the throne, Vlod his

25:39

sights on Transylvania. agenda agenda

25:41

included issues around the

25:43

Transylvanian Wallachian goods goods and

25:45

current but also but also

25:47

the acquisition of commercial

25:49

products and producers, particularly

25:51

the swords and the swords

25:54

for which the Saxon Transylvanians

25:56

were famous. were

25:58

While he

26:00

promised throne. in a

26:03

letter of 1458 to protect

26:05

the Transylbanians against the Ottomans,

26:07

a hint of his autocratic

26:10

instinct slips out. When a

26:12

man or prince is strong

26:14

and powerful, he can make

26:17

peace as he wants to.

26:19

But when he is weak,

26:21

a stronger one will come

26:24

and do what he wants

26:26

to him. Dracula seems to

26:28

have been touchiest about Transylvanians

26:31

in the city of Brashov.

26:33

Those who supported the house

26:35

of Donesti and gave sanctuary

26:38

to a pretended to the

26:40

throne Don the third. According

26:42

to Beheim, Dracula had him

26:44

captured, stood by as he

26:47

said his final prayers, and

26:49

then... The wicked and cunning

26:51

one had a grave dug,

26:54

ordering the dog be led

26:56

to the home, and then

26:58

captated. Next, Dracula captured 400

27:01

or more young Transylvanian men,

27:03

probably skilled tradesmen, like swordsmiths,

27:05

and brought them all to

27:08

Wolegia, hoping to see them

27:10

learn the language and take

27:12

up residence. But shortly after

27:15

they'd arrived, the voivodes trademark

27:17

capriciousness took over. Beheim writes,

27:19

This vile tyrant, he had

27:22

them all burned to death,

27:24

stating, I cannot tolerate it,

27:26

should they gain knowledge here

27:29

and come to know my

27:31

homeland. Beheim mentions massacres and

27:33

impales in the Transylvanian towns

27:36

of Amlash and Bogorash, but

27:38

Vlad's greatest wrath seems to

27:40

have expressed itself in Prashov.

27:42

After decapitating Don III, he...

27:45

burned down St. Bartholomew's church,

27:47

taking all its monstrance, channels,

27:49

and vestments for the Holy

27:52

Mouse with him. He seized

27:54

everything, whatever he had been

27:56

able to find. Naturally, there

27:59

were impairs. wouldn't

28:01

be flawed without them, but

28:03

he also got more creative

28:05

with the Saxons, according to

28:08

Beheimu writes. He had some

28:10

of his nobles beheaded, and

28:12

he used their heads as

28:15

bait for crayfish. Then he

28:17

invited their friends to his

28:19

house and offered them this

28:21

same crayfish to eat, saying,

28:24

you're eating now your friend's

28:26

heads. Then he had them

28:28

hailed. Some people

28:31

he had ground up on

28:33

a grindstone and he ordered

28:35

that some captives be strict

28:37

naked and placed nude in

28:39

the earth and buried up

28:41

to their neighbors. Next he

28:43

commanded that sharp arrows be

28:45

shot at them. Then many

28:47

of them altogether were roasted

28:49

and flayed. He

28:54

ordered, made to measure, a

28:56

very large cauldron which could

28:58

be heated. It had two

29:00

handles. On top was a

29:02

lid made of planks. The

29:04

lid on the cauldron was

29:06

covered with vents, so that

29:08

a person might stick his

29:10

head through them. Then, the

29:12

monster had a large fire

29:14

made under it, had the

29:16

pot heated, had water poured

29:18

into it, and had these

29:20

persons boiled therein therein therein.

29:24

Beheim generously details out further

29:27

atrocities. Some people, he ordered

29:29

wounded, then had their wounds

29:32

rubbed with salt. Others yet

29:34

roasted in hot lard. Some

29:36

were roasted burned through, some

29:39

were broiled, some skinned, and

29:41

still others were hanged. Some

29:44

were ground on a sharpening

29:46

wheel, still others got lowered

29:48

into the latrines. Some

29:51

nude were hanged by the

29:53

hair, others he directed to

29:55

be suspended on iron chains,

29:57

those who had been struck

29:59

in their eyes, noses. mouths

30:02

and in their private places,

30:04

he commanded to be hanged.

30:06

He also had stones thrown

30:08

at them until they perished.

30:10

For some people, he demanded

30:12

that others bore out their

30:14

eyes and nails be shoved

30:16

through their ears. Dogs

30:19

too were put to use. If

30:22

incited to attack humans, they would

30:24

immediately bite them to death. Some

30:26

were fastened to wild seeds that

30:29

were allowed to race through the

30:31

streets. Others were hitched to wagons

30:33

and let roll downhill. There was

30:36

nothing to prevent their necks from

30:38

being broken. Some, he hurled from

30:40

catapels, putting others in cannons from

30:43

which he then ordered that they

30:45

be shot. He

30:47

seized suckling children a half

30:50

a year old or more,

30:52

whom the mothers pressed to

30:54

their breast, arms clasped lovingly

30:56

around their children, with their

30:58

little arms that children come

31:00

back to their mothers. He

31:02

had them in pale too.

31:04

Mothers with children and diapers.

31:06

Oh, we can skip ahead

31:08

a bit. That's too gruesome,

31:10

actually. And I rarely say

31:12

that. Skip to where? Then

31:17

he cut off. Is

31:19

that really better? Somewhat.

31:22

We'll finish it there.

31:24

Then he cut off

31:27

their breasts, which were

31:29

roasted too. And their

31:32

husbands were forced to

31:34

eat them. Then he

31:37

had them impaled swiftly.

31:39

Always impaled. Impaled. Always

31:42

impaled. Impaled. As

31:46

evidenced in the intro to the Copula

31:48

film, it's the Turks, not Transylvanians, who

31:50

are best remembered as Vlod's foes. After

31:52

their victory over the Hungarian army at

31:55

the Battle of Kosovo in 1448, follow

31:57

their victory against

31:59

all of Christendom Christendom at

32:02

in 1453, in 1453,

32:04

the expansion of their

32:06

of seemed unstoppable. However,

32:09

However, throughout this period Vlad

32:11

III, like his father, had

32:13

continued tribute payments to the

32:15

to the sometimes even traveling in

32:17

person to Turkey to to Turkey

32:19

to offer up the gold. In

32:22

1459, Pope Pius II called for

32:25

called for to check to

32:27

check Ottoman expansion, especially

32:30

leaning on Hungary for all of

32:32

this. At the

32:34

time, Corvinus, who just replaced

32:36

Huniri as leader, as was a

32:38

bit preoccupied with his own

32:40

conflicts own III of Germany, but

32:43

Germany, endorsed the Pope's

32:45

call. the Pope's call, least

32:47

in spirit while he did not send

32:49

troops against the Turks, he

32:51

did stop paying the

32:53

sultan's tribute. Something

32:56

else probably sparking

32:58

this this defiance, the The

33:00

Sultan had added to the

33:02

annual tax tax a requirement that

33:05

Wallachia also annually send young

33:07

boys to be trained trained as janissaries,

33:09

an or less identical to what Vlad

33:11

had endured as a boy. Vod had endured

33:13

as a boy. The St. Gallin like

33:15

Bayhams' poem and the

33:17

Russian narrative, all Russian a

33:20

sub all describe a by which Vlad

33:22

draws the draws emissaries

33:24

emissaries into a vengeful trap. Dracula

33:28

immediately had the the Turkish

33:30

informed that he wanted

33:32

to bring the to bring

33:34

the to the Emperor. to

33:37

the Emperor. The Turkish people rejoiced.

33:39

Thus he had the

33:41

Turkish people come to

33:43

him to large groups one

33:45

after the other other,

33:48

all courtiers wore to receive them.

33:52

and he had all the Turkish Emperor's

33:54

people killed. Also, he he had

33:56

the region called completely.

34:00

and he had some

34:02

there nailed by their

34:04

hair. And in all,

34:07

there were 25,000 killed,

34:09

as well as those

34:11

he had burned. Ambassadors

34:13

from Herrmannstadt saw in

34:15

Wallachia the dead, and

34:17

those impaled like a

34:19

large forest aside from

34:22

those he had roasted,

34:24

boiled, and flayed. Remember

34:27

the second was bit perturbed

34:30

by all this naturally and

34:32

sent a massive army into

34:34

Wallachia, second only to that

34:37

with which he'd conquered Constantinople.

34:39

80,000 men against the 10

34:41

or 15,000 commanded by Vlad.

34:44

And most of the Blachians

34:46

were recently drafted farmers, and

34:48

alongside these were youths as

34:51

young as 12. Corvinus

34:53

promised Dracula reinforcements from Hungary,

34:55

but they never arrived. The

34:58

goal of Memet's invasion was

35:00

not merely to remove Vlod

35:02

from the throne, but to

35:05

install his brother Radu in

35:07

his place. Outmanned

35:09

as he was, Vlod's men

35:12

resorted to guerrilla warfare, hiding

35:14

in the mountains and occasionally

35:16

emerging for hit-and-run cavalry attacks.

35:18

They also dug pit traps

35:20

and poisoned wells along the

35:22

way to Togovista. Streams were

35:24

diverted to create impassable marshes.

35:26

Towns were evacuated, farm animals,

35:28

and grazing herds were relocated

35:30

to deprive the advancing army

35:32

of any possible food source.

35:35

One source claims that Wallachians

35:37

suffering from the plague or

35:39

leprosy were left behind to

35:41

spread disease among the Turks.

35:44

The St. Gallen text also

35:46

describes a curious stratagem, a

35:48

sort of 15th century scyop

35:50

involving a group of gypsies

35:52

and vlod who... Dressed them

35:54

all in cow hides and

35:56

the same with their horses.

35:59

when they came apart one

36:01

another, that is, the gypsies

36:03

on Turks, the Turks horses

36:05

took fright and fled on

36:07

account of the commotion, and

36:09

the gypsies followed. Thus, the

36:12

Turks couldn't control their horses,

36:14

and they fled to a

36:16

river with the gypsies following,

36:18

and they all drowned. I'd

36:20

like to see that scene

36:22

in the next Dracula movie.

36:26

Despite all these impediments, Memet's

36:28

men continued to make their

36:31

way north, eventually encamping not

36:33

far from the capital city

36:35

to Gavishta. Knowing the risks

36:37

of a daylight face-off, Vlod

36:40

hoped instead to simply assassinate

36:42

the Sultan by night. Some

36:44

sources have Vod himself conducting

36:46

reconnaissance disguised as the Turk

36:49

slipping into the sleeping camp,

36:51

trying to locate the ruler's

36:53

tent. On

36:56

the night, June 17th,

36:58

the four Malakian army

37:00

attacked the camp by

37:02

torchlight in an assault

37:04

Romanians know as the

37:06

night battle. It's

37:08

the subject of much circulated

37:11

1866 painting, Battle of Torches,

37:13

by Romanian painter Tedor Armon,

37:15

and Victor Hugo wrote a

37:17

poem about it in 1859,

37:19

in the first of his

37:22

three volume, Legend of the

37:24

Ages. The June 17th anniversary

37:26

was even commemorated for some

37:28

years with a theatrical reenactment

37:30

staged outside the ruins of

37:33

Togravishna castle. While

37:36

there were heavy casualties

37:38

in both sides and

37:41

as celebrated as the

37:43

night battle might have

37:46

been in Romanian history,

37:48

the Sultan himself survived

37:51

and the next day

37:54

his troops continued their

37:56

into the

37:59

capital city,

38:02

only to find it mostly

38:04

evacuated. Not regarding

38:06

this as a this as a

38:08

worthwhile Memet has

38:10

his men leave the

38:13

city the to encounter something

38:15

else outside its walls,

38:17

walls, something awful by

38:19

by the historian

38:22

Harko Condilis. They

38:27

beheld their own men who

38:29

had had been impaled. Sultan's

38:31

The Sultans army entered the

38:33

the area of the impalements,

38:35

which was almost two

38:37

miles long three quarters of a

38:39

mile wide. were There were

38:41

large stakes there on

38:43

which it was said about men,

38:46

men, women and children

38:48

had been Quite a sight a

38:50

sight for the Turks and

38:52

the Sultan himself. The

38:55

Sultan was seized with amazement

38:57

and said that it was

38:59

not possible to deprive of

39:01

his country a man who

39:03

had done such great deeds,

39:05

who had such a had such

39:07

a understanding of how to

39:09

govern his realm and its

39:11

people, realm and he said that

39:13

a man who had done

39:15

such things done worth much. much.

39:19

The rest of the the dumbfounded

39:21

when they saw the multitude of

39:24

men on the of men on the

39:26

were infants too affixed to their

39:28

mothers on the stakes on the

39:30

the birds had made their their

39:32

in their their entrails. While

39:39

Memet may have have been impressed by

39:41

the atrocities, it did not stop

39:44

the Sultan from installing on the

39:46

Wallachian the somewhat a bit less dramatic,

39:48

a shall we say. shall

39:50

we Prado year, made

39:52

was made Vlad was

39:55

again forced into

39:57

exile by his

40:00

own people by his

40:02

supported the change

40:04

the change and maybe just of

40:07

the ruler who was a little

40:09

less staky. Despite Vaud having alerted

40:11

Matias Corvinus that he would be

40:14

joining Hungary against the Ottomans, and

40:16

despite the Voivodes' gory demonstrations of

40:18

this stated purpose, Corvinus actually supported

40:21

the installation of Radu, justifying this

40:23

change of allegiance, Corvinus produced several

40:25

letters now believed to be forged,

40:28

in which Vaud and the Sultan

40:30

conspire against Hungary. In the autumn,

40:32

the 1462 Hungarian troops captured Blad

40:35

and transported him to Visigrad Castle

40:37

near Pest where he was imprisoned

40:39

for the next 14 years. Gabrielle

40:44

Rangone, the Bishop of Agar,

40:46

and advisor to Corvinus, in

40:49

a 1476 letter to Pope

40:51

Sextus IV, describes the imprisoned

40:53

Vlod as obstinately clean to

40:56

his evil ways, writing that

40:58

he would trap mice, cut

41:00

them into pieces, and stick

41:03

them on bits of wood

41:05

as he had done with

41:07

the men he had impaled.

41:10

the Russian text as to

41:13

this particular myth, it describes

41:15

the imprisoned prince also decapitating

41:17

and plucking the feathers from

41:20

birds. While vlogued is imprisoned,

41:22

Wallachian rule is unstable, juggled

41:25

among several voivodes, each only

41:27

briefly on the throne. Vod

41:30

eventually returns for a final

41:32

reign lasting roughly a year,

41:35

during which he fights the

41:37

Ottomans in Serbia and is

41:40

killed in battle. Details on

41:42

this are unclear, though our

41:44

Russian text claims that during

41:47

battle, Dracula was separated from

41:49

his troops. The soldier who

41:52

was closest to him mistook

41:54

him for a Turk and

41:57

struck him with a spear.

41:59

having seen that he was

42:02

being killed by his own

42:04

men, Dracula killed five of

42:07

his murderers with his sword,

42:09

and they pierced him with

42:11

many spheres, and thus he

42:14

was killed. What

42:17

became of the Wallachian Lord's body

42:19

is a matter of scholarly debate,

42:22

convoluted histories, and folklore, bit much

42:24

for our present context, but something

42:26

I'll say for our patron pages.

42:29

But if Vlod was in fact

42:31

killed by the Ottomans, it's unlikely

42:33

that body and head would have

42:36

remained together, as heads of important

42:38

adversaries who had been killed were

42:40

usually removed on the battlefield. As

42:43

trophies, but also for confirmation of

42:45

the kill. It's a

42:47

practice that continued up until

42:50

World War I, actually. In

42:52

fact, in southern Serbia, in

42:54

the town of Nish, you

42:56

can see what's left of

42:58

a skull tower created by

43:00

the Ottomans in 1809. It's

43:02

built from the heads of

43:04

952 Serbian rebels after an

43:06

unsuccessful uprising. Now,

43:11

when it comes to the 15th

43:13

century narratives I've shared, I'm sure

43:15

you've asked yourself how much of

43:18

this could really be true. I

43:20

don't personally believe Vlod impaled mice

43:23

in prison, but I do believe

43:25

he impaled quite a number of

43:27

enemies, if not 20,000 at a

43:30

time. And some of the other

43:32

more exotic punishments are a little

43:34

hard to swallow, but it seems

43:37

unquestionable that Vlod was a cruel

43:39

and probably sadistic ruler, if perhaps

43:42

a bit less so against the

43:44

standards of his day. The

43:47

reason for these exaggerations isn't hard

43:50

to guess. Mayheim was singing his

43:52

songs to entertain an audience, and

43:54

as such was covered by poetic

43:57

license that might allow him to

43:59

pump up the gory details a

44:02

bit. the same sort of thing

44:04

would help to sell pamphlets. But

44:06

there's another dimension. Beheim and the

44:09

St. Gallen author also seemed to

44:11

be targeting German speakers with a

44:13

bit of propaganda using exaggerated horrors

44:16

to stir up support for fellow

44:18

Germans and Transylvania. The

44:20

same sort of tales circulating through

44:23

the Hungarian Empire could also help

44:25

justify turning on a former ally

44:27

on blood, if not the Willakians,

44:30

and keeping him imprisoned for 14

44:32

years. I

44:34

mentioned before that the Russian

44:37

tales describe a slightly more

44:39

ambivalent figure. The cruelties are

44:42

still there, but alongside these

44:44

are other stories portraying Blodmore

44:47

as a ruler enforcing the

44:49

common good, albeit with a

44:51

particularly severe touch. In

44:54

a couple of these we

44:56

see thieves kept at bay

44:58

by the threat to the

45:00

voivodes' particular brand of justice.

45:02

One describes a prominent well

45:04

known for its sweet and

45:06

cooling waters and how... Dracula

45:08

set a goblet, magnificent and

45:10

wonderfully gold on an empty

45:12

spot by the well, and

45:14

he set it on that

45:16

spot so that whoever desired

45:18

to drink water could drink

45:20

by means of that goblet.

45:22

and for however long it

45:24

was there. No one dared

45:26

to take that goblet. Another

45:29

relates how a traveling merchant

45:31

reports to the Wallachian prince

45:33

how while staying at an

45:35

inn, gold was stolen from

45:37

his cart by night. Dracula

45:39

tells him Go this night

45:41

and you will find the

45:43

gold." And he ordered that

45:45

the whole city be searched

45:47

for the thief saying, If

45:49

the thief is not found,

45:51

I will destroy the whole

45:53

city. And Dracula ordered that

45:55

his own gold be taken

45:57

and placed in the merchant's

45:59

cart in the night. he

46:01

added an extra piece of

46:03

gold. And the merchant, having

46:05

got up, found the gold,

46:07

and having counted once, twice,

46:09

he found the extra piece

46:11

of gold. And having gone

46:13

to Dracula and said, My

46:15

lord, I have found the

46:17

gold, but this piece of

46:19

gold is not mine. Is

46:21

it extra? Then

46:23

they brought in the thief,

46:25

and with him the gold.

46:27

And Dracula said to the

46:29

merchant, Go in peace. If

46:31

you had not told me

46:33

about the gold, I would

46:35

have been ready to impale

46:37

you on a stake along

46:39

with this thief. So aside

46:41

from all the impaling and

46:43

mutilating, and voilating, flaying, he's

46:45

not such a bad guy.

46:47

Just likes to keep things

46:49

on the up and up.

46:55

So now to the whole

46:58

vampire thing, is it really

47:00

accurate to say that Bram

47:02

Stoker based his Count Dracula

47:04

on this historical figure? It

47:06

is mentioned in the Beheim

47:08

narrative that Blod washed his

47:10

hands in blood while picnicking

47:12

among the impaled. There's certainly

47:14

no mention of blood drinking.

47:17

So the best we could

47:20

do is imagine that this

47:22

truly devilish personage, Vlad III,

47:24

would be the type who

47:26

might justifiably be cursed to

47:28

live eternally, and that after

47:30

death he might take up

47:33

blood drinking. But is that

47:35

what Stoker had in mind,

47:37

actually? It doesn't seem so,

47:39

unless he's being extremely coy

47:41

in the matter. The name

47:43

obviously was a direct borrowing.

47:46

Notes Stoker made while writing

47:49

Dracula contain a reference to

47:51

a book that he used

47:54

for background, the 1820 volume,

47:56

and accounted the principalities of

47:58

Wallachia and Moldavia by William

48:01

Wilkinson. In it, the name

48:03

Dracula is interpreted as son

48:06

of the devil. It's that

48:08

same folk etymology we've seen

48:10

before in which Dragon is

48:13

replaced with devil, but ironically

48:15

in this volume there's no

48:18

reference to flawed the third's

48:20

bloodthirsty ways is impaling or

48:22

torturing of enemies. Had

48:25

Stoker in some other way known

48:27

these details, it's quite unlikely he

48:29

would have omitted them. It's great

48:31

detail for a horror story. But

48:34

he does have his Dracula

48:37

provide some autobiography that is

48:39

a rather good match. In

48:41

this speech, the Count speaks

48:43

of his heritage, using Dracula

48:45

more as a family name,

48:48

meaning all his kin are,

48:50

in a sense, sons of

48:52

the devil, rather than he,

48:54

Dracula, the third as the

48:56

son of Vlod Dracual. In

48:59

any case, the history is

49:01

mostly a match here. Who

49:03

was it but one of

49:05

my own race? Who as

49:07

Voivode crossed the Danube and

49:10

beat the Turk on his

49:12

own ground? This was a

49:14

Dracula indeed! Who was it

49:16

that his own unworthy brother,

49:19

when he had fallen, sold

49:21

his people to the Turk

49:23

and brought the shame of

49:25

slavery upon them? Sounds like

49:27

Vlod's brother Ratu. However, beating

49:30

the Turk on his own

49:32

ground sounds like Vlod himself

49:34

crossing the Danube into Bulgaria,

49:36

as we've heard described. But

49:38

Stoker throws in other information

49:41

that makes identification with Vlod

49:43

the third less convincing, particularly

49:45

his association of the Count

49:47

with Transylvania, a region hated

49:49

by the impaler. While it's

49:52

made vividly clear that Harker

49:54

travels through Transylvania to reach

49:56

the Count's castle, the location

49:58

named the novel suggests far

50:00

north of Wallachia and on

50:03

the far eastern edge of

50:05

Transylvania or even in Moldavia.

50:07

The Borgo Pass, where Harkler's

50:09

picked up by Dracula's coach,

50:11

is actually on the border

50:14

between Transylvania and Moldavia, so

50:16

presuming the coach continued further

50:18

eastward on the journey. The

50:20

Count's castle would actually be

50:22

in Moldavia. And

50:25

as it turns out, there

50:27

is a castle Dracula nearby,

50:29

but it's a themed hotel

50:31

in the Moldavian town of

50:33

Vatra Dornet, one exploiting the

50:35

association with the Borgo Pass.

50:37

But all of this is

50:39

probably putting too fine a

50:41

point in it. Stoker was

50:43

known to have written a

50:45

portion of the book before

50:48

he ever read William Wilkinson's

50:50

history, before he found the

50:52

name Dracula, that is. In

50:54

earlier drafts, the character was

50:56

simply named Count Wampir, a

50:58

W-A-M-P-Y-R, which probably didn't sound

51:00

as goofy as it does

51:02

now since the word Vampir

51:04

or Vampire was still rather

51:06

exotic and for it at

51:08

the time. Also, a final

51:10

point, Soaker was a fiction

51:13

writer, you know, and again

51:15

that thing with the poetic

51:17

license. Yes,

51:21

Virginia. There really was

51:23

a Dracula. In search

51:25

of Dracula. The startling

51:27

bestseller the nation couldn't

51:29

put down. Becomes the

51:31

motion picture you'll never

51:33

get out of your

51:35

mind. This

51:38

is the trailer for

51:40

the 1975 documentary about

51:42

or largely about Vlad

51:44

Sepish and vampires as

51:46

described in Stoker's novel

51:48

also in Romanian law

51:51

and even a bit

51:53

of abnormal psychology and

51:55

it features a cape

51:57

wearing Christopher Lee as

51:59

narrator. It's based on

52:01

the 1972 in search

52:04

of Dracula. A volume

52:06

written by two Boston

52:08

University professors, the Romanian

52:10

emigre, Radu Floresco, and

52:12

Raymond T. McNally, a

52:14

scholar of Russian and

52:16

Eastern European history. The

52:19

book was a bestseller translated

52:21

into 15 languages and was what

52:24

brought the personage of Vlad the

52:26

Impaler to popular attention, particularly

52:28

as a prototype for Stoker's

52:30

character. They also put Braun Castle

52:32

on the map, making it Eastern

52:35

Europe's number one tourist destination.

52:38

I've not read this book. For

52:41

this show I relied mainly on

52:43

the work of remaining historian and

52:46

would be collaborator on the 1972

52:48

book that is Matay Kazaku. Unfortunately,

52:51

at the time, communist

52:53

authorities banned such collaborations

52:56

between a Romanian and

52:58

an expat living in

53:00

the U.S. So Kazaku's

53:02

research was only later

53:04

collected and issued an

53:06

English translation in 2017

53:08

entitled Simply Tracula. With

53:10

this disclaimer, I would

53:12

offer this one final

53:14

thought at last purely

53:16

intuitive speculation regarding Florescu

53:18

and McNally's book. I

53:20

am guessing they got

53:22

a little carried away

53:24

or a little seduced

53:26

by fame and royalties

53:28

in support of this.

53:30

I present the titles

53:32

of their follow-up books.

53:34

In search of Frankenstein

53:36

by Florescu in 1975.

53:38

In search of Dr.

53:40

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

53:42

By McNally in 2000.

53:44

In search of the

53:46

Pied Piper. By Floresco

53:48

in 2005. I mean,

53:50

what are the chances?

53:53

All based on historical

53:55

characters? Who am I

53:57

to talk? I'm probably

53:59

just jealous. all, they

54:01

they had Christopher Lee on

54:03

their side. a a word,

54:05

ladies and gentlemen, a

54:07

word of reassurance. you go to When

54:09

you go to bed the and

54:11

the lights have all been

54:13

turned out and you're afraid to

54:16

look behind the curtain and

54:18

you dread to see the face

54:20

appearing you the window, to see the face

54:22

just remember the window, just remember. are

54:24

such things. Music