Dracula, In His Own Words

Reading the accounts of the atrocities committed by the historical Dracula, accounts that paint him as a monster whose bloodthirst easily eclipses that of the fictional “Count” Dracula, it would be easy to brand him a madman. For one thing, however, those accounts might have been exaggerated, if not falsified, by Dracula’s political enemies. They’re “spin,” in other words, or they might be, propaganda, Fox News before there was Fox News. But even if Dracula were insane, there was surely a method to his madness. Check out this excerpt from a letter Vlad wrote. Does this sound like a lunatic to you?

“You brethren, friends and neighbors, who are truly loved. Herewith we let you know, as we did before, that a messenger from the Turks has now come to us…You should understand well and keep in mind our former agreements for brotherhood and peace; what we said at that time, now and always, from the depth of our heart, we will adhere to. As we do our best and work hard on our behalf, even moreso we want to work hard on your behalf…Now the time and the appointed hour about which we spoke before has arrived…the Turks intend to put great burdens, almost impossible to bear, upon our shoulders, forcing us to bow down before them. It is not for us or for ours that they put such a great burden, but for you and for yours; the Turks do this to humiliate us…As far as we ourselves are concerned, we could have made peace, but, on account of you and yours, we cannot make peace with the Turks because they wish to pass through our country to attack and to plunder you; in addition, they force us to work against the Catholic faith and against you. But our strong desire is never to do anything to harm you and we will never be separated from you willingly, as we have told you and are sworn to be your faithful brothers and friends…You can judge for yourselves that when a man or a prince is strong and powerful, he can make peace as he wants to; but when he is weak, a stronger one will come and do what he wants to him…This is why, herewith, we ask all of you, with sincerity, that when you read this, immediately send, for our good and for yours, without hesitation…men to help us…When the Turks see the power of the Hungarians, they will soften, and we will tell them that more men will come. And thus, we will be able to arrange our affairs and yours in a good manner…for your and our well-being and defense, hurry, as quickly as you can, because, we swear before God, that we are thinking more of your welfare and security than of ours.”

Holy criminy! He sounds just like a POLITICIAN! Okay, yeah, he responded to the Turkish incursion by impaling tens of thousands of them, condemning them to slow, agonizing deaths, but the words in that letter are anything but the incoherent ramblings of a madman.

By TheCheezman

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS, specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced, and directed (and occasionally acted in) over two dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and True Crime genres. He obtained a doctorate in Occult Studies from Miskatonic University and is an active paranormal investigator. Is frequently told he resembles Anton Lavey. And Ming the Merciless. Denn die totden reiten schnell!

1 comment

  1. Although it is indeed true that Vlad Tepes(aka the Impaler) committed what many of us would term nowadays term war crimes/atrocities by our modern day standards, much like the Spanish Inquisition, there is an element of politically motivated propagandizing by his enemies. Many of them were committed against the Turks during their attempted invasion of Wallachia- now part of what is now modern day Romania, and anyway during the Middle Ages, life was to quote Hobb’s “nasty, brutish and short”(one reason why modern Romanians regard Tepes as a hero and not a monster)!

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