Gilles de Rais – Medieval Vampire

Had Bram Stoker decided to make his vampire nobleman French instead of Eastern European, there lies within that land’s history a model as appropriate as Vlad the Impaler. Looking at the life of Gilles de Rais (1404–1440), one can hardly imagine a better man to deserve the title “Monster.” In fact, it remains curious how…

The Real Dracula

It’s pretty much common knowledge that Bram Stoker based his title character Dracula on an actual person, Vlad Tepes (1431-1476). But what’s the story of the real Dracula? Was Vlad the Impaler really a vampire, or vampiric in any way? Let’s see… Vlad Tepes (also known as Vlad Dracula, Vlad Dracul, Vlad the Impaler, Vlad …