As a fan of myths and legends I find that Dracula is one of the oldest myths that exist. The history not only spans centuries in age, but also cultures across the globe. He is one of the few that has a foothold in every corner of the globe. The stories of the factual people behind the famous story are actually more terrifying than the story itself. Bram Stoker did an excellent job with his novel and it will continue to be a classic far into the future. The myth that is dracula will continue as well since humankind has a deep set attraction to the dark side without it going into the weird realm of myth.

Dracula seems to be the simplest person to conjur in real life. Unfortunately we as humans are not able to grow two heads, or fly on eagles wings, however we can file our teeth, wear dark makeup and pretend to drink blood while staying in the shadows at night. It seems that this is the easiest fantasy for many into the darker side of myth to imitate.

Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions, questions etc. on any of the pages. I will try my hardest to keep them updated and answered.


Long live Dracula!

Porphyria: The Vampire Disease

According to MayoClinic, "Porphyria (poor-FEAR-ee-uh) refers to a group of disorders that result in a buildup of chemicals called porphyrins in your body. Although porphyrins are normal body chemicals, it's not normal for them to build up. The cause is usually an inherited mutation."


This disease has often been associated with living vampires. As we know vampires are a myth for the most part, however this disease has such distinctive symptoms that people believe they are in fact vampires. The disease typically affects the nervous system and skin. The cause is from a lack of heme which is mainly found in red blood cells.

Some of the symptoms are typical flu symptoms such as abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. Problems arise with the hallucinations. Some of the hallucinations have been linked with vampire like behavior. Patients begin to feel the need to drink blood since they lack the heme in their own blood, however this leads to more severe complications mainly in the liver and kidneys. Our blood contains iron and drinking blood leads to iron toxicity which eventually shuts down the kidneys and liver.

Porphyria is a genetic disease that is passed down through generations. There have been some that have aquired the disease from environmental factors but for the most part the disease is genetic.

Treatment generally includes fluids and IV medications to combat the symptoms.

To see someone with this disease is to look at the face of death. They do look like vampires and its because of this that this disease is often called the "Vampire Disease"

This is the only known medical reason why someone would have this condition. There are people that claim they are vampires and practice drinking blood, wear fake teeth or have them filed to points, and only come out at night while practicing this gothic lifestyle. These people are not really vampires but because we have such an extensive history with this mythic creation, many try to make it a reality. The only reality is, is that it is extremely dangerous to drink blood for the reasons listed above.

Vampire History

Vampires seem to be more common now than ever before. With the rise of the Twilight Saga, True Blood series, never ending books from famous authors and countless movies and childrens shows, vampires have become a part of our every day lives. Count Chocula resides on chocolatey breakfast cereals, many of us today grew up learning to count with Count Dracula on Sesime Street. Vampires are found throughout the history of film starting with Nosveratu in the 20's, Grandpa in the Munsters in the 50's, Dark Shadows in the 70's, and into the True Blood series of today along with the countless movies that continue to swarm into theaters.

Although vampires are a large part of our culture today, where did they really come from?

Vampires have been around long before Vlad the Impaler and Countess Bathory. People would die from disease or natural disaster such as drought and the rest of the village where they reside would  not be able to explain what happened. The most logical explanation for the death and destruction was vampires.

During this early time graves were robbed often as well as added to for lack of money and proper buriel rituals. The bodies would be dug up and found to be bloated with blood draining from the mouth. Imagine being someone who not knowing anything of medicine and recent decomposition discoveries, finding that in a grave. I would have thought that they were a vampire! 

There were many ways to avoid vampires. One that is still used today is garlic. Wearing cloves of garlic around your neck and consuming garlic would detract vampires from wanting your blood. Another method was to carry a bag of salt with you in case you were chased by vampires. If by chance you were being chased and hunted you would drop a trail of salt behind you. The vampire would stop to count the grains thus allowing you to escape. (Interesting, this may be why the Count counts!)

During burials, people suspected of being a vampire were staked to the ground so they could not rise in the night and drink blood from villagers. Another method often used was inserting a brick into their jaws before being buried in the ground.

Although, today, we know what happens during decomposition of human bodies, and we no longer stick stakes through the chests of the dead or bricks in the jaws, vampires still never cease to awe us. Whether they glitter in sunlight or burn to a crisp, vampires will live on through the myths and stories of where they came from.


Information on this page can be found http://www.livescience.com/24374-vampires-real-history.html

Countess of Blood

Another possible person to influence Bram Stoker in the creation of Dracula was Countess Elizabeth Bathory the "Blood Countess."

At a young age Elizabeth was exposed to torture methods and bloodshed. Her father would allow her to witness the beatings of people when his army would capture others. She was known to have violent fits of rage as a child and possibly epilepsy. At the age of 15 she was married. It is said that her husband may have introduced her to new ways of torture that would later cause her wickedness to grow, others have said that her husband had no idea.

The abuse that she caused on others happened mainly when her husband was away from home. She was known to torture young girls for the most part. Driving needles through their lips and fingernails, dousing them with water then throwing them in the snow to freeze and even beating them within an inch of death only to finally stab them with scissors.

 The total number of victims at the hands of Elizabeth Bathory was 650. Many testimonies exist from when her castle was raided and prisoners were found among the mass amount of dead bodies.

It is said that she would bathe in her victims blood because it would keep her skin young and clear. Because of this ritual, she was seen as a vampire even though she never drank the blood.

Towards the end of her life she stayed locked in her room with only a small area for food an water to pass through the door, until she eventually died.

She is another prime example of the origin of Dracula, even though she never actually drank blood. Her targets were young girls and her quest was to ultimately keep herself young for forever. This also seems to tie into the new Snow White movie starring Charlize Theron, whose character sucked the beauty out of young girls to keep her immortality. Interesting how one person can be linked to so many myths and stories.



The information on this page was gathered from http://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/hungarian-countess-serial-killer1.htm

Vlad the Impaler

The name Dracula actually means "Son of Dragon." Vlad the Impaler is the original Dracula, doning the name during his crusades for religous freedom in his country of Romania. Vlad was born a prince and over the course of his reign, began shedding blood and feeding into the intoxication of have complete power over people. He would impale people on posts that surrounded his castle in the hopes of instilling fear into whoever tried to cross his path. He was also known to rule in many court appointed seats, governed many areas of Romania and even spoke multiple languages. During his reign of terror and bloodshed he was imprisoned as many troops from other countries began to want his reign ended. He sat for thirteen years in a prison for his crimes. In the end there are many versions to how he died. According to trutv.com he was released and eventually had to flee into the country side with troops on his tail. Eventually he, alone, fought against the armies and possibly died. His body was found decapitated and mutilated in a bog shortly after. I had always heard that he escaped his prison sentence and began to rule Transylvania again. Soon after he took the thrown he was ambushed in his castle by armies wanting his reign to end. Since he was trapped he had thrown himself over the edge of a cliff in the back of his castle and his remains washed up on the shore later. As with most myths, Vlad the Impaler was a living breathing person that was base in a story that holds our attention hundreds of years after his death. There has also been much speculation as to whether Bram Stoker used Vlad the Impaler as his main character in the Dracula story. It is indeed a very likely possibility.

Information on this page was found at http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/history/vlad/gotter_8.html

Welcome to Dracula: Myth or Reality. As a mythic figure, Dracula has held our attention for many years. I hope to shed some light on why he is so fascinating, the reality behind the myth, and other stories that have taken flight from this incredible figure. He is the one creature that has haunted our dreams, filled our books, and created a great revenue in the film industry. But who exactly is he, what is the original story, and who really is behind the myth?