Dracula

Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler, was a ruler of Wallachia (present-day southern Romania) in the fifteenth century. He became notorious for the extremely cruel punishments that he dealt to his enemies, his favorite form of torture being impaling his victims, then mocking them. In the English speaking world, Vlad the Impaler is perhaps best known for being thought to be the inspiration for Dracula.

Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847 – April 20, 1912) , the inventor of the Dracula character, was working as manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London. and writing in his spare time. Inspired by a trip to Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast in 1890, Dracula was published on May 26, 1897.

Photograph of Bram Stoker circa 1906

Stoker never visited Transylvania. He simply read travel books for details about the country.

According to Bram Stoker's novel, the vampire Count Dracula died on November 6, 1893.

Until just a few weeks before publication, Bram Stoker was planning to title his novel, 'The Un-Dead.'

Stoker’s notes for the novel show that his original name for Dracula was Count Wampyr.

Although both Vlad the Impaler and Hungarian serial killer Elizabeth Báthory are popularly believed to have inspired Dracula, Bram Stoker's notes mention neither. 

Dracula wasn't originally intended to be presented as a work of fiction. Stoker's editor rejected the manuscript believing it would cause widespread panic, given that Jack the Ripper was active in London at the time. The version we read starts on page 102 of the original script.

At first Bram Stoker's Dracula was outsold by another Gothic horror, now mostly forgotten: The Beetle by Richard Marsh.

Bram Stoker adapted Dracula into a play called The Undead before it was ever published, to stop anyone else doing it. However, it was performed just once.

Dracula has appeared in more films than any other horror character—over 200 and counting—not including comedies and cartoons.
 

Nosferatu, a silent horror film released in 1922, was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula. Stoker's widow, Florence Balcombe Stoker, sued the film's production company, Prana Film, for copyright infringement, and won the case. The court ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed, but fortunately, a few copies had already been distributed, including one that ended up in the United States.

At the time, there was a legal loophole that allowed works to fall into the public domain if they were not properly copyrighted or if the copyright had expired. Because the copyright for Dracula had lapsed due to a technical error, the film was able to be shown legally in the United States.

Today, Nosferatu is considered a classic of the horror genre and has influenced countless filmmakers.

Dracula star Bela Lugosi would often become ill and faint at the sight of his own blood.

Christopher Lee's appearance in 1966’s Dracula: Prince Of Darkness was strangely mute — Lee said later he had refused to say any of his character’s dialogue because it was so badly written.