The Real Dracula: Vlad the Impaler🩸

The horror was absolutely unmatched when the Ottomans came across what they thought was trees from afar. And as they drew closer, they realized they were not trees. They were on wooden spikes. I do my best to fact check everything I share but please don't take any action based on the information here and definitely don't quote me in your dissertation. Also, some viewer discretion is advised. Some stories may include graphic or potentially triggering content so please take

care when listening. And if I laugh at any point, just know it's never at the history or the people involved. Sometimes I just get a little awkward or the drama is too wild not. Hello, everyone. It's me, Elsie Mae, coming at you with another Halloween episode. Third out of four, baby. When I was a child, me and my family were at a quiz night. I remember a question coming up, right? And it was, who was the real Dracula? And I was like, Dracula is in The Vampire. There was a

real one? There was a real Dracula? What? That's weird. But my little brain at the time was thinking... What the heli? Like there's a real vampire? And you know it's just something that's always interested me like who was that man and why was he called Dracula? Did he actually drink blood? Would sunlight actually hurt him and like burn him? Was he actually like low -key allergic to garlic? What was the deal with him? So I thought we could explore

that today because the truth is shocking. Shocking. If you are into gruesome history, this is the story for you. It turns out that the truth is way more twisted and bloody and fascinating than any of those spooky myths. Vlad III, the man behind the legend of Dracula, wasn't a supernatural creature. He was a Walachian prince. a son of political chaos and one of history's most terrifying rulers. Today we're going to unpack his life, his reign and why the world remembers him as

Vlad the Impaler. So let's go, chapter one. My iPad's acting up and I can't scroll on it. Excuse me. Okay, so where our story is set. I need to

give you some background information because we are talking about the mid 15th century, okay? It is around the 1450s and the 1460s and Europe was a little bit chaotic. The Ottoman Empire was expanding fast and Hungary was desperately trying to hold the line and right in between them was a place called Wallachia. and it was caught right in the middle of those two empires, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, which is modern day Romania. So that is where our story is set

for today. and it's to be noted that Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were always at each other's throats. So that is a bit of background information there. So Vlad was born in 1431 and when he was a child he was sent to live with the Ottomans, him and his brother. They keep the sons hostage so that the dad, the ruler of Wallachia, won't do anything. not an ideal situation because it meant that Vlad grew up being completely exposed

to a lot of terrible things. He was watching executions, he was watching military drills and displays of cruelty. Somewhere in all that darkness he learnt that fear really controls people far better than kindness ever does. And what made it worse is that he actually had a brother and his brother was favoured over him. I know, it's a bit sucky. He was treated well, like his brother was treated well, and Vlad was rejected, ignored, isolated, and I guess he was like beaten sometimes

for his behavior. He saw firsthand that politics was not personal and betrayal, cruelty and ambition would go way further than even family. I know. So that was at the Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, his dad was kind of trying to play for two sides. He was backing Crusaders one moment and then siding with the Ottomans the next. And by the time that Vlad finally made it home, he was not the same boy that left, as you can probably imagine. Then tragedy struck. Vlad's father was

murdered. He was murdered by the rivals. His older brother was blinded with a red -hot poker and then buried alive. So yeah, that's kind of where the Vlad that we know. starts to take shape. And I guess he swore that he would have revenge on those very people that did that to his family. So he went to work to get that throne, honey. So chapter two, we have fighting for the throne.

So when he was 17 and got the worst news that he could possibly get that his father and his brother were killed, he swore revenge. But Vlad didn't rush in blindly. Oh no. He returned to Wallachia with Turkish forces behind him. He was like, I got them to back me up, so move out my way. But his enemies? Did they fight back? No. He was quite lucky. He got them when they were distracted with something. I guess they're

just, you know, usual political games. I guess they kind of underestimated him because they thought he was just a scared little kid. But no. He walked straight in. He got that throne. He was bold, cunning, shocking. This boy! was not to be underestimated. But just to add to the drama, it turns out his dad's not dead. I know, that was quite an unexpected plot twist. So I guess basically his dad turns up again and is like, son, what you doing? That's my throne.

Like, obviously, guys, this is heavily oversimplified because there's chaos. Vlad's kind of standing there ready to rule. His dad just came back. So anyway, Vlad has to leave. He's exiled. Okay. And he goes to live somewhere else. Chapter three,

exile and return. So after being overthrown, Vlad spent plenty years in exile. He was going between Hungary, Moldova and nearby regions. He built alliances. He was learning military strategy and he was sharpening his political cunning. He found three whole years, I guess, of peace when he lived with his cousin and his uncle in Moldova. Now, during my research, I seen that these were allegedly like some of the happiest years of his life. But again, quite

dramatic. All that came to a sudden halt when his uncle was assassinated and threw the region into chaos. OK, so just to let you guys know, I need to be slightly quieter because of this situation. OK, just letting you know this won't be like a regular thing. Some people in my house are sleeping and I have to be cautious. Guys, it's just the reality of having a home studio. Like, come on. But the show must go on, baby.

So Vlad and his cousin, his cousin was called Stephen, by the way, Stephen the Great of Moldova. They were running away from a guy called, I might say this wrong, so please forgive me, but John Hoonadi. We're going to go with that. And yeah, they were hiding from him. I guess it was like a hide and seek kind of situation, but deadly. And yeah, he was a powerful Hungarian commander. So one wrong move. And it was over. I would like to point out now, I think I've been saying Wallachia

wrong. I think I've been saying Wallachia. I am so deeply sorry. I'm not very good at pronouncing things. I do look up things before I say them. And for some reason in my head, I thought the W was pronounced a V. So I'm so sorry about that.

But anyway, Vlad was a clever cookie. Okay, and he knew that he wanted Valakia back and to be honest he knew that he'd have to play with fire to do it So he did he started making deals with the people who murdered his father Like girl Well, they were tied to his father's murder. There was no forgiveness there. It was just strategy. It was business babe fool business. So I'm not going to lie to you guys. The politics of this is super confusing to understand. So I'm going

to keep it as simplified as I possibly can. It's going to be oversimplified. So just be aware of that. But once Vlad had struck the right alliances, he went in there and he took the throne. Thank you very much. He went in there, walked his little booty in there. and took back his throne. Thank you very much. But the threats remained. And the Ottomans, do you remember them? Remember

the Ottomans? Yeah, well they're back. And the Empire, who once held him captive, because remember at the start he was sent away to live with the Ottomans as like an insurance policy. All that coming back to you now. They were still looming. And this is the, this is the gruesome bit. I'm not gonna lie to you. So, if you don't like gruesome stuff, you may as well skip forward. The thing is, in the 15th century, things were really gruesome. I think it was in Britain, people put, you know,

enemies' heads on spikes to keep them out. You had people boiling people. It was crazy, okay? So, Vlad had watched the Ottomans impale their prisoners, and it was outside the city walls. However, He decided to take it up a notch. Well, he actually decided to take it up several notches, but we'll get to that. I guess allegedly what Vlad did was he made an example from a young boyar and a boyar, just to put that in there, was like a Lando owner or a rich noble and he

made an example out of a young boyar. Here is the really gruesome bit, because what would happen is they would sharpen wooden spikes. Oh man, you really don't know. You don't want to know what they do with the spikes, but I'm going to tell you anyway. So they would impale people and put them outside of the city walls to keep like enemies away, to show them not to mess with

us, to show an example, don't disobey. But what they would do is they would... sharpen the wooden spikes, impale the victims allegedly through the anus. I'm just going to say the anus still alive. And these victims would be alive on the stick as as they are impaled. And it is a very slow. gruesome death because allegedly they could stay alive for a few days. So they'd stay alive, dying on a stick, on a very sharp wooden spike, slowly tearing their insides apart. Then came

the infamous boyar dinner. And the nobles who, as I mentioned earlier, some were linked to Vlad's father's murder, they thought it was in the past, they'd all sorted it. However, Vlad had not forgotten. and it got very dramatic very quickly. Vlad separated the victims from their families and some were just impaled immediately but others were forced to carry heavy bricks up a mountain to rebuild

his castle. Their clothes would tear and they'd be hanging off their bodies and their bodies would be pushed to a level of exhaustion that they would collapse. and they would just perish. That revenge was brutal. But it was also strategy and power. The message was received. Defy Vlad and that could be your fate. You could just end up like all of them. Maybe not you, maybe your family, maybe your neighbour. You know, you never know who you're going to see murdered next. What

a terrifying concept. So chapter four, the reign

of terror. So Vlad took Wallachia back in 1456 and he was determined to crush the boyars. This guy was not messing around, okay? You did not want to be on the bad side of Vlad. Let me tell you that. His first moves, impale the unfaithful, replace almost all of his advisors apart from two. and he introduced a terrifying system. So thieves beheaded, unfaithful wives skinned alive, lazy peasants impaled, and military shrinkers

were allegedly boiled alive. And there was another gruesome story that I came across that really Again, shows the depth of Vlad's brutal ways. I just don't have words for this. Like, I actually am. It's an example of how brutal he was. Legend has it that Vlad hosted a banquet for beggars. And as everyone was eating and drinking and I guess just enjoying the banquet, he locked the

doors and set on fire. And I guess he did this because he just didn't want those people in his little society or in his society that he had. And there was another tale I came across where two men refused to take off their turbans because of religious beliefs. I guess Vlad thought, okay, then you're never taking them off. And allegedly, Vlad nailed the turbans to their skull. He didn't stop there. 41 merchants rounded up. 300 Saxons

burned and an attack on Brasov. There was a man called the Pretender and he tried to take the throne and of course this didn't end well for him because Vlad allegedly forced the man to watch his own grave being dug in front of him. They gave him a burial ceremony while he was still alive. He was watching his own funeral and then he was beheaded. His head dropped into the grave that was just dug right in front of

him while he was alive. By three years into his second reign, Vlad had created a climate of fear. No one dared to cross him. So here is an interesting piece, because this is where some conflict arises. So remember how Vlad had a brother called Radu? I guess in 1462, Radu led 60 to 70 ,000 Ottoman troops with 120 cannons, roughly. into Wallachia. Now, Vlad didn't really have the same amount of numbers in this region. He had 10 ,000 soldiers and peasants. So it didn't really. Bit of a power

imbalance there. I'm just going to I'm just going to say what we're all thinking, OK? I'm just going to say what we're all thinking. So Vlad knew that he wouldn't win directly. It was good. He knew that that wasn't going to happen. So he ordered a strategic retreat into the mountains. We're getting out of here. We're going to. We're going to get out of here. We're going to hide in a mountain for a bit. Wait till this blows over. Come back. It's going to be fine. So while

they're retreating to the mountains, he is. burning his paths. He's poisoning water sources so they can't just come in and start living in in this area. And I guess allegedly they would ambush the enemy and then steal some of their soldiers as in like take some of their soldiers. I guess it's just like they just took them. The horror was absolutely unmatched when the Ottomans came across what they thought was trees from afar and as they drew closer they realized they were

not trees. They were decaying humans on wooden spikes. Everyone. It was women, children, men, some soldiers that were originally from the Ottoman group who were stolen when they got ambushed. They were impaled and displayed. Now the psychological terror clearly worked, but Vlad still had to flee. And in this time, Radu, his brother, seized the throne. Vlad was betrayed and he was imprisoned for 14 years. It's a pretty long time. So he's

had two reigns and now he's in prison. But not for long because however in exile again Vlad

started to gain some followers He rebuilt the support and eventually Reconnected with his cousin Stephen remember him Stevie by the mid to late 1470s Vlad was back on the throne How did you do that He basically... Guys, I don't know. I don't know how he did that, but he managed. He managed somehow. He completed a lifetime of alliances and betrayals and a full circle of power plays. I do not know how he did that, but that was it. That was just... He was back on the throne. Third

reign, here we go! But it only lasted two months. But by then, he was a legend. As a ruthless, clever, terrifying ruler. And that was cemented. That was a fact. People were terrified. Vlad's lifetime of strategy, revenge and terror made him a national hero in Romania and an inspiration for Dracula worldwide. And I know, I was a bit confused when I heard that too. I was like, okay, so where are we getting the vampire in this? I thought we were learning about Dracula today.

But this is, this is the guide that it's based off of. Vlad's legacy, chapter six. I guess there

was like a pretty big jump there because some information is so hard to find out, like. Some of this, this is obviously really really old information, so sometimes it gets a little confusing and there's sometimes grey areas, gaps, discussions, debates. Vlad's final battle, there's kind of a huge question mark to that. Defeated against the Ottomans. The details of his death, murky. Confusing. not really there. No one really knows what happened. And that's why the legends grew.

Because honestly, where people don't know stuff and rumors, guys, people will make up stuff and they'll exaggerate. But sometimes there's no smoke without fire. So how do we really know what's happened? You know? So altogether, Vlad had less than seven years on the throne. I know. and Vlad was infamous across Europe. And these stories that I'm telling you just now, they became

a breeding ground for horror literature. And, you know, writers would exaggerate his deeds and they, I guess, created a figure perfect for ghost stories and gothic legends. Enter Dracula! But here's the thing, and this got me too, because Vlad Never a vampire. What? Yeah. So, you know Dracula, right? Obviously. I mean, you might not have read it. I've not read it, but I've definitely heard of it. You know, Hotel Transylvania and stuff like that. Also, I feel like you grow

up knowing about vampires. It's just something that, you know, you come out of the womb knowing about. Dracula was written in 1897 by a guy called Bram Stoker. He was Irish. The connections came centuries later. It turns out that Stoker actually knew very little about Romania and the descriptions didn't really match Vlad's life. Like, at all. This is another connection. Dracula is Wallachian for Son of Dracul or Devil. Not bloodsucker. Not a vampire. I know! I'm so confused! By the

way, let me just throw this out there. Stoker was almost going to call his book something completely different. He wasn't even going to call it Dracula. Vlad just fit the legend. He liked it. He was like, I want Vlad! It's a great name for a vampire. So today, Vlad's story is... a little mix of fact, a little mix of myth, and a big helping of horror. Some see him as a ruthless defender, and others see him as a man obsessed with revenge and power. How many people did he actually kill?

That's the real question. And the truth is, nobody knows. That is a tale lost in history. Nobody actually knows how many people, but his reputation of terror has just completely outlived him. I mean, it's completely outlived him. Hundreds and hundreds of years, are you joking? And it's made him a very fascinating figure in history.

So yeah, that concludes today's story. What do you think? Had you ever heard of this person before? I am Elsie May. Thank you so much for watching. Please enjoy the rest of your day. If you enjoyed the podcast, please tell your friends and family. Apart from that, I'll see you next Wednesday. Bye bye! See ya!