Everyone in the  modern World knows about the famous Count Dracula. Here is a picture of him and the infamous Bran Castle which is considered in folklore to have been his castle.  Bran Castle is standing today as seen in the picture.  

Dracula's original castle lies in ruins. The person who Count Dracul was based on was a Prince named Vllad Tepes.  Vlad was born in Sighisoara in 1431.  In the 15th century, Romania was made up of a number of small states, each with an independent ruler.

Vlad Tepes was a ruler for a state called Wallachia not Transylvania.  Wallachia is located just south of Transylvania.  

The name "Dracula" was first held by his father also named Vlad.   The name means "Son of a Dragon".  Vlad senior received the name because he was part of the Order of the Dragon, an order created by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund.  

The Order of the Dragon was designed as an alliance to fight the Turks.  Vlad Tepes assumed the name from his father. In current day Romanian, the word "Dracu" is synonymous with the word "Devil". "Dracula" is therefore referred to as one who is Devil-like. 

As a ruler, Vlad Tepes probably had some "Devilish" habits such as drinking human blood.  This was likely done to promote fear .  It was not unusual in those times for the victor of a war to "drink the blood of his enemy".  Whether Dracula took it a few steps further it is not known for certain.  But it was enough to allow for countless Dracula stories to be told in the future.

A tale which I heard  from my grade school teacher, Dmna . Verdeanu, states the following:  The people became so honest because of  fear of Count Dracula's punishment, that no one dared steal a cup made of gold left by a water  well at a road crossing.  One day a woman went to drink some water and the cup was gone.  She screamed and started crying as she saw the sign that Vlad Tepes (Dracula) was dead, the sign being that the gold cup was stolen. She knew that dishonesty would prevail in the country again.

The 1000's

• 1047 First appearance of the word "upir" (an early form of the word later to become "vampire") in a document referring to a Russian prince as "Upir Lichy", or wicked vampire. 

The 1100's

• 1190 Walter Map's "De Nagis Curialium" includes accounts of vampire like beings in England.

• 1196 William of Newburgh's "Chronicles" records several stories of vampire like revenants in England.

The 1600's

• 1610 Bathory is arrested for killing several hundred people and bathing in their blood. Tried and convicted, she is sentenced to life imprisonment, being bricked into a room in her castle.
• 1614 Elizabeth Bathory dies.
• 1610 Leo Allatius finishes writing the first modern treatment of vampires, "De Graecorum hodie quirundam opinationabus".
• 1657 Fr. Francoise Richard's "Relation de ce qui s'est passé a Sant-Erini Isle de l'Archipel" links vampirism and witchcraft.

• 1672 Wave of vampire hysteria sweeps through Istra.

• 1679 A German vampire text, "De Masticatione Mortuorum", by Phillip Rohr is written.

The 1700's

• 1710 Vampire hysteria sweeps through East Prussia.

• 1725 Vampire hysteria returns to East Prussia.

• 1725-30 Vampire hysteria lingers in Hungary.

• 1725-32 The wave of vampire hysteria in Austrian Serbia produces the famous cases of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paul (Paole).

• 1734 The word "vampyre" enters the English language in translations of German accounts of European waves of vampire hysteria.

• 1744 Cardinal Giuseppe Davanzati publishes his treatise, "Dissertazione sopre I Vampiri."

• 1746 Dom Augustin Calmet publishes his treatise on vampires, "Dissertations sur les Apparitions des Anges des Demons et des Espits, et sur les revenants, et Vampires de Hundrie, de boheme, de Moravic, et de Silesie."

• 1748 The first modern vampire poem, "Der Vampir," is published by Heinrich August Ossenfelder.

• 1750 Another wave of vampire hysteria occurs in East Prussia.

• 1756 Vampire hysteria peaks in Wallachia.

• 1772 Vampire hysteria occurs in Russia.

• 1797 Goethe's "Bride of Corinth" (a poem concerning a vampire) is published.

• 1798-1800 Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes "Christabel," now conceded to be the first vampire poem in English.

The 1800's

• 1800 "I Vampiri," an opera by Silvestro de Palma, opens in Milan, Italy.

• 1801 "Thalaba" by Robert Southey is the first poem to mention the vampire in English.

• 1810 Reports of sheep being killed by having their jugular veins cut and their blood drained circulated through northern England. "The Vampyre," an early vampire poem, by John Stagg is published.

• 1813 Lord Byron's poem "The Giaour" includes the hero's encounter with a vampire.

• 1819 John Polidori's "The Vampyre," the first vampire story in English, is published in the April issue of "New Monthly Magazine." John Keats composes "The Lamia," a poem built on ancient Greek legends.

• 1820 "Lord Ruthwen ou Les Vampires" by Cyprien Berard is published anonymously in Paris. June 13: "Le Vampire," the play by Charles Nodier, opens at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris. August: "The Vampire; or, The Bride of the Isles," a translation of Nodier's play by James R. Planche, opens in London.

• 1829 March: Heinrich Marschner's opera, "Der Vampyr," based on Nodier's story, opens in Liepzig.

• 1841 Alexey Tolstoy publishes his short story, "Upyr," while living in Paris. It is the first modern vampire story by a Russian.

• 1847 Bram Stoker is born. "Varney the Vampire" begins lengthy serialization.

• 1851 Alexandre Dumas' last dramatic work, "Le Vampire," opens in Paris.

• 1854 The case of vampirism in the Ray family of Jewell, Connecticut, is published in local newspapers.

• 1872 "Carmilla" is written by Sheridan Le Fanu. In Italy, Vincenzo Verzeni is convicted of murdering two people and drinking their blood.

• 1874 Reports from Ceven, Ireland, tell of sheep having their throats cut and their blood drained.

• 1888 Emily Gerard's "Land Beyond the Forest" is published. It will become a major source of information about Transylvania for Bram Stoker's "Dracula."

• 1894 H.G. Wells' short story, "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid," is a precursor to science fiction vampire stories.

• 1897 "Dracula" by Bram Stoker is published in England. "The Vampire" by Rudyard Kipling becomes the inspiration for the creation of the vamp as a stereotypical character on stage and screen

The 1900's

• 1912 "The Secrets of House No. 5," possibly the first vampire movie, is produced in Great Britain.

• 1913 "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker is published.

• 1920 "Dracula," the first film based on the novel, is made in Russia. No copy has survived.

• 1921 Hungarian filmmakers produce a version of "Dracula."

• 1922 "Nosferatu," a German-made silent film produced by Prana Films, is the third attempt to film "Dracula."

• 1924 Hamilton Dean's stage version of "Dracula" opens in Derby. Fritz Harmann of Hanover, Germany, is arrested, tried and convicted of killing more than 20 people in a vampiric crime spree. Sherlock Holmes has his only encounter with a vampire in "The Case of the Sussex Vampire."

• 1927 February 14: Stage version of "Dracula" debuts at the Little Theatre in London. October: American version of "Dracula" starring Bela Lugosi, opens at Fulton Theatre in New York City. Tod Browning directs Lon Chaney in "London After Midnight," the first full-length feature film.

• 1928 The first edition of Montague Summers's influential work "The Vampire: His Kith and Kin" appears in England.

• 1929 Montague Summers's second vampire book, "The Vampire in Europe," is published.

• 1931 January: Spanish film version of "Dracula" is previewed. February: American film version of "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi premiers at the Roxy Theatre in New York City. Peter Kurten of Dusseldorf, Germany, is executed after being found guilty of murdering a number of people in a vampiric killing spree.

• 1932 The highly acclaimed movie "Vampyr," directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, is released.

• 1936 "Dracula's Daughter" is released by Universal Pictures.

• 1942 A. E. Van Vought's "Asylum" is the first story about an alien vampire.

• 1943 "Son of Dracula (Universal Pictures) stars Lon Chaney, Jr., as Dracula.

• 1944 John Carradine plays Dracula for the first time in "Horror of Dracula."

• 1953 "Drakula Istanbula," a Turkish film adaptation of "Dracula," is released. "Eerie" No. 8 includes the first comic book adaptation of "Dracula."

• 1954 The Comics Code banishes vampires from comic books. "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson presents vampirism as a disease that alters the body.

• 1956 John Carradine plays Dracula in the first television adaptation of the play for "Matinee Theatre." "Kyuketsuki Ga," the first Japanese vampire film, is released.

• 1957 The first Italian vampire movie, "I Vampiri," is released. American producer Roger Corman makes the first science fiction vampire movie, "Not of This Earth." "El Vampiro" with German Robles is the first of a new wave of Mexican vampire films.

• 1958 Hammer Films in Great Britain initiates a new wave of interest in vampires with the first of it's "Dracula" films, released in the United States as the "Horror of Dracula." First issue of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" signals a new interest in horror films in the Untied States.

• 1959 "Plan 9 From Outer Space is Bela Lugosi's last film.

• 1961 "The Bad Flower" is the first Korean film adaptation of "Dracula."

• 1962 The Count Dracula Society is founded in the United States by Donald Reed.

• 1964 "Parque de Juelos (Park of Games)" is the first Spanish made vampire movie.

• 1964 "The Munsters" and "The Addams Family"; two horror comedies with vampire characters, open in the fall television season.

• 1965 Jeanne Youngson founds The Count Dracula Fan Club. "The Munsters," based on the television show of the same name, is the first comic book series featuring a vampire character.

• 1966 "Dark Shadows" debuts on television.

• 1967 April: In episode 210 of "Dark Shadows", vampire Barnabas Collins makes his first appearance.

• 1969 First issue of "Vampirella," the longest running vampire comic book to date, is released. Denholm Elliot plays the title role in a BBC television production of "Dracula, Does Dracula Really Suck? (aka Dracula and the Boys)" is released as the first gay vampire movie.

• 1970 Christopher Lee stars in "El Conde Dracula," the Spanish film adaptation of "Dracula." Sean Manchester founds The Vampire Research Society.

• 1971 Marvel Comics releases the first copy of a post-Comics Code vampire comic book, "The Tomb of Dracula." Morbius, the Living Vampire, is the first new vampire character introduced after the revision of the Comics code allowed vampires to reappear in comic books.

• 1972 "The Night Stalker" with Darrin McGavin becomes the most watched television movie to that point in time. "Vampire Kung-Fu" is released in Hong Kong as the first of a string of vampire martial arts films. "In Search of Dracula" by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu introduces Vlad the Impaler, the historical Dracula, to the world of contemporary vampire fans. "A Dream of Dracula" by Leonard Wolf complements McNally's and Florescu's effort in calling attention to vampire lore. "True Vampires of History" by Donald Glut is the first attempt to assemble the stories of all the historical vampire figures. Stephan Kaplan founds The Vampire Research Centre.

• 1973 Dan Curtis Productions' version of "Dracula" (1973) stars Jack Palance in a made-for-television movie. Nancy Garden's "Vampires" launches a wave of juvenile literature for children and youth.

• 1975 Fred Saberhagen proposes viewing Dracula as a hero rather than a village in "The Dracula Tape." "The World of Dark Shadows" is founded as the first "Dark Shadows" fanzine.

• 1976 "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice is published. Stephen King is nominated for the World Fantasy Award for his vampire novel, "'Salem's Lot." Shadowcon, the first national "Dark Shadows convention, is organized by Dark Shadows fans."

• 1977 A new dramatic version of "Dracula" opens on Broadway starring Frank Langella. Louis Jordan stars in the title role in "Count Dracula," a three-hour version of Bram Stoker's book on BBC television. Martin V. Riccardo founds the Vampire Studies Society.

• 1978 Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's book "hotel Transylvania" joins the volumes of Fred Saberhagen and Anne Rice as the third major effort to begin a reappraisal of the vampire myth during the decade. Eric Held and Dorothy Nixon found the Vampire Information Exchange.

• 1979 Based on the success of the new Broadway production, Universal Pictures remakes "Dracula" (1979), starring Frank Langella. The band Bauhaus's recording of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" becomes the first hit of the new gothic rock music movement. "Shadowgram" is founded as a "Dark Shadows" fanzine.

• 1980 The Bram Stoker Society is founded in Dublin, Ireland. Richard Chase, the so-called Dracula Killer of Sacramento, California, commits suicide in prison. The World Federation of Dark Shadows Clubs (now Dark Shadows Official Fan Club) is founded.

• 1983 In the December issue of "Dr. Strange," Marvel Comics' ace occultist kills all of the vampires in the world, thus banishing them from Marvel Comics for the next six years. Dark Shadows Festival is founded to host an annual "Dark Shadows" convention.

• 1985 "The Vampire Lestat" by Anne Rice is published and reaches the best seller list.

• 1989 Overthrow of Romanian dictator Nikolai Ceaucescu opens Transylvania to Dracula enthusiasts. Nancy Collins wins a Bram Stoker Award for her vampire novel "Sunglasses After Dark."

• 1991 Vampire: The Masquerade," the most successful of the vampire role-playing games, is released by White Wolf.

• 1992 "Bram Stoker's Dracula" directed by Francis Ford Coppola opens. Andrei Chikatilo of Rostov, Russia, is sentenced to death after killing and vampirizing some 55 people.