Supernatural Creatures and Haunted Places: True Spine chilling stories.

Dracula: Is He Still Alive?

Once upon a time, there was a prince who lived in a castle. He was dashing and handsome, and he was the heartthrob of all the ladies in his realm. His name was Prince Vlad. The father of all Vampires, Count Dracula has a tale of his own. He wasn't born with the ability to turn into a vampire. He was human, kind, and straightforward. A devout Christian with a strong belief in love and justice. But fate had other plans for him, and he was destined to become something more horrible and dangerous than all of hell's demons combined.

Vlad, or Dracula, was born into a noble family in Transylvania in 1431. As he belonged to the Order of the Dragon, which fought the Muslim Ottoman Empire, his father was given the name "Dracul," which means "dragon" in Romanian. Bran Castle, also known as Dracula's Castle, is a modern-day tourist attraction in Transylvania. It's a creepy place with secret tunnels and dungeons that's open to the public and currently undergoing renovation.

In Romanian, "Dracula" means "son of Dracul." As a result, Vlad was known as the "son of the dragon" or "son of the devil." Scholars believe this is where the legend of Dracula as a vampire began. In the Wallachian language, Dracula signifies Devil. It was customary for Wallachians to give it as a surname to someone who distinguished himself via bravery, cruel conduct, or cunning.

Dracula lived in a world that was constantly at war. The Ottoman Turks and the Austrian Hapsburgs battled it out for control of Transylvania. As young Dracula quickly realised, treachery, vindictiveness, and retribution were the order of the day. He recognised that simply becoming strong would not be enough to get rid of the Turks. He was in desperate need of a miracle. To wipe the Turks from the face of the world, he needed power beyond human comprehension.

Dracula was imprisoned, first by the Turks, who chained him, and then by the Hungarians. Dracula's father was murdered, and his older brother, Mircea, was blinded and buried alive with red-hot iron spikes. After his wife committed suicide on receiving false news of Vlad's death in battle, Vlad became insane. When Vlad returned triumphant from his struggle, he discovered that his wife had committed suicide in the hopes of God uniting her and her love in Heaven. With the death of his wife, his confidence in the Lord faltered, and the Dark Lord slid into the voids with ease.

Dracula requested to Dark Lord that Prince Vlad be transformed into a vampire so that he could combat the Ottoman Turks' army. The Dark Lord bestowed upon him abilities that surpassed human imagination. He began practicing necromancy. Vlad is often referred to as "Nosferatu" which means the necromancer in the Romanian language. This proves his superhuman capabilities and immortal damned soul.

The bodies would be left on rods as vultures and blackbirds nibbled on the rotting flesh as a warning to others. Dracula escaped into the mountains during one battle, impaling people as he went. The sultan could no longer endure the stench of the decaying corpses, thus the Turkish march was halted.

Dracula was said to have had a meal on a table put up outside among hundreds of impaled victims at another occasion. He was also said to have eaten blood-soaked bread on occasion. Some of these legends were compiled and published in 1490 in a book called "The Tale of Dracula," by a monk who portrayed Vlad III as a ruthless demonic monarch.

In actual life, despite being Christian, his dedication to harsh and demonic techniques of fighting turned him into a monster. But then something strange happened, and it became clear that Vlad had never been a human. Dracula's head was cut off and displayed in Constantinople after he was killed fighting Turks outside Bucharest, Romania, in December 1476. Dracula was buried near Bucharest at the remote Snagov Monastery, which was also likely used as a prison and torture chamber.

His remains were placed in a casket beside other family heirlooms from his life: a ring with a dragon inscription and a sleeve from his shirt. However, after a few days, it was discovered that the contents of the coffin had vanished. Since then, no one has seen Dracula.

Although no one knows how he became a vampire, Bram Stoker, the famous writer claimed that parts of his book "Dracula" were real. In the 1980s, the original Dracula manuscript was discovered in a barn in rural north-western Pennsylvania. Nobody knows how it made its way across the Atlantic. That manuscript, now owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, begins on page 102. Jonathan Harker's journey on a train, once thought to be the beginning of the story, was actually in the middle of it.

This raises a question: what was on the first 101 pages? What was considered too real, too frightening, for publication? What happened to that coffin? Is he still alive and well-disguised in a different city sucking blood from un-aware sleeping people?

Don't keep you window open! Do not invite a stranger at night!