What Happens When You Analyze Vlad The Impaler’s Letters With Advanced Tech
Studying the proteins of a figure that possibly gave rise to Dracula
“I could hear a lot of words often repeated…so I quietly got my polyglot dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say they were not cheering to me, for amongst them were “Ordog” — Satan, “pokol” — hell, “stregoica” — witch, “vrolok” and “vlkoslak” — both of which mean the same thing…something that is either were-wolf or vampire. (Mem., I must ask the Count about these superstitions).”
— Dracula, Bram Stoker 1897
For the past hundred years or so, we’ve been treated to — or tormented by — a fantastic literary character that’s taken on a life of its own. While many may not know the name Bram Stoker, most know his creation Dracula — even more vampires.
But like so many things in history, a mixture of time, culture, and folklore makes it hard to know where something actually begins. For the Dracula story, many point back to Vlad III Drăculea, born in Transylvania, and eventual military governor of Walachia (within present day Romania), as the real-life inspiration for the character.
The name Dracula simply means “son of Dracul.” That family moniker derived from the Latin “draco,” or dragon, as in…
