The Real Count DraculaIt all started with Count Dracula, an immortal bloodsucking monster. Dracula could transform into a bat at night, and if he was touched by even the smallest ray of light during the day, he would burn into a smoldering pile of ash. Dracula had fangs which he used to break the skin on the necks of people from whom he drank blood. Dracula could have lived as long as he wanted if he could have survived that long. Dracula lived in Transylvania. Many people have heard different stories about Count Dracula and not all are the same. The original story was created by an old writer named Bram Stoker. Bram Stoker wrote and sold many copies of his book, Dracula, in 1897. In this book, a young man named Jonathon Harker visits a strange man, known as Count Dracula, in Transylvania. Dracula follows Harker to England and tries to suck all the blood from the neck of Harker's fiancée. While this character may be original, the name is not. Bram Stoker is said to have based his character on a man named Vlad Dracula III. Bram Stoker's book may have a compelling story, but it is not the story of the real Count Dracula. This is his story. Vlad Dracula was born in 1431, in a three-story house in Sighisoara, Transylvania. His father was Vlad Dracul, a ruler of Wallachia who had an extreme case of bipolarity. The moment Dracula was born, he was crowned Prince of Wallachia. Vlad Dracula, also known as Vlad III, had three brothers. Radu was Vlad's younger brother. Vlad and Radu had been imprisoned when they were younger, because their father Vlad II had an enemy who would try to take the throne from him. Vlad II was obsessed with power and would do anything to maintain it. Even his two youngest children are imprisoned... middle of paper... converted to Islam and trained as soldiers. Dracul had no intention of honoring any of these promises. But he made one last promise that he was forced to keep. When he returned home, he would have to send his two sons as hostages for the Turks. In mid-1443, Dracul returned to Wallachia. Dracula and Radu left Targoviste Castle. They traveled 700 miles into the center of the Ottoman Empire. They became prisoners in a dark fortress. Their father, once again, became the prince of Wallachia. In 1446, Vlad and Radu were set free. Works Cited Goldberg, Enid A, and Norman Itzkowitz. Vlad the Impaler: the real Count Dracula. New York: An Imprint of Scholastic Inc., 2008. Print. "The Real Dracula: Vlad the Impaler." The UnMuseum.Org. 2011. Network. 30 January 2014. “Vlad IV”. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th edition (2013): 1. Central Search Plus. Network. January 27. 2014.