10. Vlad the Impaler may have been the inspiration for Count Dracula
Vlad Dracul, the father of the man known to history as Vlad the Impaler, was believed to have inspired Bram Stoker to name his fictional vampire Count Dracula in the gothic novel which gave birth to the vampire genre of literature and film. The son, known as Vlad the Impaler, claimed the title of Prince (Voivode) of Wallachia, and used extraordinarily cruel methods to enforce his claims against his enemies real and imagined. Vlad’s favorite method of torturing and executing his enemies, which included Saxons, Ottomans, Wallachians, Hungarians, Bulgars, and others, was by impaling them, from the rectum to the chest, to hang upon the stake until merciful death overcame them. Feared and hated throughout Transylvania, stories of his cruelty were common during his lifetime, including those of his having men, women, and children boiled to death in large cauldrons constructed for the purpose. Today he is widely considered a national hero of Romania.
