Before Batman, there was Dracula
Dracula is one of the most well-known horror characters in history. He was created in 1897 by an Irish author, Bram Stoker, and his character has been prominent in movies, mini-series, advertisements, and more over the last century.
Dracula was a vampire who left his country, Transylvania, and decided to go to England, where he would find his prey, suck out their blood and leave trails of victims throughout the area. One of the victims was even said to be a young man’s fiancée, according to Wikipedia.
Bram Stoker never clearly explained the process of how Dracula became a vampire, but he did mention that Dracula had requested Prince Vlad to turn him into a vampire so that he would have the power to fight the armies of the Ottoman Turks.
Dracula was mainly a fictional creation, but he was named after an actual person, Vlad III Dracula, better known as Vlad, the Impaler, whose methods of punishing his enemies gained a level of notoriety in Europe in the 1400s. (Britannica.com)
While Bram Stoker’s Dracula was fictional, Vlad was, by some, actually considered to be a real vampire. Stoker called his creation “Count Dracula, the chief of vampires.” Dracula has had quite the influence on popular culture over the years, portrayed in movies by such famous actors as Christopher Lee, Adam Sandler and Bela Lugosi. Some recent movies about the character include Dracula Untold (2014), Dracula 3D (2012) and Hotel Transylvania (2012). At one point, a breakfast cereal known as Count Chocula was very popular, although it is harder to find now.
The popularity of Dracula continues in Halloween costumes, often put together with a tuxedos and fake vampire teeth, with accents of fake blood. If dressing up as the character is not up to your liking, you may also like to spend Halloween night eating up popcorn while watching a Dracula movie marathon.
Melissa Zepeda writes for The Armijo Signal. She’s timid, honest, and of course, always curious for what might come next. She usually finds it easier...