Dracula has been one of the most frightening vampire stories in recent history. Dracula, who is also recognized as Vlad the Impaler, Prince Vlad, Prince Vladislav III of Wallachia, and Prince Vladislav Dan, has been the origin of many vampire stories. His name, Dracula, has been altered from a thirteenth-century mass murderer to a blood sucking vampire and has taken a fictional path. Recent movies, books, and other publications about Dracula have completely altered the story of Vlad the Impaler and his eccentric and bizarre, lust for killing. Dracula and Vlad the Impaler have practically become two different people, one who bites his victims and drags them off into the night to live among the rest of the "undead", and another who simply enjoys torturing and killing innocent people.
             The exact reason for Vlad the Impaler's killing spree is unknown, but is thought to be the result of a bad childhood, numerous betrayals, and the unfortunate fates of the people that were close to him. All of Vlad's family members either met violent deaths or were turned against him. His father was assassinated by his uncle because of his disloyalty to Hungary, his brother had his eyes gouged with scorching hot iron stakes and was then buried alive by the Saxons, and his wife threw herself out of the window of their castle onto a pile of rocks when the Turks surrounded Vlad's castle in Tirgoviste. It is from the cruel deaths of his family and his years in Turkish imprisonment that is thought to have given Vlad his cruel insight. Vlad and his family were imprisoned by the Turks when the Turks were sent to raid his palace to steal his gold and his other personal belongings of value. Vlad's father was afraid they would come across more unfortunate experiences like this one, so he turned his son over to the Turks as a worthless slave. Vlad ran away from his slave life and he was caught on his way home and his brother, who was al...