1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: I'm editor Knda Skipson, joined day by Josh Clark. Hello Candice, 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 1: Hello Ja, Candice. I was walking down the sidewalk the 5 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: other day, going to get some lunch, as I do 6 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: from time to time, and I noticed lying in the 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: gutter were a pair of those plastic vampire fangs. And 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: I thought, oh boy, I'm halfway to my Halloween costume, right, 9 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: All I need is to cape and there you go. 10 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:36,599 Speaker 1: So I put the fangs in my mouth and I'm 11 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: walking along to go get lunch. And um, I started 12 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: thinking about this, uh, this story I'd heard once, Um 13 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,959 Speaker 1: about this guy named Max Shrek. He actually played uh 14 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: Dracula uh in the first vampire movie ever called Nose 15 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: fra Too. It was released in nineteen two. Is a 16 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 1: silent movie, very creepy movie. Is this the one that 17 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 1: they sort of like redid version of John Nalkovich Shadow 18 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 1: of the Vampire? Look at you? So do? I so do? 19 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: I'd love to be John Malkovich. Um, actually no, I wouldn't. 20 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,919 Speaker 1: I think that I learned my lesson from that cautionary tale. 21 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: But So have you seen Shadow of the Vampire then yes, okay, alright, 22 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 1: good wow. Um, So in that movie they basically, uh 23 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: portray Max Shrek um as an actual vampire who eventually 24 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: kills off all of the cast and crew by by 25 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: basically eating them during filming. Um. And there's actually a 26 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: rumor that that Mr Shrek was a vampire. He had 27 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: a really weird appearance and he had really strange habits. Um. 28 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: So I started to do a little research and it 29 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: turns out that's not the case. Um, he was not 30 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: in fact a vampire. He was actually a very well 31 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: respected German stage actor. Um and after No s Ferat 32 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: he became very very famous and went on to starting 33 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: like twenty more films. So thinking he wasn't actually a vampire, 34 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: that's that's what I got. But I do understand that 35 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:12,079 Speaker 1: there actually was a real Count Dracula that Bram Stoker 36 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: modeled his character on. Um, that there was a man 37 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: who actually lived. Is that is that fact or fiction? 38 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: Was there a real Count Dracula? There really really was? 39 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: Who it was this man named Vlad Tepish and he 40 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 1: was a fifteenth century prince from Wallachia, Glad the Impaler. Yeah, 41 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,640 Speaker 1: and well that wasn't the name he preferred. And Paler 42 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:40,240 Speaker 1: was you know, sort of like I don't know, calling 43 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,359 Speaker 1: someone a gossip. Maybe it's true about that person character, 44 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: but you wouldn't say to that person's face. And his 45 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:50,079 Speaker 1: subjects didn't, they didn't touch that. There's plenty of propagandist 46 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: spread about him at the time that called him the Impaler, 47 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:57,239 Speaker 1: but he actually preferred the name uh Vlaude Dracula, which 48 00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: translated to a son of the dragon, So that name 49 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: really that bram Stoker didn't make that name up straight 50 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:05,639 Speaker 1: from the record to the British Museum, Draculum and son 51 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 1: of the dragon. His mother was vlad drug Cuele, and 52 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,799 Speaker 1: he chose the dragon, you know, to embody his character 53 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 1: as a very sort of like fearsome and bow down 54 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: before me leader. And ironically enough, he really wasn't like that. 55 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:20,079 Speaker 1: He was pretty subservient to the Turks, and Vlad grew 56 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: up essentially being told he also would be subservient to 57 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,080 Speaker 1: the Turks. Didn't his father send him as like a 58 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:30,000 Speaker 1: gift to the Sultan. He did, and Vlood started, you know, 59 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: plotting his revenge, and he was a defender of Christianity 60 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: and so he decided he was going to overthrow the Turks, 61 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: and overthrow them he did. He was pretty intense about 62 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: his mission. He consolidated power and his hometown as part 63 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: of his mission to bring a more unified front eastern Europe. 64 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: And it's pretty crazy the way he did this. He 65 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: invited all of the regional nobility to dinner, and he 66 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: got them in his dining room, and then essentially he 67 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: was like, and change of plans. Instead of eating dinner, 68 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna get readabilitate this old, delapidated castle. 69 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: So he had the march fifty miles away and he 70 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: put them to work restoring this castle, not like a 71 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: fun tie Pennington way, but like in a really scary 72 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: work until you die. And if you don't die doing this, 73 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: I'm going to and pale you later. And didn't he didn't. 74 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: He kill off the infirm and the elderly first, and 75 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: then you know, put the stout ones to work and 76 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: they worked for a while doing this, right they did, 77 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: they did. Finally they got the castle in working order. 78 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: And then you know his next step with his kingdom, 79 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: and he didn't want any poor people bringing his his 80 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: kingdom down, so he murdered all the poor. Yeah, tens 81 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: of thousands, if not arguably a hundred thousand people died 82 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: thanks to lad right. Yeah. And then he decided that 83 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: he was going to you know, counteract the Turkish forces 84 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: that might be closing in on him. So he took 85 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: his people who were really sick, dress them up as Turks, 86 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: send them to go live with the Turkish forces. And 87 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: that was one of the first forms of biological warfare 88 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:58,599 Speaker 1: on record, because they spread their diseases. Yeah, and it 89 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: worked like a charm as far as it did. But 90 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,799 Speaker 1: he he did hate the Turks that he was actually 91 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,160 Speaker 1: raised um for many years. He spent his formative years 92 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: basically under Turkish control as a prisoner when his father 93 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: sent him as a gift to the sultan Um. So 94 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: he learned to hate the Turks. But he also learned 95 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: something other, something very significant, from the Turks, and that 96 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: was impaling, which is where he got vlad Tepish the impaler. 97 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: He loved to impale people. And this is not one 98 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: of my favorite part of the story, but I know 99 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: it is one of yours, hopefully, y'all. Oh, you dazzle 100 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: everyone with your definition of impalement. So basically with when 101 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: you when you think about being impaled, you know that 102 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: sounds bad enough, right. Um. I did some research on this, 103 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: and there's actually a very strict procedure for impaling a 104 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 1: human being. Uh. And Lad had this thing down, Pat, 105 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: let's hear it. Okay, So you take some money, Um, 106 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: you take a poor victim. Uh, and you tied one 107 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,160 Speaker 1: one foot to a horse and the other foot to 108 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: another horse, and very slowly the horses would start to separate. 109 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:02,359 Speaker 1: So the eyes now up on his hands, with his 110 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,480 Speaker 1: legs spread behind him, with no recourse for shutting his 111 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: legs whatsoever. Vlad preferred spears that were rounded at the 112 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 1: tip and oil because he didn't want to tear any 113 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: internal organs on the way in. Um, there's really no 114 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: polite way to put this. Basically, while with the legs spread, uh, 115 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: the the uh, the staff was introduced into the victim's 116 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,159 Speaker 1: anus and slowly pushed all the way through until it 117 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:35,599 Speaker 1: literally came out his or her mouth. Okay, that was 118 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: just the beginning. After that, after they were fully impaled, 119 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:43,280 Speaker 1: they would be lifted up into a vertical position, h 120 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: planted into the ground, and left to die, where they 121 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: would spend sometimes days. Some some of these people actually 122 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: died in starvation. They were fully aware of what was 123 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:56,880 Speaker 1: going on, and um, it was probably the worst way 124 00:06:56,920 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: to die ever imagined by man. So if any of 125 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: you were listening after that, um, As though that weren't 126 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: bad enough, there were records that supposedly say that flawed 127 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: Tepish a k a lad Dracula like to take his 128 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: meals outside among the dying, impaled victim and you I 129 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: imagine that there was a lot of groaning and screaming 130 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: and it probably wasn't very pleasant sound, No, but he 131 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: was a very sick man, Yeah, he was. There was 132 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: also well I think this is probably where the Dracula 133 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:35,119 Speaker 1: legend came from. Uh. He supposedly once invited some Turks 134 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: uh to meet with him, and when they got there, um, 135 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: he had some prisoners that he'd already captured that were 136 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: Turks uh, and he killed one of them in front 137 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: of the Turks and and drank the blood of this victim, 138 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 1: which caused the Turks to turn around and leave very quickly. Um, 139 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: which I I imagine that's probably where the vampire legends 140 00:07:57,320 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: that sort of sort of worked like a charm, and 141 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:01,440 Speaker 1: we invent and earlier, there was a lot of propaganda 142 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: spread about Vlad Dracula, and conveniently enough this sort of 143 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: coincided with the invention of Guttenberg's printing press, so it 144 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: had more recently been used to print copies of the Bible, 145 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: and next people turned to printing just volumes and volumes 146 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: and volumes of documents against the horrors of Vlad Dracula. 147 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: I think historians suggests that we would not even probably 148 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: be aware of Lad Tepish had had this propaganda against 149 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:34,440 Speaker 1: him not been printed so voluminously. And uh, we probably 150 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 1: probably would have been even further forgotten had bram Stoker 151 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: not basically accidentally ran across these these pamphlets and these 152 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 1: books h in the British Museum, so he his enemies 153 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:50,720 Speaker 1: basically um uh contributed to his everlasting lagend there youk 154 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: out And even today apparently there's this new video game 155 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,199 Speaker 1: coming out. And I'm not much of a gamer myself. 156 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: I'm more likely to sit down with the latte and 157 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,960 Speaker 1: a copy of Vogue. But a pair ly you can 158 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:05,000 Speaker 1: play this thing called The Path of the Dragon, and 159 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: it takes you through the ruins of Vlad Tapiss Castle, 160 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: and they call the village, I think of a lot 161 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:13,960 Speaker 1: of veast or something like that. And we know for 162 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: a fact he didn't live in Transylvania. He lived in Lakia. 163 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: But um, you could sort of go on a virtual 164 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: tour of the castle. Just watch your stuff. You don't 165 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: want to get them failed. Yeah, you can read even 166 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 1: more about vlad Tapis in who is the real Countcula? 167 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,839 Speaker 1: Where was the real Count Dracula? And for other delightful 168 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:37,080 Speaker 1: stories of people who supposedly drank their victim's blood. You 169 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: can also read about Elizabeth Bastery and was a Hungarian 170 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:44,079 Speaker 1: countess the Morald's most prolific serial killer, both on how 171 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: staff works dot com for moral this and thousands of 172 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 1: other topics. Because at how stuff works dot com, let 173 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,080 Speaker 1: us know what you think. Send an email to podcast 174 00:09:54,360 --> 00:10:02,079 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com.