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Dracula: The Real Horror Behind the Prince of Darkness · Ghost stories and the Unusual Paranormal podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: When the lights go out, some stories refuse to stay buried.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Ghost Stories and the Unusual Paranormal Podcast, where
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: whispers become warnings where shadows remember and where the things
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: that follow you home were never just your imagination so
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: tonight lock your doors turn up the volume and whatever
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: you do try not to listen alone.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: And the Unusual.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Paranormal Podcast with your host, Joe.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: The Ghost Guy.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: And the Unusual Paranormal Podcast with your spooky ghost investigator,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Joe the Ghost Guy. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: wherever you are across the country and around the world.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: You are listening to Ghost Stories and the Unusual Paranormal Podcast.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: I'm indeed your spooky host, Joe the Ghost Guy. Turned
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: a few times, but this will give you why. Because tonight,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: This episode contains documented history about Vlad III of Wallachia
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: with the Romanian vampire folklore and Bram Stoker's fictional Dracula
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: and dramatized horror scenes. The supernatural encounters are storytelling and
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: verified are not verified historical events. Yes, tonight. There are
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: names that history remembers. Names carved in bones. Names that
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: are whispered in churches. Names buried beneath the centuries of blood, suffering,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: And of course, death. But there is one name that
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: refuses to remain buried. One name that has terrified generations
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: and generations and generations. One name that has become synonymous
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: with darkness itself. And that is Dracula. Some believe he
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: was merely a cruel ruler. Others believe he was a
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: monster born in the face of man. And still others
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: whisper that somewhere in the forgotten mountains of Romania, behind
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: the crumbling walls, of an ancient fortress. Something waits for
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: the darkness to return. Something that does not breathe. Something
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: that does not age. Something that has watched centuries past
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: while the world above, its gray has changed. something that
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: is very, very hungry. Tonight, we are traveling back into
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: the one of the darkest chapters in European history, to
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: a land where bodies were displayed on sharpened stakes, where
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: armies trembled before the cruelty of of a single ruler,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: where superstition and religion collided with violence, and where the
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: legend of the vampire would eventually become attached to one
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: of history's most feared names. But be warned. Dear listeners,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: the real history behind Dracula is filled with horrors that
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: require no supernatural explanation. Because before Dracula became a vampire,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: before he became a creature of the night, before he
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: became a mortal count who hunted, who haunted the pages
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: of Gothic literature. He was a real man, a prince,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: a warrior, and even executioner, and whose enemies knew him
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: as Vlad the Impaler. Our story begins around the year 1431.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: In the medieval town of Sephoria in Transylvania, a child
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: was born into a world of war, betrayal, and ruthless
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: political ambition. He, his name was Vlad. He would become
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: known as Vlad III, Dracula. and eventually the world would
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: remember him by a far more terrifying name. Vlad Tepes,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: or Vlad the Impaler. His father, Vlad II Dracul, was
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: associated with the Order of the Dragon, a civic order
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: whose members pleaded whose members were pledged to defend Christianity
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: and their political interest against their enemies. The name Dracul
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: is associated with the dragon, while Dracula identified Vlad as
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: the son of Dracul. But over the centuries, the name
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: would acquire a much darker medium in the popular imagination.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: The son of the dragon, the son of the devil,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: the prince of darkness. Imagine a young blood walking through
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: the stone corridor, the flame of a torch trembling against
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: the walls. Beyond these walls, the world is burning. Rulers
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: are being overthrown. Families are being slaughtered. Children are being
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: prisoners of political wars they cannot understand. As a boy,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Vlad and his younger brother Radun were held as hostages
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: by the Ottoman court a consequence of their father's political ambition.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: This was no supernatural imprisonment. It was something far more human.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: A world in which a child's freedom could be traded
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: for obedience of a king and somewhere within the world
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: a boy was learning that mercy can be dangerous, that
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: fear can command obedience, and that the dead can send
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: messages to the living. We do not know whether Vlad
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: spoke these words, but the terrible reputation he would inquire
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: makes them an inappropriate warning, because the child who had
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: been held hostage would one day become the ruler whose
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: methods horrified his enemies. and the grounds of Wallachola would
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: drink the blood of thousands. The year is 1462, and
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Mehmed II has advanced to Wallachola.
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  Speaker 2: Its soldiers have faced dangerous enemies before. They have marched
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: beneath burning city. They have conquered many fortresses. They have
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: witnessed the horrors of medieval warfare. But what waits for
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: them near Targo Vista will become one of the most
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: notorious episodes associated with Vlad Dracula. Imagine yourself as an
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: older man soldier. You have marched for days. Your armor
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  Speaker 2: is just heavy. Your mouth is so dry. The sun
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: rises over landings, shrouded in morning mist. And when you
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: notice something in the distance, something standing upright, at first
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: you believe there are trees, tall, thin trees without branches.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: But the fog begins to lift. You realize that the
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: terrible truth lies. There are not trees. They are wooden stakes.
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  Speaker 2: And upon those stakes are human bodies. Hundreds, even thousands
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: of bodies in various stages of decay. Some dressed in
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: what remains of military uniforms clothing, others barely recognizable. The
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: wind carries the sickening odor of death across the countryside.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Ravens gather overhead. Flies cover the faces of the dead.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: And the soldiers realize that this is no ordinary battlefield.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: This is simply A message. A warning. From Vlad. Dracula.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: A dedication. That anyone. Who enters. His territory. May never.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: Leave it. Alive. Historical accounts. Describe a vast. Display. Impaled.
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  Speaker 2: victims near Targa Skove. The study sometimes estimated approximately 20,000 people.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: The exact numbers remain uncertain, but surviving descriptions may contain exaggerations.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: But blood use of impalement as an instrument of terror
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: is formerly part of the historical record. Think about it.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: The cruelty required to create such a place, such a landscape,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: not a single execution not a moment of uncontrolled rage
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  Speaker 2: but an organized display of suffering designed to turn the
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: human body into weapon of psychological warfare and somewhere beyond
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: the terrible forest stood a ruler responsible Vlad the impaler,
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: a man whose enemies feared him more than darkness itself.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: One of the most disturbing stories about Vlad claims that
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: he enjoyed eating while surrounded by his impaled victims. Some
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: versions even described him as dipping bread into their human blood.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: These accounts circulated in hostile stories about Guam, and their
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: most sensational details cannot be treated as established fact. But
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: imagine the scene as those stories described it. A long
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: table stands beneath the dark blackened sky. Torches burn on
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  Speaker 2: either side. A feast has been prepared. Meat and wine.
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  Speaker 2: And surrounding the table were silhouettes of the dead. The
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: prince raises his goblet. He looks upon the landscape. He smiles.
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  Speaker 3: Let my enemies see what becomes of those who betray me.
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  Speaker 2: Was he a defender of his country? A brutal tyrant?
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: A warrior? Whose cruelty become the legend. History remembers. All
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: those competing.
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  Speaker 3: Images.
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  Speaker 2: But the horror remains. The real Dracula. Did not need things.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: To become fear. Yet sharpened stakes. And the entire kingdom.
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  Speaker 2: knew what he meant. June 1462. The Ottoman army is
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: encamped in Wallachoa. Its soldiers believe the darkness offers temporary safety.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: The campfires are burglarized. Horses stand restless. Beneath the moon,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: a few guards patrol the perimeter. But beyond the fires,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: something is moving. Lord Dracula is preparing an attack. The
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: historical night, attack against the Ottoman camp, is remembered as
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: one of the most dramatic episodes of his campaign. His
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: forces attempted to strike at the Ottoman leadership. Under the
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: air is cold. The forest is silent. And erupted into chaos.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Tents collapse. Soldiers rush into the darkness. Horses break free.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Men struggle. Distinguish enemies. From either their own companies. Shadows.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Move between the flames. And someone within. The confession. Vlad's warriors.
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  Speaker 2: Search for their target. Sultan. Mehmed. The second.
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  Speaker 3: The Ottoman. Army. Survives.
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  Speaker 2: And Vlad's desperate. campaign continues this is the historical Dracula,
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  Speaker 2: not the supernatural being, not a vampire's imaging from a coffin,
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  Speaker 2: a ruler who understood the terrible power of surprise violence.
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  Speaker 2: and fear and yet this story is not this is
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: not excuse me not to stay the end of the
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  Speaker 2: battlefield because long after his death another Dracula would rise
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  Speaker 2: one whose victims would not be displayed on the stage
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  Speaker 2: They would be found in their beds, pale, weak, and
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: with two small wounds upon their throats. In 1476, after
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: years of political upheaval, imprisonment, and struggles for power, Vlad
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Dracula briefly regained the throne of Wallachoa but his final
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: reign would be short. He was killed in late 1476
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: or early 1477, likely due to fighting. The pure circumstances
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: of his death remain uncertain. Accounts differ about who killed
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: him and how. his body was treated afterward. Traditions have
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: associated his burial with Tlegnov Monastery, while other theories point elsewhere.
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  Speaker 2: His final resting place has never been established beyond dispute,
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: and so a question remains. Where was Vlad Dracula buried?
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Imagine a forgotten grave beneath the ruins of an old church.
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  Speaker 2: A stone slab lies beneath centuries of dust. The inscription
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: was worn away. The water drips from the tomb. It coughed.
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  Speaker 2: Now imagine a grave robber entering the chamber centuries later.
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  Speaker 2: He carries a lantern. His hands shake. He kneels beside
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  Speaker 2: the coffin. He lifts the lid. Inside lies the body
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: wrapped in decaying cloth. But something is wrong. The flesh.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Appears untouched by time. The hands. Are folding across his chest.
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  Speaker 2: Are dark. And beneath them.
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  Speaker 3: Two.
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  Speaker 2: Long. Pointed teeth. Who was. Described. Who has described my sleep.
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  Speaker 3: Who has disturbed my sleep.
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  Speaker 2: That scene. It's fiction. But there's no reliable evidence that
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: why Dracula rose from his grave. But it brought us
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: the next terrifying part of our story. Because in Eastern
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: European folklore, it not always remains, doesn't always mean what
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: the dead would remain alive. at rest. Long before Bram
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Stoker's famous novel Communities Through Eastern Europe told stories about
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: the restless dead. In Romanian folklore, one of the most
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: frightening supernatural figures was the Stringagoni. Stringagoni was associated with
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  Speaker 2: spirits or that could return from the death to trouble
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: the living. Different traditions described them differently. Some were believed
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: to drain violently from their victims. Others blamed for illness, misfortune,
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: or unexplained deaths in communities where disease could spread without
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: a known cause. Stories of returning dead sometimes offended a
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  Speaker 2: supernatural explanation for tragedy, and the fear could be so
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: powerful that the people described graves to present the dead
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  Speaker 2: from returning. Now listen closely because this next story is
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: the dramatization inspired by those beliefs. A small village sleeps
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: beneath the mountains. At the edge of the settlement stands
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: an old wooden cottage. Inside lives a widow named Elna,
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: her husband, three weeks earlier. Since his burial, strange things
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  Speaker 2: have started to happen. Every night, shortly after midnight, someone
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: knocks upon the door. Three times, never four, never two,
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  Speaker 2: always three. The first night, Elena believed it was the wind.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: The second night, she fears footsteps outside. The third night,
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  Speaker 2: a voice calls her name.
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  Speaker 3: Elena!
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  Speaker 2: She freezes. It's her husband's voice. Her husband is dead.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: She approaches the door. Who is there? Then. My love,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: I'm home. Elna begins to cry. She places her hand
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: against the wooden door. The truth? Open the door. She reacts.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: She reaches for the latch. But something stops her. Beneath
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: the door, she sees a shadow. Two feet stand in motionless.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: And beside them, a dark liquid slowly spreading across the floorboards.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: The smell of wet soil fills the room.
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  Speaker 3: Eleanor!
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  Speaker 2: Let me inside. She backs away. The door handle begins
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: to turn slowly and faster. The knocking becomes pounding. Open
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: the door. But by morning, they caught it. The fire
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: burned out. The door was wide open and across the
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: floor were muddy footprints leaning towards Eleanor. But none leading
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  Speaker 2: back out. The villagers searched the house. They find no
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: trace of her. Only a dark stain of parmigiano. And
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: three deep scratches. on the inside of the bedroom door.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: Was it grief? Was it fear? Or had something returned
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: from the cemetery? The story is fictional. The fear is real.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: For generations, people believed that the dead could return to
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: feed upon the living. And soon, those ancient beliefs would
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: head fire in monsters. more famous than by any other.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: More than four centuries after Vlad Dracula's birth, another man
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: would give the name Dracula a new and terrifying name.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: was Brim Stoker. He was the Irish writer working in
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Victorian Britain. In 1897, he published Dracula. The novel introduced
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: readers to Count Dracula, an astromatic vampire living in a
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: remote Transylvanian castle. Stoker drew on drew on vampire theater, folklore,
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: Gothic traditions, and historical reading. He encountered the name Dracula
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: in a book about Wallachia and Moldavia through the scholars'
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: debate how much the historical Vlad III influenced the fictional count.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: But Stroker's greatest achievement was not merely creating a vampire.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: It was making the impossible feel horrifiably real. Through letters, journals,
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: and eyewitness accounts, his novel presented the supernatural as something
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: gradually discovered by original people. and the pages of that novel,
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: An Unforgettable Nightmare, began. A young English solicitor named Jonathan
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Harker travels into the Carpathian Mountains. His destination is an
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: isolated castle. His client, is a mysterious nobleman, Count Dracula.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: The villagers react with terror when Jonathan mentions the Count's name.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: They make signs of protection. They whisper prayers. One woman
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: gives him a crucifix, but Jonathan dismisses their warnings. He
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: is in educated man. He does not believe in vampires.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: He believes in contracts, property, businesses, and responsible explanations of
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: the modern world. The reason begins to fail him as
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: his carriage approaches the castle. The horses grew restless. Wolves
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: gather in the darkness. And high above the mountain road,
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: a fortress appears beneath the moon. Its windows are black.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Its towers resemble skeletal figures. The towers represent skeletal fingers
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: reaching towards the heavens. And they And the carriage stops.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: A massive wooden door opens. Within the doorway is a tall,
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: pale gentleman. His eyes gleam beneath the heavy brows. His
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: face is strangely cold. And his face reveals teeth that
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: I've seen unreasonably sharp. Count Dracula?
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: Welcome to my house.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Jonathan has entered the home of a monster and before
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: long he will discover that he is not a guest.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: He is a prisoner. At first Count Dracula appears courteous.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: He speaks private of Politely, he discusses England. He asks
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: Jonathan questions about London. But there's something deeply unnatural about him.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: He never seems to eat. He is absent during the daylight.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: There are no servants. And whenever Jonathan wanders through the castle,
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: he finds the doors that are locked. And then comes
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: the moment that changes everything. Jonathan is shaving. He looks
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: in the mirror. The Count suddenly appears behind him. But
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: in the mirror, there is no reflection. Jonathan turns. Dracula
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: stands directly behind him. And the Count's eyes are fixed
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: upon a small cut On Jonathan's face. A single drop
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: of blood. Rolls down his chin. Dracula's expression changes. His lips.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Grew back. His eyes. Turn into hunger. His eyes burn
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: with hunger. And for some terrible instant. Jonathan. Sees the
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: monster beneath the roar. The nobleman's skin. The Celt lunges,
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: but the crucifix Jonathan wears interrupts him. Dracula retreats, and
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: Jonathan begins to understand the castle is not merely an
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: ancient fortress. It's a prison. It's a tomb. It is
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: a feeding ground. One night, Jonathan enters A chamber. Where
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: he has began. Wander. Worn not to sleep. He lies down.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: The moonlight spills across the floor. Then he fears. Then
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: hears laughter. Soft. Beautiful. Unnatural. Three women. Emerge from the shadows.
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: Their faces are pale. Their lips are red. Their eyes
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: glitter with a terrible hunger. They move towards Jonathan. One
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: kneels beside him. Their hair brushes against his throat. He
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: feels their breath cold as the grave. Her mouth opens
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: and two sharp teeth approach his skin. He is mine.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: The women recoil. The Count stands in the doorway, furious.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: His face is twisted with rage. For a moment, Jonathan
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: understands something even more horrifying than the experience of vampires.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: He is surrounded by creatures. That feed upon human life.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: And the only reason. He is still alive. That Dracula.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: Has not finished. Using him. Dracula. Has plans beyond his castle.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: He attends to travel. To England. He abhors a vessel.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: Called Denomere. Or he calls it. Abhors a vessel called. Demeter.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: He begins his journey. The ship carries boxes of earth.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Earth from his homeland. Earth that will allow the vampire
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: to rest far from his ancient castle. But during the voyage,
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: something terrible begins to happen. The crew members disappear. One
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: by a sailor vanishes during the night watch another is
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: never seen after entering the cargo hold and remain the
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: remaining men become frightened they speak of a strange figure
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: moving through the ship a tall man pale silent appearing
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: where no man should be the captain tries to remain
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: order to have made order, but each night brings another,
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: and as the ship approaches England, the crew is almost gone.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: Imagine the captain alone at the wheel, his hands We're
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: stiff with cold. The storm is tearing the ship apart.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: He knows something has killed his crew. He knows it
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: is still aboard. And he knows that whatever it is
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: must not be allowed to take the ship without resistance.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: He binds himself to the wheel. The waves crash over
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: the deck. Lightning illuminates the cargo hatch, and there, for
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: a fraction of a second, stands a tall, black figure, motionless, watching.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: The captain screams into the storm, but the figure does
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: not move. It simply smiles. When the Demeter reaches Whittaby,
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: the captain is dead, and a large black dog leaps
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: from the ship and disappears in the darkness. The Count
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: has arrived. England has become his new hunting ground, and
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: the nightmare is only just beginning. In England, Dracula's hunger
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: turns towards a young woman named Lucy Westernera. She is beautiful, kind,
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: full of life. But night after night, she begins to waken.
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: Her skin grows pale. Her strength disappears. She suffers. Strange
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: dreams and two small marks appear on her neck. Doctors
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: struggle to understand her condition. Her friends become increasingly desperate.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: Then the professor, Abraham von Helsing, enters the story. He
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: is the physician. and scholar familiar with the ancient legends
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: of the undead. And he begins to suspect something dreadful.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Lucy is not suffering from any ordinary illness. Something is
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: visiting her at night. Something is still in her blood.
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: Something that should have remained buried. Despite attempts to save her,
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: Lucy dies. Her loved ones mourn. Her coffin is sealed,
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: and she is laid to rest. Soon as frightening reports
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: become circulating, children have been found wandering near the cemetery.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: Some speak of a beautiful woman who appears after dark.
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: Others are discovered as small wounds upon their throats. Van
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: Helsing fears the impossible has happened. Lucy has returned, but
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: as the young woman they loved, but as one of
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: the undead. Van Helsing.
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: Was a.
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: Van Helsing and his companions enter Lucy's tomb. They approach
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: the coffin. Slowly, they open it. The coffin is empty.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: They wait and wait and wait. Then, they hear footsteps.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: A woman's soft laughter. A figure Emerges from the darkness.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: It was Lucy. Her bare clothes are pale. Her face
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: is beautiful.
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: But her lips.
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: Are stained with blood. She carries a child in her arms.
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: When she sees the men. She lets the child fall.
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: Her eyes set upon Arthur. Homewood, the man who had
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: loved her, she smiles. Come to me, Arthur. He takes
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: a step forward, but Van Helsing stops him because the
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: woman standing before them is no longer the Lucy they knew.
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: She is a vampire. and the hunger in her eyes
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: is unmistakable. In Stroker's novel, Lucy is ultimately released from
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: her undead existence through a horrifying ritual involving a stake
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: driven through her heart. It is one of the story's
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: most disturbing moments. The monster is destroyed. But the people
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: who love Lucy must confront the terrible sight of her body.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: A tragedy of Dracula is not only that he kills,
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: it is that he transforms the dead into instruments of terror.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: And people who survive must face the nightmare of destroying
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: someone They want love. Dracula's next victim is Mina Harker,
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: Jonathan's wife. Intelligent, determined, and deeply involved in the effect
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: to understand and stop the vampire. But Dracula is not
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: merely a beast driven by hunger. He is cunning. He
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: can manipulate. He can threaten. He can enter the lives
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: of their enemies and turn their greatest fears against them.
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: One night, the vampire reaches Mina. The encounter leaves her
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: bound to him by a terrible supernatural connection. She fears
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: that she may eventually become a creature like him. Her
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: companions race to find the Count before it's too late.
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: They reach his properties. They destroy his place of refuge.
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: They follow the evidence that leads them back towards Transylvania.
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: And slowly, Dracula begins to lose his advantage. For the
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: first time, the hunter is being hunted. The pursuit carries
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: the group back to the Carpathian Mountains. Winter closes around them.
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: The sky grows dark. A wagon races towards Dracula's castle,
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: carrying the box in which the Count rests. His protectors
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: fly to deliver him before sunset. Jonathan Harker and Quincy
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: Morris struggle to reach the coffin. Van Helsing and the
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: others fight to prevent Dracula's escape. The final moments approach.
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: The sun is descending. The shadows grow longer. And within
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: the box lays the creatures that has brought death across
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: the two counties. Jonathan forces Jonathan forces the coffin open.
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: The Count's eyes stare upwards. For one terror moment, the
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: vampire seems to understand that his countries of darkness are ending.
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: Then the final attack comes and Dracula is destroyed. The
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: fictional vampire's reign has ended. But, as a legend, we'll
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: never die. Today, visitors travel to Romania in search of Dracula.
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: They climb stone stairways, explore medieval castles. walk through shadowy corridors,
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: and look across the Carpathian Mountains, imagining a time when
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: rulers fought for survival and fire and steel, but the
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: real historical geography is more complex than the legends suggest.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Pori Fortress, high above the Agri's River, the ruins of
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: Pori Fortress are strongly associated with Vlad III. The fortresses
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: stand upon the deep mountain ridge. Its ruined walls overlook
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: the surrounding landscape. Imagine standing there at sunset. The wind
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: moves through the broken stone. The forest blue turns black.
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: And somewhere in the distance, ravens cry. The walls themselves
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: do not prove a haunting, but they belong to a
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: landscape of genealogy. Genealogy Violent Medieval History Bran Castle Bran
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: Castle is fortunately promoted as Dracula's Castle. Its towers and
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: narrow passageways seem almost designed for a gothic horror story. Yes,
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: it is not the castle described by Brimstroker and its
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: direct historical connection to Vlad III. It is limited and debated.
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: Its fame comes largely from its appearance and associated with
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: Dracula's legend, Corvin Castle, another dramatic Romanian fortress. Corvin Castle
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: is sometimes connected to legends Surrounding Vlad. Stories about his imprisonment.
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: Were circulated. But their historical. Reality. Reality is disputed. These
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: places remain. Us that Dracula. Exists in two worlds. The
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: world of the medieval history. And the world of Gothic imagination.
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: And sometimes. The second world becomes too powerful. It begins
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: to obscure the first. And now, dear listeners, we leave
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: the historical record that follows our final fictional nightmare. A
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: story about what might happen if the legends are true. Romania.
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: present day. Deep, the mountains stand an abandoned chapel. Its
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: roof was partially collapsed. Its windows are broken. Beneath its
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: altar lies a sealed chamber. And for generations, villagers have
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: refused to enter after sunset. They speak of strange sounds,
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: footsteps underneath the stone floor, a voice speaking in a
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: tongue no living villager understands, and a bell that sometimes
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: rings even though the chapter's bell has been removed decades ago.
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: October evening, a historian named Adrian enters the chapel. He
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: carries a flashlight, a camera, and an old manuscript. The
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: manuscript contains a reference to a forgotten burial chamber, and
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: Adrian believes that it may lead to a remarkable discovery.
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: He approaches the altar. There beneath the layers of dust,
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: he finds an iron ring embedded in the stone floor.
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: He pulls. Nothing happens. He pulls again. This time, the
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: stone shifts. A staircase descends into darkness. Adrian switches on
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: his flashlight. and begins to climb down, step after step
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: after step. Then the air grows colder, and the bottom
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: he finds an arrow chamber. The walls are lined with
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: old barrel niches, and at the far end stands an
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: iron door. Its surface bears the image of a dragon.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: Adrian approaches. He notices something scratched into the metal. A warning.
• 55:50
  Speaker 3: Do not waken the one who waits.
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: Adrian laughs nervously. Just another medieval superstition. He pushes the door.
• 56:10
  Speaker 3: It opens.
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: Inside stands a single stone coffin. The lid is covered
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: with dust. And upon the coffin lies a rusted sword.
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: Adrian raises his camera. He takes a photograph. The flash
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: illuminates the chamber. For one fraction of a second, he
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: sees something standing behind the coffin. A tall figure wearing black.
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: He spins around. Nothing. His flashlight flickers. He checks his camera.
• 57:00
  Speaker 2: In the photograph, there's a figure Is clearly visible. With
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: a pale face. Dark hair. And eyes that seem to stare.
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: Directly into the lens. Adrian. Looks towards the coffin. The lid.
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: Is moving. He backs away. The lid. The coffin lid.
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: Stands aside.
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: A long.
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: White hand appears. His fingers crawl around the stone. Then
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: a face fills the chamber.
• 57:43
  Speaker 3: Low.
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: Ancient. Almost gentle.
• 57:49
  Speaker 3: The voice.
• 57:51
  Speaker 2: How long? Adrian cannot move.
• 57:58
  Speaker 3: How long have I slept?
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: Darkness. Adrian reaches desperately for the door. His fingers touch
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: the cold iron, but the door slams shut. He screams.
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: His flashlight turns on again, and the figure is standing
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: directly before him, a tall man in a black cloak.
• 58:30
  Speaker 2: His face is pale, And expressionless. His eyes are dark.
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: And hollow. And when he opens his mouth. His teeth
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: are long. Sharp. And wet with blood. Adrian. Terrified. Who
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: are you? The figure. Leans forward. A cold hand. settles
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: upon Adrian's shoulder, and the voice answers, I.
• 59:08
  Speaker 3: Have been called me. things a prince a monster.
• 59:17
  Speaker 4: And Dracula a search party arrives at the chapel they
• 59:25
  Speaker 4: find Adrian's camera His flashlight.
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: His notebook.
• 59:32
  Speaker 3: But.
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: Adrian. Is gone. The stone coffin. Is empty. And across
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: the dusty floor. Two sets of footprints. One belongs to Adrian.
• 59:48
  Speaker 3: The other.
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: Appears to have been made. By a man wearing an ancient.
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: Leather boots. Ball sets. Signed. both sets lead towards the
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: staircase but only one set continues outside near the chapel
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: entrance someone has written a message in the dust five words.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 3: The night belongs to me.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: And somewhere far away A wolf begins to howl. So,
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: who was Dracula? Was it a thirsty vampire? A mortal
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: creature who wandered the centuries in search of human blood?
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: A monster who could transform into a bat, command wolves,
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 2: and disappear into mists? No historical evidence establishes any of
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: these supernatural claims, but there was a real Dracula who
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 2: ruled Wallachia, powerful enemies whose methods of punishment becomes infamous,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: whose impulsion survived long after his death. And centuries later,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: an Irish novelist took the name of Dracula and gave
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: it the world a different kind of monster, the one
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: that would live forever in literature and on theaters and
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: on cinema screens and on television screens and the nightmares
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: of generations. And perhaps the most frightening part of his
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: story is not the vampire. It is the realization that
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: human beings are capable of creating horrors as disturbing as
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: anything imagined in supernatural fiction. Vlad Dracula's victims did not
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: need to fear an immortal creature. They feared a living ruler,
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: his armies, his executioners, his terrible punishments. And that is
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: what makes the real history so unsettling. Because when the
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 2: candles burn out, when the coffin closes and the wolves
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: stop howling, the fictional vampire disappears. But the historical suffering remains.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: And still, after more than 500 years, we speak his name, Dracula.
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 2: So tonight, when the wind rattles your windows, when you
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: hear something moving, Behind your bedroom door. When you waken
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: in the darkness and feel that someone is standing beside
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 2: your bed. Remember the legends. Remember the warnings. And remember
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: the most terrifying rule of every vampire story. Sometimes the
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 2: monster does not need to break down your door. Sometimes
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 2: it is simply waiting for you to invite it inside.
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: It may come in in the Unusual Paranormal Podcast where
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 2: the unexplained becomes terrifying and when the dead still have
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: stories to tell. Until our next journey into darkness, keep
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 2: your doors locked. Keep your candles burning and never forget.
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: Some legends are born from nightmares. Others are born from history.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: And Dracula has been born. Stay spooky, friends.
• 1:04:50
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• 1:04:58
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• 1:05:46
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