Transcripts

Paul Bibeau:
He was like a minor, medieval ruler in the fifteenth century. He was a nasty, brutal man and he impaled a lot of people - and persecuted a lot of people.

Paul Bibeau, author of the book Sundays With Vlad, says the idea that Dracula (also known as Vlad the Impaler) was some sort of evil vampire, came from Bram Stoker in researching his novel, "Dracula" that he wrote in the 1800's.

Bram Stoker very clearly in his notes says he discovered the name Dracula and learned incorrectly that the name means son of the devil. Iit actually doesn't, he made a mistake there.

In fact, Paul says, Bram Stoker was probably more fascinated with the name Dracula than the actual person.

Bram Stoker plugged a cool-sounding name into a vampire story that he was already well on the way to finishing and it was not even set in Transylvania - it was set in Styria, Austria, the hometown of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Dracula in the movies played by Bela Lugosi looked nothing like the real Dracula or the Dracula in the novel Dracula.

I talked to Bela Lugosi's son who talks about how the signature tuxedo and cape was actually his father's idea and that he'd originally used it in his stage productions.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.