Vlad Ţepeş, the Wallachian prince at the heart of Bram Stoker’s Dracula
How my fascination with Vlad Ţepeş began
I have been a keen horror film buff since I was a kid, and this is something else I can attribute to my dad. He gave me a 1958 collectors’ first edition of Forrest J Ackerman’s classic Famous […]

Sadistic Tyrant or Noble Prince - Vlad Tepes was indeed a great warrior
Below: The old medieval town of Sighisoara in Transylvania
We started out early the next morning and, as luck would have it, fetched up at Sighisoara on market day. On these days, outlying villagers come in horse drawn carriages to sell their produce, cheese […]

A more familiar image of Vlad Tepes featured in this woodcut
On the trail of Vlad Ţepeş
I flew to Bucharest with Tarom Airlines of Romania, a comfortable enough service even if they did still allow people to smoke on board. I’d arranged transport and an English speaking guide to collect me at the airport and take […]

Castle Bran - Dracula’s Castle - high up in the Carpathian mountains
A few years ago I made the decision to visit a place which had fascinated me since childhood - Transylvania, the land beyond the forest. When I announced this is where I was bound for my summer holiday, strangers thought me eccentric and friends […]