Dracula's Reign of Terror

Vlad III Dracul otherwise known as Dracula, is probably one of the most infamous in history for his inhuman cruelty. Dracula's preferred method of torture and execution was impalement – when objects are driven through the body, causing deep stabbing wounds. As soon as he was placed on the throne and in control, Dracula's reign of terror began. He was driven by revenge for the deaths of his father and his older brother Mircea. His father was assassinated and his brother was buried alive.

In fact, to celebrate Easter he provided a feast for his noblemen and their families, well aware that many of them had contributed in the conspiracy that killed his family members. During the feast, Dracula asked the noblemen how many Princes had ruled during their lifetimes, all had outlived several Princes. Upon hearing this information, Dracula had them all immediately arrested. The older nobles and their families suffered immediately by impalement while the younger nobles and their families were forced into slave labor.

Death by impalement was an agonizing way to die, and Dracula found ways to make it an even slower way to die. He enjoyed the suffering of his victims. Records indicate that his victims suffered for hours, some for days. He often had the stakes arranged in various geometric patterns, with the height of the stake indicating the rank of the victim.

Since Dracula enjoyed watching his victims suffer slow agonizing deaths he made sure that the stakes were not too sharp as this could cause the victim to die too quickly of shock. The blunt stake would be forced through the victim's body until it emerged from the mouth. Infants were impaled on the same stake that went through their mother's chest. Sometimes victims were impaled so that they hung upside down on the stake and all of them were left where they died for months.

Dracula's overall favorite method of torture was impalement, but it was by no means the only method he used. He also was a huge fan of hammering nails into one's head, hacking off limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning alive, cutting off of noses and ears, mutilation of sexual organs (especially in the case of a woman), scalping, skinning alive, exposure to the elements or animals, and being boiled alive.

No one was safe from this psychotic monster. Everyone fell victim, from women and children and peasants, to merchants, great lords, and ambassadors from foreign powers. However, the vast majority were local merchants from Transylvania, and his very own noblemen. In an attempt to enforce his moral standards upon his country, he brutally attacked his own people. He was obsessed with female chastity, Young women who lost their virginity, adulterous wives and unchaste widows were the main targets of Dracula's cruel acts.

In his eyes, these women were sinners so he would oftentimes have their sexual organs cut out or their breasts cut off. The impalement that he used on women involved red-hot stakes being forced through the body until it reappeared from the mouth. One report states that Dracula ordered the execution of an unfaithful wife which included cutting off her breasts and then being skinned alive.

Romanian tradition remembers Dracula as an exceptionally cruel and often erratic ruler. There are several events that occurred during the reign of Dracula that mark a specific spot in history. I am going to review a few of them to give you a better understanding of the type of horror that this ruler inflicted.

The Golden Cup

Dracula ruled over his country with a fierce insistence of honesty and very few thieves were brave enough to practice their trade within his domain. They were well aware of what the punishment would be if the got caught. Dracula ruled with such an iron fist that he was extremely confident in the effectiveness of his law. In fact, he was so confident that stealing would not be an issue that he places a solid gold cup on display in the central square of Trigoviste. This cup remained untouched throughout his rein.

The Foreign Ambassadors

Foreign ambassadors requested a meeting with Prince Dracula and when their request was honored, the men refused to take off their hats in his presence. This angered the prince as he took this as a sign of disrespect. Dracula had the ambassadors' hats nailed to their heads so they could never remove then again.

Dracula's Mistress

Dracula, like any other warm-blooded male had sexual needs so he found a mistress to take care of him. Dracula's mistress lived off of the back streets of Tirgoviste. She was deeply in love with the Prince and was always anxious to please him. Dracula was often moody and depressed and she made every possible effort to lighten her lover's burdens. In a desperate attempt to cheer him up, she told him that she was pregnant, which was a outright lie. He warned her not to joke about such matters and despite her knowledge of his feelings about dishonesty, she insisted that she was telling him the truth.

Dracula had her examined in order to determine how truthful her claim to him had been. In a rage, he drew his knife and cut her open from the groin area to her breasts while he proclaimed his desire for the world to see where he had been. He then left her to die in agony.

The Nobleman with the Keen Sense of Smell

On St. Bartholomew's Day in 1459, Prince Dracula impaled a total of thirty thousand merchants and nobles of the city of Brasov. To fully enjoy his orders, he commanded a table be set up and that his nobles join him for a feast among the forest of impaled corpses. One noble could not take the gut-wrenching odor that was coming from the impaled corpses, so he decided to plug his nose in an effort to block out the sickly stench. This angered the Prince and he ordered the sensitive nobleman to be impaled on a stake higher than all of the rest so he might be above the smell.