Vlad the Impaler

Huh? Romania? I thought that name belonged to a porno star.

The horrific, gruesome stories surrounding this guy are well known by now, as are his "connections" to the Bram Stoker vampire character, and I was fascinated by him after reading the book(s) authored by Florescu and McNally (who first brought him to widespread attention in the early 70's), but as I get older, I have to wonder how many of the stories are true, partly true, or completely apocryphal. In reading history over the years, I've learned that controversial historic figures have often had degrading and/or demonizing stories/propaganda spread around about them by their detractors and enemies--- everyone from Caligula to Nero to Catherine the Great to Elizabeth Bathory to Lucrezia Borgia to Richard the Third, and on and on and on.... In some circles, even to this day, Vlad is regarded as a Romanian hero, a champion of Christianity who boldly stood up against the invading Turkish hordes. Certainly, he had many enemies during his lifetime, including the Saxon merchants doing busin... Read more

Gave the Muslims a taste of their own medicine and inspired a vampire character...I like the dude.

The guy is still considered a hero in Romania for his battles against the Turks. It seems likely that the gruesome tales of his depravities were either apocryphal or at the very least exaggerated both during his lifetime and after his death, so objective analysis of his behavior at this late date is problematic. While there is little doubt that this was a ruthless guy, this put him on an equal footing with every other European ruler of his time period. Brutality, violence and merciless control were the norm, and there is no reason to think he was any different. On the other hand, there is very little solid evidence for the widespread and imaginative slaughters he is alleged to have committed.

Vlad had 20,000 people impaled to scare off an invading army, so the story goes. Still, that's not too bad by the standards of the time...

One really gruesome, twisted guy without a doubt. Had he actually been a vampire ala Bela Lugosi it would surely have been an improvement. But then, real evil always trumps the imagination.

Great leader!

Hey, Vlad lived in a rough neighborhood.  The Crips and the Bloods were all over the place raising cane, and Vlad had to restore a little order.  You gotta break some eggs to make an omelet, so they say.

Well, the Dude was the original Dracula, so He's got that going for him. And he Did cure poverty...Granted his solution involved burning All the Poor people alive... I'm gonna have to say the Brother was pretty evil.

hte best romanian leader of all time

His torture methods were NOT just for his enemies, he was trained in the "art" of toture at Hunedoara Castle were a significant number of Transylvanian knights were trained...not only did he learn his craft well but he took great delight in inflicting himself on his subjects as well as his enemies...pretty much anyone who crossed him in any way...granted his methods worked as he maintained order...this was a bad bad man....his military prowess was just as legendary as his hatefulness was...

He was trying to punish the Turkish for trying to conquer Romania. He was king of Romania several times, was captured and jailed several times. People came up with the idea of him being a vampire because he drank the blood his enemy's with wine. I know the truth cuz my parents are from Romania.

Sorry but impaling tens of thousands of innocent people can't go lower than a 5 rating.

Vlad was a hero to the Romainan people lets not forget the Turks were killing people just as much or more then Vlad vlad was a dictator but in the time of his crimes he was just a reagular monster like the sultans or the czars the novel Dracula was based more on Elizabeth Bathory then Vlad .not to say he wasent a murder he was but he has been demonized a little to much his main enemy Sultan Murmed was a child molester worse then Vlad impaleing dead bodies

He was bad enough to be the basis of count dracula. enough said

Isn't he the one that does landscaping?

One of the few (if not the only) European(s) in history who actually scared the invading Middle-East hordes by his 'impaling' method of awfully slow torture and death. . .look up this guy on the internet and your skin will crawl. . .

Vlad did not get his name from handing out candy to kids. He liked to impale his enemys on spikes and leave them to die. Not a nice guy.

Actually a nationally revered hero in Romania. Known as the Dragon he was popular and fair towards his people, but a formidable opponent to his enemies (mostly the Turks and Hungarians). Yes, his forte was impalement, but that was just the flavor of the day...He wasn't the only one who did it. In fact the term "Vlad the Impaler" came from the Turks- not his own people. He used to impale the already dead bodies of enemy soldiers along the main roads towards Romania to intimidate his foes. Must of worked, Romania is still there today. His "evilness" is mostly Western lore and embellishment first established by Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Once, after defeating an army of Ottomans, he took all prisoners and survivors and impaled them through the gut on huge sticks thus creating a forest of half dead men. He then sat down an had a meal while watching hundreds of men scream and moan a slow, agonizing death. Apparently, if done right, impalement through the abdomen does not kill quickly. Another little trick Vlad did: to get all the peasantry who couldn't pay taxes out of his territory, he invited them to his castle for a feast and then locked them inside and set it on fire.