Dracula's Cruelty

During his lifetime, Dracula's cruelty was notorious for unspeakable acts towards men, women, children and animals.

Remember, Dracula spent part of his youth as a hostage of the Turks. He must have felt abandoned by his father and jealous of his handsome brother, Radu (who became a favourite of the Sultan). This, coupled with the many wars being fought, created a character who must have felt that life was cheap. Maybe there was also something inherently 'evil' in his personality. Who knows?

Here's a catalogue of the Count's cruelty:

• Dracula once invited many beggars and sick people to a banquet. He asked them if they'd like to be without cares and want for nothing. When they all resoundingly said, "Yes!", Dracula had the castle boarded up and burned to the ground. Nobody survived, but there were no poor in his kingdom!

• He is reputed to have killed between 40,000 and 100,000 people durign his reign. These ranged from children to women who had affairs). It was said that 20,000 bodies hung outside his capital city!

• His favourite method of execution was impalement on a stake/pike. This shows Dracula's cruelty at its worst: it was a slow, painful death, sometimes taking many days for the victim to die. He liked to dine as they died and he often arranged the stakes into fancy designs!

• He also skinned and boiled people alive.

Listen to 'Dracula's Cruelty' (Music by Alan J Moore)

Dracula's cruelty continues...

• After inviting 500 landowners (Boyars) to a banguet, he accused them of plotting and scheming. He impaled the older Boyars and forced the rest to build a fortress (Poenari). Most died during this forced labour.

• When a thief broke into Dracula's house, he had the Hungarian officer, who chased the thief, executed because he was a gentleman and should have known better than to enter a house uninvited!

• When a group of foreign ambassadors refused to doff their hats to Dracula, he had the hats nailed to their heads!

• He also impaled birds and rats for fun.

Dracula's cruelty...strange facts

• Dracula's cruelty produced a very strict moral code in Wallachia. As a result, there was not much crime!

• Dracula, strangely, once spared the life of a merchant who had left his money outdoors all night. A thief stole the coins and the merchant complained to Dracula. Dracula made a proclamation that the city woudld be destroyed if the coins weren't returned. The coins were returned, plus an extra one. Luckily the merchant told Dracula about the extra coin. Dracula had the thief impaled and would have implaled the merchant too if he hadn't have mentioned the extra coin! A trap? Certainly a very strange moral code!

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