What Happens When You Analyze Vlad The Impaler’s Letters With Advanced Tech

<blockquote> “I could hear a lot of words often repeated…so I quietly got my polyglot dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say they were not cheering to me, for amongst them were “Ordog” — Satan, “pokol” — hell, “stregoica” — witch, “vrolok” and “vlkoslak” — both of which mean the same thing…something that is either were-wolf or vampire. (Mem., I must ask the Count about these superstitions).” — <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/345/345-h/345-h.htm" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Dracula</a>, Bram Stoker 1897 </blockquote> For the past hundred years or so, we’ve been treated to — or tormented by — a fantastic literary character that’s taken on a life of its own. While many may not know the name Bram Stoker, most know his creation Dracula — even more vampires. But like so many things in history, a mixture of time, culture, and folklore makes it hard to know where something actually begins. For the Dracula story, many point back to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vlad-the-Impaler" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Vlad III Drăculea</a>, born in Transylvania, and eventual military governor of Walachia (within present day Romania), as the real-life inspiration for the character. The name Dracula simply means “son of Dracul.” That family moniker derived from the Latin “draco,” or dragon, as in “Order of the Dragon.” It was a group established by the Holy Roman Emperor in a time of crisis to defend the region against Ottoman invaders in the fifteenth century. <a href="https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/what-happens-when-you-analyze-vlad-the-impalers-letters-with-advanced-tech-edeabe58e2ff">Learn More</a>