Although Count Dracula is the brainchild of a 19th century Irish writer, he’s always been a bona fide Romanian villain — or hero, depending on your level of squeamishness.

Tucked away in a castle high up in the Carpathian Mountains, the most notorious of all vampires was inspired by a real-life medieval killing machine known as Vlad the Impaler, whose brutal torture methods were way worse than anything Dracula ever pulled off in books or on screen. Vlad was born in Transylvania, a region in central Romania that has since become synonymous with bloodsucking, fake fangs, and all kinds of content and merchandise, from billion-dollar Hollywood franchises to kinky Halloween costumes.

Although Count Dracula is the brainchild of a 19th century Irish writer, he’s always been a bona fide Roma

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