"Mysteries at the Museum" Vampires: Mysteries at the Museum Specials

1 00:00:08,543 --> 00:00:10,876 Of all the monsters the human imagination 2 00:00:10,945 --> 00:00:14,213 has willed into existence, nothing quite matches 3 00:00:14,282 --> 00:00:17,683 the perverse, surreal characteristics of vampires. 4 00:00:17,752 --> 00:00:20,585 But why do they fascinate us? 5 00:00:20,622 --> 00:00:24,357 Vampires are bloodsucking, sun-fearing, 6 00:00:24,359 --> 00:00:28,294 shapeshifting immortal demons that should terrify us. 7 00:00:31,532 --> 00:00:33,432 I'm digging deep into a legend 8 00:00:33,501 --> 00:00:36,769 that has fed our imaginations and plagued our nightmares 9 00:00:36,771 --> 00:00:39,171 for generations 10 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,307 to explore the story of vampires. 11 00:00:42,343 --> 00:00:44,510 Even now, people believe in the undead. 12 00:00:44,579 --> 00:00:47,245 From medieval folklore... 13 00:00:47,282 --> 00:00:50,316 This is where the torture would have happened. 14 00:00:50,451 --> 00:00:51,918 [agonized shouts] 15 00:00:52,053 --> 00:00:54,086 ...to Count Dracula himself. 16 00:00:55,823 --> 00:00:58,056 From Bram Stoker's Transylvania 17 00:00:58,092 --> 00:01:00,593 to the gory dungeons of Vlad the Impaler, 18 00:01:00,728 --> 00:01:04,663 I'm here to find out what is fact and what is fiction 19 00:01:04,666 --> 00:01:06,999 when it comes to the world's most infamous 20 00:01:07,134 --> 00:01:10,669 bloodsucking fiends, vampires. 21 00:01:10,672 --> 00:01:14,540 It's all right here. This is how to be a vampire. 22 00:01:14,542 --> 00:01:16,875 I'm Don Wildman. 23 00:01:16,911 --> 00:01:18,878 I've explored the world's greatest mysteries, 24 00:01:19,013 --> 00:01:21,814 examined rare artifacts and epic monuments. 25 00:01:21,950 --> 00:01:23,815 That is unbelievable. 26 00:01:23,851 --> 00:01:25,952 Now, I'm digging deeper into some of the most 27 00:01:26,087 --> 00:01:28,888 perplexing and famous cases in history. 28 00:01:29,023 --> 00:01:31,690 My goal--to get closer to the truth. 29 00:01:31,726 --> 00:01:33,826 Let's burn this place down. Let's burn it down. 30 00:01:33,961 --> 00:01:38,030 (Don) On this special episode of "Mysteries at the Museum"... 31 00:01:38,099 --> 00:01:40,466 Vampires. 32 00:01:42,637 --> 00:01:45,638 [birds chirping] 33 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,106 For over 1,000 years, 34 00:01:48,142 --> 00:01:50,176 vampires have fueled our superstitions 35 00:01:50,178 --> 00:01:52,445 and haunted our nightmares, 36 00:01:52,447 --> 00:01:55,914 but what do we really know about vampires? 37 00:01:55,983 --> 00:01:58,917 I want to find out how much is legend 38 00:01:58,953 --> 00:02:01,454 and how much is real when it comes to 39 00:02:01,589 --> 00:02:03,522 these bloodsucking monsters. 40 00:02:03,524 --> 00:02:05,924 To do that, I've traveled to the place 41 00:02:05,994 --> 00:02:09,061 where the vampire began, to what is now 42 00:02:09,097 --> 00:02:12,264 the eastern European country of Romania. 43 00:02:12,300 --> 00:02:16,001 Today, Romania is a vast, mountainous collection 44 00:02:16,037 --> 00:02:19,805 of towns and villages known for its natural beauty and wildlife, 45 00:02:19,807 --> 00:02:23,075 but back in the day, 46 00:02:23,111 --> 00:02:25,811 Romania was a land full of mystery, 47 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,248 known for its colorful folklore and superstitions, 48 00:02:31,219 --> 00:02:33,419 but no part of Romania has more to do 49 00:02:33,421 --> 00:02:35,755 with the story of vampires than the place where 50 00:02:35,890 --> 00:02:38,024 I'm starting my journey-- 51 00:02:38,159 --> 00:02:40,692 the very real region of Transylvania, 52 00:02:40,728 --> 00:02:43,329 the birthplace of vampires. 53 00:02:49,437 --> 00:02:51,837 Vampires seduce us with sex appeal, 54 00:02:51,906 --> 00:02:54,307 lust, and the promise of eternal life 55 00:02:54,442 --> 00:02:58,110 and repel us with their savage thirst for blood. 56 00:02:58,112 --> 00:03:01,646 Sometimes, they are sophisticated aristocrats, 57 00:03:01,683 --> 00:03:04,517 while other times, they are rotting, 58 00:03:04,519 --> 00:03:07,853 bloodsucking demons resembling zombies. 59 00:03:07,855 --> 00:03:11,857 But those are just some of the depictions that have 60 00:03:11,859 --> 00:03:14,326 developed over hundreds of years. 61 00:03:14,462 --> 00:03:17,662 Of course, the most famous vampire of all 62 00:03:17,699 --> 00:03:20,933 is Count Dracula, a pop culture icon 63 00:03:21,002 --> 00:03:23,469 featured in horror movies, television, 64 00:03:23,471 --> 00:03:25,738 and literature throughout the ages. 65 00:03:27,541 --> 00:03:29,875 Dracula is the main character of Bram Stoker's 66 00:03:29,877 --> 00:03:32,945 infamous horror novel, written in 1897 67 00:03:33,014 --> 00:03:35,614 and set here in Romania. 68 00:03:35,616 --> 00:03:37,616 Stoker's terrifying gothic novel 69 00:03:37,618 --> 00:03:39,618 popularized the vampire as we know it 70 00:03:39,620 --> 00:03:43,222 and continues to shape how we think of vampires today. 71 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:51,074 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm 72 00:03:52,233 --> 00:03:54,100 The tale of Dracula began 73 00:03:54,235 --> 00:03:56,302 deep in the Romanian countryside 74 00:03:56,304 --> 00:03:59,437 in the now famous region called Transylvania. 75 00:03:59,474 --> 00:04:02,708 Check it out-- 76 00:04:02,777 --> 00:04:05,511 Bran Castle. Beautiful. 77 00:04:11,352 --> 00:04:14,320 This looming castle is what Bram Stoker's Dracula 78 00:04:14,322 --> 00:04:16,455 called home, 79 00:04:16,524 --> 00:04:18,724 so why does Stoker adopt it as a setting 80 00:04:18,793 --> 00:04:20,626 for his vampire novel? 81 00:04:22,730 --> 00:04:24,997 Hello! Hey, Don! 82 00:04:24,999 --> 00:04:28,934 (Don) Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew, Dacre Stoker, 83 00:04:28,970 --> 00:04:32,070 is here to share how the Dracula character was born. 84 00:04:32,139 --> 00:04:34,406 Nice to meet you-- whoa, whoa, whoa. 85 00:04:34,442 --> 00:04:36,742 How are you? Well, I'm great. 86 00:04:36,744 --> 00:04:38,677 This is a picturesque spot. It certainly is. 87 00:04:38,813 --> 00:04:41,080 So why this castle? 88 00:04:41,215 --> 00:04:43,148 You gotta remember where this is. 89 00:04:43,217 --> 00:04:45,551 You know, for those guys in that time, in the 1800s, 90 00:04:45,620 --> 00:04:48,487 people in Europe, in England, they knew nothing 91 00:04:48,556 --> 00:04:50,756 about this part of the world, it was literally the land 92 00:04:50,825 --> 00:04:54,260 beyond the forest, this was deep, dark spooky stuff. Okay. 93 00:05:00,134 --> 00:05:02,100 What did this look like in the day? 94 00:05:02,170 --> 00:05:04,102 Well, I tell you something-- Bram actually had 95 00:05:04,172 --> 00:05:06,639 a collection of books that actually showed us 96 00:05:06,641 --> 00:05:09,107 what it looked like-- this is one of Oh, I see. 97 00:05:09,143 --> 00:05:12,644 the two images that he actually used to create the description of this I see. 98 00:05:12,713 --> 00:05:15,714 in his writing--what he did was he used Transylvania 99 00:05:15,716 --> 00:05:18,717 as the location because of all the superstitions 100 00:05:18,753 --> 00:05:21,053 from this part of the world, and most importantly, 101 00:05:21,122 --> 00:05:23,522 he wanted to create a sense of reality. Yeah. 102 00:05:23,658 --> 00:05:26,125 The fact that it's set in a real place 103 00:05:26,127 --> 00:05:28,861 gives it a sense of authenticity. With real superstitions and mythologies. 104 00:05:30,998 --> 00:05:33,332 (Don) Born in Dublin in 1847, 105 00:05:33,334 --> 00:05:35,800 the worst year of Ireland's potato famine, 106 00:05:35,837 --> 00:05:38,470 Stoker was a sickly, bed-ridden child. 107 00:05:38,606 --> 00:05:41,873 His mother would often regale him with tales 108 00:05:41,943 --> 00:05:45,210 of people being buried alive during the fever epidemics 109 00:05:45,279 --> 00:05:47,613 of 1832. 110 00:05:47,615 --> 00:05:50,949 As Stoker grew as a writer, his love of history 111 00:05:51,018 --> 00:05:54,486 and science continued to feed his macabre imagination, 112 00:05:54,622 --> 00:05:57,555 which planted the seeds for the creation of 113 00:05:57,592 --> 00:05:59,891 the world's most infamous vampire. 114 00:05:59,961 --> 00:06:02,427 Wow. 115 00:06:02,496 --> 00:06:06,632 It is a perfect setting for a great story, isn't it? 116 00:06:09,704 --> 00:06:11,637 So as far as the story of Dracula, 117 00:06:11,706 --> 00:06:13,439 this is where it all starts. 118 00:06:13,574 --> 00:06:15,441 Yeah, and Bram used this castle as his inspiration 119 00:06:15,576 --> 00:06:17,209 for Castle Dracula. 120 00:06:21,582 --> 00:06:24,116 (Don) While Stoker had published other novels, 121 00:06:24,251 --> 00:06:27,252 none would capture the imagination like Dracula . 122 00:06:27,321 --> 00:06:29,722 Published in 1897 123 00:06:29,857 --> 00:06:32,123 and set at the end of the 19th century, 124 00:06:32,159 --> 00:06:34,993 Dracula tells the story of the young Englishman, 125 00:06:34,996 --> 00:06:37,062 Jonathan Harker, as he travels 126 00:06:37,098 --> 00:06:39,999 through Transylvania on business. 127 00:06:40,134 --> 00:06:43,535 Harker is there to meet a mysterious Transylvanian nobleman... 128 00:06:43,604 --> 00:06:46,538 Count Dracula. 129 00:06:46,674 --> 00:06:49,742 But soon, Harker comes to realize 130 00:06:49,877 --> 00:06:52,611 that he's a prisoner of a bloodsucking fiend 131 00:06:52,613 --> 00:06:55,481 and trapped inside his stone fortress. 132 00:06:58,018 --> 00:06:59,919 I've gotta show some pretty cool things. 133 00:07:02,890 --> 00:07:05,024 Dracula's secret passageway. 134 00:07:06,727 --> 00:07:08,693 (Don) Dacre's offered me special access 135 00:07:08,729 --> 00:07:10,829 to get some rare insight into Bram Stoker's 136 00:07:10,964 --> 00:07:13,298 fascinating process as he created 137 00:07:13,300 --> 00:07:16,068 the most infamous vampire of all time. 138 00:07:21,042 --> 00:07:23,042 This is a collection of the resources 139 00:07:23,044 --> 00:07:25,910 that Bram used for his writing of Dracula . Wow, cool. 140 00:07:25,947 --> 00:07:28,046 And we've got some of his notes. 141 00:07:28,082 --> 00:07:30,048 And they represent all the information 142 00:07:30,084 --> 00:07:32,184 that he extracted from these books. 143 00:07:32,319 --> 00:07:34,186 And here's the timeless classic itself. 144 00:07:34,321 --> 00:07:37,322 Here it is--this is a first edition book that's been in the family for a long time. 145 00:07:37,391 --> 00:07:41,193 And the cool thing about this is this is Bram's copy that he gave to his mother. 146 00:07:41,195 --> 00:07:44,730 You can read it right there. To my dear mother, Abraham Stoker. 147 00:07:44,865 --> 00:07:47,599 So he did a tremendous amount of research 148 00:07:47,668 --> 00:07:50,602 prior to even writing this book, yes? Yeah. 149 00:07:50,738 --> 00:07:53,272 I mean, we know it took about seven years 150 00:07:53,407 --> 00:07:56,809 from the dates on these notes to put this whole thing together. 151 00:07:56,811 --> 00:07:59,011 It seems so obvious that you'd need to do this research, 152 00:07:59,146 --> 00:08:02,213 but it's really that which makes this novel so scary, 153 00:08:02,249 --> 00:08:05,084 'cause these are real places and even a real castle. 154 00:08:05,086 --> 00:08:09,088 (Dacre) These are three pages that he actually took 155 00:08:09,090 --> 00:08:11,824 notes from all these other books and created the traits 156 00:08:11,959 --> 00:08:15,427 that a vampire-- we know nowadays that most vampires 157 00:08:15,463 --> 00:08:17,496 have no looking glass, no reflection. 158 00:08:17,498 --> 00:08:20,165 It's a menu of vampire traits. Sure it is. 159 00:08:20,267 --> 00:08:23,568 That's fascinating-- see in the dark. See in the dark, painters cannot paint him, 160 00:08:23,604 --> 00:08:26,304 can't reproduce him. (Don) That's amazing. 161 00:08:26,374 --> 00:08:29,241 Power of getting himself large or small, 162 00:08:29,310 --> 00:08:31,243 shapeshifting. (Dacre) Right, seeing in the dark. 163 00:08:31,312 --> 00:08:34,313 Yep, money's always old gold. (Don) God, it's all right here. 164 00:08:34,315 --> 00:08:36,348 This is how to be a vampire! 165 00:08:36,350 --> 00:08:39,184 So he's really a genius of synthesizing 166 00:08:39,220 --> 00:08:41,586 all of these ideas. Absolutely. 167 00:08:41,622 --> 00:08:43,789 That's really his mark as a writer, isn't it? Yeah. 168 00:08:43,791 --> 00:08:46,658 He created a manual that was followed for 100 years afterwards. 169 00:08:46,694 --> 00:08:49,328 I mean, all the great vampire stories and movies Yeah. 170 00:08:49,463 --> 00:08:51,463 and all that... He did all the work for everybody else. 171 00:08:51,598 --> 00:08:53,232 That's incredible. 172 00:08:54,835 --> 00:08:57,669 (Don) But there was one more gem that Stoker found hidden 173 00:08:57,671 --> 00:09:00,205 within his research-- 174 00:09:00,207 --> 00:09:03,208 a book about a medieval ruler who reigned 175 00:09:03,244 --> 00:09:06,144 over a Romanian kingdom known as Wallachia. 176 00:09:06,180 --> 00:09:08,947 His name 177 00:09:08,983 --> 00:09:11,183 was Vlad Dracula. 178 00:09:13,086 --> 00:09:15,020 This is, you know, a question everybody asks. 179 00:09:15,089 --> 00:09:17,556 How did Bram ever decide on the name Dracula? 180 00:09:17,558 --> 00:09:20,292 And what we understand 181 00:09:20,427 --> 00:09:23,228 is that from his notes, he took out this book 182 00:09:23,264 --> 00:09:26,831 called the Account of Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia , Mmhm. 183 00:09:26,867 --> 00:09:29,167 And look what was written in there, read that. Oh, there you go. 184 00:09:29,236 --> 00:09:32,303 Dracula, page 19 of this book. Yes. 185 00:09:32,339 --> 00:09:34,773 Dracula in Wallachian language 186 00:09:34,842 --> 00:09:37,042 means devil. Yes. 187 00:09:37,044 --> 00:09:39,311 Because of that word, devil, Yeah. 188 00:09:39,380 --> 00:09:41,780 that solidified in Bram's mind the character he wanted. 189 00:09:41,915 --> 00:09:44,716 It was a devil-like creature. 190 00:09:44,752 --> 00:09:48,720 (Don) Although it wasn't an immediate success, 191 00:09:48,756 --> 00:09:51,656 Dracula brought Bram Stoker critical praise 192 00:09:51,692 --> 00:09:54,793 and would go on to become his most successful novel, 193 00:09:54,862 --> 00:09:58,329 outliving its author and serving as the template 194 00:09:58,365 --> 00:10:00,932 for all vampires that followed. 195 00:10:01,001 --> 00:10:03,335 It's got eternal life, doesn't it? 196 00:10:03,404 --> 00:10:05,337 Sure, just like the character. 197 00:10:05,406 --> 00:10:07,272 Right, and it all started right here. 198 00:10:07,407 --> 00:10:09,675 In Transylvania, in this castle as his image 199 00:10:09,810 --> 00:10:11,409 of the perfect castle. 200 00:10:11,445 --> 00:10:13,411 And then goes out over that hillside 201 00:10:13,447 --> 00:10:14,780 and all over the world. 202 00:10:23,490 --> 00:10:25,891 Fact and fiction, 203 00:10:25,893 --> 00:10:28,093 history and folklore. 204 00:10:28,228 --> 00:10:30,495 Under the surface of the vampire myth 205 00:10:30,531 --> 00:10:32,831 lies real truths. 206 00:10:32,833 --> 00:10:35,967 So who is the mysterious Vlad Dracula? 207 00:10:36,003 --> 00:10:38,437 And what else besides a name 208 00:10:38,439 --> 00:10:40,972 does he share with the most notorious vampire 209 00:10:41,041 --> 00:10:43,141 of all time? 210 00:10:43,210 --> 00:10:45,444 This is where the torture would have happened. 211 00:10:45,579 --> 00:10:47,312 [agonized shouts] 212 00:10:58,125 --> 00:11:01,126 [birds chirping] 213 00:11:01,195 --> 00:11:03,261 (Don) I'm in Romania in search of the truth 214 00:11:03,330 --> 00:11:05,530 about vampires. 215 00:11:05,599 --> 00:11:07,799 My visit to Bran Castle, deep in the heart 216 00:11:07,868 --> 00:11:11,202 of the infamous and very real region known as Transylvania 217 00:11:11,238 --> 00:11:13,871 revealed something fascinating. 218 00:11:13,941 --> 00:11:16,608 Dracula, 219 00:11:16,610 --> 00:11:19,077 the most famous fictional vampire of them all 220 00:11:19,213 --> 00:11:22,181 is, in fact, based on a real man. 221 00:11:24,018 --> 00:11:27,186 His name was Count Dracul, Dracula. 222 00:11:30,825 --> 00:11:32,891 To find out more about him, I'm headed deep 223 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:34,993 into the Romanian mountains. 224 00:11:36,997 --> 00:11:39,631 Over 500 years ago, this area in Romania 225 00:11:39,667 --> 00:11:42,100 was known as the Kingdom of Wallachia, 226 00:11:42,102 --> 00:11:44,403 and Vlad Dracula was king. 227 00:11:46,874 --> 00:11:48,840 Mei, how you doin'? Nice to meet you. 228 00:11:48,976 --> 00:11:51,309 Mei Trow is a Welsh historian and author 229 00:11:51,378 --> 00:11:54,780 who has extensively studied the history surrounding Vlad Dracula. 230 00:11:54,782 --> 00:11:59,250 He can show us the inside of this 15th-century fortress 231 00:11:59,286 --> 00:12:03,121 and the real dungeons that inspired the legend of Dracula. 232 00:12:07,061 --> 00:12:09,895 Ah, this is spectacular. Wow! 233 00:12:12,199 --> 00:12:14,933 (Mei) This is the citadel. This is the home 234 00:12:15,002 --> 00:12:18,937 of Wallachia, it's the center, the capital, the heart Okay. 235 00:12:19,006 --> 00:12:21,473 of Vlad Dracula's kingdom. 236 00:12:21,475 --> 00:12:23,809 If you think, Wallachia was very small, about the size 237 00:12:23,944 --> 00:12:25,877 of New York State today. Okay. 238 00:12:25,946 --> 00:12:28,680 It's not modern Romania by any means, 239 00:12:28,682 --> 00:12:31,483 and we haven't got those national boundaries. 240 00:12:31,552 --> 00:12:33,819 They're constantly moving, as you say, constantly changing 241 00:12:33,954 --> 00:12:36,754 depending on the political situation. 242 00:12:36,790 --> 00:12:40,492 This is a kid who's raised in incredibly violent circumstances Yeah. 243 00:12:40,627 --> 00:12:42,227 from the get-go-- he would've seen 244 00:12:42,362 --> 00:12:45,897 people burned, uh, heads chopped off. Yeah, absolutely. 245 00:12:45,966 --> 00:12:47,565 Absolutely. You name it. 246 00:12:47,601 --> 00:12:50,035 This would have made him inured to it somewhat Yes. 247 00:12:50,104 --> 00:12:52,037 but also see its value. 248 00:12:52,106 --> 00:12:54,773 Yes, absolutely. Yep, yep. I mean, this is a kid, and he's royalty, 249 00:12:54,908 --> 00:12:57,275 so he knows this is how you control people. Yeah, yeah. 250 00:13:02,116 --> 00:13:04,182 When Vlad was only 17, 251 00:13:04,184 --> 00:13:07,452 his father was murdered by traitors inside his own kingdom. 252 00:13:07,488 --> 00:13:10,054 After his father's death, 253 00:13:10,124 --> 00:13:13,258 Vlad Dracula took control of the kingdom of Wallachia. 254 00:13:13,260 --> 00:13:15,393 And by this time, 255 00:13:15,396 --> 00:13:17,995 the kingdom had fallen into lawlessness, 256 00:13:18,032 --> 00:13:20,599 and the very same people who had betrayed his father 257 00:13:20,601 --> 00:13:23,001 were roaming free. 258 00:13:23,003 --> 00:13:25,537 The new king needed to assert his power, 259 00:13:25,606 --> 00:13:27,872 and he was out for revenge. 260 00:13:27,908 --> 00:13:31,676 He takes control in a place where people have not Yeah. 261 00:13:31,745 --> 00:13:33,945 been controlled for awhile. Yeah, that's right. 262 00:13:34,014 --> 00:13:36,548 How does he do that? All kinds of torture. 263 00:13:40,187 --> 00:13:42,687 (Don) And it was in these dungeons that Vlad Dracula 264 00:13:42,823 --> 00:13:45,023 avenged his father's death... 265 00:13:45,025 --> 00:13:47,559 in the most extreme ways. 266 00:13:47,628 --> 00:13:50,828 For example, people were literally boiled, Yeah. 267 00:13:50,864 --> 00:13:52,898 uh, in cauldrons of water. 268 00:13:52,900 --> 00:13:55,967 They were broken on a wheel, a gigantic wheel 269 00:13:55,969 --> 00:13:58,904 in which experts used iron bars Yeah. 270 00:13:58,906 --> 00:14:00,638 to break their limbs. 271 00:14:00,707 --> 00:14:03,275 [cracking noises] [agonized shouts] 272 00:14:06,446 --> 00:14:09,047 (Don) Was he doing this for-- to set an example, 273 00:14:09,116 --> 00:14:12,316 or was this guy crazy? He shows an awful lot of traits 274 00:14:12,353 --> 00:14:15,653 of a psychopath-- he doesn't care about human suffering. 275 00:14:15,689 --> 00:14:19,657 (Don) But soon, Vlad's appetite for torture grew, 276 00:14:19,693 --> 00:14:21,993 and he created something 277 00:14:21,995 --> 00:14:24,029 even more brutal for his enemies. 278 00:14:30,003 --> 00:14:33,471 Wow. So this is the-- this is the real hellhole? This is. 279 00:14:33,540 --> 00:14:36,674 This is where it would all have happened, yeah. Ewugh. 280 00:14:36,743 --> 00:14:40,678 It's what the French call oubliette, 281 00:14:40,747 --> 00:14:44,549 the place of the forgotten, and this is where 282 00:14:44,618 --> 00:14:47,152 the torture would have happened. 283 00:14:47,287 --> 00:14:49,487 You can almost hear the screams down here. 284 00:14:49,556 --> 00:14:52,557 [agonized shouting] 285 00:14:52,626 --> 00:14:55,226 But it didn't end there. It didn't end there. 286 00:14:55,295 --> 00:14:57,695 He invented a brand-new torture, 287 00:14:57,731 --> 00:14:59,598 and that, of course, was impalement. 288 00:15:02,503 --> 00:15:04,769 (Don) Vlad Dracula began publicly impaling 289 00:15:04,805 --> 00:15:07,471 his own people on tall, wooden stakes. 290 00:15:07,474 --> 00:15:10,842 It was a level of sheer brutality 291 00:15:10,844 --> 00:15:12,977 that horrified everyone 292 00:15:13,046 --> 00:15:15,179 and earned him the infamous nickname, 293 00:15:15,215 --> 00:15:17,816 "Vlad the Impaler." 294 00:15:20,420 --> 00:15:23,454 (M.J.) Here we have the famous stake. 295 00:15:23,490 --> 00:15:26,991 That sharpened end is inserted up from below 296 00:15:27,060 --> 00:15:29,794 and goes right up through the body. 297 00:15:29,797 --> 00:15:32,197 If it goes through the brain, you're gonna die quickly, Yep. 298 00:15:32,266 --> 00:15:35,199 but if that doesn't happen, you're going to die slowly, 299 00:15:35,235 --> 00:15:38,403 and that was the whole point in the exercise. 300 00:15:45,212 --> 00:15:48,145 (Don) And soon, Vlad the Impaler's notorious reputation 301 00:15:48,181 --> 00:15:51,683 that ultimately inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula character 302 00:15:51,752 --> 00:15:54,485 would become known throughout the western world, 303 00:15:54,555 --> 00:15:58,756 because in 1462, the Turkish army 304 00:15:58,825 --> 00:16:01,960 invaded Wallachia, and the bloodthirsty Vlad 305 00:16:01,962 --> 00:16:04,295 was ready. 306 00:16:04,331 --> 00:16:07,299 He put a three-mile-wide screen Wow. 307 00:16:07,301 --> 00:16:09,434 of stakes, and on every one of them, 308 00:16:09,503 --> 00:16:11,903 there was a victim. 309 00:16:11,939 --> 00:16:14,739 We're talking about the so-called forest of the impaled. 310 00:16:20,581 --> 00:16:23,181 It's a new kind of psychological warfare. 311 00:16:23,250 --> 00:16:25,717 (Don) Yeah, exactly. (M.J.) Nobody had tried this before. 312 00:16:25,719 --> 00:16:28,586 And these are times of great superstitions, 313 00:16:28,722 --> 00:16:31,456 magic, etcetera-- that same soldier 314 00:16:31,525 --> 00:16:34,325 would have thought something evil was afoot. Absolutely. 315 00:16:34,361 --> 00:16:37,128 Remember that in the Wallachia language, 316 00:16:37,164 --> 00:16:39,864 Dracula means "Son of the Dragon." 317 00:16:39,866 --> 00:16:42,600 It also means "Son of the Devil," and here he is, 318 00:16:42,636 --> 00:16:45,136 he is proving that he is, indeed, the son of the devil 319 00:16:45,172 --> 00:16:47,706 with this diabolical scene. 320 00:16:52,612 --> 00:16:55,546 (Don) Vlad the Impaler may have been using impalement 321 00:16:55,582 --> 00:16:58,149 and other extreme tactics to scare off 322 00:16:58,151 --> 00:17:01,086 his much stronger enemies and create the impression 323 00:17:01,088 --> 00:17:03,888 of a mad ruler who knew no boundaries, 324 00:17:03,957 --> 00:17:07,358 but how did he become linked to vampires? 325 00:17:07,427 --> 00:17:10,628 The answer is because his thirst for power and dominance 326 00:17:10,664 --> 00:17:13,498 didn't stop at impalement. 327 00:17:13,500 --> 00:17:16,367 Vlad Dracula was even said to have the blood 328 00:17:16,403 --> 00:17:19,571 of the impaled Turkish soldiers brought to him in a bowl 329 00:17:19,706 --> 00:17:21,973 where he actually dipped his bread 330 00:17:22,108 --> 00:17:24,576 and consumed his enemy. 331 00:17:24,645 --> 00:17:27,645 Horrified, the Turkish army 332 00:17:27,714 --> 00:17:29,847 left the Wallachian border 333 00:17:29,883 --> 00:17:33,551 saying "The devil himself is at Târgoviste." 334 00:17:38,692 --> 00:17:42,060 The forest of the impaled was a stunning success... 335 00:17:42,062 --> 00:17:45,930 at first, but the Turkish army's sheer size and force 336 00:17:45,999 --> 00:17:49,600 eventually drove Vlad to what is now northern Romania 337 00:17:49,636 --> 00:17:53,738 to the region of Transylvania where, years later, 338 00:17:53,774 --> 00:17:56,941 Bram Stoker's Dracula would be set. 339 00:18:00,180 --> 00:18:02,680 Vlad scorched the earth and poisoned the rivers 340 00:18:02,716 --> 00:18:04,882 along the way, destroying their value 341 00:18:04,951 --> 00:18:07,485 for his Turkish enemy, who was hot on his trail. 342 00:18:07,521 --> 00:18:10,622 High on the crest of the Romanian mountains, 343 00:18:10,624 --> 00:18:13,892 they cornered Vlad at another one of his fortresses, 344 00:18:14,027 --> 00:18:18,263 this one named Poienari Castle. 345 00:18:42,856 --> 00:18:44,923 More and more, Vlad was alone. 346 00:18:44,925 --> 00:18:48,660 Many in his army had deserted him, even Vlad's wife. 347 00:18:48,729 --> 00:18:51,329 Desperate upon hearing about the approaching Turks, 348 00:18:51,331 --> 00:18:54,365 threw herself from the walls of Poienari Castle 349 00:18:54,401 --> 00:18:56,768 to her death below in the River Arges. 350 00:18:56,870 --> 00:18:59,270 Just as it seemed Vlad was cornered, 351 00:18:59,306 --> 00:19:01,739 he somehow mysteriously slips away 352 00:19:01,808 --> 00:19:03,875 into the caves of the Carpathians 353 00:19:03,944 --> 00:19:06,244 and deep into the forests of Transylvania. 354 00:19:10,283 --> 00:19:12,950 The mysterious king hiding like a bat 355 00:19:13,019 --> 00:19:15,286 deep within the caves of Transylvania 356 00:19:15,322 --> 00:19:18,089 with a taste for blood. 357 00:19:18,224 --> 00:19:20,625 So if we compare him to the Dracula character 358 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:24,696 he would later inspire, was Vlad Dracula a vampire? 359 00:19:24,698 --> 00:19:27,565 If a vampire is defined as one who feeds 360 00:19:27,700 --> 00:19:30,501 off the lives of others, then you could argue 361 00:19:30,537 --> 00:19:33,104 that Vlad Dracula was, indeed, a vampire, 362 00:19:33,173 --> 00:19:35,240 if only in the figurative sense. 363 00:19:35,242 --> 00:19:37,975 You can sense the power still 364 00:19:38,011 --> 00:19:40,578 of Vlad's bloodstained legacy. 365 00:19:42,582 --> 00:19:45,316 The vampire legend dates back over 1,000 years 366 00:19:45,451 --> 00:19:48,520 and does, indeed, have its roots right here in Romania. 367 00:19:48,655 --> 00:19:51,989 But while Vlad the Impaler inspired the greatest 368 00:19:52,025 --> 00:19:54,926 vampire of all time, who served as the model 369 00:19:55,061 --> 00:19:57,395 for vampires we know today, 370 00:19:57,397 --> 00:20:00,131 Count Dracula wasn't the first. 371 00:20:00,266 --> 00:20:03,200 So where, then, does the original vampire come from, 372 00:20:03,236 --> 00:20:06,471 and how much of it is based on something real? 373 00:20:23,924 --> 00:20:27,091 (Don) I'm deep in the land of vampires--Romania-- 374 00:20:27,227 --> 00:20:30,428 where a real-life king known as Vlad the Impaler 375 00:20:30,563 --> 00:20:34,465 and his craven thirst for blood inspired Bram Stoker's 376 00:20:34,501 --> 00:20:37,035 infamous character, Dracula. 377 00:20:37,037 --> 00:20:39,236 So when it comes to vampires, 378 00:20:39,272 --> 00:20:41,406 what else is real? 379 00:20:46,046 --> 00:20:48,246 What we think we know about vampires 380 00:20:48,248 --> 00:20:50,915 is a list that seems as long as their history. 381 00:20:50,984 --> 00:20:52,983 They loathe garlic, 382 00:20:53,053 --> 00:20:55,453 fear sunlight, crucifixes, 383 00:20:55,522 --> 00:20:57,855 holy water, and they've been said 384 00:20:57,857 --> 00:21:00,258 to shapeshift into other creatures at their will, 385 00:21:00,260 --> 00:21:02,694 into wolves, even bats. 386 00:21:07,701 --> 00:21:10,268 Which brings me here, to the Moeciu Cave, 387 00:21:10,270 --> 00:21:12,837 just south of the Transylvanian border. 388 00:21:14,508 --> 00:21:16,274 Man, look at this place. 389 00:21:21,147 --> 00:21:23,214 Romania is famous for its caves, you know. 390 00:21:23,283 --> 00:21:25,849 The whole nation is built on limestone, 391 00:21:25,886 --> 00:21:27,685 so you're walking through the forest, you can find 392 00:21:27,820 --> 00:21:29,553 all these bat caves right here, 393 00:21:29,589 --> 00:21:31,756 and they are filled with the things-- just look at them. 394 00:21:31,825 --> 00:21:35,092 Behind every legend and superstition 395 00:21:35,161 --> 00:21:37,561 lies a kernel of truth, 396 00:21:37,597 --> 00:21:41,299 so where did vampires really come from? 397 00:21:45,305 --> 00:21:47,505 To find out, I'm headed to Sighisoara, 398 00:21:47,507 --> 00:21:49,841 one of the best preserved medieval towns 399 00:21:49,976 --> 00:21:51,776 in all of Europe, 400 00:21:51,778 --> 00:21:53,778 deep in the wilds of Transylvania. 401 00:21:59,319 --> 00:22:04,521 [singing in foreign language] 402 00:22:15,601 --> 00:22:17,201 Dr. Rickels? 403 00:22:17,237 --> 00:22:19,270 Nice to see you. Good to see you. 404 00:22:19,339 --> 00:22:21,272 (Don) Dr. Laurence Rickels is a professor 405 00:22:21,341 --> 00:22:23,341 who's written extensively about the myths 406 00:22:23,476 --> 00:22:25,409 attached to vampires. 407 00:22:25,478 --> 00:22:29,113 He can help me separate vampire fact from fiction. 408 00:22:32,319 --> 00:22:34,284 Where do vampires come from? Where does the idea 409 00:22:34,321 --> 00:22:36,287 of vampires originate? 410 00:22:36,323 --> 00:22:39,290 Well, we know, um, of course, that the modern vampire 411 00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,759 has to be traced through Bram Stoker 412 00:22:41,795 --> 00:22:44,362 and his influences, but every bit of folklore 413 00:22:44,431 --> 00:22:47,832 I've looked at suggests that every civilization, 414 00:22:47,901 --> 00:22:50,435 culture, on record, um, 415 00:22:50,570 --> 00:22:53,771 had some kind of bloodsucking demon or god. 416 00:22:57,243 --> 00:22:59,577 (Don) Vampirism found its roots in the graves 417 00:22:59,579 --> 00:23:02,046 of old medieval towns like this one. 418 00:23:02,181 --> 00:23:04,982 In the 14th century, 419 00:23:05,018 --> 00:23:07,117 a plague known as the Black Death 420 00:23:07,153 --> 00:23:09,320 ravaged this village. 421 00:23:09,389 --> 00:23:12,857 Thousands of people died, and bodies began to pile up. 422 00:23:12,992 --> 00:23:15,259 And here, 423 00:23:15,295 --> 00:23:18,596 against this bleak backdrop, the vampire legend flourished. 424 00:23:18,731 --> 00:23:21,599 [bell tolling] 425 00:23:27,540 --> 00:23:29,807 Wow, look at this cemetery. Gorgeous. Wow. 426 00:23:29,843 --> 00:23:33,678 (Laurence) We're at the highest point of this fortress town 427 00:23:33,813 --> 00:23:37,014 and what's most protected, the resting place of the dead. 428 00:23:37,050 --> 00:23:38,682 (Don) Interesting, yeah. 429 00:23:38,752 --> 00:23:40,684 I mean, today, we think of cemeteries as sort of 430 00:23:40,754 --> 00:23:43,821 pastoral, peaceful places to go and visit our loved ones, 431 00:23:43,956 --> 00:23:47,492 but in these days, they're worried about the undead. 432 00:23:47,494 --> 00:23:50,027 Worried what might come back out of the grave, 433 00:23:50,096 --> 00:23:52,196 especially in the evening. 434 00:23:55,735 --> 00:23:58,302 So in the time of the Black Death, 435 00:23:58,305 --> 00:24:01,972 you have very small areas, these cemeteries, 436 00:24:02,008 --> 00:24:05,643 suddenly packed up with too many people. 437 00:24:05,712 --> 00:24:08,446 The overcrowding problem was already impressing 438 00:24:08,515 --> 00:24:11,449 throughout western Europe in particular. 439 00:24:11,584 --> 00:24:14,519 Look at this. 440 00:24:16,723 --> 00:24:19,790 So why would these stones be misplaced? 441 00:24:19,859 --> 00:24:21,859 I mean, they're not with any graves at all. 442 00:24:21,895 --> 00:24:25,863 Yeah, they were under pressure to make room for the dead. 443 00:24:25,899 --> 00:24:29,066 (Don) And in doing so, the villagers had to move 444 00:24:29,102 --> 00:24:32,470 freshly buried bodies, witnessing decomposition 445 00:24:32,472 --> 00:24:35,006 up close for the first time ever. 446 00:24:37,343 --> 00:24:40,744 So where did they come up with the notion of the undead? 447 00:24:40,814 --> 00:24:43,881 Well, if they had to unbury the recently deceased, 448 00:24:44,016 --> 00:24:47,885 they were bound to see signs of decomposition 449 00:24:48,020 --> 00:24:51,889 that they were not prepared to read. Right, because this had never happened before, 450 00:24:52,024 --> 00:24:54,091 this kind of, uh, the necessity to find 451 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:56,560 new space for so many bodies. Right. 452 00:24:56,596 --> 00:24:58,830 Suddenly this phenomenon of understanding what actually 453 00:24:58,965 --> 00:25:01,032 happens in the grave. Right. 454 00:25:01,034 --> 00:25:03,033 And in the course of decomposition, 455 00:25:03,103 --> 00:25:07,038 internal gases can build up and mount. Yeah. 456 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,241 Not only are there bloated distortions in the body 457 00:25:10,243 --> 00:25:13,444 that seem so alive after several weeks in the ground, Yeah. 458 00:25:13,513 --> 00:25:16,881 but also, the gases can prompt the corpse simply to sit up. 459 00:25:21,254 --> 00:25:23,520 Certain things continue to grow on a corpse-- 460 00:25:23,556 --> 00:25:25,923 fingernails, the hair. 461 00:25:26,058 --> 00:25:28,992 The blood builds up and starts to flow out of the mouth. 462 00:25:29,028 --> 00:25:32,129 Given these graveside experiences, 463 00:25:32,132 --> 00:25:35,800 they would learn to fear the dead as forces that could 464 00:25:35,935 --> 00:25:38,735 tear one down into the underworld. 465 00:25:38,771 --> 00:25:42,739 So naturally, they would have to develop rituals and practice 466 00:25:42,775 --> 00:25:44,809 to protect themselves from this. 467 00:25:44,811 --> 00:25:47,344 They had never seen decomposition on this scale. 468 00:25:47,413 --> 00:25:50,080 Because it's not just a flatline--the body produces 469 00:25:50,116 --> 00:25:53,217 a kind of light show, special effects that no one expected. 470 00:25:58,391 --> 00:26:00,891 (Don) So while vampires may not be real, 471 00:26:00,927 --> 00:26:04,028 the characteristics we attribute to them came from 472 00:26:04,030 --> 00:26:07,231 real face-to-face exposure to dead bodies in cemeteries 473 00:26:07,300 --> 00:26:09,433 just like this. 474 00:26:09,569 --> 00:26:11,568 When you add that to the real-life story 475 00:26:11,604 --> 00:26:15,706 of Vlad the Impaler and Bram Stoker's infamous Dracula character, 476 00:26:15,742 --> 00:26:19,510 you start to see the birth of the vampire as we know it today. 477 00:26:19,512 --> 00:26:22,980 [bell tolling] 478 00:26:22,982 --> 00:26:25,582 So originally, 479 00:26:25,618 --> 00:26:29,253 the function of vampires is to explain the undead. Mmhm. 480 00:26:29,322 --> 00:26:32,957 Uh, why these bodies looked like they did, essentially, 481 00:26:33,059 --> 00:26:35,125 explain away that crazy phenomenon, 482 00:26:35,195 --> 00:26:37,328 but it doesn't go away. 483 00:26:37,463 --> 00:26:39,596 I mean, the vampire is everlasting. 484 00:26:39,632 --> 00:26:41,699 The first vampires that you recognize 485 00:26:41,768 --> 00:26:45,536 in the graveyard here locally were more like zombies, ghouls, Yeah. 486 00:26:45,605 --> 00:26:48,739 that were hungry to stay alive. 487 00:26:48,741 --> 00:26:52,009 Once it comes to American popular culture, 488 00:26:52,144 --> 00:26:54,011 you have these two choices, 489 00:26:54,146 --> 00:26:58,115 between an aristocratic lineage and zombieism. 490 00:27:01,154 --> 00:27:04,555 The vampire count is someone that one can idealize, 491 00:27:04,690 --> 00:27:08,158 but with the zombie, especially, as is the case 492 00:27:08,194 --> 00:27:11,295 in most zombie films where you don't recognize the people, 493 00:27:11,364 --> 00:27:13,497 you thrill to the killing of them, because that's, 494 00:27:13,633 --> 00:27:16,434 um, the germination phase of mourning. 495 00:27:16,569 --> 00:27:19,570 You can only mourn someone if you kill that person 496 00:27:19,639 --> 00:27:21,639 Interesting. that's dead. 497 00:27:21,774 --> 00:27:24,575 These two characters, the zombie and the vampire, 498 00:27:24,611 --> 00:27:27,377 are two aspects of the same process, 499 00:27:27,413 --> 00:27:30,114 Count Dracula being this idealized version, 500 00:27:30,183 --> 00:27:32,650 so he's very, kind of, interesting and sexy, Right. 501 00:27:32,652 --> 00:27:34,785 but these zombies are disgusting, 502 00:27:34,787 --> 00:27:38,389 and it's telling that we're so fascinated by zombies now. 503 00:27:38,391 --> 00:27:40,791 Yeah. They've sort of taken over, haven't they? 504 00:27:40,860 --> 00:27:44,528 The pleasure that lies in killing the dead. Yeah, right. 505 00:27:44,530 --> 00:27:46,797 Here's to the dead. 506 00:27:46,799 --> 00:27:49,267 May they never come back. The dead dead. 507 00:27:49,402 --> 00:27:51,035 (Don) Stay dead. 508 00:27:56,209 --> 00:27:59,343 So now, I understand where much of the fear 509 00:27:59,412 --> 00:28:01,945 surrounding vampires comes from. 510 00:28:01,981 --> 00:28:04,215 Some people relied on superstitions 511 00:28:04,350 --> 00:28:06,750 to ward them off, but others didn't. 512 00:28:06,786 --> 00:28:09,753 They took matters into their own hands, 513 00:28:09,822 --> 00:28:12,756 battling suspected vampires face-to-face. 514 00:28:12,792 --> 00:28:16,260 They were the vampire slayers. 515 00:28:35,448 --> 00:28:38,315 I'm in Romania, the birthplace of vampires, 516 00:28:38,384 --> 00:28:41,585 to find out what is fact and what is fiction. 517 00:28:41,621 --> 00:28:44,789 Today, there is still evidence being unearthed 518 00:28:44,924 --> 00:28:49,192 that shows how extreme the fear of vampires really was. 519 00:28:49,228 --> 00:28:52,997 In order to fend off bloodthirsty vampires, 520 00:28:53,066 --> 00:28:56,267 people in these medieval villages began to fight back, 521 00:28:56,402 --> 00:28:59,603 and these brave few were called vampire slayers, 522 00:28:59,639 --> 00:29:02,540 and according to legend, their methods could be brutal. 523 00:29:02,675 --> 00:29:06,409 But how do we really know 524 00:29:06,446 --> 00:29:08,479 how people reacted generations ago? 525 00:29:08,481 --> 00:29:10,848 Some experts think they have proof. 526 00:29:15,288 --> 00:29:17,421 Archeologist Andre Gonciar 527 00:29:17,490 --> 00:29:19,490 has invited me to see a current dig 528 00:29:19,625 --> 00:29:22,292 in an old graveyard dating back to the 14th century. 529 00:29:22,328 --> 00:29:26,364 He has unearthed mysterious discoveries that reveal 530 00:29:26,366 --> 00:29:29,099 the fears and superstitions of the past. 531 00:29:29,135 --> 00:29:32,436 So all these piles of dirt, 532 00:29:32,472 --> 00:29:36,440 this is what you've taken out of the tombs? That is correct. 533 00:29:36,476 --> 00:29:38,642 (Andre) We are in a cemetery, right? (Don) Right. 534 00:29:38,644 --> 00:29:40,577 So we are bound to encounter human remains 535 00:29:40,613 --> 00:29:42,580 that are completely mixed with the dirt 536 00:29:42,715 --> 00:29:45,716 that belong to a past that literally everybody forgot. 537 00:29:45,718 --> 00:29:48,051 Look at that. 538 00:29:48,087 --> 00:29:51,122 There's a Romanian village person 539 00:29:51,257 --> 00:29:53,790 and their teeth. 540 00:29:53,826 --> 00:29:56,326 He had pretty good teeth, didn't he? 541 00:29:56,362 --> 00:29:58,796 He had some nasty little cavities, though. 542 00:29:58,865 --> 00:30:01,465 Oh, yes, that was probably the least of his problems. 543 00:30:01,567 --> 00:30:04,935 This takes us back to the time 544 00:30:05,004 --> 00:30:08,405 when people believe in undead and vampires 545 00:30:08,474 --> 00:30:11,876 and werewolves and all the rest of it. Oh, absolutely. 546 00:30:11,878 --> 00:30:14,411 Well, that being said, even now, people believe, actually, 547 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,413 literally believe in the undead. 548 00:30:16,482 --> 00:30:20,284 There are rituals for them when people are buried. Still, yeah. 549 00:30:20,286 --> 00:30:23,621 It's amazing to me how the mystery of, you know, 550 00:30:23,623 --> 00:30:26,457 what happens to us after we die lives on. 551 00:30:34,834 --> 00:30:36,634 These graves, or graves in general, 552 00:30:36,769 --> 00:30:39,103 are a perfect lens to study culture, yes? 553 00:30:39,105 --> 00:30:42,039 It's the point of intersection 554 00:30:42,041 --> 00:30:45,843 of social conventions, of folklore. Right. Doesn't get any more basic. 555 00:30:45,978 --> 00:30:48,446 Or any more honest. Yeah, exactly. 556 00:30:48,448 --> 00:30:52,182 (Don) Recent archeological digs in burial grounds 557 00:30:52,251 --> 00:30:55,586 from Ireland to Romania have brought remarkable 558 00:30:55,721 --> 00:30:58,589 new evidence to the surface about medieval populations 559 00:30:58,591 --> 00:31:01,057 and the fear of the undead. 560 00:31:01,094 --> 00:31:04,028 They're called deviant burials. 561 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,334 (Andre) When you have a cemetery where the treatment of the body 562 00:31:10,336 --> 00:31:12,803 in the grave is different, 563 00:31:12,938 --> 00:31:15,673 it is a deviant environment. 564 00:31:18,944 --> 00:31:21,145 The word deviant refers to the fact 565 00:31:21,214 --> 00:31:23,280 that this is not a normal burial. Yes. 566 00:31:23,349 --> 00:31:25,082 In a normal burial, they wouldn't be worried 567 00:31:25,217 --> 00:31:28,219 about things happening after this person's put in the ground. 568 00:31:28,221 --> 00:31:30,554 Deviant burial worries about that person. 569 00:31:30,590 --> 00:31:33,891 Why were they worried about that person? Those, uh, spirits 570 00:31:34,026 --> 00:31:37,093 are not at peace. 571 00:31:37,130 --> 00:31:39,763 They cannot find their way on the other side. True. 572 00:31:39,899 --> 00:31:42,733 And so they come back for revenge. 573 00:31:51,978 --> 00:31:53,577 So this is your land back here? 574 00:31:53,646 --> 00:31:55,779 Yes, this is where we get all the bones together, 575 00:31:55,915 --> 00:31:58,515 we wash them and we analyze them, 576 00:31:58,518 --> 00:32:01,051 we reconstruct whatever we can reconstruct, and we prepare them 577 00:32:01,053 --> 00:32:05,055 for preservation and whatever 578 00:32:05,057 --> 00:32:08,292 we need to do next in terms of analysis, in terms of DNA. 579 00:32:12,398 --> 00:32:13,731 Wow, who is this? 580 00:32:16,936 --> 00:32:21,138 This is one of the strangest graves we've found yet. 581 00:32:21,273 --> 00:32:23,273 Where did you find it? Where does this come from? 582 00:32:23,276 --> 00:32:25,876 About five kilometers just on the other side of the rise 583 00:32:25,878 --> 00:32:28,145 from where we were just a bit ago. 584 00:32:28,147 --> 00:32:30,414 (Don) Male, female? (Andre) It's female. 585 00:32:30,416 --> 00:32:32,282 What's absolutely fascinating about it is 586 00:32:32,351 --> 00:32:36,420 when you look at the vertebra, they're highly compacted, 587 00:32:36,422 --> 00:32:39,489 and they're compacted at a very, very steep angle. 588 00:32:39,559 --> 00:32:43,227 When this happens, the shape of the spine, 589 00:32:43,296 --> 00:32:46,163 it's very convoluted. Sure. 590 00:32:46,232 --> 00:32:49,767 So she was the archetype image of the... 591 00:32:49,769 --> 00:32:52,536 the wicked witch that you can see...yes. The old woman like this. 592 00:32:56,542 --> 00:32:58,509 She was surrounded by babies. 593 00:32:58,644 --> 00:33:00,978 What do you mean? What I mean... 594 00:33:04,984 --> 00:33:07,517 Oh, these are children. They're babies. 595 00:33:07,586 --> 00:33:09,519 Look at this, oh, my goodness. 596 00:33:09,589 --> 00:33:11,988 Boy, it just breaks your heart to see this. 597 00:33:12,024 --> 00:33:15,191 And these were found near this woman in the same church. 598 00:33:15,228 --> 00:33:18,662 Three of almost a hundred children that were found What?! 599 00:33:18,698 --> 00:33:21,665 surrounding the old lady of the church. No kidding. 600 00:33:23,335 --> 00:33:25,202 (Don) We may never know the real story behind 601 00:33:25,337 --> 00:33:28,805 this remarkable deviant burial or if it's connected 602 00:33:28,841 --> 00:33:32,809 to a fear of the undead, but other graves 603 00:33:32,845 --> 00:33:36,079 excavated throughout Europe have provided archeologists 604 00:33:36,148 --> 00:33:38,816 with more direct evidence. 605 00:33:38,951 --> 00:33:41,551 (Andre) There are a couple of cemeteries where they excavated graves 606 00:33:41,620 --> 00:33:45,623 where the people that buried the dead in those graves 607 00:33:45,758 --> 00:33:48,092 took extra precautions to make absolutely sure 608 00:33:48,094 --> 00:33:50,427 that that person would not rise from the grave. 609 00:33:50,562 --> 00:33:53,097 They put blades across their throats, 610 00:33:53,232 --> 00:33:55,966 so when they rise from the dead, they would get decapitated. Wow. 611 00:33:56,035 --> 00:33:58,902 They would stick stones into their mouths 612 00:33:58,905 --> 00:34:01,171 so they could not bite anymore. 613 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,841 They would put big nails in the lid of the coffin 614 00:34:04,877 --> 00:34:06,577 so when the dead comes back to life, 615 00:34:06,712 --> 00:34:09,713 they would just simply impale themselves in those nails. Wow. 616 00:34:09,715 --> 00:34:12,115 This is really the source of this idea of the undead, 617 00:34:12,184 --> 00:34:15,452 this restlessness of the soul needing to be dealt with 618 00:34:15,521 --> 00:34:17,187 by the living. 619 00:34:22,328 --> 00:34:25,262 Fear of vampires was common throughout all of Europe 620 00:34:25,397 --> 00:34:27,397 for hundreds of years. 621 00:34:27,433 --> 00:34:29,933 Is there evidence in Romania today 622 00:34:30,069 --> 00:34:32,569 that this fear still exists? 623 00:34:48,921 --> 00:34:51,021 [birds chirping] 624 00:34:54,260 --> 00:34:57,094 [chicken clucking] 625 00:35:07,773 --> 00:35:10,040 Hollywood has kept Bram Stoker's Dracula 626 00:35:10,042 --> 00:35:12,642 and the vampire legend alive and well, 627 00:35:12,678 --> 00:35:15,446 feeding off of a new franchise every couple of years, 628 00:35:15,581 --> 00:35:17,915 each more sensational than the last, 629 00:35:17,917 --> 00:35:20,184 but in some places, 630 00:35:20,186 --> 00:35:22,519 remote corners of the world, 631 00:35:22,555 --> 00:35:24,855 time seems to stand still, 632 00:35:24,857 --> 00:35:27,958 and the old superstitions still reign supreme. 633 00:35:31,330 --> 00:35:33,697 [chicken clucking] 634 00:35:36,802 --> 00:35:39,136 Look at this--I'm meeting a local resident here 635 00:35:39,205 --> 00:35:42,272 who's lived here for many years to talk to her 636 00:35:42,308 --> 00:35:45,376 about the, you know, beliefs in this area about the dead. 637 00:35:48,581 --> 00:35:50,547 [speaking foreign language] Hello, hello. 638 00:35:50,583 --> 00:35:53,550 [speaking foreign language] 639 00:35:53,619 --> 00:35:55,819 Hello. This is Don. 640 00:35:55,888 --> 00:35:57,488 [speaking foreign language] Don. Very nice to meet you. 641 00:35:57,623 --> 00:35:59,222 Don. Don. 642 00:35:59,258 --> 00:36:02,092 [speaking foreign language] Brezan Alexandrina. 643 00:36:02,094 --> 00:36:04,361 Brezan Alexandrina. Da. 644 00:36:04,363 --> 00:36:07,164 Let's see inside. Da. 645 00:36:07,166 --> 00:36:11,168 How long as Alexandrina lived here? 646 00:36:11,237 --> 00:36:13,670 She's 87. 647 00:36:13,772 --> 00:36:16,773 She's, uh, she's been born here, 648 00:36:16,776 --> 00:36:19,576 6th December 1930. Wow, okay. 649 00:36:19,645 --> 00:36:22,579 So many generations of her family have lived 650 00:36:22,714 --> 00:36:25,082 even before that, I imagine. Yes. 651 00:36:30,356 --> 00:36:33,991 [birds chirping] 652 00:36:33,993 --> 00:36:36,726 (Don) Alexandrina, this is such a mysterious land. 653 00:36:36,762 --> 00:36:41,131 [speaking foreign language] 654 00:36:41,167 --> 00:36:43,533 Do you recall, when you were young, 655 00:36:43,569 --> 00:36:46,670 where the stories of vampires may have come from? 656 00:36:46,672 --> 00:36:49,005 You know, where did those beliefs start? 657 00:36:49,041 --> 00:36:53,043 [speaking foreign language] 658 00:36:56,282 --> 00:36:59,116 [speaking foreign language] 659 00:37:06,625 --> 00:37:09,959 [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language] 660 00:37:09,995 --> 00:37:11,961 She says they... 661 00:37:11,997 --> 00:37:15,132 they believe that this comes from witchcraft, 662 00:37:15,201 --> 00:37:18,635 black magic, so you want 663 00:37:18,771 --> 00:37:21,071 to do something against that. 664 00:37:25,711 --> 00:37:28,912 (Don) As recently as 2004, 665 00:37:28,948 --> 00:37:31,715 in the remote village of Marotinu de Sus, 666 00:37:31,850 --> 00:37:35,451 half a dozen people were charged with desecrating a man's grave. 667 00:37:35,487 --> 00:37:38,055 Their reasoning? 668 00:37:38,057 --> 00:37:40,591 He had become a vampire, 669 00:37:40,593 --> 00:37:43,527 or as locals call it, a strigoi. 670 00:37:43,529 --> 00:37:47,130 A young woman had fallen ill in the village. 671 00:37:47,132 --> 00:37:50,601 She claimed that her recently deceased uncle 672 00:37:50,603 --> 00:37:53,537 had been visiting her to drink blood from her heart. 673 00:37:53,539 --> 00:37:55,806 In the dead of night, 674 00:37:55,875 --> 00:37:58,141 the band of villagers had exhumed her uncle's body, 675 00:37:58,277 --> 00:38:01,345 used a pitchfork to crack open his chest, 676 00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:03,947 and drove a stake through his heart. 677 00:38:03,949 --> 00:38:06,817 Then, they took the heart, stake and all, 678 00:38:06,952 --> 00:38:09,620 to the nearest crossroads where it was burned, 679 00:38:09,755 --> 00:38:13,090 and then, the ashes were given to the young woman to drink. 680 00:38:13,225 --> 00:38:16,159 In doing so, she would be healed, 681 00:38:16,195 --> 00:38:18,628 and it was ensured that the strigoi 682 00:38:18,631 --> 00:38:21,497 was now truly dead. 683 00:38:21,533 --> 00:38:24,101 In small, removed villages like Marotinu de Sus, 684 00:38:24,103 --> 00:38:27,170 it's traditionally believed that after a body 685 00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:29,439 has been in the grave for 40 days, 686 00:38:29,508 --> 00:38:32,509 it can become a strigoi, or as we know it, 687 00:38:32,578 --> 00:38:34,778 the walking dead. 688 00:38:34,847 --> 00:38:37,146 A strigoi can live and walk 689 00:38:37,183 --> 00:38:39,249 among the living 690 00:38:39,384 --> 00:38:41,552 and attack them whenever they choose. 691 00:38:49,661 --> 00:38:52,061 It's fascinating to see firsthand 692 00:38:52,097 --> 00:38:54,664 how the ancient ways are still so much a part 693 00:38:54,667 --> 00:38:56,599 of contemporary life here. 694 00:38:56,635 --> 00:38:59,268 Romania's origins, its history, its folklore 695 00:38:59,305 --> 00:39:02,806 is very much in the hearts and minds of all these people 696 00:39:02,875 --> 00:39:05,274 living in these rural communities. 697 00:39:05,311 --> 00:39:09,613 Why do vampires continue to capture our imagination? 698 00:39:09,615 --> 00:39:13,650 And will this fascination haunt us for eternity? 699 00:39:29,996 --> 00:39:32,729 (Don) Everlasting life, 700 00:39:32,798 --> 00:39:35,065 a stake through the heart, 701 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:37,401 the kiss of death. 702 00:39:37,470 --> 00:39:39,936 For over 1,000 years, our unsatiated 703 00:39:40,006 --> 00:39:42,205 vampire obsession has endured, 704 00:39:42,274 --> 00:39:45,275 but what gives this bloodthirsty legend 705 00:39:45,344 --> 00:39:48,211 everlasting life is the fact that it's rooted 706 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,947 in real people and moments from history, 707 00:39:50,983 --> 00:39:53,750 starting with the dead bodies that piled up 708 00:39:53,786 --> 00:39:56,753 during the Black Death right here in Romania. 709 00:39:56,756 --> 00:39:59,823 Vampires were a way for people to cope with the real horrors 710 00:39:59,825 --> 00:40:02,059 they saw every day. 711 00:40:03,529 --> 00:40:05,829 That gory folklore spread and found its way 712 00:40:05,831 --> 00:40:08,365 into the eager hands of Bram Stoker, 713 00:40:08,367 --> 00:40:11,101 who brought the very real region of Transylvania 714 00:40:11,137 --> 00:40:13,570 and a fictional character named Count Dracula 715 00:40:13,639 --> 00:40:15,905 to the rest of the world. 716 00:40:15,941 --> 00:40:19,509 So while Dracula may be the most recognizable and frightening 717 00:40:19,545 --> 00:40:22,179 vampire of all time, he was, indeed, 718 00:40:22,314 --> 00:40:25,048 partly based on a real, bloodthirsty ruler 719 00:40:25,117 --> 00:40:27,551 known as Vlad the Impaler. 720 00:40:29,388 --> 00:40:31,722 Vlad Dracula's reign was as long as it was violent. 721 00:40:31,724 --> 00:40:34,591 His daring escape from the tunnels beneath 722 00:40:34,627 --> 00:40:37,394 Poienari Castle was by far the last time the world 723 00:40:37,529 --> 00:40:38,929 would ever hear from him. 724 00:40:38,998 --> 00:40:41,532 He beat invading armies for years to come. 725 00:40:41,667 --> 00:40:43,333 Indeed, he even managed to reclaim 726 00:40:43,335 --> 00:40:45,669 the Wallachian throne once more. 727 00:40:45,804 --> 00:40:48,872 It was almost as if Vlad was immortal-- 728 00:40:48,908 --> 00:40:53,243 that is, until 1476, when Vlad Dracula met his end. 729 00:40:58,284 --> 00:41:00,750 Just over 40 kilometers north of Bucharest, 730 00:41:00,786 --> 00:41:03,153 hidden in the center of this wooded island, 731 00:41:03,288 --> 00:41:05,489 is Snagov Monastery, 732 00:41:05,491 --> 00:41:07,958 where many believe Vlad Dracula's remains 733 00:41:08,093 --> 00:41:09,993 are laid to rest. 734 00:41:12,765 --> 00:41:15,565 Legend suggests that Vlad was ambushed and beheaded 735 00:41:15,601 --> 00:41:17,967 by the Ottoman Empire and that monks 736 00:41:18,003 --> 00:41:20,770 at this monastery moved his headless body here 737 00:41:20,806 --> 00:41:22,906 to rest for all eternity. 738 00:41:22,942 --> 00:41:25,309 To this day, 739 00:41:25,444 --> 00:41:27,511 there is a plaque marking a stone 740 00:41:27,513 --> 00:41:29,313 in front of the altar that suggests 741 00:41:29,448 --> 00:41:32,249 Vlad Dracula is here and finally dead. 742 00:41:38,123 --> 00:41:40,590 Reality and fantasy, 743 00:41:40,659 --> 00:41:42,559 history and fiction. 744 00:41:42,595 --> 00:41:45,262 The vampire legend blurs the boundaries between it all 745 00:41:45,331 --> 00:41:48,999 and reminds us of the mysterious magic behind the exotic 746 00:41:49,001 --> 00:41:51,601 and unknown-- from the seductive allure 747 00:41:51,637 --> 00:41:55,471 of a Transylvania castle to the war-torn borderlands 748 00:41:55,508 --> 00:41:57,908 between the Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. 749 00:42:00,613 --> 00:42:03,280 Vampires have been around this place forever, 750 00:42:03,349 --> 00:42:05,748 and from the looks of it, 751 00:42:05,785 --> 00:42:08,218 they're not going anywhere, lurking in the shadows 752 00:42:08,220 --> 00:42:10,421 for generations to come. 752 00:42:11,305 --> 00:43:11,476 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm