Image via Universal Pictures
It's always nice to find something during a renovation project. When you are restoring an ancient Turkish castle, for example, you sometimes uncover hidden dungeons that once housed Dracula, or as his pals of the day would refer to him, Wallachian prince Vlad III the Impaler.
The Hurriyet Daily News (h/t TIME, iO9, History) reports workers currently working on Tokat Castle happened upon two dungeons that Vlad III, "is said to have been held captive in the early 15th century."
We are well acquainted with Dracula-at least the fictional version that feasts on blood and has issues getting a tan. Countless actors including Gary Oldman (Bram Stoker's Dracula), Bela Legosi (Dracula - 1931) and Leslie Nielsen (Dracula: Dead and Loving It) have played the fictional figure.
Even Luke Evans will play the vampire ruler Vlad Tepes in Dracula Untold, opening on Friday, Oct. 10, which gives this particular story a certain too perfect quality.
Reality may not offer an appropriate soundtrack or sinister cinematography, but it's nearly as intriguing.
History's Christopher Klein has a breakdown on the remarkable events that would have placed a young Vlad III at the castle.
It seems Vlad II, referred to as Dracul or "dragon," needed aid from Ottoman Sultan Murad II for military reasons. Vlad II handed over two of his sons as political prisoners for the help, which included then 11-year-old Vlad II-a boy whose name Dracula translated to "son of Dracul."
Klein writes, "The boys were held hostage in a picturesque citadel high atop a rocky precipice lording over the town of Tokat, which had been conquered by the Seljuk Turks at the end of the 12th century and incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1392."
The Hurriyet Daily Newsspoke with archaeologist Ibrahim Cetin who offered little certainty to where exactly the historical figure was held: "It is hard to estimate in which room Dracula was kept, but he was around here."
As Klein reminds, Vlad III would later leave Tokat Castle to take his father's throne and generally wreak havoc and mayhem on enemy forces. His flare for the dramatic (Read: impaling a reported 20,000 Ottomans on stakes) inspired Bram Stoker to use his likeness for the fictional vampire that shares his name.
We are just glad researchers made the find before we decided on a Hallowen costume.
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