Romania: Bram Stoker's Dracula castle opens its doors to overnight visitors

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Romania: Bram Stoker's Dracula castle opens its doors to overnight visitors

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For centuries, it chilled the blood of terrified villagers in Bram Stoker's classic Gothic novel.

Today, the castle that inspired Dracula's hideaway is being dusted down in readiness for overnight Hallowe'en guests.

It will be the first time since 1948 that anyone has slept in the Transylvanian fortress.

Bran Castle, like Stoker's creation, stands among the Carpathian mountains in northern Romania.

And in a nod to the castle's literary heritage, guests will be welcomed by Dacre Stoker, the great grand-nephew of the Irish author. "I want to give them a sense of atmosphere and authenticity," Mr Stoker said yesterday, "but my real interest is raising awareness of Bram Stoker, who was really overshadowed by his own amazing story.

"The vampire has been a huge part of popular culture for a long time now but I want them to be aware who that came from, and who Bram Stoker was.

"It's going to be a lot of fun, there will be re-enactments of several key scenes from the novel, and then after that we're just going to leave them and see how they get on alone at night in the castle."

Mr Stoker, who in 2009 published a sequel to his ancestor's novel, added: "I won't dress up as Dracula, it's too cliched. That said, we will hopefully be able to get some wolves to howl at some point."

When the Airbnb competition winners arrive by horse-drawn carriage, he plans to greet them in Dracula's very words: "Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring!" They will then enjoy a candlelit dinner of chicken paprikash, the dish enjoyed in the novel by the protagonist, Jonathan Harker, shortly after his arrival in Transylvania.

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Guests will then bed down for the night - not in the four-posters some might otherwise have wished for, but in red velvet-trimmed coffins.

Bran Castle was originally a fortress linking Transylvania to southern Romania. It is closely associated with the bloodthirsty Vlad the Impaler, whose name stems from his method of torturing his enemies.

Vlad - widely thought to be the inspiration for Dracula - did not own the castle, though he was imprisoned there briefly in the mid 1400s.

Historians say he had a reputation for being among the most cruel and sadistic rulers in medieval Europe. It is estimated that he ordered the deaths of more than 50,000 people and, some say, he used to dismember and roast his enemies. A 1521 document even claims he forced women to eat their own children after they had been cooked alive.

The castle is already hugely popular among tourists, but no one has been allowed to spend the night there since it was seized by the Communists in 1948, following the expulsion of the royal family.

In 2006 it was restored to the original owners, who have turned the 12th century castle's bloody history to their advantage by transforming it into a tourist attraction which now brings in more than 630,000 visitors per year.

The Telegraph, London

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