Dracula's Castle for Sale

That's right; Dracula's castle! Think of the great Halloween parties that you could have or the scavenger hunts you could organized to try to find Dracula's victims. There may even be the possibility that Dracula himself still lives there.

Think about all of the interesting conversations you could have with him.

All of the history that Dracula has seen and lived through would be fascinating to hear about. I am sure that there are countless hundreds of stories that he could tell you.

The most important detail for someone who lives in Dracula's castle to remember is to try not to sleep at night. If you do, make sure you have a wooden stake handy or at least some holy water and possibly some garlic. One can never be to careful.

You may think this is a joke, but it's not.

If you have a $135 million , which is currently its selling price, and a lot of courage, you can buy Dracula's legendary castle in Transylvania. This abode is actually the Castle of Vlad the Impaler, which is whom the legend of Dracula is based on. Bram Stoker made the legend of Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula, famous in his 1897 novel about a Transylvanian Prince. The novel's title, of course, Dracula. St. Petersburg Times/Tampabay.com

Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula, whose actual name was Vlad Tepes (Wikipedia.com), was a Transylvania Prince who stayed in the castle. The castle was built on top of a cliff in the 1300's, which is not the greatest location for a summer home, but that was not the thought process behind the castle's construction. During this time period, castles were built on high ground. Cliffs overlooking water was prime real estate. It was much easier to defend off attacking armies having the advantage of high ground. If the attacking army had to scale high cliffs, even better. The location of Vlad's castle was perfect for fighting off invading Ottoman Turks.

Vlad got his nickname, "the Impaler," for his method of executing ememy soldiers, he would have them impaled on long stakes. The stakes were than placed often in geometric patterns through the land and on the outskirts of cities or his castle (Wikipedia.com). For invading armies, the sight of countless hundreds even thousands of bodies impaled was enough to give them second thoughts about invading Vlad's land.

Dominic Hapsburg of New York whose family owns the castle is trying to sell it. Hapsburg is a royal heir in Romania. He tried to sell it last year to Romanian authorities for only $80 million, but it seems they were not interested. Now he is trying his luck on the open market. If you every wanted to own a piece of history as well as a piece of folklore, this is your chance.

Sources:
St. Petersburg Times/Tampabay.com. Dracula's Castle, If home is a castle, one is on market.published July 3, 2007.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/03/Worldnation/The_skinny.shtml. Retrieved July 3, 2007

Wikipedia.com. Vlad III the Impaler. Retrieved July 3, 2007