The Truth Behind Frankenstein, Dracula. the Werewolf and the Boogie Man

October is the time for ghouls, goblins and all other paranormal and legendary phenomena that go 'bump' in the night. Have you ever wondered if there was any truth to all the spooky characters, legends and places you've been afraid of since forever? After a little digging, here's a bit of fictional facts about some of the things that have haunted our dreams since childhood.

I remember being afraid of the dark. I would lie still, with my eyes wide open, all under the magical protection of my blanket, body straight as an arrow with my arms glued to my sides in the center of my twin sized bed, so that if a monster should happen into my room at night and hide under the bed, his arms couldn't reach me if he tried to grab me.

Things like Michael Myers of Halloween, the Boogie Man, ghosts and other things (well, Jaws really scared me too, and I wouldn't get in a pool or the bathtub for a LONG while, but that's another story!) really used to terrify me. I remember watching the black & white movie of Abbot and Costello meet Count Dracula. I loved it, because the pair were really funny, but Frankenstein? Is he really made of different parts of dead people and did he really get zapped by lightening and brought to life? Count Dracula? Did he really come from Transylvania and can he really change himself into a bat and fly? The Werewolf? If a regular man gets bitten by a wolf does he really change into one on a full moon and can he only be killed by a silver bullet? And what about the dreaded "Boogie Man?" Did grown-ups make him up to scare little kids into being good, or is there really some Freddy Krueger-type nut out there preying on little children at night? Are they for real? Do they exist? Or did somehow the tale of a few strange folks who lived long ago get twisted into bone-chilling legends?

Frankenstein: The Legend has it that a mad scientist named Dr. Frankenstein built a monster out of dead body parts. The being then came to life the shock from a lightening bolt, broke free of his chains and terrorized the doctor and the townspeople. The truth is that Mary Shelley wrote the book 'Frankenstein' in 1818. The monster's name of "Frankenstein" is never given in the novel. The name belongs to the doctor created him. Even though he could be violent, he made the same mistakes that human beings make, and felt sorry for them. Frankenstein knows the difference between right and wrong, making him the most misunderstood monster on the list.

Dracula: The REAL Count Dracula was named Vlad Tepes Dracula, Prince of Wallachia, an ancient kingdom which is now part of Romania (Transylvania really is part of Romania!!!). His double name of Tepes (meaning "Impaler") and Dracula (after his father, Dracul, meaning Devil or Dragon...the 'a' added on to mean 'son of...') suited him to a T. He was considered sort of a hero because he freed his lands from Ottoman invaders, but he was also a tyrant who ordered thousands of people impaled for his pleasure. With this, name became synonymous with the vampire legend. Centuries later, Bram Stoker wrote the infamous novel Dracula, which would forever give us the stereotype of the classic vampire. I doubt that the Real Count Dracula was afraid of crosses and stakes, and could see his reflection in a mirror. I'm sure modern fiction writers kinda 'wrote' that into their works to make the character a little more elusive.

Werewolf: In folklore, lycanthropy is the ability or power of a human being to change into a wolf. A werewolf in folklore and mythology is a person who shapeshifts, or changes his shape, into a wolf. The person can change either on purpose by using magic, or after being placed under a curse. A Medieval man named Gervase of Tilbury associated the shapeshifting with the full moon, but this idea wasn't really associated with the werewolf until modern fiction writers included it in their stories. Most modern references say that a werewolf can be killed by a silver bullet, but this is just 'fluff' and has nothing to do with the legend itself. Legend states that a werewolf can be killed by complete destruction of heart or brain; silver has nothing to do with it. Many cultures, over thousands of years have some sort of legend of a person being able to transform himself into a wolf, even back to biblical times. Hmmm….

Boogie man: The word comes from the Middle English bugge, meaning a "frightening spectre". The Boogie Man (bogeyman, also boogeyman, boogyman, or bogyman) is a legendary monster often believed in by children. Most kids think the Boogie Man is a monster hiding in his or her room (like in the closet or under the bed) that will attack them while they're sleeping. Sometimes parents will, as a way of controlling their children, encourage belief in a Boogie Man that only preys on children who misbehave. It totally worked to control my brothers and myself as children! Not just American parents use the Boogie Man to scare the pants off their kids to make them behave, but a similar 'monster' also appears in other cultures around the world. Take a look at the Boogie Man in other cultures too.

I know all of these creatures are totally made-up, but there's still a little piece of me that jumps and is scared to look over my shoulder in the dark when things go BUMP in the night!