This Dracula Quiz May Not Suck

Answer a series of forehead-slapping anecdotal factoids. It's up to you to weigh each fact in each anecdotal factoid. They're tricky. One might seem like total B.S. until it's revealed to be strangely and disturbingly "True." Another anecdotal factoid might seem to contain all solid and verifiable facts until it's revealed to be yet one more big fat garden variety "Bald-Faced Lie." And here's the trickiest part: an anecdotal factoid might even be "Half-True"; in other words, a mishmosh of truths and bald-faced lies, where you don't know where one ends and the other begins, much like the usual slop served by Madison Avenue, Washington D.C., and the Internet in its entirety.

Category: This Dracula Quiz may not suck

Decide for yourself, and mark "T" for "Truth", "F" for "Bald-Faced Lie" or "TF" for "Half-Truth" in the blank slot next to each factoid.

The answers will be revealed on the next page.

1) __ "Dracula" author Bram Stoker based his vampire character after a mad medieval Romanian ruler named Vlad II, also known as "the Impaler" because he drove sharpened stakes into his enemies. He was also known as "Dracul" or "Dracula" which meant "son of the dragon."

2) __ "Dracula's Castle" is Romania's most popular tourist attraction. It's actually a real medieval Habsburg castle turned into a theme park with rides like the Bat Cavern Tunnel of Terror and the Mad Vampire roller coaster ride.

3) __ Bela Lugosi was buried in the Dracula cape that he wore in the 1931 movie.

4) __ Universal originally wanted Lon Chaney Sr. to play Dracula, but he died before the picture was produced. Bela Lugosi was cast because he accepted a salary much lower than his co-stars.

5) __ In 1976, Romania's brutal communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu issued a commemorative stamp marking the 500th anniversary of Vlad II the Impaler's death.

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Here are the answers for This Dracula Quiz may not suck

Answers:

A reminder: "T" is for "Truth", "F" is for "Bald-Faced Lie" or "TF" is for "Half-Truth".

1) T: It's true that Bram Stoker based Dracula on Vlad II, also known as "the Impaler" because he drove sharpened stakes into his enemies. It's also true that Vlad was known as "Dracul" or "Dracula" which meant "son of the dragon."

Vlad II, at various times in his history, ruled the southern Romanian region of Wallachia as well as the northern region of Transylvania.

2) TF: This anecdote is both true and false. It's true that "Dracula's Castle" is Romania's most popular tourist attraction, drawing 450,000 visitors yearly. It's also true that "Dracula's Castle" is Bran Castle, a real medieval Habsburg castle. It's false that it was turned into a theme park with rides like the Bat Cavern Tunnel of Terror and the Mad Vampire roller coaster ride. Once the home of Romania's royal family, Bran Castle is a government-sponsored museum.

Note that "Impaler", a dungeon-themed basement disco is in an inn next door to Bran Castle.

3) T: It's true that Bela Lugosi was buried in his Dracula cape. This wasn't a result of Lugosi's will or personal request. It was the actor's widow and son Bela Jr. who requested that he be buried in the Dracula cape.

4) T: It's true that Universal originally wanted Lon Chaney Sr. to play Dracula, but he died before production. It's also true that Universal originally didn't want Bela Lugosi in the role that he popularized on Broadway. He was only later cast because he was willing to take a salary much lower than his co-stars.

5) T: It's true that Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was an admirer of Vlad II the Impaler, calling him a national hero. It's also true that he had a commemorative stamp issued marking the 500th anniversary of Vlad's death.

SOURCES:

"Vlad the Impaler", Joseph Geringer, Crime Library, URL: (http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/vlad/index_1.html)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19563707/

"Dracula goes postal", David Johnson, Infoplease, URL: (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/dracula5.html)