5 Popular Legends Inspired By Real-Life Horror Stories

Published November 15, 2017
Updated March 12, 2024

Dracula

Vlad Dracula

Wikimedia CommonsVlad the Impaler

The modern conception of the vampire is largely derived from Bram Stoker’s classic book Dracula, in which the titular count is an undead menace threatening to steal the blood and virtue of proper English ladies.

But Dracula isn’t entirely Stoker’s invention. The character is based on a real figure known as Vlad Dracula. The son of a Romanian ruler who lived during the 15th century, Dracula fought a long war against the Ottomans, during which he acquired the nickname “Vlad the Impaler,” for his favored method of execution. After Vlad’s death, his blood-lust became the subject of morbid legends that eventually came to inspire Stoker.

Stoker laid this historical figure over pre-existing legends of vampires to create the character of Dracula. And these legends have their own factual basis in the process of decomposition.

After a person dies, their skin begins to shrink away from their hair and nails, which can give them the appearance of having grown since the body was buried. The gums also recede away from the teeth, which explains why vampires are described as having fangs. Finally, the gas created by decomposition can make the body bloat, which gives it the appearance of having been feeding.

Medieval vampire hunters would unearth these corpses and attribute these changes to the fact that body was rising from the grave to feed, which gave birth to the vampire legends.

author
Wyatt Redd
author
A graduate of Belmont University with a Bachelor's in History and American University with a Master's in journalism, Wyatt Redd is a writer from Nashville, Tennessee who has worked with VOA and global news agency AFP.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.