Vampires have invaded movie culture and literature throughout history. They remain a prominent horror figure found in popular movies, such as “Twilight,” “Blade,” and in the legendary novel, “Dracula,” written by Bram Stoker in the 1800s. Is this mega-popularized creature just a fictional being or did they truly exist?

Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” was one of the first pieces of literature to reference these blood-suckers over 200 years ago. While some may say that Dracula was a made-up character for the novel, others believe that the novel was based on a prominent historical figure, Vlad Dracul, otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler.

Vlad Dracul, like Dracula, lived in Transylvania, Romania and was a ruler who battled against the Ottoman Empire. It was speculated that Dracul feasted on the blood of his enemies, but that was never proven true. He may be the origin of the idea of vampires we know today.

However, legends about vampires have dated back long before Dracula’s life in several places around the world, including Greece and Europe, stories of undead creatures who sucked the blood of the living spread.

Many researchers and historians have attributed this to diseases, such as rabies, which causes people to bite others, or porphyria, which causes blisters when exposed to sunlight.

Stories of reanimated corpses were also popular in regions of Europe. Stories told of corpses rising from their graves. This could explain the relationship of vampires with being undead creatures.

While tales of vampires have been passed down through the ages, there still has not been concrete proof of their existence. It is highly likely that vampires do not exist and were just parts of made-up and exaggerated accounts of events. On the other hand, the possibility of vampires existing in history is not entirely impossible. Their true existence is still a mystery.