Researchers reveal real-life Dracula's 500-year-old DNA was hiding a terrifying secret

A dark castle nestled in a dark forest in Transylvania, a great cape, and sharp, bloody teeth - you can see right through the subject of these next lines: the legendary Count Dracula.

The origin of the Transylvanian vampire

Considered the archetypal vampire in modern literature, the famous nobleman of the Carpathians originates from the epistolary novel by Bram Stoker, a British writer who, riding the wave on the theme of the vampire in Anglo-Saxon literature, made his character a must-see.

Bram Stoker based the hero of his eponymous novel on several real people: Vlad Tepes, known as Vlad the Impaler, and his father, Vlad Dracul (the Dragon), in reference to his membership of the Order of the Dragon. It's the former we're specifically interested in here.

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Vlad the Impaler's letters

Indeed, to find out more about the sovereign, researchers from the Italian University of Catania have managed to obtain no fewer than three letters written in the hand of the Wallachian-born nobleman. In his missives, he addresses the rulers of the city of Sibiu on matters of taxes.

Dating from 1457 and 1475, it was necessary to use a technique that was not harmful to the letters' academic purpose. They used ethylene vinyl acetate to collect proteins and peptides still present on the letters. The human traces left on the historical documents tell us more about the 'vampire' count.

Indeed, after analysis, our researchers discovered that Vlad the Impaler was, during his lifetime, suffering from a disease known as hemolacria. Ring any bells? This condition is characterized by... shedding tears of blood.

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Tears of blood

This suggests that the fearsome tyrant may have suffered from a disease known as hemolacria, which consists of shedding blood-tinged tears.

Researchers wrote in a paper published within the journal Analytical Chemistry:

Although the proteomic data alone cannot be considered exhaustive, these identifications could indicate that Dracula 'wept tears of blood'.

Through further analysis, the study's authors also discovered that Vlad also suffered from a genetic condition known as ciliopathy. Ciliopathy is a genetic disorder caused by dysfunction of the eyelashes.

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This article has been translated from Gentside FR.

Sources used:

New York Post

Analytical Chemistry: Count Dracula Resurrected: Proteomic Analysis of Vlad III the Impaler’s Documents by EVA Technology and Mass Spectrometry