Post by Graveyardbride on Oct 3, 2014 8:12:25 GMT -5
Dracula’s Dungeon Found in Turkey?
• Two dungeons, tunnels and a military shelter were found at Tokat Castle
• They were found during restoration works on the site in northern Turkey
• Prince Vlad III was said to have been held hostage at the castle from 1442
• Also known as Vlad the Impaler, he is cited as the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• Archaeologists are now carrying out further tests on the site
The discoveries were made during restoration work on the site, located in the northern Turkish town of Tokat. “The castle is completely surrounded by secret tunnels. It is very mysterious,” archaeologist Ibrahim Çetin told Hurriyet Daily News.
Toward the end of the 12th century, the town was conquered by the Seljuk Turks and became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1392. Vlad the Impaler, officially known as Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, was born in 1431 to Vlad II Dracul. Vlad II was granted the surname Dracul, which means dragon, when he became a member of the Christian military Order of the Dragon. During a diplomatic meeting in 1442 with Sultan Murad II, Vlad II’s sons Vlad and Radu were taken hostage. It is during this time that the brothers were believed to have been held captive at Tokat Castle. They were freed following the death of their father and older brother Mircea in 1447.
In 1462, Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia is believed to have impaled the bodies of 20,000 people outside the Romanian city of Targoviste, to ward off Ottoman forces. This led to his receiving the nickname “Vlad the Impaler,” posthumously. Vlad was arrested for the murders and imprisoned for 12 years, although the exact location and length of this captivity is disputed. The general consensus is that he was imprisoned in Romania, between 1462 and 1474, although other reports claims he was held in Turkey. Vlad was killed during a battle against the Ottomans in 1476. It was the accounts of these crimes, as well as other reports of cruelty and bloody acts that were said to have been the inspiration for author Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic novel Dracula.
“We try to shed light on history with the structure layers we unearth,” continued Çetin. “Dracula stayed here. It is hard to estimate in which room Dracula was kept, but he was around here,” he said.
Previous work at the castle uncovered a 328-foot tunnel in the northern façade, which is said to have been used by the king’s daughters to reach the Roman bath near the castle.
Source: Victoria Woollaston, The Daily Mail, September 30, 2014.