Count Dracula's cellar found in Hungary

Toronto, October 3 (ANI): Archaeologists have found a cellar in the university town of Pecs in southern Hungary, which they believe to have belonged to Wallachian Duke Vlad III, more commonly known as "Dracula."

According to a report in the Digital Journal, Tamas Fedeles, tutor of medieval and early modern history at Pecs University said that his research showed that Vlad III Tepes alias "Dracula," lived in a two-story town house on what is now the city's central square.

Fedeles said that the Duke of Wallachia (modern-day southern Rumania) owned the house in the 1460s and this is confirmed by a 1489 document that refers to it as "Drakulya House."

The document contains a detailed description of the house and from this, Fedeles said that the cellar most likely belonged to "Drakulya".

Oliver Gabor, a local archaeologist, said that this cellar was one of the most impressive medieval cellars found to date. In his opinion, further excavations could turn up interesting finds.

However, authorities plan to fill in the site of the newly discovered cellar.

This is partly due to the views of the official archaeologist of the Cultural Heritage Protection Service, who expressed the view that the excavations did not unearth any items that might point to an individual owner.

Zoltan Karpati also disagreed with the position of the house referred to in the medieval document.

He did concede, however, that the cellar could have been that of the "Dracula House" of the document.

The character of Count Dracula, who actually lived from c. 1431 to 1476 was made famous by the 19th Century English novelist Bram Stoker, and was not closely based on the life of Voivode (Duke) Vlad III.

Unlike the story character, Vlad's castle was in northern Wallachia, at Târgoviste, not in Transylvania, as in the book.

Nor did he have anything to do with vampire cults.

He was, however, reportedly very cruel and stories about his cruelty were circulated even during his lifetime, with pamphlets circulated about him as far away as Germany and Russia.

His nickname, "Tepes" is Romanian for "Impaler," while his father, Vlad Dracul's name refers to the Society of the Dragon, an order of knights founded by the Hungarian King Zsigmond (Sigismund). (ANI)