Bran Castle, Romania

Bran Castle and Transylvania are usually mentioned in the same breath as the Dracula myth, yet the real story behind the place is every bit as compelling. Perched on a 200-foot (about 60-meter) cliff and originally built by Teutonic Knights, Bran began life as a military stronghold and customs post. From day one, an aura of death clung to it—thanks not to the supernatural, but to centuries of brutal wars and sweeping epidemics. The fortress is a labyrinth: fifty-seven rooms linked by tight corridors and a web of hidden passages, plus a vertical shaft that plunges fifty-seven meters straight down.

Bran’s connection to Vlad Țepeș—“Vlad the Impaler,” or Dracula—turns out to be mostly a historical mix-up. The nickname “Dracula” first meant “the dragon,” because Vlad’s father belonged to the chivalric Order of the Dragon. Only later, given Vlad’s ferocity, did the name pick up the “devil” connotation. Vlad himself wasn’t a vampire; he practiced psychological warfare, terrifying foes by impaling them. He never lived at Bran, either—his actual seat of power was Poenari Fortress.

Local folklore, however, teems with darker creatures. Villagers near Bran feared the strigoi—witches or warlocks born with an extra tooth or even a tail. By night, their souls supposedly slipped from their bodies to drain the life from neighbors. They were said to turn into wolves or cats, slide down chimneys, and slowly murder their own relatives.

On the most dangerous nights—St. Andrew’s Eve and St. George’s Eve—peasants fought back with garlic rubbed on doors and chimneys, every cooking pot flipped upside down so spirits had nowhere to hide, and the ashes raked from stoves to deprive monsters of warmth.

Since we’re in the birthplace of vampire lore, one more legend deserves a nod: the Solomonari. Myth says they trained in an underground school of black magic where the Devil himself was headmaster. Nine graduates out of ten returned merely as sorcerers; the tenth stayed behind, becoming a mighty mage who rode a colossal dragon and commanded the weather, hurling storms and lightning at will.

From 100 Cursed Places · Fern Flower Press