Frankenstein vs. Dracula

The historical inspirations for Dr. Frankenstein and Count Dracula crossed paths, according to the Sunday Herald in London:

In a collapsed, moss-covered crypt in St Mary’s Evangelical church in the Romanian town of Sibiu lie the earthly remains of Frank Baron von Frankenstein where he was buried following his execution by Vlad Dracula the Impaler in the early 15th century. The discovery, by celebrated historian and Sunday Herald correspondent Gabriel Ronay, establishes an extraordinary historical connection between the real-life inspirations for two of the literary world’s most loved creations. snip In the 1430s von Frankenstein, a Teutonic Knight, was the lord of Bran manor and the chief adversary of Vlad Dracula. “Shamefully, their repeated wars did not stem from religious zeal but from filthy lucre,” explained Ronay. “Vlad Dracula extorted taxes from the rich Saxon merchants of Transylvania. Ultimately Vlad Dracula defeated the Saxon army and put von Frankenstein to a lingering death on a sharp wooden stake.” Compelling proof of the fight between the real-life Vlad Dracula and a von Frankenstein can be found not far from Bran Castle in St Mary’s Evangelical churchyard in Sibiu where von Frankenstein was buried. Ronay visited the graveyard last year after Frankenstein and Dracula fans told him of the connection between the two families.