Oct 07, 2023 19:00:00

Vlad the Impaler, the model for Dracula, may have suffered from a disease that caused him to shed 'bloody tears'

The model for Count Dracula, who appears in

Bram Stoker 's 1897 horror novel `` Vampire Dracula ,'' is said to be Vlad III, the 15th century monarch of Wallachia. A paper has been published stating that Vlad III, also known as the Impaler Duke (Tepes), was suffering from a disease that caused blood to mix with his tears.

Count Dracula Resurrected: Proteomic Analysis of Vlad III the Impaler's Documents by EVA Technology and Mass Spectrometry | Analytical Chemistry
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01461

Testing of Vlad the Impaler's letters show he may have had condition causing his tears to be mixed with blood
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-vlad-impaler-letters-condition-blood.html

Vlad III is known as the ruler of the Principality of Wallachia, which existed in southern Romania. It is said that Vlad III came to be called 'The Impaler' because he executed a large number of prisoners of war, including rebels and enemies of the Ottoman Empire, with skewers and exposed them to his own territory. According to one theory, Vlad III executed as many as 80,000 Ottomans, many of whom were impaled.

A research team from the Romanian National Archives and Politecnico di Milano analyzed proteins and

peptides from three letters written by Vlad III himself.

When a letter is handwritten, the person writing it almost always touches the paper. Therefore, various chemicals and molecules are transferred from the skin of the person writing to the paper. In order to obtain the substance from the paper without causing damage, the research team applied ethylene vinyl acetate to the letter and extracted the substance from the paper. We then investigated the extracted proteins and peptides using mass spectrometry.

As a result of the investigation, substances containing more than 500 types of peptides were discovered, of which about 100 were found to be of human origin. The research team reports that among these human-derived peptides, peptides derived from proteins associated with inflammatory responses,

ciliopathy , and retinal diseases were discovered.

Additionally, three bacterial proteins were identified, one of which was derived from the pathogenic Gram-positive bacterium Mycoplasma Penetrans . Mycoplasma Penetrans is known to be the causative agent of sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, peptides related to Yersinia pestis were also detected, as well as peptides derived from Drosophila melanogaster.

In addition, out of the three letters, in two letters written in 1475, only peptides related to proteins involved in ciliopathy and retinal diseases and peptides belonging to proteins related to inflammatory responses were detected. Rather, peptides related to the retina and tears were detected. Although the research team said that it was not possible to make a complete determination based on the detected peptides alone, they pointed out that it is highly likely that King Vlad III suffered from respiratory tract inflammation and eye inflammation in his later years, which caused blood to flow.

The research team said, ``The results of this study showed that by analyzing important letters, we can reveal the identity of the person who wrote the letter.'' ``The symptom of crying tears mixed with blood is... Coincidentally, the image of Dracula matches Vlad III's strong image.''