Bela Lugosi as Dracula, 1931 (Wikimedia Commons)
Of course, I thought of Dracula when I saw the wedding would take place in Transylvania.
Wouldn’t you?
I knew nothing about Transylvania other than Dracula–but had a passing familiarity with the story–vampire, Bela Lugosi, and a castle.
Dracula appeared in my favorite Abbot and Costello Film: Abbot and Costello Meet the Wolfman.
I knew about coffins and silver stakes and the fear vampires have of crosses and mirrors.
I knew they could not see the light of day.
That was about it.
I’d watched the campy Dark Shadows as a teenager and wondered why the story was so slow. Boring!
Oh, and I’d had teenage girls in the house during the dreadful Twilight years.
(It just occurred to me, perhaps Stephanie Meyer named her heroine Bella after Mr. Lugosi? I hadn’t thought of that before.)
Reading Bram Stoker‘s Book
Since I was headed to that part of the world, I decided it was time to actually read Bram Stoker’s book, Dracula, and get the real story.
Dracula’s castle
I like to read books set in the place I’m visiting, particularly as in this case, if I get an opportunity to visit some of the actual sites.
I loaded it onto the e-book device and downloaded it to the app on my I-touch. Free!
My daughter-in-law accompanied me on this trip.
(How could she pass up an opportunity to spend a week in Transylvania with her mother-in-law and two dozen strangers? I gave her three days on either side in Edinburgh and London!)
My husband, staying home, read Dracula at the same time.
In Country
I didn’t start reading the book until I was in Romania.
It starts in a straightforward manner describing the Carpathian Mountains through which we traveled on the train from Bucharest to Brasov.
Brasov, the capital of Transylvania, is where we stayed.
It’s the traditional homeland of Vlad the Impaler, on whom the book was based.
Carpathian Mountains
Pictures of Vlad, known as Dracula for “son of the Dragon,” turn up everywhere in Brasov–as tourist trinkets.
A vicious, bloodthirsty ruler, Vlad slaughtered tens of thousands of people often by impaling them.
(Few people shed tears when he died in 1486 and someone sent his head to Constantinople as a trophy.)
Some “artistic” depictions of Dracula sold in the shops were gruesome and bloody–the stuff of Halloween nightmares.
As I read the book, frightening scenes showed up in my dreams.
I didn’t like them.
Reaction to the Book
The further I read, the more uncomfortable I felt with Dracula. The storyline troubled me.
I recognized some Christian aspects, but rather than comforting me, they left me uneasy.
My husband and I discussed the book over Skype. He had read further in the book and it bothered him, too.
When I told him of my misgivings–the spiritual aspects of this novel in particular–he told me to quit. “It’s only going to get worse and I don’t think I’m going to finish it.”
So I did, quit reading it mid-chapter.
In the years since I’ve never bothered to wonder about Dracula again.
Reflections over time
I’ve taught Bible study for many years. Lately, I’ve tried to fill my mind with the advice of Philippians 4:8:
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
By avoiding horror stories, even ones based on historic events in places I visited, gruesome dreams don’t trouble me at night.
It’s important to note God can use all circumstances to His good in our lives.
I’m so thankful I went to Transylvania.
My daughter-in-law and I are good friends.
I enjoyed connecting with my godson and his family.
Brasov, Transylvania holds fun memories for me.
None of them have anything to do with reading Dracula.
Tweetables 
Reading Dracula in Transylvania. Click to Tweet
Why bother reading Dracula, even in Transylvania? Click to Tweet
You don’t have to read the local legend, even if it is Dracula. Click to Tweet
I seem to remember this and your advice on the Dreadful Twilight books. They were waaaayyyyy too sexual for Tween Girls to read.
Lots of irony abounding here. I really am not a fan of the genre and my visit to the “home country” just cemented it. Our foreign exchange student loved the books!
*shudders* I don’t do vampires. They give me the willies and also unpleasant dreams. Them and zombies.
The only time I have enjoyed anything involving a vampire was the summer I kept up with the “Reasoning With Vampires” blog, in which the creator goes through the Twilight series page by page and rips the writing to smitherines. Grammar, spelling, composition…all the technical stuff that Meyer apparently missed. I laughed a lot, also it gave me hope because if a book like that could be published, I might have a shot with mine!
Not really sure what happened on those stories but they were rubbish. Lots of rubbish gets published, unfortunately, it’s not the good rubbish! Keep plugging along!
Michelle, as I said in the past, another time when you mentioned having trouble reading Dracula, I found that the Christian aspects were encouraging, & good won out over evil in the end.
I read Dracular in my late teens. It was so horrifying I had to finish it or I would have found myself wondering what happened. What I found most disturbing was what the world has no trouble finding in the novel and portraying in subsequent vampire films and books – the perverted sexuality. As a teen, I wasn’t sure what was wrong, but I could see that something was wrong. It wasn’t until later that I was able to put a label to it. Let me put it this way – Fifty Shades of Grey began as fan fiction inspired by the Twilight series. Enough said.
Some people obviously don’t have trouble with it, Kizzie, but I did. I think it’s important to warn, particluarly based on what roscuro said. Thanks for your comments, all!
Was the sexuality that overt? I was aware of an undercurrent of sexuality, but don’t remember it being overt, nor portrayed positively, as the Twilight books apparently did.
Michelle, I agree that people should hear different opinions on books. There have been a couple controversial books that I have read, & I sought out reviews both positive & negative on them.