Drakul

The Drakul is an undead form of vampire from Moldavia and Romania. The name relates to words for “devil” and “dragon” and is often used as an expletive. Drakul also served as a nickname to the father of Vlad Tepes who was associated with a group called the Order of the Dragon. This led to Vlad the Impaler to be referred to as Dracula. Along with being the name used by Bram Stokers character, there were several people in history referred to as Dracula. They’re corpses raised from the dead after being possessed by a demonic force. They have pale skin, hollow eyes, walk around naked, and carry their coffins on their heads. When they are possessed, the demonic force controlling them activates the memories of the corpse to target their friends and family. They rest in the grave during the day and rise at night to attack the living. They can be awoken if someone disturbs their coffins and have no fear of sunlight. They’re thought to be incredibly fast and strong enough to rip and mans arms off at the sockets. They disintegrate if they’re separated from their coffin for too long. If their burial shroud is destroyed, then the Drakul will lose control of their body. A common method to kill a Drakul is to dig up their coffin, dump them out of it, and burn the coffin to ashes with a torch made from thorn bushes. When confronted directly, it is best to have a large group of armed people.

Citations:

Bane, Theresa. Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology. United States, McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers, 2017.

Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings That Haunt Us, Hunt Us, and Hunger for Us. United States, Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2006.

McNally, Raymond T., and Florescu, Radu. In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires. United Kingdom, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994.

Twitchell, James B.. The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature. United States, Duke University Press, 1981.