NEWS! Bran Castle, also know as the “Dracula’s Castle,” in Transylvania is up for sale, with a frightening £47 million (around $80 million price tag!😊 Now before we get too excited, as I sure most of you will be well aware, but you can never be too sure, THIS Castle is not the fine and quite frightening, Castle Dracula as seen in #PeterCushing's and #ChristopherLee 1958 Hammer film, 'Dracula' ... Nope this one, as you can see has none of genius set designer, Bernard Robinson's fantastic set dressing of lush drapes, twisted Turkish pillars, fab red and gold beautiful flak wallpaper, four poster beds and well... coffins! But THIS castle does have a horrifying history too, and shockingly, in this case, it's ALL TRUE!
WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS THE NOTORIOUS #BranCastle,
a 13th-century palace near Brasov. It has had a long list of previous
owners: from Saxons to Teutonic knights. But its most famous occupant
was . . Prince Vlad the Impaler, an historical warlord who inspired Bram
Stoker’s 1897 novel, “Dracula”. For many years, this has been part of a
tourist attraction.
ACCORDING TO THE UK 'newspaper', the #DailyTelegraph , the castle is now owned by descendants of Britain’s Queen
Victoria (Yikes! three siblings in their 70s with the last name
“Habsburg”) after it was restored to their control following the
collapse of communism. The main problem of the 57-room, 22-acre castle
is the lack of lavatories and bathrooms. ( I never saw Dracula go to the
loo or take a shower did you? So, no need 😉
) These were provided for the tourist visitors, but were ripped out of
the residential part of the castle by the communist regime.
EACH YEAR, 560,000 people pay £4 to visit the fortress. Even though there is a theory this castle, isn't actually the home that Vlad actually nestled in at all! When this feature was posted and shared yesterday, at Facebook PCASuk Fan Page, many of you kindly shared your personal snaps you have taken on YOUR holiday trips to the area, and visited Bran AND Castle Poinari, which is thought to be THE Castle Dracula! The castle is a ruin sadly, without roof, but has impressive views, but not as appealing and interesting to market to tourists, as Bran I guess.
ABOVE: One of Castle Bran's authentic claims to fame is that it WAS visited by another DRACULA! Christopher Lee visited and strolled around the grounds, during the making of the 1975 documentary, 'IN SEARCH OF DRACULA' in full period costume, Lee is a dead ringer for VLAD TEPES DRACULA, aka VLAD THE IMPALER, the military governor, or prince whose cruel methods of punishing his enemies gained notoriety in 15th-century Europe...and that is why Bram Stoker, adapted some of Vlad's activities, to form his story of 'DRACULA' in his 1897 novel!
DOING A LITTLE RESEARCH, I found that the
whole business of the sale of Bran castle over the past few years has had more resurrections than Christopher Lee's Dracula and bit of a contradiction. So I have tried
sourcing materials, to get to the basement / cellars of the story. Some of the issues are founded in promotion
for a tourism based business, with the hope of selling the castle to another
owner maybe holding several other attractions as part of their portfolio and even
though the site was up for sale up to and beyond 2016, it seems if a
ANOTHER prospective buyer was to claim interest, no doubt the cycle of publicity
would be generated again. In our current climate, which has been fatal
to some tourism sites, any publicity is, good publicity.
IT CAN'T BE EASY for the man who actually owns “Dracula's castle” as he really
wishes we wouldn't call it that. Seventy-nine-year-old Dominic Habsburg,
spent his childhood at Bran Castle, where his grandparents Queen Marie
and King Ferdinand I lived. He inherited the 14th-century castle in
2006. Do you have deep pockets,
need no loo or WC? Then, maybe this could be your dream cosy abode 😊- Marcus
REMEMBERING actress Valerie Gaunt: Valerie's short career on the big screen featured only in two films, and they were along side Peter Cushing. Just two roles, but they left a lasting impact, that would outlast many longer career! Her playing of Justine in 'The Curse of Frankenstein' (1957) and her performance in Hammer films,1958 'Dracula' hold a special place for lovers of fantasy cinema.
ABOVE : Our FULL FEATURE with RARE UNPUBLISHED PHOTOGRAPH GALLERY on actress VALERIE GAUNT you can FIND HERE!
BORN Valerie Shelia Gaunt, on the 9th July 1932 in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England, following an interest in amateur theatre, after leaving school embarked on a career as a model, before auditioning for Hammer and landing her first professional role in 1957. Gaunt married her husband Gerald Alfred Reddington on May 17th,1958. Valerie was survived by her husband, Gerald and their four children. . .
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