panillo
11-26-07, 05:27 AM
Here is my first posts after some days, my computer isn't working good, hope everithing go back to normal soon.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/ffximage/2007/11/23/470dracula,0.jpg
Citizens of a small German town are mourning the death of their own benevolent Count Dracula, the adopted descendant of the famous but brutal Romanian Prince.
German magazine De Spiegel reports that 67-year-old Ottomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prince Kretzulesco died of a brain tumour last weekend in the small town of Schenkendorf, southeast of Berlin.
But the once unassuming baker was not always associated with Dracula.
He was Ottomar Berbig until the 1980s when he met a Romanian princess, a direct blood descendant of Vlad the Impailer, the 15th century evil prince that inspired Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.
The princess, Ekaterina Olympia Kretzulesco, was childless and wanted to ensure the family line continued. After being struck by his apparently Transylvanian appearance of black hair and a large moustache, she legally adopted Berbig into the infamous dynasty.
Adopting the title of "Count Dracula" with gusto, Ottomar organised "blood sucking parties" with the German Red Cross where guests donated blood, held medieval festivals and ghost story evenings at his 46-room palace bought in 1995.
Ottomar eventually became a local councillor and campaigned for his town to remain independent of the large neighbouring city Mittenwald, calling the hamlet of Schenkendorf, "Dracula's Principality".
Last year financial pressures forced Ottomar and his family to move out of their palace
But despite Ottomar's death the Dracula line does not die with him - his son, Ottomar Dracula Junior, turns one next month.
Source (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/general/germans-mourn-adopted-draculas-demise/2007/11/23/1195753278983.html)
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/ffximage/2007/11/23/470dracula,0.jpg
Citizens of a small German town are mourning the death of their own benevolent Count Dracula, the adopted descendant of the famous but brutal Romanian Prince.
German magazine De Spiegel reports that 67-year-old Ottomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prince Kretzulesco died of a brain tumour last weekend in the small town of Schenkendorf, southeast of Berlin.
But the once unassuming baker was not always associated with Dracula.
He was Ottomar Berbig until the 1980s when he met a Romanian princess, a direct blood descendant of Vlad the Impailer, the 15th century evil prince that inspired Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.
The princess, Ekaterina Olympia Kretzulesco, was childless and wanted to ensure the family line continued. After being struck by his apparently Transylvanian appearance of black hair and a large moustache, she legally adopted Berbig into the infamous dynasty.
Adopting the title of "Count Dracula" with gusto, Ottomar organised "blood sucking parties" with the German Red Cross where guests donated blood, held medieval festivals and ghost story evenings at his 46-room palace bought in 1995.
Ottomar eventually became a local councillor and campaigned for his town to remain independent of the large neighbouring city Mittenwald, calling the hamlet of Schenkendorf, "Dracula's Principality".
Last year financial pressures forced Ottomar and his family to move out of their palace
But despite Ottomar's death the Dracula line does not die with him - his son, Ottomar Dracula Junior, turns one next month.
Source (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/general/germans-mourn-adopted-draculas-demise/2007/11/23/1195753278983.html)