Uncover the Irish origins of Bram Stoker's vampire. It was Abhartach, a tyrannical Celtic chieftain who fed on the blood of his subjects (according to Irish folklore) who inspired the Gothic-horror icon Dracula—not the Wallachian warlord Vlad III a.k.a. Vlad Dracula a.k.a. Vlad the Impaler.

Intro 00:00

Abhartach: The Bloodthirsty Irish Tyrant Who Was Killed With a Wooden Sword and Buried Upside Down 03:12

Devil in the Details: Other Evidence for Dracula’s Irish Origins 06:37

Real-World Stakes: Dracula as Social Commentary 09:06

Note: A text-version of this essay, “Dracula's Irish Origins: Was Bram Stoker's Vampire Actually Inspired by the Celtic Chieftain Abhartach?” is available over at IrishMyths.com: https://irishmyths.com/2021/09/25/dracula-abhartach-history/

Want to meet more monsters from Irish mythology? Check out…

Irish Monsters in Your Pocket: A Tiny Little Book About Irish Dragons, Werewolves, Vampires, Banshees, Headless Horsemen, & Other Beastly Beings: https://a.co/d/4e2Db4U

Samhain in Your Pocket: A Tiny Little Book About the Celtic Origins of Halloween: https://a.co/d/1mbig1A

Neon Druid: An Anthology of Urban Celtic Fantasy: https://a.co/d/4kl8rmp

Music credit:

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons