Dawn Berkoski

I left Castle Corvinesti with questions and strange dreams of ravens perched on windowsills. I thought of Edgar Allen Poe, and I wondered if my search for vampires in Transylvania would lead to better writing, madness, death, or some state in between.

I was willing to take the chance.

So I followed the clues and headed to my next stop, the star-shaped fortress, Celatea Alba Iulia, an ancient citadel perched in the Carpathian Mountains.

Once a Roman camp, this historic site is riddled with history. And inside the 11th-century Cathedral of St. Michael’s, the oldest in Romania, you can find the final resting place of John Hunyadi and his son, Ladislaus, the father and younger brother of Matthias Corvinus.

I was eager to locate them. And I did. (Notice the raven on the sarcophagus.) But I hit a snag. Corvinus, the king who imprisoned Vlad Tepes in his castle, and the one with the biggest connection to the son of Dracul, was not there. To find his remains, and those of his son, John, I had to visit at least two other countries, Hungary and Croatia.

Was this a dead end? Had I been sent on a wild raven chase? Was I following a black bird with a shiny ring in its mouth when I should be searching somewhere else? I plopped down in a pew, feeling lost. My journey began with Vlad, the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and I traced his connection to Corvinus, a well-known name in vampire lore, so why did I feel further away than before?

With a heavy heart, I left the cathedral and headed towards the Union Monument, a massive sculpture of back-to-back crosses, and stopped short. I rubbed my eyes, doubting my vision. Outside the bell tower stood a wandering Crusader, his white cloak billowing in the wind, a red cross glinting in the sun. He was waiting for me! Well, a group of us. The Crusader wasn’t a vampire who had lived for centuries. He was a history student giving tours, which was almost as good.

He showed us Roman roads and coins, and taught us about the crowning of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie. I learned more about Vlad’s marriage to Corvinus’ cousin and received a solid tip about a city called Cluj. But there was someone else who kept popping up everywhere I looked. A painting here, a statue there, and above me, immortalized on the ceiling in the entrance of the Coronation Church. Who was this mystery man?

Spoiler: He was Michael the Brave, Mihal Patrascu, Prince Micheal II of Wallachia. You may find him in several of my photos wearing a black buciuman, a traditional hat with a feather. A national hero, he is remembered for uniting Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania in the 16th century. More relevant to my quest, he was related to the house of Drăculești. A long shot, but he went on my vampire watch list, just in case.

Back to Corvinus and Vlad. So, with a new destination in mind, fond memories, and renewed determination, I waved goodbye to the Crusader and left through the third gate, or Carol’s Gate, and continued on my quest to find out if vampires were real.

Dawn B~