Yes, there really was a Dracula. And, yes, there really is a Dracula's Castle located in the Transylvanian region of central Romania. One of the country's most popular tourist attractions, today this castle remains much as Bram Stoker described it over one hundred years ago, making it the ideal destination for thrill seekers and history buffs.
"The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green treetops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through the forests." - from Bram Stoker's Dracula, published in 1897
Castle History
Dracula's Castle, otherwise known as Bran Castle, is located in the rustic mountain village of Bran -- a historic border checkpoint separating the regions of Wallachia and Transylvania. 
Built in 14th century, the castle was originally occupied by a group of warrior-princes who protected local villagers from invasion by members of the Ottoman Empire. The most infamous of these princes was Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler (1431-1476). From 1456 to 1462, Vlad the Impaler ruled Wallachia with an iron fist, instilling order throughout the region. His preferred method of punishing criminals, smugglers and prisoners of war was to have them impaled on wooden stakes and placed in public view, the reported fate of over 100,000 Turkish soldiers. Tales of Vlad's merciless reign spread rapidly across Transylvania and earned him the ominous title of Dracula or "of the devil," according to 15th century Saxon literature.
In the autumn of 1462 Dracula was double-crossed and captured by Hungarians. The King of Hungary, in an ironic twist of fate, chose to imprison Dracula in Bran Castle for two months before transferring him to a castle prison on the outskirts of Budapest. There he remained for the next 12 years. On November 26, 1476, Dracula was released from prison and resumed his role as King of Wallachia, but his reign was short lived. A month later he was captured and killed by Ottoman Turks.