November 21, 2007 (Spiegel Online) -- Ottomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prince Kretzulesco, an adopted descendant of Count Dracula, has died in Germany aged 67 after spending a colorful life organizing blood donor parties and medieval festivals at his estate in eastern Germany.

As I walk down the road,
Paying no attention to my social demise,
I seem to be living in the moment,
Deep inside me I hear,
A voice that haunts me from another time,
Long ago from another year,
Pulling me back and pushing me forward,
It seems my life has been directed at this point,
By an incoherent puppet master.
I have these memories driven and soaked with my tears,
Rain falls ont he pavement,
Falling between the cracks,
I can smell the sharp, racid songs of the rain on the tar,
And still be caught in my past,

With the sun setting behind him, Vlad slowly crept up the walkway towards the Inn, something he hadn't done for quite some time. He paused at the doorway, for he thought he heard the sounds of laughter coming from within its walls; that was impossible, of course -- no souls had entered the Inn since he closed it a couple of years ago.

With little effort, he removed the planks that had been boarded up over the doorway, and pulled a rusty old key out from within his cloak. With a scream, the lock slowly turned and clicked, and he pushed open the door.

The following text is a translation of one of the oldest surviving versions of the story of Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia -- known to his friends as Vlad the Impaler, or Prince Dracole. It was printed in Nuremburg in 1488.

I am Legend. Duel. The Twilight Zone. Star Trek. Dracula. X-Files. One genius helped create or inspire all of them. Do you know his name?