Why is Transylvania regarded as creepy?

[♥ Lily ♥]

Because the Irish writer Abraham Stoker authored the Victorian gothic novel Dracula (based on the real Vlad Dracule Tepes and the history of vampires in the region.)

I've also read some interesting books about the history of alleged real-life vampires, living dead, and ghosts in eastern Europe.

A foreign Count Dracula travels from Transylvania to bring 'evil' to a xenophobic Victorian English society in the novel... by unleashing their hidden carnal desires. The novel was aimed at a suffocating Victorian society with Bram Stoker winking at his Victorian audience. The count was afraid of the sun, ageing, and dying... and wanted to stay forever young and preserve his carnal flesh by feeding off the living. In the end the Count is murdered and killed with a holy stake through his heart.

Tourists visit the castles in Transylvania associated with Count Dracula. I saw a video once of a man who spent a night by himself sleeping on the floor with his rucksack in a remote castle on a hilltop in Transylvania... and there was an open roof to the dark sky with all these bats flying around the castle walls above him.




But I can think of far creepier places on the planet.

[Cristiano viejo]

You seems pretty knowledgeable on the subject, did you weight'em?

I have been in Transilvania, so yes I know the subject. Not my fault that in less than a week I saw in Romania (Transilvania included) more Gypsies than in all my life.
In Gara Nord, the train station of Bucharest, we saw a train front us where only Gypsies went. ONLY GYPSIES. HUNDREDS OF THEM. I gave thanks to God for not choosing that train. To start I never had gone up there...

When we arrived to Brasov, again dozens and dozens of Gypsies in the train station. While we were leaving the platform and the tunnels, I had to be avoiding Gypsies ALL THE TIME. ALL THE TIME.

Same stories in Bran, Rasnov, Cluj Napoca and Sibiu.

Wallachia worse, but Transilvania not very far.

[Vojnik]

I was told by a Romanian that Hungarians are frustrating people to deal with. They don't like speaking Romanian apparently. And that frustrates the local Romanians.

[Celestia]

Transylvania is on my list of places to visit.
I wouldn’t say creepy per se, more so eerie and mysterious.
At least in America’s pop culture version of it lol

[Vojnik]

spot the gypsies in this 40 minute video of a tram crossing Cluj

The Gypsy stories about Romania are a hoax. Saw more of them in Bulgaria and Hungary.

[Kamal900]

Because the Irish writer Abraham Stoker authored the Victorian gothic novel Dracula (based on the real Vlad Dracule Tepes and the history of vampires in the region.)

I've also read some interesting books about the history of alleged real-life vampires, living dead, and ghosts in eastern Europe.

A foreign Count Dracula travels from Transylvania to a xenophobic Victorian English society in the novel... to unleash their darkest desires. The novel was aimed at a suffocating Victorian society with Bram Stoker winking at his Victorian audience. The count was afraid of the sun, ageing, and dying... and wanted to stay forever young and preserve his carnal flesh by feeding off the living. In the end the Count is murdered and killed with a holy stake through his heart.

Tourists visit the castles in Transylvania associated with Count Dracula. I saw a video once of a man spent a night by himself sleeping on his rucksack on the floor in a remote castle on a hilltop in Transylvania... and there was an open roof to the sky with all these bats flying above him.




But I can think of far creepier places on the planet.

Fun fact: the word "vampire" is a Serbian word "vampir" or "вампир" though the meaning of the word isn't clear. Yeah. Believe it or not, the dessert is really creepy during the sun set to the point that the ancient Arabs used to believe in a creature called Al-Ghul(Ghoul) which was a shape-shifting monster that would hunt and eat them during the sun-set of the desert disguised as a lonely and sickly woman.

[Seya]

I wouldn't call it creepy but it's pretty mysterious indeed. it does have a dark side to it.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Transylvania is on my list of places to visit.
I wouldn’t say creepy per se, more so eerie and mysterious.
At least in America’s pop culture version of it lol

+1. Same. (It's one of those intriguing and mysterious places I'd love to see... especially in the Autumn or Winter season.) There's an interesting history to the region as well.

[Hajimurad]

Creepiness of Transylvania came from Bram Stoker. His informant was Arminius Vambery, who collected tales about vampires from local Romanian peasants. Every ethnicity have tales about evil creatures, but Romanian ones because famous due to Bram Stoker's Dracula.

[♥ Lily ♥]

If people feel afraid of visiting Transylvania, they could just pack some garlic, a mirror, a cross, some holy water, and a stake and hammer in their suitcase... lol. (Just look out for the bats!)