The Cause of Vampirism
It is widely believed that the act of condemning God and being excommunicated from the church was what caused one to be turned into a vampire. Another theory is that vampirism was the result of a mutated virus transmitted by the bite of a bat. The virus only mutated in a few individuals that posessed a rare type of blood chemistry.
"The Original Sin" that created Vampirism
According to the 15th century folktale, Prince Vlad Dracula was blessed with the most prized gift of all – true, unconditional love. He found this in his beautiful wife, Princess Elizabeth. Simply put, Prince Vlad and Elizabeth were each other’s reason for living.
In the fall of 1462, Dracula and his army of knights faced a battle of almost impossible odds against the vast armies of invading Turks. As Dracula departed his castle to defend his homeland, Princess Elizabeth, fearing she would never see him again, begged Dracula not to go. However, they both knew in their hearts that this was not an option, as their very existence was in peril. While Dracula was on a distant battlefield, the Turks set a surprise brigade to kidnap Princess Elizabeth at Dracula's castle which was only sparsely guarded at the time. Dracula's guards fought valiantly and did manage to send a messenger on horseback to notify Dracula, but were eventually overpowered. Elizabeth retreated to the top of the castle, where she was cornered on a ledge of a window. In a last ditch effort to defend herself, she pulled a dagger from her hair ornament and plunged it into one of her attackers. In the ensuing struggle, Elizabeth was pushed over the edge of the window and fell over 15 stories to her death in the Arges river below. A priest witnessed her fall from below and wrongly assumed that she had committed suicide. The Turks retreated from the castle as they knew Dracula's return was eminent. Ironically, Dracula had just won the battle, and had just finished praising God when the messenger reached him with the news of the castle invasion. Dracula frantically raced back to his castle where Elizabeth’s retrieved body was placed at the alter in the castle’s chapel.
Dracula was totally devastated and overcome with uncontrollable grief. The priests in attendance unfortunately could not console Dracula, as in accordance with the Catholic religion, suicide results in eternal damnation. Dracula’s grief turned to rage as he realized Elizabeth’s soul was damned forever. Battle weary and heart broken, Dracula felt totally betrayed by God as he had just fought courageously to defend God and all of Christianity. In an explosive act of rage, Dracula proclaimed that if his Elizabeth was damned forever, then he too, would be damned forever. Dracula denounced God and drew his sword while cursing the priests. One priest began to scold Dracula and was subsequently beheaded. Dracula then ran to the base of the alter and plunged his sword into the heart of the main crucifix.
As a result of these deplorable acts, Dracula was excommunicated from the church. These events gave rise to the legend that Dracula was subsequently turned into a monster (vampire) by God and forced to live an eternal life without love. This was Dracula’s punishment for his lack of faith in God and for placing his love for Elizabeth above God.