Historical documents and people's memory have preserved and brought to us the image of the real Dracula, the ruler of Wallachia Vlad the Impaler - an indomitable power-lover, a firm statist, whose whole life was spent in an endless and merciless struggle with external and internal enemies. But why exactly did Dracula, who did not stand out in any way among the rulers of his time, become for centuries the embodiment of the villain, the devil in human form, and then the vampire monster? What is this - fatal bad luck, “black PR” of enemies or fair punishment for a tyrant who, according to some authors, killed up to a hundred thousand innocent people?