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"Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/2/2007 12:17:07 PM   
Vendaval


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"Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale"
 
By ALEXANDRU ALEXE, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago

" BUCHAREST, Romania - A Habsburg heir is hoping someone will take a bite of his offer Monday to sell "Dracula's Castle" in Transylvania.

The medieval Bran Castle, perched on a cliff near Brasov in mountainous central Romania, is a top tourist attraction because of its ties to Prince Vlad the Impaler, the warlord whose cruelty inspired Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, "Dracula."

Legend has it that the ruthless Vlad — who earned his nickname because of the way he tortured his enemies — spent one night in the 1400s at the castle.

The Habsburgs formally put the Bran Castle on the market Monday, a U.S.-based investment company said. No selling price was announced.

Bran Castle was built in the 14th century to serve as a fortress to protect against the invading Ottoman Turks. The royal family moved into the castle in the 1920s, living there until the communist regime confiscated it from Princess Ileana in 1948.

After being restored in the late 1980s and following the end of communist rule in Romania, it gained popularity as a tourist attraction known as "Dracula's Castle."
In May 2006, the castle was returned to Princess Ileana's son, New York architect Archduke Dominic Habsburg. He pledged to keep it open as a museum until 2009.

Habsburg, 69, offered to sell the castle last year to local authorities for $80 million, but the offer was rejected.

On Monday, he put the castle up for sale "to the right purchaser under the right circumstances," said Michael Gardner, chief executive of Baytree Capital, the company representing Habsburg. "The Habsburgs are not in the business of managing a museum."

He predicted the castle would sell for more than $135 million but added that Habsburg will only sell it to a buyer "who will treat the property and its history with appropriate respect."

Habsburg said in a statement: "Aside from the castle's connection to one of the most famous novels ever written, Bran Castle is steeped in critical events of European history dating from the 14th century to the present."

According to a contract signed when the castle was returned, the government pays rent to Habsburg to run the castle as a museum for three years, charging admission. After 2009, Habsburg will have full control of the castle, Gardner said.

The government has priority as a buyer if it can match the best offer for the castle, he said.

Opposition lawmakers have claimed the government's decision to return the castle to Habsburg was illegal because of procedural errors.

In recent years, the castle — complete with occasional glimpses of bats flying around its ramparts at twilight — has attracted filmmakers looking for a dramatic backdrop for films about Dracula and other horror movies.

Some 450,000 people visit the castle every year, Gardner said. "

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20070702/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_dracula_s_castle

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/4/2007 2:35:38 PM   
JohnSteed1967


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Yeah I saw that, Like I am gonna run off and buy that. I can just drop 30 Million at the drop of a hat. Hell the Romanian government will shit bricks before they would let an AMERICAN buy it anyway

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/4/2007 5:04:05 PM   
chellekitty


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hey...i had dibs on the castle weeks ago....i guess now that its getting all this publicity i will have to stick to my templar castle in Italy... http://www.castles-for-sale.com/sale/Perugia/index.htm now i just have to get a viewing of it to see if its what i really want....and i have to go panhandle or something...maybe i will set up a website www.getchelletoitalyandhelpherbuyacastle.com ?

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/4/2007 5:11:32 PM   
CrimsonMoan


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had the chance to visit dracula castle and honestly if i could see myself far FAR away from eveyrone i knew and loved i could live there. personally i love the creepy haunted feeling

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/4/2007 6:45:36 PM   
LeMis


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Why not have everyone move in too?

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/4/2007 6:47:17 PM   
DiurnalVampire


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Hmmm, I have been considering buying a home in the near future...

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/4/2007 6:50:34 PM   
Lordandmaster


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The guy who currently owns it is based in New York and has lived in the States for decades.

quote:

ORIGINAL: JohnSteed1967

Hell the Romanian government will shit bricks before they would let an AMERICAN buy it anyway

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/4/2007 7:59:50 PM   
uwinceismile


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would be a great place to have a public dungeon and play house ;)
hmmm, what would it be?  40 bucks to get ya in the door..
                                       120 bucks for a room for the night
                                      3500 bucks round trip air fare 
can anyone loan me 135 mill??

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/4/2007 9:39:33 PM   
ElectraGlide


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I wonder if Jimmy Page of Led Zep is interested, it sounds like it is right up his alley.

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/5/2007 7:48:45 PM   
Vendaval


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I remember reading that Jimmy Page lived in Aleister Crowley's old house and
that he had quite a collection of whips for the kinky groupies.

_____________________________

"Beware, the woods at night, beware the lunar light.
So in this gray haze we'll be meating again, and on that
great day, I will tease you all the same."
"WOLF MOON", OCTOBER RUST, TYPE O NEGATIVE


http://KinkMeet.co.uk

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/5/2007 11:03:12 PM   
ElectraGlide


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I read that also about Jimmy Page. They told him the place was damp and dreary and he was like no problem and moved right in.

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/6/2007 6:32:45 AM   
sub4hire


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Guess he didn't get any bites when he put it up for sale a couple of month's ago.
You'd think if nothing else Hollywood be interested.

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RE: "Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale" - 7/6/2007 10:33:30 AM   
dragone


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Hello: I've been there, photographed the castle, It is really neat, not scary, just old. There is a secret passage from one floor leading to the top terrace, that is so narrow and so steep, the further up you go, the smaller it gets, and for a while, I stated to get clastrofobic. The Castle sits atop a hill overlooking the major highway, the surrounding area is like a swiss chailet village. The Castle Bran, was never the castle of 'Dracula', or Vlad . But of the Family. Vlad's Castle is just a tower, nothing more, with something like 700 steps to get to it.

The Romanian government will sell just about anything to anyone with the money, However, now that they are in the Euro system, of Europe, they are renovating the entire country, fixing roads, and enforcing traffic controls, (watch it smiley). The police stand by their car, a speeder is coming down the road, they motion them to slow down, if not, (since they are just standing there, what the hell, keep on rollin'...right)...no, they radio ahead, and the next cop, in his car stops you.

So, I'm driving back to Bucharesti, at night, in my Dacia, and in the lights, I pick up this reddish glow, the further I go, the more red on the road, then, low and behold, I'm driving through the carcass of a horse, who has been split in two, by this semi truck...a dead horse is really very large, really big. The animal is on either side of the road, split in two.

So, I'm up in the casperian mountains, and I see this creaming stuff ahead of me, and I drive, low and behold, a herd of sheep, in the road, must be 200 or more, blocking the road, and I'm in the middle of them, inching along.

I'm driving along at night, wham, I get hit, a dog runs smack into the side of the car. So I go to the garage, for repairs, and the talk is, everyone has a count of dead dogs, one mechanic laughs and jokes we should have dog kill decals, on the sides of the cars.

The drivers are insane, INSANE, F*****G INSANE.

Sibu has undergone a miraclious change, the center of Old Sibiu has been brought back to as it was in the 1500's, cobbled stone, old shops. The wall, which surrounds Old Sibiu, is the very same wall, actual, that has been there since the medivial times. Old Sibiu, is the cultural capitol of Europe. The museum is,..... as they have virually very little to display, a lot of rugs. The occuping Germans and Russians stripped Romanian to the bone. Raped the treasures.

The entire country has these Churches, Monastaries, and they are the same as they were in the 1400's, still holding services today. The cemetaries look like a trash dump, overgrown, unkept, markers turned over, it looks just like the cemetaries, in the horror movies. The family leases the plot, for 10 year periods, or longer, 30 years, or 100 years. The family is responisble for the grounds upkeep of the plot, and you can see the old folks carring their shovels and rakes, to clean the weeds.

Horse wagons still rule the road, everywhere are they. Gypises have their wagons, encircled in a gyspie cammp, all like a movie.

The people are friendly, the young women all wear very seductive street clothes, boots galore, netted stockings, the sweaters, they are gorgous. The OLder women who survived the Russians are your typical buruska cobvered tanks, with those old cotton socks, and have absolutely no smile whatsoever. The young men look like bums, as does the older ones. Beggers galore, cripples everywhere begging money.

(in reply to JohnSteed1967)
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