Vlad III, also known as Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula, was the ruler of the Romanian Principality of Wallachia during the 15th century. Tales of his brutality against his foes sparked folklore that exists through today and he was famously used as the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. But most of the history of Vlad's rise and fall have been carried forward through oral histories and stories crafted by his enemies. Regardless, his methods were gruesome and his reign frightful.