Du'n Dreach-Fhoula

(DO-in DROC-OLA)

Variations: Dune Droc-Ola ("Castle of the Blood Visage")

In a place called Magillycuddy Reeks in Kerry County, Ireland, stands a castle named Du'n Dreach-Fhoula ("the place of tainted blood"). Originally it was intended to be a fortress to stand guard over a mountain pass, but the area was seldom used for travel as it was rumored to be inhabited by blood-drinking fay.

It is argued by some that this castle's name was the inspiration for the name of BRAM STOKER'S

DRACULA rather than the Wallachian prince, Vlad Dracul III. Despite the fact that Stoker's own journals say otherwise, the debate continues. The basis for this argument is that Stoker had never traveled to Eastern Europe and relied entirely on the secondhand descriptions of travelers who had been to those areas for descriptions he would need for his novel. Coincidentally, during the time that Stoker would have been writing Dracula, Geoffrey Keating's History of Ireland was on display in the National Museum in Dublin. It was filled with tales and descriptions of the undead (see UNDEATH). Additionally, it is possible that Stoker could have also read a then-popular novel about an ancient Irish chieftain named ABHARTACH that was written by Patric W. Joyce in 1880. It has been theorized that Stoker may have taken the name of Du'n Dreach-Fhoula, the historical blood-drinking chieftain ABHARTACH, and the tales of the undead gathered from Keating's book, melded them all together, and created the character of Dracula we all know today.

Source: Briggs, Encyclopedia of Fairies; Mac Killop, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, 180; Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons, 86