'Dracula's Castle' Could Be Yours for $135 Million

Attention billionaires with some extra pocket cash: If you have about $135 million to spare, you can own “Dracula’s Castle.”

The castle, known as Bran Castle, is located in Romania. According to its website:

The Bran Castle is sited at the entrance to the Rucăr – Bran passage, on the road connecting Braşov to Câmpulung, overtowered by the peaks of the Bucegi and the Piatra Craiului Mountains. Bran is less than 30 km far from Braşov, when following the national route 73, which leaves Braşov by its West end, through the Bartolomeu district. The distance to Bucharest is of less than 200 km. Due to its lovely landscape and charming people, Bran-Moeciu is one of the most popular touristic areas in Brasov County and the ideal place to spend a great week-end or your holidays.

The castle is up for sale, but it needs a lot of work, apparently:

“If someone comes in with a reasonable offer, we will look at who they are, what they are proposing, and will seriously entertain the idea,” Mark Meyer told the Daily Telegraph. His firm, Herzfeld & Rubin, would handle any potential sale for Bran Castle, as the building’s really known. Construction on Bran began in 1377 and was completed in 1388, according to a timeline on the castle’s website.

Its nickname comes from the fact that it closely matches the description of the castle in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” Stoker himself never visited, but is believed to have read about it and based the castle in his novel on what he read. The character itself, or at least its name, is based loosely on Vlad Dracul, a.k.a. Vlad Tepes or “Vlad the Impaler.” And while Vlad never lived at Bran either, documents suggest he was once captured and imprisoned inside for two months.

Hmm. In that case, my apartment is now “Sandra Bullock’s Vacation Home” because about three years ago I heard she drove through our town on the highway and you can see my apartment from there. It’s yours for the bargain price of $1 million.

The castle still gets about 560,000 paying tourists every year, which could help you make back some of the $135 million you’ll have to pay to call it yours.

That all sounds fine and good, but I’m saving my money for the time when “that Panera Bread where Robert Pattinson’s friend Bill stopped one time to use the bathroom” goes on sale. I’m a savvy investor that way.