Smithsonian Channel Documentaries
The Vampire Princess
2010 • E1 May 3, 2010 60m
Picture a spectacular vampire attack at the tomb of an Austrian princess. A scene from Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series? No. It's the deleted opening to Bram Stoker's "Dracula," a horror classic that many experts believe was actually based on a woman. Archaeologists, historians, and forensic scientists revisit the days of vampire hysteria in the eighteenth century Czech Republic and re-open the unholy grave of dark princess Eleonore von Schwarzenberg. They uncover her story, once buried and long forgotten, now raised from the dead.