[Gigan]

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.

SOURCE

[Aliamaru]

Now that has got to be one of the coolest places to live on earth!!!!

Too bad we're not gazillionaires eh? lol

[Gigan]

Heck yeah it is! imagine the movies you could make there! the ULTIMATE goth niteclub!

[Aliamaru]

Gigan, on Jul 3 2007, 08:51 AM, said:

Heck yeah it is! imagine the movies you could make there! the ULTIMATE goth niteclub!

Drac's Den of Debauchery!!! That would rock

[SammyTerry]

Aliamaru, on Jul 3 2007, 11:54 AM, said:

Drac's Den of Debauchery!!! That would rock

Ok everybody,
lets roll up all that spare change and pinch in together and get it!
What a great ClubHouse for all of us...heck we could all live there,
i'm sure its plenty big enough...Haha

[Gigan]

SammyTerry, on Jul 3 2007, 11:38 AM, said:

Ok everybody,
lets roll up all that spare change and pinch in together and get it!
What a great ClubHouse for all of us...heck we could all live there,
i'm sure its plenty big enough...Haha

Indeed, we could have the GM office there, ran by the big 'S'. Accomodation for the hardcore users, and then a goth club! sweet!

*goes and looks for his blacklights and smoke machines*

[SammyTerry]

Gigan, on Jul 3 2007, 12:49 PM, said:

Indeed, we could have the GM office there, ran by the big 'S'. Accomodation for the hardcore users, and then a goth club! sweet!

*goes and looks for his blacklights and smoke machines*

Hahaha....I bet we could get Danzig to play for FREE!

[Zeus]

man.. if I had that money, I'd buy it right away and let you all live with meh, of course, I'd sleep in the highest tower =D

man.. I just hope bill gates doesn't find out about this offer.. the sucker makes 60 million dollars in one day... everyday..

[karma]

Ok... I think Ive got $54 in the bank.... who wants to go into real estate with me?? Save those pennies people!! C'mon... how much could a six hundred year old famously haunted castle cost ?!?!?

[Greygoat]

karma, on Jul 4 2007, 05:05 AM, said:

Ok... I think Ive got $54 in the bank.... who wants to go into real estate with me?? Save those pennies people!! C'mon... how much could a six hundred year old famously haunted castle cost ?!?!?

That's right. We just have to explain the concept of 'depreciation' to these Romanians.
Maybe we could discuss the depreciating life spans of those who interfere with GM folks.

[Zophim]

GlamRockEliteSinger, on Jul 3 2007, 06:14 PM, said:

man.. if I had that money, I'd buy it right away and let you all live with meh, of course, I'd sleep in the highest tower =D

man.. I just hope bill gates doesn't find out about this offer.. the sucker makes 60 million dollars in one day... everyday..

That would be one hell of a potty run bradda.
It would prolly sound like this;
"...uuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH, AAARGH, DAMN!!!"
Saruman; " What's this racket, in the dead of night!?"
Glammy slightly panicked, forgetting he's in Vlad Dracul's now renamed to "GM" Castle
goes; "Wooohooohooohooo".
Out jumps everyone with camera and EVP-recorders at the ready, catching poor Glamm
literally with...

'course there's always the window... but the at breakfast someone would go;
" Why do my tomatoes smell like asparagus?"

[karma]

hahahaha, poor glammy, caught with his pants down.
But on the up side... imagine how his music would sound reverberating off those walls.

[SammyTerry]

ok peeps,
I sold the wifes broken down car (it runs but needs some fixin'up after she had a fender bender)
it'll be days before she notice's it gone...if i sell my collection of toys,trading cards, and other stuff i don't need ,
along with Karma's $54 dollars ..that ll be about..100 mil left to raise..common ..we can do-it,
Hey Gigan, how about "GM" T shirts and stuff to sell?

(P.S....I want the Dungeon)

[karma]

Hey!!! I wanted the dungeon... I have small kids so I need the shackles

I'll wrestle you for it... Deal?

[SammyTerry]

karma, on Jul 4 2007, 01:47 PM, said:

Hey!!! I wanted the dungeon... I have small kids so I need the shackles

I'll wrestle you for it... Deal?

Haha..Deal!
but lets wrestle in a pool of Blood (seems appropriate)
But im sure the dungeons plenty big enough for two families..couldn't we share?
and the kids in the shackle's would b a nice touch...LOL

[karma]

Putting the kids in shackles wasn't for the decore... it's for my own sanity lol.
Wrestling in blood it is... My mum's gonna be proud

I suppose that sharing the dungeon with 2 families will be fine, as long as you dont mind punk music and pets....

[SammyTerry]

karma, on Jul 4 2007, 02:45 PM, said:

Putting the kids in shackles wasn't for the decore... it's for my own sanity lol.
Wrestling in blood it is... My mum's gonna be proud

I suppose that sharing the dungeon with 2 families will be fine, as long as you dont mind punk music and pets....

Punk & pets are fine (hey..that sounds like a good name for a band..
PUNK & PETS, that or a store at a mall)
But yea, I have two dogs and I like punk..I actually like a wide variety of music
so i can listen to pretty much anything. may not necessarily like it...
but can listen to it....ok i draw the line at Spanish stuff with all the horns blaring....
and certain country music ..umm "artist" .
Misfits would be cool echoing thru a dungeon,
and so would Bauhaus (Bela lugosi's dead).
Aww.. who am kidding, well never get that Dungeon!
But at least I have my basement....
always liked basements...especially the older ones...i know I'm weird like that...

[Zeus]

hey I wouldn't get caught with anything! lol, plus, if we do buy it (perhaps maybe if we start asking for change in the streets all day everday for a few thousand years) , I'm getting the room on the highest tower to sing all I want, while you all peepz wrestle in blood in the dungeons =D

[SammyTerry]

GlamRockEliteSinger, on Jul 4 2007, 09:01 PM, said:

hey I wouldn't get caught with anything! lol, plus, if we do buy it (perhaps maybe if we start asking for change in the streets all day everday for a few thousand years) , I'm getting the room on the highest tower to sing all I want, while you all peepz wrestle in blood in the dungeons =D

Thats cool Glamm...
well just have to met in the middle somewhere when we want to talk face to face..haha
....of course you know..being at the top means your the lookout....
and while your singing something like..."Pooour some suugar oon meeeeaayy"
all the towns people there will think..."great Vlad is back"....hahaha

..and don't stay away so long Glamm, now Your starting to worry me....

[Zeus]

SammyTerry, on Jul 4 2007, 10:53 PM, said:

Thats cool Glamm...
well just have to met in the middle somewhere when we want to talk face to face..haha
....of course you know..being at the top means your the lookout....
and while your singing something like..."Pooour some suugar oon meeeeaayy"
all the towns people there will think..."great Vlad is back"....hahaha

..and don't stay away so long Glamm, now Your starting to worry me....

I'm very sorry sammy, I've been real busy and stuff for instance I gotta head downtown right now toget a new ID and stuff... by theway, that's a good song but why would people think I'm vlad?