Dracula inspired by Irish ancestry tale

Dracula author Bram Stoker was inspired by his chieftain ancestor and not the blood-thirsty Vlad the Impaler for the vampire novel, it has been claimed.

Historian Fiona Fitzsimons has studied the Dublin-born author’s family tree and found he was a descendant of Manus “the Magnificent” O’Donnell – an Irish clan leader who led a rebellion against Henry VIII in the 16th century.