in search of souvenirs.

But as dusk falls over Sighisoara, heralding the onset of a dark, mysterious night, the preoccupied look on the faces of the visitors tells you they are no ordinary pleasure-seekers.

They are members of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, congregating at the birthplace of their patron on the occasion of the 3rd World Dracula Congress.

But if you think this is a typical vampire festival with coffin rituals, plastic fangs, and fake blood -- think again. Much more is at "stake."

Nicolae Paduraru is the president of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula. He tells our correspondent that the theme of this year's congress is not limited to the infamous count himself.

"The theme of the congress is fear. Fear of the supernatural in folklore, fear in religious and socialnotoriety for his unreserved cruelty, is said to have been born in Sighisoara in 1431.

But Stoker himself never set foot in Transylvania, and the very background for his book is a mishmash of fantasy and largely erroneous historical information.

Errors notwithstanding, Stoker's character went on to become a 20th-century pop cultural icon, thanks mainly to countless Hollywood movies, many of which themselves stray far from the book, leaving the character of Dracula not only a distant relative of Stoker's vampire, but a virtually unrecognizable variation on the original Vlad the Impaler. Romanians, however, have always regarded Vlad as one of their national heroes -- despite his notorious cruelty -- because of his struggle against the invading Turks.

After the collapse of communism and the disappearance of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, many