Dracula's castle up for sale?

You may have some images of the dreaded Dracula's castle in your mind - the 13th-century fortress in Transylvania called Bran Castle.

It is another thing the castle did not actually belong to Dracula but to the Habsburg royal family.

The Romanian government has now placed an $80 million (Rs.470 crore) bid to buy it, according to media reports.

Though the fictional vampire never lived here, Bram Stoker, the author of 1897 novel "Dracula", chose to give Dracula a home that matched Bram castle in description.

"Bram Stoker never visited Romania. He depicted the imaginary Dracula's castle based upon a description of Bran Castle that was available to him in turn-of-the-century Britain," read a statement on the Bran Castle website.

"Indeed, the imaginary depiction of Dracula's Castle from the etching in the first edition of 'Dracula' is strikingly similar to Bran Castle and no other in all of Romania," it said.

In the novel, Stoker describes the fortress as sitting high above a valley, perched on a rock above a flowing river.

This castle is the only such fortress in Transylvania that fits the bill, the Bran Castle website noted.

When creating the character of Dracula, Stoker drew inspiration from a real-life man with an apparent taste for blood - Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, modern-day Romania.

Also called Vlad the Impaler, the prince seemed to have a fondness for impaling his enemies.