Historical record

Historical record is a citation phrase used to describe events that actually took place and are well documented in public records. Some aspects of the historical record are more reliable than others. In lieu of solid record keeping evidence, some accepted truths of history remain inconclusive and may be based upon theories, unverified evidence as well as religious influence. There are many historical events that find their way into the horror genre, though most of them are sensationalized if not outright embellished. Fictionalized accounts of certain characters may drawn from notable armed conflicts such as the American Revolution, the American Civil War and World War II. Others take a noted person from history and present them in an exaggerated fashion, such as Elizabeth Báthory the so-called "Blood Countess", who reputedly bathed in the blood of virgins to maintain her youth, Vlad Tepes, who was a Wallachian voivode, who earned his place in history as Vlad the Impaler, and served as the inspirational basis for Dracula, and of course, Jack the Ripper, who committed at least five gruesome murders the Whitechapel district of London, England in the Autumn of 1888, and whose true identity remains unknown to this day.