Vlad the Impaler

About Vlad the Impaler

Vlad III, often known as Vlad the Impaler, was a 15th-century Prince of Wallachia whose historical significance stems largely from his brutal military resistance against the Ottoman Empire. MIT's Pantheon project ranks him at #304 for his considerable, if localized, geopolitical impact during a critical era of Balkan history. His preferred method of execution—impaling thousands of enemies, soldiers, and even citizens—cemented a terrifying reputation that would later be mythologized in literature, cementing his place in the historical record.

Despite this high ranking, Vlad the Impaler receives a disproportionately large share of modern attention, exhibiting a significant overattention gap of +6x relative to his historical importance. In 2025, his Wikipedia page garnered approximately 2.4 million annualized views. This level of engagement surpasses that of Louis Pasteur, ranked historically at #140, who only accrued an estimated 714,000 views, suggesting the gruesome novelty of Vlad's moniker outweighs the importance of major scientific figures in contemporary online curiosity. While his interest is strong, the 2025 momentum data shows a decline of -19% between Q1 and Q3, hinting that the current online fascination may be slowly waning.