Spend Halloween at Dracula's castle in Romania - coffins and all

A couple of lucky horror-hounds will get a spectacular – and spooky – treat this Halloween, with a free night at Dracula’s castle offered up through an Airbnb competition.

The night includes a carriage-ride up to the “misty mount-top manor” at sunset – it’s not clear if there’s dry ice involved – and the chance to explore all 57 creepy rooms, including some crypts and lofty towers. Maybe pack some comfortable shoes?

For literary purists, the building itself – the 14th-century Bran Castle in the Carpathian mountains in Romania – does not actually feature in the book, but the real-life inspiration for the character, Vlad the Impaler, may have visited it.

It’s hosted by Bram Stoker’s great nephew, Dacre Stoker, who is a “vampire expert and passionate advocate” of his ancestor’s novel. He plans to greet the guests with the same words that Dracula used in the novel, and act as a guide during a night that will reference several of the book’s most memorable scenes.

“I want to give them a sense of atmosphere and authenticity,” Stoker told the Telegraph. But he’s also keen on educating the winners about his great uncle.

“The vampire has been a huge part of popular culture for a long time now but I want [people] to be aware who that came from, and who Bram Stoker was.”

It even comes with a candlelit dinner in the fancy dining room, prepared as it’s described in the novel – “a hearty, blood-enriching meal of robber beef steak and paprika hendl chicken.”

To top things off two velvet-lined coffins are provided, which no doubt will provide a wonderful, restful, and entirely non-frightening night’s sleep. Which definitely won’t be disturbed by the ” unexpected guests” who “have been known to come knocking in the moonlit hours”.

To enter, contestants must provide a short answer to the question: “What would you say to the Count if you were to come face-to-fang with him in his own castle?”

The winners will be flown in from anywhere in the world, provided they don’t bring any garlic or garlic-scented perfumes with them and leave their silver at home – as per the house rules.

Short notice for your boss, maybe – but it’s apparently the chance to be the first to stay in the castle overnight since the owners, the Habsburg royal family, were evicted after the Second World War. And hopefully not the last. Cue: ominous laughter.