Birth of The Blood Countess, Elizabeth Báthory 

Countess Elizabeth Báthory, was a Hungarian noblewoman.
However, she is most well known for being the reputed serial killer of hundreds of young women.

Stories of her sadism and brutality, quickly became part of national folklore.
Her infamy earned her the nickname “The Blood Countess” or “Countess Dracula”.

 Born of noble blood on the 7th August 1560, Elizabeth had an impressive family tree.
Her father was Baron George VI Báthory, brother of the voivode of Transylvania, Andrew Bonaventura Báthory.

Her mother was Baroness Anna Báthory, daughter of another voivode of Transylvania.

Elizabeth was also the niece of Stephen Báthory, the king of Poland and the grand duke of Lithuania and prince of Transylvania.

In 1575, Báthory married aristocrat Ferenc Nádasdy, the son of a baron.
Approximately 4,500 guests were invited to their wedding.

However, before marrying Nádasdy, Elizabeth had given birth to a baby by a man of considerably lower-birth.

Nádasdy is said to have had the lover castrated, and torn to pieces by dogs.
The child was hidden from view.

The young couple lived in the Nádasdy castles in Hungary.
Elizabeth and Nádasdy would have four children together.

It's believed that Nádasdy introduced Elizabeth to the 'pleasures' of inflicting pain and torture.

While Nádasdy was away on his frequent trips, Elizabeth ran the estates, and took various lovers.

Nádasdy died in 1604.
He had developed a debilitating illness, causing pain in his legs.
Before his death, he had become permanently disabled.

After her husband’s death, rumours of Elizabeth Báthory’s cruelty began to surface.
Peasant girls looking for servant work in the Čachtice Castle, were disappearing, and no one knew why.

But before long, many locals began to point their fingers at Countess Elizabeth Bathory......

 It was not until 1609, that rumours Elizabeth had also killed minor noblewomen attracted attention.

The stories of Báthory’s murders were further verified, by evidence of mutilated, dying or dead victims at the time of her arrest.

According to the testimonies, Báthory’s initial targets were servant girls aged between 10 and 14.
The daughters of local peasants, these victims had been lured to the estate by offers of work, as maids or servants in the castle.

Two court officials claimed, that they personally witnessed Báthory torture and kill young servant girls.

In all, Báthory was accused of having killed between a couple of dozen, and over 600 young women.

Survivors and witnesses, reported victims experiencing severe beatings, burning or mutilation of hands, freezing or starving to death.

Victims would be covered in honey and live ants, or burned with hot tongs and then placed in freezing water.

Báthory was said to have stuck needles into her victims’ lips or body parts, biting off their breasts, faces, and limbs.

Bathory’s favorite method of torture was using scissors.

She supposedly used the instrument to cut off hands, noses, and genitals.
She sometimes even sliced open the skin between her victims’ fingers.

Whether these horrendous crimes were sexually motivated, or just the actions of an evil, twisted mind, is debated.

Báthory's biggest legend has her drinking the blood of virgins, believing that it would preserve her beauty and youthfulness.

She was also rumoured to bathe in the blood of her young victims.

However stories attesting to her vampiric tendencies were recorded years after her death, and are considered unreliable.

Modern historians claim that these stories originated from the widespread disbelief that women were soft, pure and innocent.

Women were not capable of such violence for its own sake - they must of had a good reason to commit such atrocities.

I guess they thought that wanting to drink and bathe in the blood of young virgins to remain eternally beautiful, was a good enough reason!

The corpses of Báthory’s victims were hidden in a variety of places.
The most common method was to have the bodies secretly buried in church graveyards, at night.

On 30th December 1609, Báthory and her servants were arrested.

The servants were put on trial in 1611, and three were eXecuted for being Báthory’s accomplices.

Báthory herself was never tried.
A trial and eXecution would have caused a public scandal - and led to the disgrace of a prominent and influential family that ruled Transylvania.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, and testimony against her, Báthory was saved from eXecution.

She was imprisoned within the Castle of Čachtice, in Upper Hungary, now Slovakia.

Báthory would stay in the castle until her death in 1614, at the age of 54.

She was initially buried in the castle church, however an uproar among local villagers meant her body was moved to her birth home, at Ecsed, where it was said to have been interred at the Báthory family crypt.

However, the exact location of her body today, is a mystery.

According to the Guinness World Records, Báthory is the most prolific female murderer.
This is despite the precise number of her victims remaining unknown, and debated, although its thought it could have been as high as 650.

 There have been many stories told, about ghosts haunting Čachtice Castle in Slovakia.

Though the existence of Elizabeth Bathory’s crimes has been debated, many believe the tormented souls of her victim's haunt the area.

Some say they have sighted shadow figures and full body apparitions.
Sometimes, these appear as young girls crying.

The ghost of Elizabeth Báthory herself, is also thought to haunt Čachtice Castle, where she was imprisoned and died.

Many claim to have sighted her, and she is sometimes described as being faceless.

In addition to these ghostly apparitions appearing before people, some say that they have experienced disembodied voices in and around the castle....