The Story of Elizabeth Bathory, The "Blood Countess"

Rumors started to circulate around the village of Tencin in present-day Slovakia during the early 17th century. Girls who were looking for servant work in the Csejte Castle were starting to disappear and nobody knew what was happening to them. But, soon many started to speculate Countess Elizabeth Bathroy was the reason for these disappearances.

Elizabeth was a scion of a powerful Hungarian family and she was the product of inbreeding between Baron George Bathory and Baroness Anna Bathroy, she received the Csejte Castle as a wedding gift from her husband, he was the famed Hungarian war hero Ferenc Nadasdy.

Ferenc became the chief commander of the Hungarian army by 1578 and he embarked on a military campaign against the Ottoman Empire. He left his wife in charge of the vast estates to govern the local populace.

All seemed to be well under Elizabeth's leadership. But, as time went on, the rumors of her torturing her servants started to spread like wild fire. When Elizabeth's husband died in 1604, these views became much more widespread and dramatic. She would then become accused of not only torturing, but also killing hundreds of girls and women who stepped foot in her castle.

Today, Elizabeth is infamously labeled as the "Blood Countess" who killed up to 650 girls and women in the Kingdom of Hungary. And if all of the stories about Elizabeth are true, she is likely the most prolific female serial killer of all time. But, not everyone believes she is guilty of these crimes.

How Her Crimes Began

Elizabeth Bathory was born on August 7th, 1560 in Nyirbator, Hungary. She was raised in a noble family, she had known a life of privilege from an early age and some speculate that she would later use her power to commit heinous acts.

According to witnesses, Elizabeth's crimes took place between 1590 and 1610, and most of the vicious murders happened after her husband died in 1604. Her targets were poor girls and young women that were lured into her castle with the promise of work.

But, she didn't stop there, she allegedly started to kill daughters of the gentry who had been sent to Csejte for education. She also kidnapped local girls in the area who wouldn't come to the castle at their own free will.

Elizabeth evaded the law until 1610 according to the History Channel. At this point, she had reportedly killed multiple victims of noble birth, this concerned authorities far more than the deaths of the servant girls. So, the Hungarian King Matthias II sent his highest-ranking representative, Gyorgy Thurzo, to investigate Elizabeth.

He collected evidence from 300 witness and this led to a number of truly horrifying charges against the countess.

The Accusations

According to the reports and stories told long after, Elizabeth tortured girls and young women in unspeakable ways.

She would allegedly burn her victims with hot irons, she beat them to death with clubs, stuck needles under their fingernails, poured ice water over their bodies, and left them to freeze to death outside in the cold, she would also cover them in honey so that bugs could feast on their exposed skin, sewed their lips together, and bit off chunks of flesh from their faces and breasts.

Witnesses also claimed that her favorite method of torture was to use scissors to mutilate her victims' bodies and faces. She also allegedly used the scissors to cut off their hands, noses, and genitals. She sometimes even sliced open the skin between her victims' fingers.

These horrific actss helped define Elizabeth Bathroy's legacy. At the time of the investigation, some even accused her of being a vampire, others claimed to have seen her have intercourse with the Devil.

One of the most infamous accusations was the one that inspired her nickname, The Blood Countess, this accusation claimed that Elizabeth bathed in the blood of her victims in an attempt to maintain a youthful appearance. Although this is one of the most memorable stories, it is unlikely to have been true. This claim didn't even appear in print until after she was dead for more than a century.

How much of this story was made up to take down a powerful and wealthy woman?

Was Her Nickname True?

Elizabeth was charged with the deaths of 80 girls after the accusations were heard. One witness also claimed that they saw a book that Elizabeth kept, where she would record the names of all of her victims. 650 in total. But, this diary, appeared to have only been a legend.

Once the trial ended, Elizabeth alleged accomplices, one of these accomplices worked as a wet nurse for the countess' children, they all were convicted of witchcraft and they were burned at the stake. Elizabeth was spared from execution since she was a noble. However, she was locked up and isolated in a room at the castle, where she would remain for four years until her death in 1614.

Elizabeth's case may not been as cut and dry as it seemed. And in fact, some modern Hungarian scholars say that it could have been motivated by others' power and greed versus her supposed evil.

And it turns out that King Matthias II owed Elizabeth's late husband and then her with a sizable debt. The King was in no way inclined to pay that debt, so historians say that this fueled his move to incriminate Elizabeth in multiple crimes and denied her the opportunity to defend herself in court.

And some historians say that witnesses possibly provided the incriminating testimonies under duress and the king called for the death penalty before Elizabeth's family could even intervene on her behalf. This could have been politically motivated, the death penalty meant that the king could then seize her land.

The true story of Elizabeth could look more like this: The countess owned strategically important land that increased her family's already vast wealth. She was an intelligent, powerful woman who was ruling without a man at her side. And she was also a member of a family whose wealth intimidated the king, so his court was on a mission to discredit and ruin her.

It could be that Elizabeth abused her servants, but came nowhere near the level of violence alleged at her trial. And the worst case was that she was the bloodsucking demon that was sent from hell to murder these young women like witnesses described.