She is one of the earliest serial killers
in recorded history – the original sado-masochistic
femme fatal.
She stands out as a shocking lesson in just
how dangerous a sadistic, demented powerful
woman can be.
The passing of the centuries has left us with
an incomplete picture of the true nature of
her crimes.
But what we do know is truly stomach churning.
In this week’s Biographics we peer into
the depraved life of the Blood Countess, Elizabeth
Bathory.
Beginnings
The woman who we know as Elizabeth Bathory
was born Erzsebet Bathory on August 7th, 1560
in Nyirbator in the Kingdom of Hungary.
She was born into one of the most prominent
families in Central Europe.
As a result, she was lavished with the very
best education and classic upbringing.
During her formative years she learned to
speak Hungarian, Slovak, Greek, Latin and
German.
Elizabeth was a child with severe health problems.
Historians have speculated that the fact that
her parents were first cousins may had contributed
to her weak constitution.
She was an epileptic and, as such, was prone
to violent seizures.
It has been recorded that young Elizabeth
was exposed to all sorts of horrific atrocities
during her formative years.
She is said to have begun laughing at the
sight of a man, whose crime was stealing,
being sown into the body of a horse.
She would also regularly witness the severe
beating of servants.
Unlike the majority of young girls, Elizabeth
was not offended by the violence that she
saw – in fact, she seemed to be drawn to
it.
At the age of ten, she had become a rather
stunningly beautiful young lady.
It was then that she became engaged to a fifteen-year-old
Hungarian count by the name of Ferenc Nadasky.
As was the custom, she moved into her future
husband’s parent’s palace and received
education in running the estates that were
under the control of her mother-in-law.
A Husband’s Influence
Legend has it that Elizabeth had an affair
with a peasant boy in her early teens and
became pregnant.
It is said that she gave the child away secretly.
Meanwhile, Ferenc is supposed to have discovered
the affair, had the peasant castrated and
then thrown to a pack of wild dogs.
Whether this story is true or not, it is clear
that Elizabeth was active sexually.
She married Ferenc on May 8th, 1574 when she
was fourteen.
The wedding was an extravagant affair, with
four and a half thousand people in attendance.
The party raged on for three days at the height
of which Ferenc gifted his wife with a castle
of her own.
It just happened to be Castle Cachtice, one
of the darkest, most bleakly gothic castles
in all of Hungary.
The castle, situated in the Little Carpithians
in modern day Slovakia, was surrounded by
a village and farmland.
It would come to be the scene of many of her
most horrific crimes.
The young couple united two ultra-powerful
families.
It made them the power couple of the day.
For the first few years, Elizabeth was busy
learning about and overseeing the many estates
that she controlled.
Her husband was off fighting against the Ottomans.
He proved to be a great warrior, earning the
nickname the ‘Black Knight of Hungary’.
His absolute brutality in the face of the
enemy terrified his enemies and shocked his
allies.
The Turks invaded Hungary in 1591, precipitating
what had become known as the Long War, which
lasted from 1593 to 1606.
The war was to drag on, severely depleting
the Hungarian economy.
However, Elizabeth Bathory never felt the
pinch because her husband kept showering her
with gifts from the Ottoman Empire.
In fact, the couple grew so wealthy during
this time that they actually lent money to
the Hungarian Hapsburg Empire to keep the
country afloat.
During the war years, Cachtice was threatened
by the Turks.
Elizabeth had to defend her husband’s estates
and she did so effectively.
At times, she also gave refuge to desperate
peasants, feeding and housing them.
Over the first few years of their marriage,
Elizabeth and Ferenc didn’t spend much time
together.
When they did, it is said that they bonded
over their love of violence, torturing young
servant girls who were under their charge.
Ferenc taught his teenage wife innovative
methods of torture, such as rolling up pieces
of oiled paper, placing it in-between the
toes of a servant girl and then setting it
on fire.
It is also claimed that he gave Elizabeth
a clawed glove for her to scratch up the faces
of disobedient servant girls.
There is no doubt that her husband introduced
Elizabeth to all manner of atrocity.
But there was another evil influence.
In 1601, the household was joined by a strange
woman by the name of Anna Darvolya.
It was rumoured that she was a witch.
What seems undeniable is that Elizabeth’s
personality underwent a dramatic change from
the time that Darvolya entered the household.
She became more sadistic.
Whereas her husband taught her to torture,
Anna taught her to kill.
Unfettered Sadism
Under the sinister tutelage of Anna Darvolya,
Elizabeth was responsible for the death of
several of her servants around this time.
The disappearances of the girls raised no
eyebrows, as peasants were completely disposable
at that time and place.
Any questions that were raised by family members
we quickly squelched by virtue of the huge
power that the Bathory-Nadasdy’s held.
Elizabeth was, in all practical terms, untouchable
- she could torture and kill to her heart’s
delight.
Even the power of the Bathory-Nadasdy’s,
however, could not prevent the rumours.
Local pastors became increasingly suspicious
as Elizabeth more frequently asked them to
come to the castle to perform funeral rites
for servant girls who had, apparently, died
of cholera.
It is recorded that one priest called her
aside after having attended one too many funerals
and said to her . . .
Your Grace should not have acted so because
it offends the Lord, and we will be punished
if we do not complain to you and criticize
your Grace.
And in order to confirm that my words are
true, we need only exhume the body and you
will find that the marks identify the way
in which death occurred.
Elizabeth was outraged that the priest would
dare accuse her in this manner.
She threatened that she had powerful relatives
who would tolerate such talk.
She then stormed out of the church, leaving
it for her husband to smooth things over with
the priest.
Together the murderous couple had five known
children, with the youngest being born in
1598.
Around 1601, Elizabeth’s husband, Ferenc
became unwell.
We don’t know the specific nature of his
condition, but it led to paralysis of the
legs.
He died in 1604, bringing their 29-year marriage
to an end.
At the time of her husband’s death, Elizabeth
was 44 years of age.
The Black Widow
The loss of her husband caused another noticeable
change in Elizabeth.
Servants noticed that she became even more
sadistic.
The stress of having to take the reins of
an extensive empire was no doubt a contributing
factor.
It appears that she now transformed her penchant
for sadism from a hobby into a full-time preoccupation
- specifically in the torture and murder of
young women.
With almost four hundred servant girls over
the length of her vast domains, Elizabeth
had no shortage of victims.
Of course, killing her staff was a bit of
a hassle as it meant that she’ have to replace
them.
So, she increasingly began to lure girls from
the villages surrounding her castles.
When she had had her fill of torturing these
unfortunates, they would be flung over the
castle walls to be ripped to pieces by wolves.
Accomplices
Elizabeth built up a loyal team of sycophants
who facilitated her murderous actions.
Anna Darvolya was her main accomplice.
Also brought into the sadistic circle was
the nurse who looked after the children, a
woman by the name of Ilona Jo, along with
a friend of hers by the name of Dorka.
There was also a washerwoman named Katalin.
The most sinister of the helpers were Anna
and Dorka, who would try to outdo each other
in inflicting pain on their victims.
The youngest of the murderous clan was a disfigured
teen by the name of Fizcko.
The typical progression of a servant girl
into this horror would begin with a simple
mistake in the performance of her duties.
This could be as menial as missing a stitch.
The Countess, if she was present, would fix
an evil stare on the girl, yell at her and
then begin slapping her around.
Elizabeth had devised all manner of creative
punishments to go with specific misdemeanours.
So, girls who made any kind of mistake in
sewing would be stabbed repeatedly with long
sewing needles.
Usually, girls would be stripped naked before
they were tortured.
Elizabeth revelled in inflicting psychological
torture on her victims.
After sticking needles into the fingers of
a girl, she would comment,
If it hurts the whore, she can pull it out.
The girl would naturally take this as permission
to pull the needle out.
But when she did, Elizabeth would pull out
a knife and cut the finger off.
She was also known to have, on at least one
occasion, bitten a chunk of flesh from the
face of one her victims.
Servants would be lucky to get away with a
lost finger or two.
More often than not, the bloodlust within
the depraved heart of the Countess unable
to be quelled, they would be dragged off to
a torture chamber.
It was here that Elizabeth employed her torture
squad to carry out much of the dirty work.
All manner of implements were made use of
to cause the most gruesome afflictions imaginable.
Pincers were used to rip the girl’s flesh,
the insides were torn out and there have even
been reports that cannibalism was enforced
on some of the girls.
We know certain details of what took place
in the torture chambers of the Bathory castles
because of the investigation and trial transcripts
that occurred when fate eventually caught
up with Elizabeth Bathory and her accomplices.
However, over the centuries, the legend took
over and many of the crimes attributed to
her are mere fiction.
Perhaps the most pervasive belief is that
she had the blood drained from virgins and
would bathe in it in order to preserve her
youthful beauty.
This story is almost certainly untrue.
Not one of the servant girls who testified
against Bathory mentioned anything to do with
the practice.
Rather, account after account mentions that
the floors of the torture chambers were covered
in blood, which they would have to clean up.
The Countess showed absolutely no interest
in preserving the blood as part of some narcissistic
beauty regime.
By 1609, the rumours of what was taking place
at the Bathory castles were rife.
But, there was nothing the law could do to
put a stop to it.
At that time, peasants were unable to bring
charges against nobles.
Some parents even looked at the demented Countess
as a source of ready revenue, selling their
children to her for a lump sum.
On the face of it, the trade was made to provide
servant duties, but if the child was to die
of cholera, what of it?
Elizabeth’s appetite for blood was insatiable.
They bodies were piling up such a rate that
her group of enablers were running out of
places to bury them.
Many of the girls were placed in shallow graves
in the castle courtyards and some of these
were dug up by hungry dogs.
By the beginning of 1609, Elizabeth’s closest
confidante, Anna Darvolya died of a stroke.
Around this same time her debts began to mount.
With all of the children grown and married,
the countess fell into a spiral of loneliness
and desperation.
For some reason, Elizabeth decided that she
needed to find a better class of victim.
We don’t really know why, but the general
belief is that her lady steward, Erzsi Majorova,
who many believed to be a witch, convinced
her that if she took the lives of noble girls,
her financial fortunes would turn around.
Or it may simply have been that she was running
out of peasant victims.
Whatever the reason for the change, it led
Elizabeth to the decision to open a finishing
school for young noble women.
It would be the perfect cover for her to continue
her torturous ways with a higher class of
victim.
At the same time, the attendance fees that
the parents of the girls paid would infuse
some much-needed funds into the Bathory coffers.
The Gynaeceum
By now it appeared that Elizabeth’s insatiable
need to kill young girls had led to the depths
of insanity.
It certainly clouded her reasoning.
It was obvious that the aristocratic parents
of teenage girls who suddenly disappeared
would move heaven and earth to get to the
bottom of what had happened to their pride
and joy.
But, none of that mattered to Elizabeth – all
she saw was a ready supply of nubile young
bodies.
Inevitably, the body count began adding up
– and the parents came calling.
Elizabeth made up the bizzarest of excuses
– one of the girls had gone crazy and killed
the other girls before committing suicide.
No one was convinced.
Some parents appealed to the king, Matthias
II, and he decided to undertake an investigation.
The official royal investigation was put into
the hands of the king’s highest-ranking
representative, Gyorgy Thurzo.
This man happened to be one of Elizabeth’s
dead husband’s closest associates.
On his deathbed, Ferenc had even asked Thurzo
to look out for his wife.
However, Thurzo’s loyalty to the king was
stronger than that to his old friend.
Still, he treated Elizabeth with a level of
respect that she would not otherwise have
received.
Thurzo began to interview witnesses.
He soon had dozens of people who testified
to the Countess’ depraved ways.
Servants who had managed to get out of the
castle alive spoke of seeing blood drenched
walls, hearing terrible screams and noticing
the ever-growing ready-made cemetery in the
castle courtyard.
However, none of the people that Thurzo spoke
to was an actual eyewitness of the torture.
Thurzo became convinced of Elizabeth’s guilt.
However, he felt terrible about the pledge
that he had made to his dying friend that
he would look out for his widow.
He decided to write to Elizabeth’s relatives
asking for advice.
A secret agreement was reached by which Thurzo
would be able to complete his investigation
but Elizabeth would never be brought to trial.
She would go directly to prison without the
embarrassment to the family that a public
trial would bring.
It’s interesting to note that none of Bathory’s
relatives argued that she was innocent.
By December of 1610, Thurzo believed that
he had enough evidence to arrest Elizabeth.
But he wanted to make absolutely sure.
So, he had himself and the king invited to
dine at the Bathory castle.
Elizabeth was frantically nervous, but she
tried to act the gracious hostess.
Things went well until she served the men
a post dinner dessert cake.
On first bite, both men began to feel unwell.
Convinced that the countess had tried to poison
them, they made a speedy exit.
On New Year’s Eve, 1610, Thurzo returned
with a contingent of armed guards.
They hid outside the castle gates and waited.
Before long Elizabeth and her lady steward,
Erzsi Majorova, came out to cast a protective
spell designed to protect the countess and
bring about the death of investigator Thurzo.
Thurzo and his men listened to the women’s
incantations.
When the two went inside, the investigators
crept towards the castle entranceway.
They immediately noticed the mutilated body
of a young girl near the doorway.
Two more were found just inside the doorway.
Then they heard the sound of screaming which
led them to the torture chamber.
The discovered Elizabeth’s murder team hard
at work.
It is unclear whether Thurzo actually caught
Elizabeth in the act of torture.
However, he was now convinced of her guilt.
The countess was found and taken into custody.
She immediately claimed her innocence, blaming
everything on her servants.
Thurzo wasn’t moved, however, and he threw
Elizabeth into her own dungeon.
In the end, 306 people testified against Elizabeth.
Even the members of her murder crew turned
against her, incriminating themselves in the
process.
The total reported murder count varied between
80 and 650.
Bathory’s accomplices were put on trial
in January, 1611.
Scores of witnesses, and even some surviving
victims, took to the witness stand.
The judges also examined some of the cadavers
that had been taken from the Bathory castles.
Death sentences were handed down to Ilona
Jo, Dorka and Fizcko.
Prior to their executions Ilona Jo and Dorka
were given their own form of torture.
Their fingers were torn out by iron tongs
before they were put to death and then tossed
onto a bonfire.
Fizcko’s was spared this torture due to
his youth.
Instead he was beheaded and then burned.
Katalin was the only one who was not put to
death.
She had been the most soft-hearted of the
bunch.
On several occasions, she herself had been
beaten for sneaking food into the victims.
She was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Confined
Thurzo kept to his word and Elizabeth was
never put on trial.
She was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment
in her own Cachtice Castle, confined in one
of the dungeons which had been the scene of
some of her atrocities.
Her only visitors were priests and the man
who had put her behind bars, Thurzo.
The clerics reported that she was unrepentant
and crazed with rage.
None of the priests were able to get her to
acknowledge the severity of her crimes, and
she continued to insist that it was her assistants
who were the real criminals.
When a priest challenged her as to why she
didn’t order them to stop, she said that
she had been afraid of them.
Elizabeth reserved her greatest animosity
for Thurzo.
At one point, when he came to see her, she
began to subject him to an awful harangue,
at which point he interjected . . .
You, Elizabeth, are a wild animal.
You are in the last months of your life.
You do not deserve to breathe the air on the
earth or see the light of the Lord.
You shall disappear from this world and shall
never reappear in it again.
As the shadows envelop you, may you find time
to repent your bestial life.
Elizabeth Bathory complained to a guard that
she had cold hands on August 21st, 1614.
He told her to go lie down and try to get
some sleep.
She did – and never woke up.
Her body was buried in the Church cemetery
at Cachtice.
But it is said that it didn’t remain there
long due to local uproar at the outrage of
having such a murderess buried in their midst.
The body was supposedly exhumed and taken
to the Bathory family crypt.
However, when the crypt was opened in 1995,
the corpse of Hungary’s most infamous murderess
was nowhere 
to be seen.
