History’s Worst Serial Killer
The true inspiration for Dracula?
Mystery Mob!
Countess Elizabeth Báthory, a Hungarian noblewoman who lived from 1560-1614, is considered history’s worst serial killer. She also may be the true inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Oh, and she apparently bathed in the blood of over 500 women during her lifetime.
Morbidly curious yet? Yeah, same.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s answer this week’s Whodunit:
Senator Blank and Senator Line met at a club to discuss the overthrow of their party leader. They each ordered a vodka on the rocks. Senator Blank downed his and ordered another. He then drank his second in one gulp and decided to wait before he ordered a third. Meanwhile, Senator Line, who was sipping his drink, suddenly fell forward dead. Both men were setup for an assassination. Why did Senator Line die and Senator Blank live?
Answer: the ice was poisoned, and Senator Line let his melt into the drink.
Now that we’ve solved that, let’s drop in the salts and have nice bubble bath...with blood of course!
Early life and the start of her reign
Elizabeth Báthory was the daughter of a Baron and Baroness who were...related before they got married (yep, you read that right. Jaime and Cersei Lannister would approve). Her youth is not very well documented, and this uncertainty has led to some speculation and rumors about how she became so evil later in life. Let’s list some fun ones:
She suffered seizures as a child, and these seizures were treated by rubbing the blood of a non-sufferer onto her lips or using a piece of their skull, thus igniting her insatiable bloodthirst...let’s just say the medical malpractice lawyers would have a field day with that one
Her family taught her to be cruel via witchcraft and Satanism (yer a Wizard, Elizabeth...now go bathe in blood!)
She witnessed a gypsy punished by being sewn into the belly of a horse and left to die (and then I guess liked it?!)
Look, all we know for sure is that she was born of inbreeding and lived in privilege not afforded to the majority of Hungarians.
At age 15, she married the 19-year old Count Ferenc Nádasdy. He was below her station so he took the last name Báthory. He also gave her a wedding gift -- his household: Castle of Csejte, located on the lower end of the Carpathian Mountains.
The cruelty that became something much worse
Elizabeth and Ferenc quickly gained a reputation for cruelty. It is believed they sort of shared tips with one another in this regard, particularly when it came to punishing servants (a lovely couple I’m sure!).
However, Ferenc had nothing on Elizabeth. Her cruelty needed no help.
When he died in 1604, after 29 years of marriage, Elizabeth really started to go wild. With allegations of her atrocities already commonplace across the kingdom, she decided to take her talents to the remote castle at Čachtice in northwest Hungary (now Slovakia).
There, she surrounded herself with a cohort of servants she trusted to help with the torture practices that she enjoyed. And then there’s the blood bathing...let’s unpack that one.
According to legend, Elizabeth slapped an attendant girl for brushing her hair too hard (first world problems!), and the attendant’s blood dropped onto Elizabeth’s hand. Later that night, she thought that that part of her hand looked more youthful than it had previously.
She then decided that if it worked for her hand, it must work for her whole body! (Spoiler: this doesn’t work.)
The blood baths
The madness had taken full hold at this point. She started to bathe in the blood of virgin girls. (sidebar: Why is it always virgin girls? Idk, but that’s how legends go I guess).
Girls from nearby villages began to disappear. Elizabeth and her servants lured them to the castle with the promise of work. But when they arrived, she locked them up...until the torture.
Elizabeth carried out the torture herself, according to what’s known and speculated. Some of the torture included:
Beating the girls to death
Sewing mouths shut
Forcing them to eat their own flesh
Burning genitals and mouths with a fire poker
Sticking needles under fingertips
Oh, and when she was too sick or tired to leave bed, she’d order servants to bring them close so Elizabeth could bite their face.
But the end of each girl was the same -- killed and bloodletted for Elizabeth’s baths.
Convicted but not really jailed (classic rich person)
In typical human fashion, everything was fine when Elizabeth was using poor women. But she eventually ran out of them as villagers began to hide daughters. So the Countess resorted to noble girls.
This switch led to her demise. One murder in 1609 - which Elizabeth staged as a suicide unsuccessfully - brought the authorities to her doorstep. During a night raid, the castle was searched. They found bodies everywhere.
Survivors and servants alike testified against Elizabeth at the trial. She and her cohort were convicted on 80 counts of murder, but evidence suggests the number is actually closer to 650 women. Yeah, 650!
Her servants who took part were put to death while Elizabeth was imprisoned for life...in her own castle. She lived for 3 more years before she was found dead. (Wait...3 years without those sweet baths and she died...makes you wonder...nah, nah. Can’t be.)
A deeper, bloodier bath
If you want to swim a little deeper in the blood of your victims, we’ve got some dives below:
Lore podcast has a good episode on the Countess
Serial killers podcast did an episode on her as well
As always,
Stay ‘spicious
-Andy & Mark
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