Countess Elisabeth Bathory. This name, for me at least, represents an incredibly disturbed woman. Today, she is known as the Blood Countess, one of the true Vampires as she was known to torture and murder young women. Born on August 7, 1560, the Bathory Family lived in what we today know as the Slovak Republic. It was said that she was Hungarian, but only because during that time the Hungarian borders were not fixed. She spent her childhood growing up in Ecsed Transilvania. As a child, Elizabeth was prone to violent seizures. Physicians who examined her concluded that it was not epilepsy, but rather some other neurological disorder which may aid in the explaination of her behavior as an adult. In 1574, the soon-to-be Countess became pregnant due to an affair with a peasant, but was hidden from everybody because she was betroth to the Count Ferenc Nadasdy, the "Black Hero of Hungary". Elizabeth was only fourteen years old at the time.
Elisabeth married the Count in May of 1575. He taught her many different forms of torture, and because he was a soldier, he spent much of his time on campaigns, which meant that the Countess had to care for Savar's Castle, which belonged to the Nadasdy Family. It was at this time that she began to perform her horrible deeds. She used her beauty in order to hide her hideous truth. She punished those who broke her rules, and also found reasons for severe punishments. The Countess took great delight in torturing her victims'. As she grew older, and became afraid of losing her beauty, she began to murder young women, first peasants, then of noble birth, so that she could bathe in their blood in order to rejouvinate herself.
The lust for the blood of others all began with a young maid. The Countess was having her hair combed, and during the combing, the maid accidentally pulled it. Elizabeth was furious, and as a punishment she beat the young maid for her insolence. While beating the girl, some of her blood dripped into Elizabeth's hand; when Elizabeth saw this, she believed that she had discovered the secret to eternal youth, for when the blood of the maid touched Elizabeth's skin, she convinced herself that some of this virgin girls youthfulness had been transfered to her.
With the death of her husband in 1604, Elizabeth moved to Vienna and later to the Solar of Cachtice, the scene of her more vicious acts. Her behavior began to change, and she began to involve herself with younger men; her appetites, however, remained the same. Elizabeth feared growing old, and her remedy involved bathing in the blood of a virgin. In the following years, Elizabeth recruited some people for aid in her attempt to stay forever young. These people brought young virgin girls to Elizabeth for her ritualistic bathing. She used various methods in order to draw the blood from her victoms. Her most famous method was the use of scissors, but she also made use of needles and other sharp implements (ie. Knives) to draw blood. This continued for ten years.
When the year 1610 rolled around, Mathias, King of Hungary, learned of the disgusting deeds of the Countess. He ordered Elizabeth's cousin, Count Cuyorgy Thurzo, to raid her castle and find evidence of her alleged crimes. The Count and his raiding party were horrified to find over fifty bodies of young girls scattered throughout the castle. Countess Elizabeth Bathory was placed under immediate house arrest to await trial.
In 1611 the trial commenced. All people involved in the murders of the yound girls were beheaded and their remains burned. Elizabeth's two "witches" had their fingers cut off and were burned alive. The Countess herself was walled away in her castle for life, never to be set free. Guards were posted to watch and feed her, but nothing more. She would have recieved the death penalty, but because her cousin was the Prime Minister, the King reluctantly decided to forgo it for life in solitary confinment.
For four years did the Countess endure the solitary confinment. It was not until 1614 that a one of the guards looked into her room to get a view of this beautiful murderess, but upon looking through the slot, he learned that Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess, had died.
