| ELIZABETH BATHORY |
Elizabeth Bathory was born in Hungary in 1560, approximately a hundred years
after Vlad the Impaler died. One of her ancestors Prince Steven Bathory, was even
a commanding officer who helped Vlad Dracula In 1546, when he claim the throne
in Wallachia back again. At the time Elizabeth was born, her parents George and
Anna Bathory belonged to one of the oldest and wealthiest families in the country.
Her cousin was the prime minister in Hungary, another relative was cardinal, and
her uncle Stephan later became King of Poland. But the Bathory-family, beside the
very rich and famous, also contained some very strange relatives. One uncle was
known to be a devil-worshipper, and other members of the family were mental
insane and perverted.
In the spring 1575, at the age of 15, Elizabeth was married to Count Ferencz
Nadasdy, who was 25. The Count added her surname to his, so Elizabeth could
keep her family name Bathory. After the marriage they moved to Castle Csejthe a
mountaintop fortress overlooking the village of Csejthe, which lies in the
north-western part of Hungary. Count Ferencz spent a great deal of time away
from home, often fighting against the Turks. He was a very brave and daring
soldier on the battlefield, and later in life he earned a reputation as the "Black
Hero of Hungary".
While her husband was pursuing his passion for war, throughout all the 25 years
they were married, Elizabeth was often left to herself, and her life became more
and more boring. To kill some time, beside admiring her own beauty in the mirror
for hours, she took on young men as lovers, and onetime she even ran of with one,
but she soon returned home and the Count forgave her. Another thing Elizabeth did
to amuse herself while home alone, was to pay visits to her aunt Countess Klara
Bathory, an open bisexual. She presumably enjoyed herself with her aunt Klara,
since she visited her aunt's estate frequently.
It was also then she began to develop an interest in the occult. An old maid named
Dorothea Szentes, also called Dorka, who was a real witch, instructed her in the
ways of witchcraft and Black Magic. Later Dorka became Bathory's helping hand,
when she was encouraging Elizabeth's sadistic tendencies, like the inflicting of
pain upon people. Together with Dorka, Elizabeth began the task of disciplining
the female servants, and torture them in an underground chamber. In the Countess's
service, as helpers in the macabre punishments of the servants, was her old nurse
Iloona Joo, her manservant Johannes Ujvary and a maid named Anna Darvula,
who alleged also was Elizabeth's lover.
With the aid of this crew, Elizabeth made Castle Csejthe to a place of pure evil.
She would always find excuses to inflict punishment and torture, upon her young
servant girls. She preferred to having the victim stripped naked and then whip the
girl on the front of her nude body rather than the back not only for the increased
damage this would do, but so that she then could watch their faces contort in
horror at their most grim and burning fate. Another favorite was when she would
stick pins, in various sensitive places on the victims body, such as under
fingernails.
In 1600 Ferencz died and Elizabeth's period of real terror began. First of, she sent
her hated mother-in-law away. Secondly, she would have peace to enjoy a new
kind of bath, that nobody was to known of. Short before her husband died
something happened, that changed Elizabeth's life. She was now close to 40 and
time, had taken it's toll on her appearance. Elizabeth tried to conceal the wrinkles
through cosmetics. But this could not cover the fact, that she was getting old and
close to losing her beauty. Then one day it happened
Then one day it happened. A young chambermaid accidentally pulled Elizabeth
Bathory's hair while combing it. The infuriated Countess slapped the girl's head so
hard, that blood spurted from her nose, which splashed upon her own hand. Where
the blood had touched her skin, Elizabeth immediately though it took on the
freshness of her young chambermaid's skin. She then got hold of Johannes Ujvary
and Dorka to undress the young girl, upon holding her arms over a big vat, then
they cut her arteries. After the young girl was dead Elizabeth then stepped into the
vat, and took a bath in her chambermaid's blood. She was now sure, she had found
the secret of eternal youth through this vampirism. She had discovered that blood
is life.
Over the next ten years, Elizabeth Bathory's evil trusted helpers provided her with
beautiful young girls, from some neighboring villages, upon the cover of hiring
them as servants to Castle Csejthe. Back in the castle, the young girls would be
mutilated and killed, so the Countess could take her blood baths. Sometimes, she
would even drink their blood, to gain some sort of inner beauty. But soon
Elizabeth began to realize that the blood of simple peasant girls, was having little
effect on the quality of her skin. Better blood was now required. Elizabeth then
started picking girls from some of the surrounding lower nobility. These noble
girls were consumed in exactly the same beastly fashion as the peasant girls who
preceded them.
However, with the disappearance of girls of noble birth, Elizabeth was now
becoming very careless in her actions. People who lived in the neighboring
villages, had already begun to talk. And soon the rumor about the horror in Castle
Csejthe reached the Hungarian Emperor. The Emperor then ordered Elizabeth's
own cousin, the Count Cuyorgy Thurzo, who was governor of the province to raid
the castle.
On December 30, 1610. A band of soldiers led by Elizabeth's own cousin, raided
Castle Csejthe at night. They were horrified by the terrible sights in the castle. A
dead girl was lying in the main hall, drained of blood, another girl, who had her
body pierced, was still alive. In the dungeon they later discovered, were several
girls waiting in prison cells, some of whose bodies had been tortured. Below the
castle, they found the bodies of some 50 dead girls.
During the trial 1611, a register with the names of around 650 victims, was found
in the Countess's living quarters. But the trial was largely just for show and to
make the occasion "official". A complete transcript of the trial was made at the
time, and it still remains today in Hungary. All of Elizabeth's four accomplices
were sentenced to death. Only Elizabeth was not brought before a court and tried.
She remained confined in her castle while her four sadistic accomplices were
tried for their crimes.
But she got her punishment, when the Hungarian Emperor demanded her condemn
to lifelong imprisonment in her own castle. Stonemasons were brought to her
Castle Csejthe, to wall up the windows and the door to the bedchamber with the
Countess still inside. Here she would spend the remaining days of her life, with
only a small opening for food to be passed to her.
In 1614, four years after she was walled in, one of the Countess's jailers found her
food untouched. After peeking through the small opening in Elizabeth's walled-up
cell, he saw her lying face down on the floor. Elizabeth Bathory the "Blood
Countess" was dead at the age of fifty-four.
after Vlad the Impaler died. One of her ancestors Prince Steven Bathory, was even
a commanding officer who helped Vlad Dracula In 1546, when he claim the throne
in Wallachia back again. At the time Elizabeth was born, her parents George and
Anna Bathory belonged to one of the oldest and wealthiest families in the country.
Her cousin was the prime minister in Hungary, another relative was cardinal, and
her uncle Stephan later became King of Poland. But the Bathory-family, beside the
very rich and famous, also contained some very strange relatives. One uncle was
known to be a devil-worshipper, and other members of the family were mental
insane and perverted.
In the spring 1575, at the age of 15, Elizabeth was married to Count Ferencz
Nadasdy, who was 25. The Count added her surname to his, so Elizabeth could
keep her family name Bathory. After the marriage they moved to Castle Csejthe a
mountaintop fortress overlooking the village of Csejthe, which lies in the
north-western part of Hungary. Count Ferencz spent a great deal of time away
from home, often fighting against the Turks. He was a very brave and daring
soldier on the battlefield, and later in life he earned a reputation as the "Black
Hero of Hungary".
While her husband was pursuing his passion for war, throughout all the 25 years
they were married, Elizabeth was often left to herself, and her life became more
and more boring. To kill some time, beside admiring her own beauty in the mirror
for hours, she took on young men as lovers, and onetime she even ran of with one,
but she soon returned home and the Count forgave her. Another thing Elizabeth did
to amuse herself while home alone, was to pay visits to her aunt Countess Klara
Bathory, an open bisexual. She presumably enjoyed herself with her aunt Klara,
since she visited her aunt's estate frequently.
It was also then she began to develop an interest in the occult. An old maid named
Dorothea Szentes, also called Dorka, who was a real witch, instructed her in the
ways of witchcraft and Black Magic. Later Dorka became Bathory's helping hand,
when she was encouraging Elizabeth's sadistic tendencies, like the inflicting of
pain upon people. Together with Dorka, Elizabeth began the task of disciplining
the female servants, and torture them in an underground chamber. In the Countess's
service, as helpers in the macabre punishments of the servants, was her old nurse
Iloona Joo, her manservant Johannes Ujvary and a maid named Anna Darvula,
who alleged also was Elizabeth's lover.
With the aid of this crew, Elizabeth made Castle Csejthe to a place of pure evil.
She would always find excuses to inflict punishment and torture, upon her young
servant girls. She preferred to having the victim stripped naked and then whip the
girl on the front of her nude body rather than the back not only for the increased
damage this would do, but so that she then could watch their faces contort in
horror at their most grim and burning fate. Another favorite was when she would
stick pins, in various sensitive places on the victims body, such as under
fingernails.
In 1600 Ferencz died and Elizabeth's period of real terror began. First of, she sent
her hated mother-in-law away. Secondly, she would have peace to enjoy a new
kind of bath, that nobody was to known of. Short before her husband died
something happened, that changed Elizabeth's life. She was now close to 40 and
time, had taken it's toll on her appearance. Elizabeth tried to conceal the wrinkles
through cosmetics. But this could not cover the fact, that she was getting old and
close to losing her beauty. Then one day it happened
Then one day it happened. A young chambermaid accidentally pulled Elizabeth
Bathory's hair while combing it. The infuriated Countess slapped the girl's head so
hard, that blood spurted from her nose, which splashed upon her own hand. Where
the blood had touched her skin, Elizabeth immediately though it took on the
freshness of her young chambermaid's skin. She then got hold of Johannes Ujvary
and Dorka to undress the young girl, upon holding her arms over a big vat, then
they cut her arteries. After the young girl was dead Elizabeth then stepped into the
vat, and took a bath in her chambermaid's blood. She was now sure, she had found
the secret of eternal youth through this vampirism. She had discovered that blood
is life.
Over the next ten years, Elizabeth Bathory's evil trusted helpers provided her with
beautiful young girls, from some neighboring villages, upon the cover of hiring
them as servants to Castle Csejthe. Back in the castle, the young girls would be
mutilated and killed, so the Countess could take her blood baths. Sometimes, she
would even drink their blood, to gain some sort of inner beauty. But soon
Elizabeth began to realize that the blood of simple peasant girls, was having little
effect on the quality of her skin. Better blood was now required. Elizabeth then
started picking girls from some of the surrounding lower nobility. These noble
girls were consumed in exactly the same beastly fashion as the peasant girls who
preceded them.
However, with the disappearance of girls of noble birth, Elizabeth was now
becoming very careless in her actions. People who lived in the neighboring
villages, had already begun to talk. And soon the rumor about the horror in Castle
Csejthe reached the Hungarian Emperor. The Emperor then ordered Elizabeth's
own cousin, the Count Cuyorgy Thurzo, who was governor of the province to raid
the castle.
On December 30, 1610. A band of soldiers led by Elizabeth's own cousin, raided
Castle Csejthe at night. They were horrified by the terrible sights in the castle. A
dead girl was lying in the main hall, drained of blood, another girl, who had her
body pierced, was still alive. In the dungeon they later discovered, were several
girls waiting in prison cells, some of whose bodies had been tortured. Below the
castle, they found the bodies of some 50 dead girls.
During the trial 1611, a register with the names of around 650 victims, was found
in the Countess's living quarters. But the trial was largely just for show and to
make the occasion "official". A complete transcript of the trial was made at the
time, and it still remains today in Hungary. All of Elizabeth's four accomplices
were sentenced to death. Only Elizabeth was not brought before a court and tried.
She remained confined in her castle while her four sadistic accomplices were
tried for their crimes.
But she got her punishment, when the Hungarian Emperor demanded her condemn
to lifelong imprisonment in her own castle. Stonemasons were brought to her
Castle Csejthe, to wall up the windows and the door to the bedchamber with the
Countess still inside. Here she would spend the remaining days of her life, with
only a small opening for food to be passed to her.
In 1614, four years after she was walled in, one of the Countess's jailers found her
food untouched. After peeking through the small opening in Elizabeth's walled-up
cell, he saw her lying face down on the floor. Elizabeth Bathory the "Blood
Countess" was dead at the age of fifty-four.
