Today, we have something a little different. This woman had remarkably little political power. She was a Hungarian Countess who was born in 1560. Her name is Elizabeth or Erzsebet Bathory. This woman of noble birth eventually lead an utterly despicable life. She has been labeled as the most prolific female serial killer (meaning she killed the most people). An interesting aspect to this was that she couldn't be prosecuted by anyone because of her noble birth.
Elizabeth was married to Ferenc Nadasdy, who eventually became high commander of the Hungarian army. He gave her his home (Castle Csejte in the Little Carpathian Mountains). Beautiful by birth, Elizabeth was eventually overcome by boredom and vanity. Legend has it that she was remarkably cruel to the staff of the castle, but it wasn't until she hit a young servant and a small amount of blood got on her skin. She apparently wiped the blood away to reveal more luscious, youthful, and beautiful skin underneath. According to the lore, she then had systematic and sadistic torture session with young girls around the area. She even bathed in their blood. No matter how much of this legend is true, Elizabeth showed her cruelty in other ways. Eventually, she decided that simple peasant-girl blood was not enough. She opened a school for girls in her home. All of these girls were of noble birth. Nobles began to cry to the king, a not so distant relative of Elizabeth, for something to be done. However, because of her noble birth, Elizabeth could not be sentenced to death for her actions, but they knew she was guilty. She woke up one morning to find herself bricked into her own apartment in her castle with only a little hole for the transportation of meals. She died in that apartment.
For more information on the crimes and life of Elizabeth Bathory, check out these links.
A TruTV Article about Elizabeth
A Weird Encyclopedia Article
And a Sneak Peak at the next Blog:
Both Elizabeth and her husband's names have been simplified. They are missing accents, and her name is the English translation. The second half of the article for some reason came out in a different font after I tried to copy and paste the husband's name.
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