The famous "Bloody Lady" Erzsebet Bathory is a person around whom a huge number of rumors and fictions circulated after her death, and today remains one of the most mysterious personalities in history. Even in spite of the fact that the famous Erzsebet Bathory lived in the 16th century, today she is remembered and all aspects of her life continue to be explored.
Surprisingly, no one even thought that Erzsebet in his evil deeds could surpass Jack the Ripper himself. According to some reports, her body was washed with the blood of 650 innocent girls who served in her castle.
At the same time, some circumstances of Erzhebet Bathory's life, motives and reasons for her actions still cause controversy among historians and scientists who will continue to study her biography.
"The Bloody Lady" was born in the 16th century, or rather in 1560 in the Kingdom of Hungary. It is worth noting that the Bathory clan has a noble origin, therefore, from childhood, Erzhebet did not know the hardships of lack of money or poverty. She spent her childhood in her native castle, which was located in the town of Eched. At that time, it was customary for the nobility to take care of the future of their own children in advance. Therefore, as a child, her parents made a profitable deal with another equally wealthy family. Ferenc Nadashdi became a potential groom. His father was a wealthy nobleman, so there was not a single doubt that he would become a brilliant party. At that moment, the girl was only eleven years old, but she and her future husband already understood that they could not choose a party based on their own preferences.
Another interesting fact concerns a distant relative of the Bathory family. After all, he is one of the most legendary rulers of Transylvania - Vladislav Tepes, who eventually received the famous nickname Count Dracula.
In those days, there was no such idea that a girl should get married no earlier than 18 years old, since until that moment she was considered immature. On the contrary, the sooner she becomes an adult and independent, the longer she will be able to delight her husband with the beauty of youth. Therefore, the wedding was played even before Erzsebet was fifteen years old.
At the time of marriage, Ferenc was engaged in stables at the imperial court, but after the war broke out, he took over as commander of the Hungarian troops. Ferenc's cruelty was rumored throughout the country, which is why, soon after the outbreak of the war, he received the nickname "Black Bey". His rage and animal instincts spread to the Turkish prisoners, whom, according to the stories of the inhabitants of that time, he tortured until his death.
After the wedding, the newlyweds moved to their own Chakhtitsky castle, which Ferenc bought from Rudolf III himself. Despite the fact that he was constantly not at home due to military campaigns, Erzhebet was able to give her husband five children. But, she soon had to raise them herself, since in one of the military campaigns in 1604 Ferenc died. According to the usual traditions of upbringing at the time when the children grew up, it was time to send them to other noble families for further education. Therefore, Erzsebet experienced severe melancholy and loneliness. In order to somehow brighten up her loneliness, the only entertainment for her was sexual intercourse with young men. Sometimes they were so young that they looked like very young boys.
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Erzhebet Bathory became "Bloody Countess" due to strange events that took place in 1610. Unconfirmed rumors began to reach the Habsburg court that mass disappearances associated with ritual murders began to occur in the Chakhtitsa castle. The scale of what was happening was so serious that it was simply impossible to hush up what was happening, so the Hungarian Count Thurzo arrived at the castle in order to collect evidence of what was happening, or to get a refutation of the rumors circulating. But what he saw in the first minutes of his unexpected visit made him take urgent measures to place Bathory under arrest.
Thurzo is said to have found Bathory and her entourage performing a magical ritual, where a young maid was used as a sacrifice.
Researchers say that Erzsebet was probably involved in the murder of local young girls for twenty-five years. The most interesting and mysterious question of that time, and of today, are the very reasons why Bathory committed such atrocious murders. So, the most common version is considered to be engaging in black occult magic, which helped the countess to maintain her youth. Today, there are three assumptions that can somehow justify the above version.
The first legend says that Bathory, due to the disobedience of her young servant, hit her in the face and the girl's blood fell on her hand. Erzhebet simply could not help but notice the improvements that occurred to her skin after that, so she decided that the blood of young girls would help her preserve her own beauty.
The second legend tells of the moment when the maid was combing her hair and accidentally pulled out a lock of the countess's hair. She flew into a rage and beat the poor girl. The blood that remained on her hands made her skin wonderfully softer and more elastic. And from that moment on, the bloody countess decided that bloody baths could have a similar effect on her entire body. But in order to get what he wanted, Bathory had to lure young girls, first convincing their parents that they would receive a quality education completely free of charge. After a while, the corpses of the girls began to be found by local residents in the vicinity of the castle. But such "finds" were interpreted by the fact that the area was inhabited by mystical creatures - vampires, who killed women. The bloody lady's involvement in this became known only after many years.
The third legend tells of a mysterious meeting between the countess and an old woman who accused Bathory of excessive arrogance and warned that youth never stays with her forever. Since the countess often spent time with young lovers, she was very frightened that soon she would no longer be able to achieve their former location. Because of this, she was seized by a strong panic, and she decided at all costs to maintain her attractiveness, even if it meant sacrificing all the virgins of the kingdom.
Until now, all the circumstances related to the Erzsebet Bathory case have not been investigated. And there is a simple reason for this: there are practically no historical traces and documents about the life of the "Bloody Countess". Whether black magic took place or some other rite was performed, it also cannot be 100% proven. Therefore, all that remains is only to study various guesses that a priori cannot be proof.