Most contemporaries believe that serial killers and maniacs are the "invention" of the 20th century. But this is far from the case. The bloodiest serial killer, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the medieval Countess Elizabeth Bathory.
This maniac, nicknamed the Bloody Countess, took the lives of about 650 girls, in whose blood she loved to take a bath. In this way the countess hoped to preserve eternal youth …
Sadist since childhood
Elizabeth (Elisabeth, Erzsebet) Bathory, born on August 7, 1560, came from a very noble branch of the Hungarian nobility. Her uncle Stefan Batory was king of Poland, grandfather Istvan IV was the palatine of Hungary. Palatine - the highest state office after the king in the Kingdom of Hungary (until 1853). Sometimes he was called the Viceroy of Hungary. The Palatine combined the functions of the prime minister and the chief judge of the kingdom.
Elizabeth was betrothed at the age of 11 to the eminent nobleman Ferenc Nadashdi. At the age of 15 she married him. Almost immediately after the wedding, she moved to the Chakhtitsky (Cheytetsky) castle in the Slovak Small Carpathians.
According to one of the legends, the Bloody Countess loved blood and sadism from the very childhood. According to another version, Elizabeth was taught to cruelty by her husband. Which the Turks called "Black Bey" for the extreme cruelty to the prisoners. But the fact that Bathory had family ties with the Basarab-Draculesti clan, to which the notorious Count Dracula belonged, is an absolute fact.
Promotional video:
Be that as it may, but the Blood Countess did not begin to kill immediately. According to the official version, she committed the first murder in 1585. But the peak of the crimes occurred at a later time. In 1604, her husband, to whom she gave birth to five children, laid down his head in another battle with the Turks.
At that time, Elizabeth was already 44 years old, but according to the testimonies of contemporaries that have come down to us, she still looked beautiful. However, the countess herself, daily looking in the mirror, saw more and more signs of approaching old age.
Cachtice castle - the castle of the Bloody Countess. The castle was destroyed in 1708 when it was taken by the Kuruts (anti-Habsburg rebels) of Ferenc Rákóczi
Virgin blood
According to the most persistent version, Bathory turned to a certain witch named Darwula. It was she who advised the countess to bathe in the blood of virgins in order to preserve her beauty and youth. But it was required to kill in compliance with certain rituals. One of the basic conditions was that it was required to kill and wash in blood at Christmas.
The sorceress stated that it was during this period from Christmas to Epiphany (12 days between Christmas and Epiphany) that otherworldly forces are ready to fulfill some desires for mortals. Including return to youth. And the victims had to be subtly tortured so that their suffering would attract the attention of those who can saturate the blood of girls with youthful power.
The most interesting thing is that Bathory, having washed herself with fresh blood, really felt rejuvenated, and wrinkles were smoothed out on her face. It is possible that it was only self-hypnosis, but the countess finally believed in the power of the rite told by the witch.
Beginning in the winter of 1604, young peasant women began to disappear in the district. And some, who at the time of the loss were no longer virgins, sometimes returned home. Telling parents that they were kidnapped by the servants of Countess Bathory, and in the castle they were subjected to sophisticated torture and violence, in which the mistress of the castle also took part.
Installation in the museum. Bathory Bloody Bath
But in those days it was more expensive to complain about such noblemen. All the more so for the peasants. What is there to talk about, if even the local bishop, who knew perfectly well that the countess was carried away by witchcraft, did not dare to report this to the Inquisition. After all, complaints in the end could reach the closest relatives of the countess, who owned almost all the lands in the country and were the supreme judges.
And since in those days church hierarchs often combined secular and spiritual positions (which is generally strictly forbidden in almost all Christian confessions), the clergyman had no guarantees that he would not fall into the hands of some brother of the Bloody Countess. So he was silent, forcing his "subordinates" to remain silent.
Countess's mistake
At first, the disappearance of young girls happened only in the winter. But gradually Bathory herd was few in the winter months and she began to order girls to be delivered to her at any time of the year. Later, local residents said that they saw how dogs drag parts of human bodies from the vicinity of the castle.
Disfigured and bloodless bodies were also found on the banks of the river near the castle. It was the bloodlessness of the bodies that was the reason to declare Elizabeth Bathory a vampire. But the Countess did not drink blood. She bathed in it.
Initially, it looked like this: the countess's servants and maidservants looked out for young girls in the vicinity, abducted them and brought them to the castle. There, the Countess, after mocking the victims, ordered them to cut their neck and main arteries.
The blood merged into gas, from which Bathory washed her face and some parts of her body. But how much blood can be obtained from one person? Liters four, less often five. So, two or three girls at a time were delivered to the countess for one session of "young therapy".
But their total blood was still not enough. And Elizabeth Bathory has already got a taste. She no longer thought much about rejuvenation, she liked the very process of taking girls' lives. The Countess has come up with a new way of getting blood. According to one of the legends, this method was suggested to her by the dwarf hunchback Janos Uyvari, nicknamed Fitzko.
During his life, he was so often ridiculed for his ugliness that he hated the whole human race. And I read a lot about various torture drugs, presenting their offenders in them. The hunchback told the countess about the special torture vessel. Whoever prompted Bathory this method of torture and blood extraction, but she brought it to life.
Iron Maiden
Somewhere in the distant lands, Elizabeth ordered an "iron maiden". This was the name of a special torture device.
An iron construction in the form of a human body, hollow inside and consisting of two opening halves. A person is placed inside, and then he is closed with the second half, from the inside of which sharp thorns are attached, tormenting the body of the victim.
Bathory improved the design. In her "iron maiden", the thorns did not inflict superficial wounds, but pierced the body almost through and through. The mechanism itself was located above the bathtub, into which the blood flowed. When thirty liters of blood was collected in the bath (that is, from at least six murdered girls), Bathory would undress and plunge into this bath.
But for some reason, these baths did not save you from aging. The Countess again summoned the sorceress Darvula to her and demanded an explanation. The witch stated that Bathory herself was to blame for the fact that bathing in blood did not bring the desired result. After all, she was told that she should only kill and swim at Christmas. And the countess violated this condition.
However, seeing that Bathory was about to break loose and kill the sorceress herself, Dervulya hurried to get out. She said that everything can be fixed, but the blood of commoners is not suitable for this, noble virgins are needed.
Taken "red-handed"
There were quite a few impoverished noblemen living in the area, and the Bloody Grafenne on the eve of Christmas in 1609 invited the noble girls to come to her castle for service. This was a chance for the impoverished family, and young noblewomen began to come to the Chakhtitsa castle. Who soon met the "iron woman". And this was the main mistake of Elizabeth Bathory.
When not only commoners, but also noblewomen began to disappear in the Chakhtitsa Castle, the official authorities could no longer turn a blind eye to rumors. Investigative measures were carried out and it was found that the peak of the disappearances of girls in the vicinity of the Chakhtitsa castle falls on the Christmas holidays.
On December 29, 1610, the royal palatine Gyorgy Thurzo drove up to the castle, accompanied by a couple of dozen men at arms. Without engaging in special conversations with the servants, he drove into the courtyard and immediately rushed to the basement. Where he found Elizabeth Bathory for bullying another victim.
But despite the fact that the Bloody Countess was "caught" with cash, "Elizabeth Bathory was never brought to trial. She was simply locked in a castle "where she died in 1614. Three of her maids, whose participation in kidnapping of girls and bloody orgies was proven, were burned at the stake. The hunchback Fitzko was beheaded.
But until now, local residents claim that on the eve of Christmas and during this holiday, very strange and terrible things happen in the vicinity of the Chakhtitsa castle, which has become a tourist attraction.
It is possible that these rumors serve only to further attract tourists. But it is quite possible that and not only … Because in the legends and myths of almost all peoples it is asserted that where the line between reality and the otherworldly has thinned at least once, there is always a danger of facing the inexplicable.
Maxine LEONOV