Spiked cages, bloody baths, creepy rituals, crimson bathtubs, sadistic pleasures… It's not a horror movie scene; the story of a serial killer.
The story of a woman with schizophrenia, who was born as a child of one of the most important families in Hungary during a period when nobility was much more important than loyalty, and was the subject of many researches and films in the following years. In this article, we will talk about the life of Elizabeth Bathory, one of the biggest serial killers in history, who fit 650 murders in her 54-year life.
Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (7 August 1560 – 21 August 1614) was a Hungarian noblewoman and alleged serial killer from the family of Báthory, who owned land in the Kingdom of Hungary (now Slovakia). Báthory and four of her servants were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and women between 1590 and 1610. Her servants were put on trial and convicted, whereas Báthory was confined to her home. She was imprisoned in the Castle of Csejte.
She was born on August 7, 1560, as the daughter of the Bathory family, one of the noble but notorious families of the Kingdom of Hungary. The biggest reason why the Bathory family was notorious was the stereotypes and bad habits of their family members. So that; There are rumors that her aunt is a witch, her uncle is a devil-worshipping Satanist, her brother a pervert, her cousin a vampire (Count Dracula), and another cousin (Transylvanian prince) known for his ruthlessness.
Elizabeth, who did not grow up with family warmth in this noble and large family, started to live with her uncle and aunt from a young age. However, she was exposed to great tragedies when she was very young, during the years she lived with her uncle and aunt, who would not be different from other members of the family. According to the information included in the research made in the following years for Elizabeth, the most important and key point in her life is that she had to be a spectator to the torture that her uncle and aunt had done at a young age. Rumor has it that when Elizabeth was still very young, her uncle and aunt wanted to punish an employee. As a punishment method, they cut the belly of a horse and placed the person they wanted to punish in the horse, then sewed the horse's belly again and imprisoned the employee inside the horse.
In all these situations, she started to spend time with her nanny since there was no one in her family that she could be close to. However, rumor has it that her nanny is also a magician and sacrifices small children in her rituals and spells. In the face of what she saw, she distanced herself from her peers over time and became an introverted child.
Elizabeth was brought up as a Protestant who could speak Latin, Greek, and German quite well. The Transylvanian prince, known for his brutality, is rumored to be throwing tantrums, like her cousin. According to the researchers, this is due to the possibility of a genetic disorder running in the family, as well as the possibility of epilepsy. Various historians and psychiatrists state that Elizabeth also had a sexual identity disorder. Rumor has it that Bathory could be with anyone she wanted, whether male or female.
Elizabeth was rumored to have dated a villager and became pregnant at the age of 14. Her family secretly allowed the birth to take place, but after the baby was born, it was taken from Elizabeth's hand and given to a peasant couple, and both the baby and the peasant couple disappeared after a while. The Bathory family thought they had not tarnished their reputation in this way.
It is said that Elizabeth is a young girl who attracts attention with her beauty, quick wit, and carefully chosen words to the point where her bad habits are not known. Although She doesn't talk much, she is said to have a fascinating charm when she does, and therefore she is seen as a great bride-to-be, she had a lot of suitors. At the age of 15, she married Ferenc Nádasdy, who came from a noble family like herself. After her marriage, she settled in the castle that her husband gave her as a gift and continued her life there.
Moving away from her troubled family at the age of 15 seemed like a fresh start for her, but unfortunately, nothing turned out the way she thought it would. Elizabeth had four more children from this marriage. Although she was now surrounded by a crowd of people rather than problematic people, Elizabeth didn't get what she expected from that either. Her marriage was not progressing as she expected as her husband was constantly going to war. The constant absence of her husband from home forced Elizabeth to deal with political and commercial matters, and according to interested historians, she was quite successful in these areas as well.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, began to enjoy spending time in front of mirrors. She constantly changed her clothes, became proud of her beauty and, so to speak, spoiled her mind with her beauty. It's also rumored that when she started to age, she constantly worked with magic to keep her skin young. It was one of her most routine habits to show her ruthlessness, which she learned from her husband, father, and other members of her family, among these pursuits.
Rumor has it that one day, while one of her servants was combing her hair, she slapped the young girl when her hair hurt. Blood begins to flow from the girl's nose, and the blood drips onto Elizabeth's hand. Seeing that the blood flowing from the young girl's nose is good for the wrinkles on her hands, the countess believes that the beauty of the girl comes from this blood, and the whole series of murders begins from this moment. Elizabeth, who calls her servant, cuts the girl's throat and pours her blood into the tub, and begins to bathe in this tub.
The countess saw that the blood bath was quite good for her; In order to ensure the continuity of this, she began to gather the women of the poor families and the orphaned girls under her castle with the promise of giving education and teaching manners. The countess, who previously only cared for the destitute peasant girls, took things a step further after her husband's death. Aiming to satisfy her blood desire with the young girls of noble families, Elizabeth accepted the daughters of the noble families in her castle to teach manners, and none of the young girls who came to the castle were ever heard from again. After these incessant losses, great rumors began to spread around and these rumors reached the king. Unable to cope with the rumors, the king sent his soldier, György Thurzó, to investigate the castle to seize the incident. After an army of witnesses of about 300 men rested, the terrible truth came to light.
Elizabeth Bathory sacrificed about 650 women in her spells and rituals just to preserve her youth. So much so that work had ceased to be a mere sacrifice and became a lifestyle adorned with sadistic pleasures. She was tearing some of her detained victims to pieces, burning others, torturing them with needles, pouring water on them, leaving them to freeze in cold weather, leaving them to starve, biting various parts of them, and harassing them. At the same time, Bathory, who had human cages built on the ceilings of her castle, beat the women until they were unrecognizable, had them beaten and hung them in the cages on the ceilings, took a shower under the blood flowing from the cages, and believed that she would no longer lose her youth. Elizabeth, who was saved by burning the corpses whose blood was completely drained and whose pulp remained; did not do these works herself, she made all the castle employees a part of her work. Therefore, among the 300-person witness army, reached by the soldiers sent by the king for research, there were those who helped Elizabeth one-on-one, and even if they did not help, there were definitely witnesses to the event.
After the research, some of the people of the chateau who got involved in this business were sentenced to their lives and some with different cruel methods; Elizabeth Bathory was not prosecuted because she came from a noble family. In addition, she was punished by having bricks built in front of her own room in the castle where she committed all these murders and not allowing him to communicate with anyone personally throughout her life. She died in this room at the age of 54, after serving a four-year sentence.
It is known that the number of victims was obtained from the letters and diaries of the countess, which are still kept in the government archives. Although she wasn't particularly skilled as a serial killer, she had taken full advantage of her nobility. The countess, who lost her life in the room where she was imprisoned in her castle, will first be buried in the garden of the castle where she lived; Over the objections of the public, she was moved to the cemetery of the Bathory family for burial.
The bloody life of the bloody Countess Elizabeth Bathory has been the subject of many films with the formation of different fictions or perspectives. Besides, no one testifying in the castle said that the countess had bathed in the blood of the young girls she had captured. Therefore, the possibility of this being fabricated from the rumors among the villagers and vampire beliefs in Transylvania should also be considered.