It should come as no surprise that the great majority of notable serial killers throughout history have been men. Males are thus held guilty for almost 90% of all global homicides, according to our estimates. Just like male counterparts, most of the rare and very dangerous female equivalents have been discovered.
Today on Viraltrendzs, we’re going to look at a Hungarian noblewoman commonly regarded as the world’s most renowned female serial killer. In the year 1560, Countess Elizabeth Bathory was born into a wealthy landowning family. In addition to being responsible for the murders of more than 600 people, she had also consumed the blood of those she had killed. According to folklore, she did this in order to keep her youthful appearance.
The tale of the countess is claimed to have influenced Bram Stoker’s creation of Drac.
She was able to do terrible things to the peasant girls because of her high social rank. She kidnapped young peasant girls and imprisoned them.
The young ladies were given the promise that they would find employment. It was a different story, though, when they were beaten and starved to death in a brutal way.
The torturous routines that Bathory engaged in continued after that point. She also chewed chunks out of the victims’ breasts and burned them with red-hot irons, in addition to forcing pins under their nails and torturing them in other horrific ways.
The girls were subjected to other horrible forms of torture, such as having honey applied all over their bodies and then being left in the open to be attacked by bees. In addition to that, she severed their fingers and genitalia in addition to abandoning them to die of freezing.
It took two decades for the authorities to finally bring Bathory to justice.
A farm worker fathered a child for her when she was just 13, and it’s said that she gave birth to the child before being married at the age of 13.
Cachtice Castle was a wedding gift from her husband, Count Ferenc II Nadasdy, and it was given to her on the day of their wedding. It was a symbol of his wealth.
In the year 1604, Nadasdy passed away from a disease that was never identified. It is believed that it was only at that point that she began committing her most heinous acts of murder.
Bathory’s husband gave her Cachtice Castle in Slovakia when they wed.
The legend that Bathory took a bath in the blood of her victims and drank it further contributes to her notoriety for being a particularly vicious person.
She was well into her thirties when she did this bizarre act of criminality. In the eyes of society, she was an elderly woman. Despite this, she was under the impression that drinking the blood of her victims who were younger would keep her looking youthful for a longer period of time.
She started murdering young nobility daughters as well as peasant females during this time. Additionally, she was responsible for the deaths of the young women of the neighbourhood who had been led to think that they would be receiving an education at her castle.
Iconic Hammer Horror films have included several incarnations of Dracula, including “Countess Dracula.”
She is claimed to have inspired Bram Stoker’s 1897 horror book, Dracula, with her famous vampire habits.
Thus, she became known as “Countess Blood” and “Countess Dracula,” two of the most infamous monikers she ever received.
Sadly, because of her riches and position, she was able to avoid being challenged in the area for a lengthy period of time, which allowed her to continue her crimes. She was able to go on her rampage of murder for another two decades, from 1590 to 1610, despite the enormous suspicions that were held against her by the public.
Bathory’s fortune in Hungary helped her avoid jail time.
However, Bathory was ultimately brought to her knees by justice. During the month of December in 1610, she and four of her most loyal attendants were taken into custody.
King Matthias II of Hungary delegated the responsibility of examining the countess to a powerful magnate by the name of Gyorgy Thurzo.
He had accumulated more than 300 witness testimonies by 1611. He had been told that Bathory would murder and mutilate her victims by first piercing them with needles and then immersing them in cold water.
She was said to have had sexual relationships with the Devil himself, according to the rumors. Additionally, the fact that she was a vampire contributed to her fame in the public eye.
Pinup In 1971, Ingrid Pitt played the infamous Countess Dracula.
It was determined that 80 females were murdered by Bathory. However, one eyewitness claimed to have seen the countess’ journal, which listed 650 people as victims. That seems to be a number that has endured through the ages.
As punishment, she was sentenced to house arrest in her own palace. This was the end of her life, and she died there in 1614 at the age of 54. Everyone who had been a part of her plot was burned alive as a punishment for their crimes.
The 2008 movie Bathory starred Anna Friel as the wicked countess.
There is still a lack of clarity on the location of Bathory’s buried remains. However, it is believed that she is most likely buried below the grounds of the castle.
Historians who have studied events that occurred in more recent times are of the view that she may have been treated unfairly. They also argue that she may in reality be fully innocent of the crimes that have been attributed to her.
There’s a rumor floating around that the king owes Bathory and her late husband a large sum of money. A few people speculated that this may have sparked a witch hunt against her.
