The
Bloody Countess
Published
by Amber Holbrook at Smashwords
Copyright
2011 Amber Holbrook
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Dracula is a common name in the modern world. Ask anyone and they will tell you he is a fanged, blood-sucking, vampire. And anyone you ask will tell you it is simply pure fiction. But what is there some truth behind the tale? What if a real person inspired the works of Dracula? The Bloody Countess, Elizabeth Bathory, was indeed said to be some of the inspiration.
Elizabeth was born on August 7th, 1560 in the country of Hungary. Born into royalty, it was common that girls be wed at a young age. She was engaged at eleven, and married at fifteen to Count Ferenc. He was a wealthy man, four years older than Elizabeth. As a wedding present, Ferenc bought her Čachtice Castle. They both lived in the Castle until their death.
Ferenc was a warrior, so he was not around often. That left Elizabeth home by herself. She did not bear her first child until the age of twenty-five. The firstborn was a girl, Anna Bathory. After her, she had three more children. Ursula, Katherina, and the youngest, Paul Bathory. In many accounts, relatives reported Elizabeth to be a loving, caring mother.
Elizabeth had loved her husband, even though once she cheated on him, for she was lonely. At the age of fifty-one, Count Ferenc perished from battle wounds. Elizabeth, forty-six, was a widow. It was said around this time, she took her thirst for blood to the extremities. She became emotionless, careless, and harsh.
Elizabeth’s first murder was one of her young servant girls. She was brushing out Elizabeth’s hair when she pulled a tangle, hard, by accident. The countess was furious, not willing, or able to control her anger, struck the girl with an awesome might. Her nails cut through the girl’s skin, leaving an open wound. The blood from the lesion dripped on to Elizabeth’s skin. She wiped away the dark- red liquid, glanced down at her palm, and pondered for a moment. She thought the blood had given her skin a “youthful” appearance. She had been craving this feeling for a long time, but did not know how to achieve it.
She had her manservant, Thorko, to strip the girl, slice her open, and drain the blood from a lifeless victim, into a huge vat in which Elizabeth had bathed herself in, and came out, feeling revived.
Elizabeth was uncontrollably cruel in all of her slaughters. Being beaten with a heavy, wooden club was considered a good day in a captive’s mind. Often times, she would pierce holes into the skin, dig needles under the finger nails. She would also carve into the victim’s skin with a large pair of gardening scissors. And sometimes on her more malicious days, she would drag them out and make the stand in the snow, stripped of all their clothing. Her servants would then poor ice water on the tortured bodies until they slowly, painfully, froze to death. Other accounts include:
Burning and mutilation of the hands, face, genitalia
Biting flesh off the faces, arms, and other various body parts
Sexual abuse
Starving the victims
Surgery on the Victims, often fatal
Suspicions had been raised in Hungary when a young noble woman had disappeared. On December 30th , 1610, a man called Thurzó went to Čachtice Castle to arrest Bathory after rumors of her killings spread. Thurzó’s men found one girl dead and another dying. An additional woman was wounded, and many others locked up.
On January seventh and eleventh of 1611, a trial was held in Bitsce, Hungary. (Elizabeth, herself, did not attend this trial) Elizabeth had four accomplices in her transgressions but only three were tried. (The fourth and final accomplice was tried and executed much later. She did not attend and could not be found for the first trial) One co-conspirator had testified to 37 killings. Another about forty. Although she was only convicted for eighty murders, her diary kept a chilling secret. In her own ladyship’s writing, she documented six-hundred and twelve (612) homicides.
Two female accomplices, who is said to have the foremost parts in these slayings, were sentenced to having their fingers, in which they had tortured with, dipped the blood of innocent girls, torn out by the public executioner with a pair of burning pinchers. After that, they both were burned alive. Thorko, the last accomplice, because of his youth and good reputation, was only decapitated, and then sent off to be burned with the other two.
A Hungarian law forbids Bathory, being nobility, to be executed in the court of law. So she was placed under house arrest. Confined to her torture chamber, with all the windows and doors bricked up, left Elizabeth nothing on her agenda but to age. Despite her best efforts, she would not remain youthful.
On July 31st, 1614, Elizabeth dictated her last will and testament. She wished all her remaining property to be divided between her children, with her son, Paul, the main inheritor.
Late August in 1614, a curious jailer wanted to take a look at the Countess. She was still the most renowned, and beautiful woman in Hungary, according to accounts. What he saw chilled him to the bones. Lying face down on the ground was Elizabeth.
On August 16th, 1614, Ladyship Elizabeth Bathory, age fifty-four, had taken her last breath on this earth.
Elizabeth was intended to be buried in the local church in Cachtice, Hungary, but the local inhabitants would not hear of such a thing. So she was in buried in the town of Ecsed. Some of her remaining possessions, including her diary, are currently in Budapest. Elizabeth was a crafty, smart woman who tortured and killed for many years without a single suspect. Some researchers say that she had a low iron complication, and was simply treating the condition the best way she could. Others say she is just vindictive and heartless. Whatever her motives were, she is still the most notorious and prolific female serial killer in the world.