Passion for all sorts of "horror stories" in any person in the blood. We come up with terrifying, chilling stories, not even realizing that reality is sometimes much worse than the most unbridled movie about bloody maniacs. An example of this is the life of Elizabeth Bathory. Her adventures are still able to cause shivers even in worldly-wise people.
Start of horror
Transylvania, where this woman was born, from ancient times had a not too pleasant fame. It is worth remembering at least Count Tepes, better known in the world under the nickname Dracula. Elizabeth Bathory herself was a kind of "continuer of traditions" of the count. And if the gloomy glory of the latter is clearly overestimated, and he tormented mainly the Turks, with whom he successfully fought, then the countess mocked people only for the sake of pleasure. And she did it so successfully that the story of Bathory Elizabeth still remains a confirmation that bloody maniacs have always been in human society.
She was born in 1560, and her family was very noble and respected: among her relatives there were many outstanding warriors, priests and teachers. So, her brother Stefan first gained recognition as a brave and intelligent warrior, and then completely became the king of Poland. Well, the family has its black sheep…
But historians and genealogists believe that Bathory Elizabeth's entire story was predetermined from the start.
Not all is well in a "good" family
Surely every person who is more or less interested in history knows about the terrifyingly high number of children that appeared in noble families as a result of closely related marriages, and even outright incest. Not surprisingly, the "young tribe" often had a full "bouquet" of physical and mental illness. Uncle Elizabeth was known as an inveterate warlock who performed terrible experiments on people, and his wife completely preferred relationships with women, often crippling them because of her obvious sadistic inclinations.
Even the brother of the countess quickly drank himself, but already before that he had all the signs of moral degradation, engaging in promiscuity with women, and he did not disdain men either. In general, children with dangerous mental disorders were constantly born in the family.
Youth
This share went to the full extent to Elizabeth Bathory herself. Oddly enough, but against the background of her mental disorders, she was a very smart and quick-witted child. Against the background of even much more “pure” aristocratic families, she stood out for her education and sharp mind. Already at the age of 15, a young girl witheasily spoke more than three foreign languages at once, while even the ruler of the country had difficulty reading in syllables.
Alas, but this child from early childhood was brought up in an atmosphere of permissiveness in relation to the lower classes. As soon as she learned to speak, she with sincere pleasure beat her maids with a whip. Having become a little older, Elizabeth Bathory often beat them half to death. The young sadist gave unspeakable pleasure to watch how blood oozes from the wounds of her victims. As soon as she learned to write, she immediately began to keep a terrible diary, where she described her "pleasures" in every detail. This is what Elizabeth (Elizabeth) Bathory became famous for, whose biography is replete with creepy and disgusting moments.
Marriage
Initially, the parents still somehow controlled the juvenile monster, not allowing the countess to go beyond certain limits. In any case, she did not maim or kill people then. But already in 1575 (when she was only 15 years old), the girl was married to F. Nadashdi, who was also the successor of Dracula, but in the military field: the Ottomans were very afraid of him, since he was an extremely skilled commander. They called him the black knight of Hungary.
However, there is an alternative evidence. As his contemporaries wrote, Ferenc was so cruel to the captured Turks that many impressionable people immediately parted with the contents of their stomach, just looking at his "art". And this was in those days when it was difficult to frighten people with the mere sight of the executedman! So Elizabeth Bathory, the Bloody Countess (as she was later called), got a husband who was quite appropriate for herself.
The young wife gave birth to four children, but the fact of motherhood did not reduce her bloodthirsty inclinations in the least. However, at first she was very restrained and did not go beyond pinching and strong slaps in the face. For exceptional offenses, the maid could get a club, but nothing more. However, over time, her antics became more and more frightening. So, the novice maniac loved to pierce parts of the bodies of her victims with long needles. Most likely, the "teacher" was the aunt mentioned at the beginning of the article, with whom Elizabeth apparently had a close relationship.
Why did her hobbies go unpunished?
In general, Elizabeth Bathory was distinguished only by excessive exorbitance. Her biography is terrible, only at that time almost all representatives of the nobility did not consider their servants to be people and treated them accordingly. The Hungarian lords had Slovak peasants, who were in fact in a position much worse than that of the ancient Roman slaves. So, the latter, at least, could not be killed with impunity. The Hungarian aristocrats tortured, hanged and brutally finished off anyone who dared to "guilty." Often the offense was invented on the go.
To stand out against this background, Elizabeth Bathory (Bloody Countess) had to be distinguished by a completely savage fantasy. And she tried!
Torture chambers
Unfortunate servantsnoticed that the cruelty of their crazy mistress becomes less pronounced if there are guests in her castle. They secretly spoiled the carriages, the horses "for no apparent reason" scattered through all the surrounding forests, and it took a long time to catch them … But this did not help them out for long. The countess had a residence in the fortress of Beckov, in the basements of which there were torture chambers. Already there, she completely gave free rein to her sick fantasy.
But even in "home" conditions, she could already literally tear the girl's face with her nails just like that. The maids rejoiced if the punishment consisted only in the order to completely undress and continue to work in this form. So "famous" among the acquaintances of Elizabeth Bathory. The biography subsequently showed that all of the above were just petty pranks.
In a huge family estate, under which huge wine cellars were located, a real theater of torment and suffering was arranged. Here, the unfortunate girls got it in full, they died very painfully and for a long time. The countess also had a personal assistant, D. Shantes, whom others knew under the nickname Dorca. The "honest company" was complemented by an extremely ugly dwarf Fichko.
Freedom
In 1604, the husband of the heroine of our story died. At this moment, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, feeling completely free even from the formal framework, begins to go crazy. The number of victims is increasing every month. To brighten up the pangs of loneliness, she selects a mistress among the maids, who became A. Darvulia. It is not worth considering her an innocent victim, since it was she who subsequently advisedhis mistress to force the girls to constantly wait on the estate completely naked.
Another entertainment of the favorite was pouring water on the unfortunate and slowly turning them into ice statues. And so throughout the winter.
Crimes without Punishment
For minor, and more often just fictitious offenses, the countess's household carried out "light" punishments. If someone was caught petty theft, a red-hot coin was put into his palm. If the master's clothes were poorly ironed, a red-hot iron flew towards the offender. Countess Elizabeth Bathory loved to flay her skin with fireplace tongs and cut her maids with scissors.
But she especially “respected” long sewing needles. She loved to drive them under the girls' nails, while offering the unfortunate to pull them out. As soon as the unfortunate victim tried to remove the needle, she was beaten, and her fingers were chopped off. At this time, Bathory entered a state of ecstasy, simultaneously tearing out pieces of meat from the chest of the unfortunate with her teeth.
"Fresh meat" was not enough, and therefore the insatiable tormentor began to gather young and poor girls in remote villages. In the first months, there were no problems with this: the poor peasants were happy to give away their daughters, because they simply could not feed them. They really believed that in a rich castle, their children would at least not starve to death. Yes, they didn’t really die from malnutrition…
Beginning of the end
In 1606 Darvulia's mistress dies of an epileptic attack. But Countess ElizabethBathory (the biography of the Bloody Lady notes dozens of mistresses) quickly starts an affair with Ezhsi Mayorova. Unlike all previous favorites, not even a drop of noble blood flowed in her veins, the girl came from peasants. She had no respect for the nobility. It was the mistress who persuaded the countess to start hunting for the daughters of the petty nobility. By agreeing, Bathory finally signed her own death warrant. Until then, those around her didn’t care a bit about her “eccentricity”, but from now on everything has changed.
However, nothing worried her then. The only problem was the pile of corpses that had to be disposed of. Still, she was worried about the rumors that could spread around the area. The Church then no longer had such influence, but for such tricks, even at that time, they could well have been sent to the stake.
What about the church?
No rational explanation could be found for the numerous victims, and all honors began to cost too much. The bodies simply began to be buried in the cemetery, and the clergy suspected something was wrong. Behind everything was clearly Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess. The years 1560-1614 showed that the church generally turned out to be extremely short-sighted in such matters.
The priests had guessed about the diabolical bacchanalia before, but they were extremely meek, since the countess generously donated to the needs of the church. But Reverend Mayorosh, who confessed to Bathory's husband, was tired of all this. Unable to bear the torments of conscience, he called her "a terrible beast and a murderer."
Money and power helped the Countess to hush upscandal without consequences. But the churchmen were already tired of all this: the minister Paretrois furiously refused to bury another batch of corpses, openly expressing his opinion to Bathory about her.
Reverend Panikenoush, to whom the Countess asked for a funeral, sent it to the same address. The maniac had to cut the corpses with his own hands and bury them in pieces in all the nearest fields. However, most often the remains were simply thrown into the river, where they "pleased" the local fishermen. People's patience began to run out fast. At first, there were rumors about a werewolf, but the local population did not take them seriously: everyone already knew that evil was sitting in the local castle, and that his name was "Countess Elizabeth Bathory". The biography of the Bloody Lady was coming to its logical conclusion.
Besides, the two girls still managed to escape from the clutches of the crazed monster, and therefore the church and worldly courts had all the necessary evidence of her adventures.
Continuation of the "banquet"
But Elizabeth Bathory herself (a photo of her reproductions is in the article) has long lost all caution. In 1609, she convenes a whole group of daughters of minor nobles in order to teach them a "course in secular manners." For many of them, this event was the last in their lives. Deep in the dungeon, only puddles of blood reminded them of their demise. This time, the Countess didn't get off so lightly.
She had to quickly make up a tall tale about how one of the girls went crazy and killed several of her girlfriends in a crazy frenzy. The story was clearly unrealistic, but the money in this casehelped to shut the mouths of all the dissatisfied.
The bloody orgies continued as usual. The servant later testified that one day such a pool of blood flowed at the door to the countess's room that it took a long time to throw coal over it, because otherwise it would be impossible to get through without getting your feet wet. At the same time, Elizabeth Bathory (her photo, for obvious reasons, has not survived to this day) sadly writes in her diary: “Poor thing, she was extremely weak …”, meaning another victim. The girl was lucky, and she died of pain shock.
Despoiling "hobbies"
Everything comes to an end. Bathory's money also dried up, which could no longer buy everything necessary for her orgies and plug the mouths of witnesses with gold. In 1607, she was forced to sell or mortgage all her real estate. And it was then that the “knife in the back” was stuck in her by her relatives. First, they did not like the squandering of family we alth. Secondly, there was a real danger that all this pandemonium would reach the ears of the Pope, and then everyone would have to go to the fire together. They authorized the start of investigations.
Investigators spoke personally with Elizabeth Bathory. The Blood Countess had to say where nine corpses came from in the dungeon of her castle at once. She replied that the girls (with obvious signs of torture) died of illness. Allegedly, they had to be buried in lime, fearing the spread of infection. Undoubtedly, it was a stupid and blatant lie. Relatives secretly agreed with the investigation and intended to sendrelative in a monastery. Parliament was ahead of everyone, which formally charged with the murders.
Court
Hearings in the case began in Bratislava. On December 28, 1610, a new search was carried out at Bathory Castle, during which the disfigured remains of a young girl were found. And in the same room there were two more corpses. In a word, Elizabeth Bathory, the Bloody Countess, has clearly lost all sense of proportion and respect. The actual trial took place on January 2, 1611. Immediately 17 people became witnesses in the case. Dorka immediately confessed that she helped kill 36 girls, and Fichko killed 37 unfortunate ones at once.
After five days, a new process began. It heard the testimony of eyewitnesses. The defendant was not in the courtroom. Count Tujo, a relative of the murderer, did not want to "dirty the honor" of the family famous for military exploits, but simply read out the diary. It detailed all 650 victims.
Secret Helper
Already at the trial, it turned out that Bathory (Bloody Countess) had another assistant. She took an active part in the torture, but she always wore men's clothes and called herself Stefan. Whenever "Stefan" came to the execution, the victims began to torment with redoubled energy. It is very likely that the same aunt Elizabeth was a stranger, but they could not prove her involvement.
On January 7, 1611, the final verdict was passed by the court, which put an end to this whole monstrous story. Dorka and several other accomplices (mistresses) had their fingers and toes pulled out and slowly fried on a grill. Fichko got off the lightest- he was sentenced to a fire, but before that he was mercifully beheaded. The aunt escaped with a "slight fright", as her involvement was not proven.
Infuriated by the amount of dirt that poured out on his family, Count Tujo asked to punish the main culprit especially subtly. After that, she was walled up in her own Bathory castle. The Blood Countess held out for more than three years, regularly receiving food and water through a hole in the cell door. One young guard decided to somehow look at this monster with his own eyes (this was in 1614). This is how everyone knew that the legendary assassin had passed away.
This is how Countess Elizabeth Bathory ended her life. Her biography is horrific, and not only by the facts of torture and murder, but also by the indifference shown by all the characters in this story. It is quite possible that if the countess had been a little more careful, she would have died a respected woman, of old age.
This is what Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1614) is famous for all over the world.
