On August 7, 1560, the Bathory family was blessed with the birth of a child. The girl was named Elizabeth, and until 11 years old they were raised in the castle of Eched. Without waiting for her coming of age, at age 11, Elizabeth was married to an extremely tyrannical and cruel Ferenc Nadashdi, whom the enemies gave the nickname "The Black Knight". Despite her unflattering reputation, her husband gave Elizabeth a generous wedding present: Countess Bathory received the Chakhtitsky Castle in the Small Carpathians, where she gave birth to her husband 5 children: Catherine, Pavel, Ursula, Miklosh and Anna. Soon Fereng died, and Elizabeth was left alone. After this, strange things began to happen, which over time became overgrown with terrible details.
It's no secret that the countess is officially recognized as a mass serial killer, for which she was even mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records. According to legend, it all started with the fact that one morning, standing in front of a mirror, Countess Bathory discovered a gray hair in her hair, skin losing its elasticity and was far from an ideal figure. The reflection of an aging woman, once considered a beauty, was so terrifying to Elizabeth that she immediately sent for a famous healer, who was seriously suspected of practicing black magic and communication with the devil. The countess left the witch in the castle, and every morning she prepared Elizabeth a special decoction of herbs, which was to delay old age, as well as a bath in which the countess spent several hours daily, listening to the whisper's whisper, invoking otherworldly forces to help the countess. Over time, the "treatment" really brought results, and the countess began to look much younger. However, soon the miraculous effect began to disappear, and Countess Bathory brutally beat the healer, after which the witch gave her the last and most terrible advice: use the blood of virgins.
The next period of the countess's life became a favorite theme of filmmakers. The mere thought of a bath with warm blood, into which she was to climb, the countess invariably felt sick, so she decided to accustom herself to the form of blood and develop something like “immunity”. She began mercilessly flogging the maids and scoffed at them in every possible way: she bit off their nipples, drove nails under her nails, dug into the cervical artery and drank hot blood. Servants began to bring dozens of girls to the castle, who soon disappeared without a trace. After some time, the locals found their bloodless corpses, apparently, numerous legends were accused of this, accusing the countess of vampirism.
When it became known about the atrocities of Bathory, all the servants involved in the "girls' hunt" were brutally executed, and the countess was imprisoned in an underground dungeon, where she died 3 years later. After the death of Elizabeth, the King of Hungary Matius II ordered to carefully hide all materials in the case of Bathory, and also forbade her name to be mentioned, for fear of a scandal. All the details of Bathory's actions became known only 100 years later, when the monk Laszlo Turosi discovered the court documents in the Elizabeth case. Deciding to write about this and discover the truth to the whole world, he began to collect beliefs and stories, the main character of which was the bloody Countess Bathory. His book was published in 1720 and immediately attracted the attention of all walks of life from around the world. It was this work that served as the basis for other works and film scripts, which still excite the imagination of fans of the horror genre. Is this book true or not? Countess Bathory forever gained a reputation as a bloodthirsty killer, a witch and a merciless vampire. But is this really so? Perhaps Countess Bathory was simply a weak, unsure woman, who, due to her husband's early marriage and cruelty, suffered an injury, which subsequently led to more serious mental disorders. The secrets of the life and death of Countess Bathory will remain secrets, and we can only speculate ...