Passion for all sorts of "horror stories" in any person in the blood. We come up with horrific, chilling stories, without even realizing that reality is sometimes worse than the most unbridled movie about bloody maniacs. An example of this is the life of Elizabeth Bathory. Her adventures are still capable of causing trembling even in seasoned people.
The beginning of horror
Transylvania, where this woman was born, from ancient times had not too pleasant fame. It is worth recalling at least Count Tepes, better known in the world under the nickname Dracula. Elizabeth Bathory herself was a kind of "continuer of the traditions" of the count. And if the gloomy glory of the latter is clearly inflated, and he mostly tormented the Turks with whom he had successfully fought, then the countess scoffed at people only for the sake of pleasure. And she did it so successfully that the story of Bathory Elizabeth still remains 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 soldiers, priests and teachers. So, her brother Stefan was first recognized as a brave and intelligent warrior, and then completely became the king of Poland. Well, the family is not without a freak ...
But historians and genealogy buffs believe that the whole history of Bathory Elizabeth was predetermined from the start.
Not everything is alright in the “alright” family
Surely every person who is more or less interested in history knows about the terrifyingly high number of children who appeared in noble families as a result of closely related marriages, or even direct incest. It is not surprising that the "young tribe" often possessed a complete "bouquet" of physical and mental illnesses. Uncle Elizabeth was known as an inveterate warlock who had set up terrible experiences on people, and his wife even preferred to communicate with women, often mutilating them because of her obvious sadistic inclinations.
Even the countess’s brother quickly drank too much, but before that he had all the signs of moral degradation, engaging in erratic sexual relations with women, and he did not disdain men. In general, children with dangerous mental disorders were constantly born in the family.
Youth
This share fully went to Elizabeth Bathory herself. Oddly enough, but against the backdrop of the clearly existing deviations in her psyche, she was a very intelligent 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 could easily speak not three foreign languages ​​at once, while even the ruler of the country could hardly read the syllables.
Alas, 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 beat her servants with a whip with sincere pleasure. Having become a little older, Elizabeth Bathory often beat them half to death. The young sadist enjoyed the unspeakable pleasure of watching blood oozing from the wounds of her victims. As soon as she learned to write, she immediately began to keep a terrible diary, where in all the details she painted her “joys”. This became famous for Elizabeth (Elizabeth) Bathory, whose biography abounds with terrible and disgusting moments.
Marriage
Initially, the parents still somehow controlled the juvenile monster, not allowing the countess to go beyond certain boundaries. In any case, she did not cripple and kill people then. But already in 1575 (when she was only 15 years old), the girl was married off to F. Nadashdi, who was also a follower of the Dracula affair, but in the military field: he was very afraid of the Ottomans, since he was an extremely skilled commander. They called him the black knight of Hungary.
However, there is alternative evidence. As his contemporaries wrote, Ferenc was so cruel with captured Turks that many impressionable people immediately parted with the contents of their stomach, only by looking at his "art". And this is in those days when it was difficult to scare people with the simple sight of a executed person! So Elizabeth Bathory, the Bloody Countess (as she was later nicknamed), received a husband who was quite in line with herself.
The young wife gave birth to four children, only the fact of motherhood did not reduce her bloodthirsty inclinations in the least. However, at first she was very restrained and did not go further than tweaks and strong slaps. For exceptional offenses, the maid could receive with a club, but no more. However, over time, her antics became increasingly frightening. So, the beginning 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 excessiveness. Her biography is terrible, only at that time almost all the representatives of the nobility did not consider their servants as people and treated them accordingly. The Hungarian lords had Slovak peasants, who were actually in a situation 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 "offend." Often delinquency was invented on the go.
To stand out against this background, Elizabeth Bathory (the Blood Countess) had to be distinguished by a completely savage fantasy. And she tried!
Torture chambers
Unhappy servants noticed that the cruelty of their crazy mistress becomes less pronounced if there are guests in her castle. They secretly damaged carriages, horses “for no reason” scattered across all the surrounding forests, and they had to be caught for a long time ... But this also helped them for a short while. The countess had a residence in Beckov fortress, in the cellars of which there were torture chambers. Already there she completely gave vent to her sick imagination.
But even in "home" conditions, she could just literally tear the girl's face with her nails. The maidservants rejoiced if the punishment consisted only of an order to completely undress and to continue to work in this form. So "became famous" among friends of Elizabeth Bathory. The biography subsequently showed that all of the above were just petty pranks.
In a huge family estate, under which there were huge wine cellars, a real theater of torment and suffering was arranged. Here the unfortunate girls got in full, they died very painfully and for a long time. The countess also had a personal assistant, D. Chantes, whom others knew under the nickname Dork. Complementing the "honest company" was the extremely ugly dwarf Fichko.
"Liberty"
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 picks up a lover among the maidservants, who became A. Darvulia. It is not worth it to consider her an innocent victim, since it was she who subsequently thought her mistress to force the girls to constantly serve on the estate completely naked.
Another entertainment of the favorite was pouring water over the unfortunates and slowly turning them into ice statues. And so on throughout the winter.
Crimes without punishment
For minor, and often simply fictitious misconduct, “light” punishments were imposed on the countess’s household. If someone was caught on petty theft, a red-hot coin was put into his palm. If the household clothes were poorly ironed, a hot iron flew towards the offender. Countess Elizabeth Bathory adored tearing off her skin with tongs for a fireplace, and cutting maidservants with scissors.
But she especially “respected” long sewing needles. She loved to drive their girls under the nails, while offering the unfortunate to pull them out. As soon as the unfortunate victim tried to take out the needle, she was beaten, and her fingers were chopped off. At this time, Bathory was entering a state of ecstasy, simultaneously tearing pieces of meat from her unfortunate chest with her teeth.
"Fresh meat" was not enough, and therefore an insatiable torturer began to collect young and poor girls in remote villages. In the first months, there were no problems with this: the poor peasants gladly gave their daughters, as 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, Darwulia's mistress dies of a fit of epilepsy. But Countess Elizabeth Bathory (the biography of the Bloody Lady notes dozens of mistresses) quickly starts an affair with Ezhsi Mayorova. Unlike all the previous favorites, a drop of noble blood did not flow in her veins, a girl came from peasants. She had no respect for the nobility. It was the mistress who persuaded the countess to begin the hunt for the daughters of the petty nobility. Agreeing, Bathory finally signed herself a death sentence. Until then, people around her didn’t care a bit about her “eccentricity,” but from now on everything became different.
However, then she did not care. The only problem was a bunch of corpses that needed to be disposed of. Nevertheless, she was disturbed by rumors that could disperse in the district. The church then had no such influence, but for such tricks, even at that time it could well be sent to the stake.
But what about the church?
Numerous victims could not find a single rational explanation, and all the honors began to cost unnecessarily expensive. The bodies simply began to be buried in the cemetery, and the clergy suspected something was amiss. Behind everything clearly stood Elizabeth Bathory, the Bloody Countess. The years 1560-1614 showed that the church in general was extremely shortsighted in such matters.
Priests guessed about the diabolical bacchanalia before, but they were extremely humble, as the countess generously donated to the needs of the church. But Rev. Mayorosh, who professed the husband of Bathory, was tired of all this. Without enduring the torment of conscience, he called her "a terrible beast and murderer."
Money and power helped the countess hush up the scandal without consequences. But the clergy were already tired of all this: the minister Paretroys vehemently refused to funeral the next batch of corpses, openly expressing his opinion to Bathory about it.
Rev. Panikenush, to whom the countess asked for a funeral service, sent her to the same address. The maniac had to cut the bodies with his own hands and bury them in pieces in all the nearest fields. However, most often the remains simply threw themselves into the river, where they “pleased” the local fishermen. People's patience began to dry up rapidly. At first, rumors about a werewolf appeared, 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 approaching its logical conclusion.
In addition, the two girls were still able to escape from the clutches of the distraught monster, and therefore all the necessary evidence of her adventures appeared at the church and worldly courts.
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 convened a whole group of daughters of small nobles in order to teach them a "course of secular manners." For many of them, this event was the last in their life. Deep in the dungeon, only pools of blood reminded of their demise. This time the countess was no longer able to get off so easily.
She had to quickly compose a tale about how one of the girls went crazy and in a crazy frenzy killed several of her girlfriends. The story was clearly unrealistic, but the money in this case also helped to shut up everyone who was unhappy.
Bloody orgies continued as before. The servant later testified that once at the door to the Countess’s room such a pool of blood had leaked that it took a long time to throw it with charcoal, since otherwise it would have been impossible to get through without soaking her feet. At the same time, Elizabeth Bathory, (photos of her for obvious reasons have not reached our days) writes sadly in her diary: “Poor, she was extremely weak ...”, implying another victim. The girl was lucky, and she died of pain shock.
Destructive "hobbies"
Everything ever ends. Bathory's money ran out too, which could no longer buy everything necessary for its orgies and shut up the mouths of witnesses with gold. In 1607, she was forced to sell or mortgage all of her real estate. And here is where the "knife in the back" stuck her family. Firstly, they did not like squandering family wealth. Secondly, there was a real danger that all this whistle 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 personally interviewed Elizabeth Bathory. The bloody countess had to say where in the dungeon of her castle immediately came nine corpses. She replied that the girls (with obvious signs of torture) died from the disease. Allegedly they had to be buried in lime, fearing the spread of infection. Surely it was a stupid and brazen lie. Relatives secretly agreed with the investigation and intended to send a relative to the monastery. Everyone was ahead of Parliament, which formally charged the killings.
Court
Hearings in the case began in Bratislava. On December 28, 1610, a new search was conducted in Bathory Castle, during which it was possible to find the disfigured remains of a young girl. And in the same room there were two more corpses. In short, Elizabeth Bathory, the Bloody Countess, clearly lost all sense of proportion and respect. The trial took place directly on January 2, 1611. Immediately 17 people became witnesses in the case. Dorka immediately admitted that she helped to kill 36 girls, and Fichko killed 37 unfortunates at once.
Five days later, a new process began. Eyewitness accounts were heard on it. The accused was not in the courtroom. Count Tujo, a relative of the murderer, did not want to "dirty the honor" of the family glorified by military feats, but simply read out the diary. It described in detail about all 650 victims.
Secret assistant
Already at the trial it turned out that Bathory (the Blood Countess) had another assistant. She took an active part in torture, but always wore men's clothes and called herself Stefan. Whenever "Stefan" came to the execution, the victims began to torment with renewed vigor. It is very likely that the same aunt Elizabeth was a stranger, but they could not prove her involvement.
On January 7, 1611, the court issued the final verdict, which put an end to all this monstrous history. Dorka and several other accomplices (lovers) were pulled out of their fingers and toes and slowly fried on a wire rack. Fitchko escaped the easiest - he was sentenced to a fire, but before that he was mercifully beheaded. The aunt escaped with a “slight fear”, since her involvement was not proven.
Enraged by the amount of dirt that spilled over his family, Count Tujo asked to punish the main culprit especially delicately. After that, she was immured in Bathory's own castle. The bloody countess lasted more than three years, regularly receiving food and water through an opening in the cell door. One young guard decided to somehow look at this monster with his own eyes (this was in 1614). So everyone found out that the legendary killer had died.
Thus ended Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Her biography horrifies her, not only by the facts of torture and murder, but also by the indifference that all the protagonists of this story showed. It is possible, if the countess had been a little careful, she would have died a respected woman, from old age.
This is what Elizabeth Bathory is known all over the world (1560-1614).