|
"If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance."
So spoke George Bernard Shaw. But in the case of Elizabeth Bathory, one can't help feeling that his words would have been of small comfort to the next of kin. So vile were the Countess's crimes that her relatives must have feared that the family name would be eternally blackened. Indeed, it's said that after her death it was forbidden to mention the Countess's name in Hungarian society. But even if that were so, there was little the family could do to prevent her ghost from leaping into a dance macabre of preposterous proportions.
Pretty much every slander imaginable has been thrown at 'The Blood Countess'. The milder accusations are that she engaged in abduction, torture, witchcraft and sexual perversion. The harsher ones claim that she mutilated young girls and bathed in their blood (apparently believing that it would preserve her beauty). They're not the kinds of things that you'd want to read over the breakfast table. Conservative estimates suggest that Bathory was responsible for the deaths of fifty girls, although some witnesses claimed that her victims ran into the hundreds. Several accomplices were involved, including one of the most unpleasant dwarves to have emerged from the pages of history, a highly unsavoury character named Ficko. 
Above: The ruins of Castle Cachtice in northern Slovakia. It was here that Bathory committed many of her crimes, and where she was eventually arrested on December 29th, 1610
Unsurprisingly, the basics of the Bathory tale have provided plenty of fodder for chroniclers and balladeers. The bloody Bathory myth has had several centuries to snowball as it rolled down the Slovakian slopes into the Western imagination. Indeed, it's perhaps only those not so charming chaps Ivan the Terrible and Vlad the Impaler who can rival the Countess in the East European villain stakes. A favourite of the Hammer House of Horror, Bathory has inspired dozens of movies of dubious merit, and in 2007, two more producers threw their hats into the ring. In light of all this gothic embroidery, the job of separating fact from fiction is a fairly hefty one.
The Life of Elizabeth Bathory
Elizabeth Bathory (Erzebet Bathory) was born in August 1560 into one of the grandest Hungarian families. Owing to defeat at the hands of the Turks forty years earlier, Hungary had been absorbed into the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires. Nevertheless, Hungarian Transylvania clung on to independence, and one branch of the Bathorys managed to secure the throne of that land. Later, in 1572, Stefan Bathory was elected King of Poland.
Elizabeth Bathory was technically a subject of the Habsburg crown. Her family lands, dotted across today's Slovakia, were part of the 'Kingdom of Hungary' that was absorbed by the Habsburgs in 1536. That said, families of her stature could pretty much do as they wished provided that they were not overtly disloyal to the crown. This partly explains why the authorities were so slow to investigate Bathory's crimes.
The young Countess was educated to be conversant in many languages. However, childhood was not a drawn out affair. Bathory was married off young, as was the custom, to a nobleman named Ferenc Nadasdy. Her main home then became Cachtice Castle, about 100 kilometres northeast of Bratislava. She was 15 at the time. Three years later Bathory's husband was proclaimed Chief Commander of the Hungarian troops, and he had to spend much of his time campaigning against the Turk. This gave the Countess a free rein - effectively she was answerable to no one for miles around.
Can anything vaguely normal be said about 'the Blood Countess' before the catalogue of criminality is rolled out? Well, she did manage to give birth to a son, Paul, and three daughters, who as far as we know, were not deranged serial killers. And letters reveal that she used her power to intervene on behalf of Hungarian war widows who had fallen into dire straits. However, it's unlikely that St. Peter would consider such acts redeeming in the light of the charges laid against her.
Witnesses testified that Bathory's favourite ruse was letting it be known that work was on offer. For miles around, most of the village dwellers were her own personal serfs with little in the way of rights. However, for a Slovakian peasant girl, the offer of work at a castle was nothing to be sniffed at. The Countess had properties dotted about Hungary and Austria, and she often travelled to Vienna and elsewhere. It was similar to entering service in a princess's court. (However, court witnesses later revealed that Bathory killed women just about anywhere and everywhere, regardless of where she was headed).
Historians claim that the Countess got embroiled with a host of sinister characters. The kinds of women that might have been burnt as witches by other nobles were especially sought after by Bathory. It has been suggested that the Countess had a relationship with one of these witches, a woman by the name of Darvula, who is said to have helped commit the crimes.
Official complaints started to come in in 1602 when the Lutheran priest Istvan Magyari lodged papers in Vienna. Two years later the Countess's husband died while away on campaign - reports vary as to whether he fell in battle, was assassinated or died from a disease picked up from a prostitute. Whatever it was, the complaints continued grow against Elizabeth Bathory in the following years.
After about eight years of turning a blind eye, an investigation was launched. This followed much toing and froing between Bathory's extended family, who were desperate to avoid being tarnished by such a twisted brush. It seems that the decisive factor was that well-born girls had begun to fall victim to the Countess. Bathory had set up a sort of finishing school for the daughters of the lesser gentry, teaching them courtly etiquette. When well-born ladies started to go amiss, time was up for Bathory.
On December 29th 1610, Count Gyorgy Thurzo burst into Cachtice Castle following an order to investigate from King Mathias himself. Two slain women were tracked down and several more were relieved, gaining what was a belated, but no doubt the best Christmas present they'd ever had. Bathory herself was arrested, along with several accomplices.
Trial and Demise
| | | |
 | | "what she did was horribly wrong. but weirdly i have to forgive her cause she is family." | Jesse S.
United States
Jul.27.2010
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "all da people dat are saying it was normal to dat 400 years ago is wrong it was never considered "normal" to rape nd mutalate girls so get real and da fact u even said dat disgusts me dis woman was a human form of da devil may she rot in hell wit him!! peace out!!" | Devon
Ireland
Jul.02.2010
rates this page 2/5 |
| | "Idk if you guys that are taking up for her know this but she would also malest these girls and burn there genitals . She would put honey on the servants naked bodys and lay them outside so bugs would bite them. She stuck hot fire pikers in there mouth! And cut there cheeks ! Burned them alive , froze them to death! She was a sick woman!" | Kaylyn
United States
Jun.19.2010
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "i cant believe some of the comments on this page. i think most of you live in a fantasy world it seems half of america think they bare related to this woman, not something i would be proud of." | karen
United Kingdom
Jun.14.2010
rates this page 1/5 |
| | "I'm glad that Elizabeth Bathory is NOT alive today. " | Alicia
United States
May.11.2010
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "I'm glad that Elizabeth Bathory is NOT alive today. " | Alicia
United States
May.11.2010
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "Those without sin, cast the first stone! This woman had a reason for her actions and in that day and time it was normal. Just to let you know that ancestors of this woman moved to the United States and went by the name Bathrow and later Ponthieux. Stop your cruel remarks cause you know nothing of this woman. She was not a christian but a Spiritual woman. She was also passionate and she is to this day respected by her family. May she rest in peace!" | RJ
United States
Apr.16.2010
rates this page 5/5 |
| | "she is my great great great great aunt" | Elizabeth
United States
Apr.12.2010
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "Lizzie B is amazing only 2nd to Vlad. her only fault was that she killed women instead of men" | Kay
United Kingdom
Apr.05.2010
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "wow it's just gross isn't it" | jyaureissah
United States
Mar.20.2010
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "my point is im facinated with her and how she could do such a thing my mothers side of my family is from bratislava and thought sence i look like her and was borne the same day she died that im her reincarnation but im not worried about it i just stare into her pictures an think wat luck i have that im not like here" | amanda
United States
Mar.10.2010
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "I admit that the story is fascinating , however knowing that this is true makes Elizabeth of Bathory a sick and disgusting woman as well as all her disciples. Katarina and Elizabeth should have been tortured as they did their victims." | Nik & Tam
Trinidad and Tobago
Jan.26.2010
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "My point goes firstly to the film maker herself, Julie who did a great artistic introspective, enough satisfied to the historical side of a story, a deep connaissance of a personality of nobless and aristocracy.
Secondly I would like to declare that some of the comments above (from Argentina, par exp.) strongly expresses human's stupidity of unconcious and incapacity of a perspective that needs a deep view.
Thirdly my feelings and intuitive side tells that the countess was a victim of people's jelousy, lies, possessions, hunger, etc. She WAS a real nobel, an intelligence and its incarnation, a beautiful woman and she BECAME an example of a cruelity which is easily recognized by the chain of her life events. I think the view could not be eaily seen, but understood. We still, thanks God, have good films that needs an intellectual perception and not just "coke-and-a popcorn-visitors"...
Thanks, Julie. " | Simonetta
Zimbabwe
Jan.07.2010
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "There is still so much to know before taking a side. Elizabeth Bathory has been dead for many years and the story behind what truly happened was most likely altered through time into great great scary stories to tell around the camp fire. If This is what she and her servants did to these girls than yes she has done horrible things but I have read many stories where normal everyday people have done worse crimes for example John Wayne Gacy, Jr was a serial killer in the 1900s who had two lives one was a great business man and loving father and the other was a deranged man who kiddnaped 30 year old men, drugged them, rapped them,killed them, and then cut them up and hid them under his floor boards and nobody even knows his name. So before we can start saying look this girlwho we cant acturly prove killed up to 50 people and the rumers that were spread up to 600 or more people and say your evil burn in hell if we cant even look at the killers today and remember there their names after watching the daily news channel. Its just plain stuipidy" | ona
United States
Dec.14.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "There is still so much to know before taking a side. Elizabeth Bathory has been dead for many years and the story behind what truly happened was most likely altered through time into great great scary stories to tell around the camp fire. If This is what she and her servants did to these girls than yes she has done horrible things but I have read many stories where normal everyday people have done worse crimes for example John Wayne Gacy, Jr was a serial killer in the 1900s who had two lives one was a great business man and loving father and the other was a deranged man who kiddnaped 30 year old men, drugged them, rapped them,killed them, and then cut them up and hid them under his floor boards and nobody even knows his name. So before we can start saying look this girlwho we cant acturly prove killed up to 50 people and the rumers that were spread up to 600 or more people and say your evil burn in hell if we cant even look at the killers today and remember there their names after watching the daily news channel. Its just plain stuipidy" | onalee
United States
Dec.14.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "SICK. rot in hell you sick fuck. ROT." | Laurena
Argentina
Nov.12.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "Ok people, lets all keep in mind that this happand close to 400 years ago.. The facts and what really happaned have been tainted with time and cruel people.. I agree, she probly did do some grizzly things, but back than where she was from, this was normal. I believe that it was purley political and they wanted her enormous wealth and lands... " | ELISE
United States
Nov.04.2009
rates this page 2/5 |
| | "Ok people, lets all keep in mind that this happand close to 400 years ago.. The facts and what really happaned have been tainted with time and cruel people.. I agree, she probly did do some grizzly things, but back than where she was from, this was normal. I believe that it was purley political and they wanted her enormous wealth and lands... " | ELISE
United States
Nov.04.2009
rates this page 2/5 |
| | "wow im special and i cant feel my toes i think im sleepy not really sure i might have to go back to the doctor they put me in a jacket where i get to hug myself all day i feel like totally awsome i have a game today yall should come i have no fans im lame and a big goober i like to pick my umm never mind dont want to go in to that right now but if you text me at 404-610-3001 my names nate i go by bree hehe im a tranny its very fun to be out in the open about this well tata for now hehe" | Cody
United States
Nov.03.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "i think people are sick for thinking that yall are related to her... so suck it.... yall are reres.... and my friend is related to John Wesley Hardin :P hahaha look it up hes a creeprs just like yall and my frien unplugged my mouse :( i cant click anything!! Im related to Kurt Cobain oh yes.. " | Robin
United States
Nov.03.2009
rates this page 5/5 |
| | "THAT LADY WAS MESS UP!!!!!!AT THE END SHES UGLY I GUESS THAT DID'T WORK" | GRAPE
United States
Oct.16.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "Elizabeth Bathory is for me, an enigma. I can argue all of the evidence both ways... toward her guild or toward her innocence.
On the one hand, the testimony from the servants is useless in its entirety. They were tortured beyond the standards even of sixteenth century Europe to obtain confessions. Many of the things in their confessions are ridiculous by modern standards; satan apparently sat in her lap, she had the power to call 99 cats to defend her against all comers, etc ad nauseum. The reports of the people who arrested her are conflictory; on the one hand some of them claim there was nothing unusual at the castle. On the other hand, there were reports (from the same group of people) that there were multiple young girls in various and sundry states of torture and decomposition. It is hard to say which is true. The "bathing in blood" thing is absolutely unbelievable, given the amount of blood it would require to fill a bath tub and the fact that it was never even mentioned until a hundred years after the fact.
Some of the charges against her seem almost consistent with her innocence. It has been suggested that she had actually tried to help several young girls who were afflicted by various diseases and illnesses. The part about freezing them in the winter might well be consistent with tactics then used to reduce fever. Bathory was also accused of "engaging in surgery", from the perspective of sadistic torture, yet it would be consistent with trying to deal with complications of some then prominent illness. Likewise, bloodletting was commonly practiced at that time in order to heal the sick. Each of these things might easily have been exaggerated by a zealous prosecutor, free to engage of torture of the witnesses, into something far more heinous than it actually was.
Bathory was a Protestant woman living in a Catholic Kingdom. She was owed a significant debt by the King. These factors make her the perfect victim of a lynching brought about for political purposes.
Red accounts of other witch trials and accusations and you will find that many innocent people faced horrible ordeals at the hands of the authorities, often brought about by political motivations far less important than hers.
I am not sure that the woman was truly innocent, but I am far from certain that she was guilty either. One of the great travesties in history is that we sometimes tend to blame victims of social injustice rather than learn the truth. In the case of Elizabeth bathory, we will never know for certain whether she was a victim or monster. However, the charges laid at her door are far enough outside the realm of normalcy that they should certainly be eyed with at least a modicum of skepticism." | Bobo
United States
Oct.05.2009
rates this page 5/5 |
| | "I've been searching all over to find proof of a connection between Vlad Dracul and Elizabeth Bathory. People keep saying Stephen aided Vlad in regaining his throne. Well, she had a cousin Stephen, born in 1533, and Vlad died in 1476; her uncle, Stephen's father, was ALSO Stephen, and he was born in 1477, still not back far enough. So are we saying there are three generations of Stephens, all were lucky enough to become royalty, and Elizabeth's great great uncle aided Vlad Dracul in battle, or are we just trying desperately to fit two people who have similar interests together that lived a hundred years apart? " | Cory
United States
Aug.03.2009
rates this page 4/5 |
| | ""im just still wondering is elizabeth bathory is a revengeful woman". and is her prayer is true i want to know more details about her, because i watch the movie stay alive i want to know if the story is true that elizabeth is revengeful woman and she is an evil..." | mho
United States
Jul.26.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "Im related to Elizabeth Bathory" | Stebo
United States
Jul.16.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "i belive the bathory labeled herself as special and she probally thought she was doing some form of good in her time i respact her,but i label her a one of the many vampires in hiding" | j.q.
United States
Jun.14.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "I am related to Elizabeth
The blood bathing may have worked
I do not age like others
:D
and yes the rest of my family look young too.." | Roxy
Canada
Jun.10.2009
rates this page 5/5 |
| | "well i think she was cool kind of i men ive never heard of someone who has killed sooo many people for so long without geeting caught for so long she was good but i think the only way we will truly ever know the truth about her is to ask her ourselves" | sheania
United States
Jun.08.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "well my opinion was she was brought up the way she is . ive read many bio's about the countess and her family was sick and twisted like her obviously when she was a child she whitnessed many things so this made her who shes was a sick twisted bitch " | anthony sanchez
United States
Apr.17.2009
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "I think Countess Elizabeth Bathory is not a crazy person she just wanted to look beautiful i guess she needed love and have somebody tell her she was beautiful. Afther her husband died she didnt had much of attention thats why. But i dnt blame her. But it was wrong killing over 600 women or girls, she would at least find something else that makes her skin smooth. But it was wrong choice of punishment for Elizabeth they would at least try to make everthing right. Not just lock her up in a tower, poor lady i wonder what she did inside of her room not even touching the food. And poor child had suffered for not having a mother or a father there to take care of him." | Diana Luna
United States
Apr.15.2009
rates this page 5/5 |
| | "I honestly think that Countess Elizabeth is fasinating! she is so intriguing the way that her mind worked, i love it! She is honestly amazing to me, i mean wat she did was unforgivable, but than again, fasinating" | Samantha Ringer
United States
Apr.07.2009
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "What other "stories", or "Myths" are there that are as sick and ill as this story??" | drew
United States
Mar.07.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "i can say that, elizabeth gives a vibrant turning point;in such a way, that this lady stretch away our perception of western nobility that is humane,educated,strict upholding and very meticulated point of view in self presentation,(for them,carry their own family name)into what! a very horrific,paranormalise,awful,unearthly tortured way that only a psychotic,having a obsession in blood or what we call psychological vampirism that can be rooted deeply in childhood years( maybe because in his childhood years, thre family was in a battle againts turks, that makes her EXPOSED in blood as a sign of victory and reverence),in bloodline sickness(malajustment that can be past genetically.. but in our own imagination of superb human or elemental realms with or without any identical facts, this story give us chill and tickles our mind.importantly, this gives us idea that there is possibility in our world that no one can give a relevant answer in order to give clariffication in the centerde issue." | albus
United Kingdom
Feb.22.2009
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "I am so fascinated with Erzsebet Bathory's story, I watched the movie, too bad it was in Chezch and there were no subtitles, or english dubs. I understood what was going on, but I wish I knew what they were saying, if anyone knows where I could get the movie "Bathory" dubbed in English, or with subtitles, let me know!!!" | Alexis
United States
Feb.16.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "Can't wait to the movie! " | Sal
United States
Feb.13.2009
rates this page 5/5 |
| | "I think she is interesting, Not interesting as in I want to marry her or any of the ridiculous stuff anyone else wants to do, but interesting in the fact that hearing about the stories of her burning the girls(down below) that she tortured with a candle flame or tearing chunks of the flesh from their faces off, and in one instance making one of her victims cook and devour a strip of the victim's own flesh, it just really makes you think what was she thinking what was going on in her head. On other occasions servants handled her dirty work, while Erzsebet yelled "More, More Still, harder still", until she was overwhelmed with excitement, and fainted into unconsciousness on the floor,It seems as if she got some kind of orgasmic pleasure out of seeing people Writh in pain, To me What went on in this women's mind is enough to write million's of books. Although I DO NOT think it is wise to have her as an idol, The people who seem to worship her just want attention, in a way that attention should not be sought, get a life seriously" | Sarah
United States
Jan.31.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "Its beenm proven through many historical documents and family documentation that Elizabeth did kill many of the servent girls working for her.Through the years historians believe that she heself was from a young age to be very transfixed by blood and vanity.There was an early account of her as a child killing her families pets as a form of amusment.Her family records prove it." | Elle
United States
Jan.11.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "the human body contains six quarts of blood.which totals about 1.5 fluid gallons.it would take several people completly drained to fill a bath tub of those days. Research my friend Research." | richard
United States
Jan.11.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "the human body contains approx six quarts of blood.which totals 1.5 fluid gallons.it would take the blood of several people,completely drained,to fill a tub of those days. there is no evedence to support the claim as well. no mention in the documents from the trial.it only started to be gossiped about after her death. " | richard
United Kingdom
Jan.11.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "wow, alot of people here have ALOT of spelling mistakes . -_- , and yes the part where she bathed in their blood IS true, do you know how much blood 1 body has ? like half or one quarter of a bathtub (depends how big the bath tub is)" | your mom
Algeria
Jan.09.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "sorry but some of you people need to do some research. yes,she may have been behind the killings of some of her servants but 600+? and its NOT true she bathed in blood. there is NO prove. its a nice legend for horror fans but not true. she did get blood on her self during the torture of her servents (in those days if a servant was lazy or that servant stole the punishment was severe,even if thay died) but a bath would take 30 or more persons blood to fill and by then it would be conjilled. maybe a cup in her bath water we will never know. just please see through the lies and think for yourselfs (after a lot of reseach). the hungarian king owed her husband a lot of money. and when he died she insisted he give it back. he did not have it to give. it would have been an embarrisment to the country. (think the ueen oweing david beckham money!) so how better to get rid of the debt than to blow things out of context? yes she did kill some servants during punishments but so did a lot of nobles in eastern europe. but 600+? bath in there blood? no. she did not." | RiChArD
United Kingdom
Jan.02.2009
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "and its erzsÈbet not erzebet" | vir·g
Hungary
Dec.25.2008
rates this page 2/5 |
| | "oh my god you people really think that she's back and she's in america...?! i think she died and she will never come back and if she would she would be in hungary coz this is her country and you americans want to take her from here how envy you are i cant believe it. it makes me nervous..." | vir·g
Hungary
Dec.25.2008
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "I Love This Story! Elizabeth was an amazing woman. even though she was messed up in the head. " | ville
United States
Dec.03.2008
rates this page 5/5 |
| | "I think she was a messed up girl with serious problems mentally. I guess people then didnt have mirrors because she was ugly.LOL. " | gabriella
United States
Dec.02.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "I Absolutly love this story. Elizabeth Must Of Been Really Messed Up To Do what She Did. As Soon As I Saw The Movie Stay Alive And Heard About Elizabeth I Wanted To Reserch Her And I Did.My Question Would Be Why On Eath Would She Think That Young Girls Blood Made Her Look Younger??" | Jenn
Canada
Nov.19.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "I love the story about ELIZABETH BATHORY. Is it true that she is in America or THATS ONLY A STORY?? Bcuz I've seen the MOVIE "Stay Alive". I dont know if she's in America. I wish I have a time machine and I could go to her Time so that I can see what her face is.. if she is beautiful or not and to know why she killed those innocent young and virgin woman and the girls." | Jessa Angela
Philippines
Nov.01.2008
rates this page 5/5 |
| | " As many have told and heard the tale of Erzebet Bathory I have many reasons to believe her to have been a bloody ruler who used fear to her advantage, so she thought but we never will really know. I like to think she had a kinder side though for my families sake." | Zachary T Millar
United States
Oct.30.2008
rates this page 2/5 |
| | "the blood countess did what she did because she wanted to b beautiful forever and when she felt the blood of he virgin maid on her skin, her skin felt soft so she started to abduct virgin girls and bleed them dry while they were alive that is y Elizabeth did what she did" | Artyom (Artem)
Canada
Oct.25.2008
rates this page 2/5 |
| | "This lady is freaky why would she do something to these poor innocent young girls and women.I think she is psycho, i am a virgin an if someone killed me just because i am they are sick and i hope they go to hell forever. " | Rebecca Collins
United States
Oct.21.2008
rates this page 5/5 |
| | "I think she was accused wrongly. Who knows maybe she had a really good reason for killing the girls. Idk. I love reading about Elizabeth. I find her story and her life catchy.
" | Angela
United States
Oct.06.2008
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "I'm not sure why people keep going on about how she is 'crazy' and 'insane'. Of course she was, I assumed this much would be obvious, she was inbred... Instead of her body being deformed, her mind was more twisted than others... Personally I find her fascinating, she was an incredibly powerful woman. (And I believe there is laws about marrying someone centuries long dead. And she is obviously not back in America.) " |
Australia
Oct.04.2008
rates this page 4/5
|
| | "I have currently been researching the blood countess for a university porject and have found some interesting books that contain official documents of the time. these argue her possible innocence and betrayel from Thurzo over politics and land. As you would know hungary was at war and times were pretty brutal" | person
Australia
Oct.02.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "i can't belive this why would anyone do this. i have the movie and now looking in on this helps me better under stand it more. i just hope when peopel read this they know what it is. Because this is not a game of life... well not for them girl (i feel real bad now) im glad now i know and not later in life... RIGHT people all should know... well anyways i hope its all go over one day... just not know ..." | Cody
United States
Oct.01.2008
rates this page 5/5 |
| | "Elizabeth is crazy, I must admit. But she is a piece of work. There is many stories about her. And this is about the third one I have read today. They all have different point of views and what not, but this one is quite good. This is going to sound weird, but I would like to go back and she how she was and things she did, without her knowing I was there of course. This is a pretty interesting story." | Aspen
United States
Sep.24.2008
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "I have researched Elizabeth Bathory and her cousin Gabor Bathory, as well as the rulers Vlad II and Vlad III who came before the former and on which the Dracula tales a heavily derived from. I am writing a new book about the Bathory family but much more so than that. I'm writing that the Habsburg Family, rulers of Austria, and the Bathory Family, rulers of Hungary, are actually two differents sects of Vampire who have descended from the blood thirsty Druids of the 900 A.D. when the Romans first came to England. If you have any comments, I'd welcome them." | Jonathan
United States
Sep.11.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "killing one person is crazy enough, but six hundred and something is just plain bewildering..." | josie
United States
Sep.05.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "She's a murderer! Her family fought to uphold Christianity against the Turks so she must have known what she was doing was WRONG! What a sick individual." | BeltaineBabe
Canada
Aug.31.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "It is common to think that Elizabeth Bathory bathed in her victims blood, but that could very well be legend what we know is that she did kill many women.
There is a lot of fact mixed in with fiction just like any other story this old so we may never know the truth.The story of Elizabeth is so intriguing to me because it took place at an age when doing anything out of the ordinary was considered witchcraft.and you were tortured and killed anyway if someone didn't like you, even if you were innocent." | lazsia
United States
Aug.09.2008
rates this page 2/5 |
| | "Also, there's a new book out about Elizabeth Bathory, in case you're interested. It's called, "Bathory: Memoir of a Countess" and the ISBN is 1439201749." | Beth McDaniel
United States
Aug.06.2008
rates this page 5/5 |
| | "Elizabeth Bathory is a piece of work. She may have been a murderer, a serial killer, and just plain crazed , but in actually she was just trying to cure aging like almost all women do now. Many people have fetishes. Some vulgar, some very unusual, and some that are just plain incredible. Elizabeths fetishes fell intothe incredible category. Her main issue was that no one told her no. I believe that she was a ela live vampire and should forever be remembered" | Raven
United States
Jul.31.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "ELIZABETH IS SCARY!" | KARREN
United States
Jul.13.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "Watch 'Stay Alive'
It's a recent movie based on Elizabeth Bathory and she looks sooo scary in the movie.It gives me the shivers." | Zahra
United Kingdom
Jul.01.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "hahahaaa, 'Mercedes'...what a name!!!" |
United Kingdom
Jul.01.2008
rates this page 3/5
|
| | "Aunque hay que reconocer que Bathory era una psicopata obsesionada por preservar su belleza y una despota malvada,es tambien un personaje historico muy interesante y sobre todo fascinante.Tambien podia permitirse el "lujo" de hacer lo que hacia gracias a su posicion;en otras circunstancias tal vez no hubiese podido.Su hermano Istvan,su preferido,era aun mas malo que ella.Casi toda la familia Bathory,aunque de gran linaje eran en su mayoria unos tarados.Un tio de Erzebet se dedicaba a morderse su propio cuerpo a bocados,casi todos tenian problemas mentales.No es de extraÒar q esta mujer tambien los padeciera.Tambien sufria toda la familia de ataques de dolor en la cabeza y ojos,curioso verdad?
" | mercedes
Spain
Jun.29.2008
rates this page 2/5 |
| | "Aunque hay que reconocer que Bathory era una psicopata obsesionada por preservar su belleza y una despota malvada,es tambien un personaje historico muy interesante y sobre todo fascinante.Tambien podia permitirse el "lujo" de hacer lo que hacia gracias a su posicion;en otras circunstancias tal vez no hubiese podido.Su hermano Istvan,su preferido,era aun mas malo que ella.Casi toda la familia Bathory,aunque de gran linaje eran en su mayoria unos tarados.Un tio de Erzebet se dedicaba a morderse su propio cuerpo a bocados,casi todos tenian problemas mentales.No es de extraÒar q esta mujer tambien los padeciera.Tambien sufria toda la familia de ataques de dolor en la cabeza y ojos,curioso verdad?
" | mercedes
Spain
Jun.29.2008
rates this page 2/5 |
| | "I think its very interesting reading peoples opinions on miss Elizabet... I've been fascinated about her for years and I've even written a short story on her life - part truth, part fiction.
What I'm drawn too with her is the utter power she had and the fact that she got away with such crimes because she was so highly born...
Now I'm not saying any of what she did was right at all - but it deeply fascinates me. I love learning about torture methods and serial killers - NOT because I look up to them, but because its SO interesting to learn about the darker side of the human psyhe.
Good site and great to read others comments. x" | Rachel
United Kingdom
Jun.23.2008
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "What's her problem? Like really that woman is pyscho." | GG
United States
Jun.07.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "i would just like to mention that Elizaeth didnt really come from the greatest family... they were extremly interred (incest) and though some were ok, the vast majority had various mental defects" | Roni
United States
May.20.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "I reaseach Serial Killers and murder mysteries in me free time, not because I'm sick or twisted, but because the facts interest me. I have found this particular story to be rather interesting. Elizabeth killed over 600 innocent women, all for beauty and so on. Time and time again my friends asked me why this interests me so, it just proves what a terrible world we live in. There is no God, because he wouldn't let people like this rule his Earth" | Jess
United States
May.16.2008
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "hola me parese ver un histotia lo de elizabet fabuloza ya que ella era una mujer total mente loca por matar si misericordia a fortunados aquellos los que viviero para contarlo.. la verdad es todos los que viero a elizabet muriero extraÒamente despues de que ella murio con el rey que queria decapitarla y el que la en cerro en su castillo " | pardo
Mexico
Apr.20.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "This woman MURDERED people... what is it about people idolising a psychopath? She killed over 600 INNOCENT girls all for pleasure and beauty. How sad is that. Well just goes to show that there are A LOT of sad people out there. I listen to my metal and I have piercings and tattoos but you people seriously need help if you think this chick is cool. Bet you wouldn't think she is so cool if she slit your throat and tortured you. I also find this stuff extremely interesting but I really dont think that what she did was right and I dont think that she is cool either. And dude... how can you think she is 'sexy' I am so glad that I dont live in those times cos the people were so UGLY back then. You are just as much of a freak as she is...come on people grow up and get a life for F**K sakes. " | Sam
South Africa
Apr.15.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| | "I have been reasearching a bunch of serial killers lately not bcuz i am a freak but bcuz i like to see the reasons of why they thought this and how they went on doing it...." | sarah
United States
Mar.30.2008
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "countess elizabeth bathory is back and she just moved to amarica" | tyquan fleming
United States
Mar.19.2008
rates this page 4/5 |
| | "well i have been reseaching her 4 a while she has prombles and now today im best friends with her great great great super great granddaughter im going to keep studing her i really wish i could see her point of view well thats it im going to study her more. bye" | Raquel ramirez
United States
Mar.17.2008
rates this page 3/5 |
| |