Basic Info:
Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Esced
Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer
Born- August 7, 1560
Died- August 21, 1614
Span of crimes- 1590-1609
Husband- Ferenc Nádasdy
Nicknames: Blood Countess, Countess Dracula

Childhood:
Elizabeth was born into a rich and Protestant family in Hungary. Her family controlled Transylvania and her uncle was king of Poland. She grew up at her family's castle in Escéd, Hungary.

She had a history of disturbed family members. One of her uncles taught her satanism and her aunt taught her about sadomasochism.

Marriage:
She married Count Ferenc Nádasdy in 1575 when she was 15 years old and moved to Castle C̆achtice, which was a wedding gift from her new husband's family. They had four children between the years of 1585-1595. Her husband reportedly built her a torture chamber, wanting to please his wife.

Her husband died in 1604 and rumors about Elizabeth began to spread. She was becoming infamous for these rumors of supposedly torturing and murder of servants and peasants.

Investigations:
People began talking about her cruelty and there were claims that she'd been responsible for the deaths of various women. Her cousin, György Thurzó, was ordered by the king to investigate these accusations.

Her cousin did a thorough investigation and concluded that Elizabeth had tortured and killed over 600 girls with the help of her servants.

Torture and Murdere:
Her torture methods included jamming needles or pins under fingernails of servants tying them down, smearing honey on their bodies and leaving them outside to be attacked by insects. The count was said to have participated in some of these cruelties, but made a few attempts to stop her.

She became much worse after his death in 1604. She began kidnapping peasant girls with the help of a nurse and some servants. She would often bite chunks of flesh off of her victims, and one girl was even forced to cook and eat her own flesh.

Elizabeth Báthory supposedly believed that the blood of all these girls would keep her looking youthful, and she would bathe in their blood.

Because of her family's connections, her crimes were ignored until 1610. King Matthias of Hungary had to intervene because Elizabeth started seeking out the daughters of nobles.

Trial and Death:
Elizabeth and her servants were out on trial in January of 1611 for 80 counts of murder. Although the highest number of victims cited at the trial was 650. No one is sure of the exact number of people she tortured and killed.

The stories of her cruelty were proven by over 300 witnesses as well as the physical evidence of bodies of mutilated girls found.

All were found guilty and several for executed. Báthory was not among those executed. She lived out the rest of her days in a small confined room of the castle, until she was found dead in August of 1614.

Cool Facts:
• some people say she inspired Dracula by Bram Stoker, but there's no evidence to support this
• some witnesses accused her of cannibalism (a very possible accusation) and others accused her of having sex with the devil (a slightly less possible accusation)
• no one is sure about the legend of her bathing in the blood of her victims. It may have been based on fact, but it could jut be a legend
• one of the witnesses said they saw a book written by Elizabeth, recording each of her 650 victims. This book was never found
• some historians believe that she was completely innocent and some power hungry nobles framed her for this crime. They support this by the fact that King Matthias owed Elizabeth's late husband a debt and to avoid paying it, had her imprisoned and accused of murder instead

Movies and More:
There's a really good episode of the Lore TV series on Amazon about her, and there's probably one of the podcast about her too.

There's several different movies about her, but I haven't seen any of them. There's also many nonfiction books about her.