Elizabeth bathory ~The most blood thirsty woman ever resided
Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (Báthory Erzsébet in Hungarian) is recorded as being one of the most prolific serial killers in history, as documented by her entry in the Guinness Book of Records, and is estimated to have brutally tortured and killed between 80 and 650 young women between 1585 and 1610. She was imprisoned in 1610 within Csejte Castle, now in Slovakia, where she remained immured in a set of rooms until her death four years later. The gruesome tale of Elizabeth Bathory has become part of national folklore and the subject of numerous plays, books, and movies. She is often compared with Vlad III the Impaler of Wallachia, on whom the fictional Count Dracula is partly based, and has become known as The Blood Countess. But in recent years, the truth behind these tales has been brought into question and some scholars now argue that Elizabeth Báthory was no murderer, but rather the victim of political betrayal.
Elizabeth Báthory (1560 – 1614 AD) was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary and cousin of the Hungarian noble Stefan Báthory, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Duke of Transylvania. She was born on a family estate in Nyírbátor, Hungary, and spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle.
At the age of 15, Elizabeth was married to Ferenc Nádasdy, the son of Baron, in what was likely a political arrangement within the circles of the aristocracy. Nádasdy's wedding gift to Báthory was his home, Csejte Castle. However, only three years after their marriage, Nádasdy became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Ottomans, and in 1604, Ferenc died at the age of 48, reportedly due to an unknown illness or a battle wound. During the war, and after Ferenc’s death, Elizabeth was left to run the Nádasdy estate, including management of its defence, business affairs, and upkeep, which would have been no easy task. It was during these years that Elizabeth was said to have gone on a brutal killing spree.
