

When Bathory moved from killing peasant girls to minor noblewomen, the authorities got involved. But this story was first published in 1729 by a Hungarian priest long after Bathory's death.
#Most prolific serial killers skin#
She reportedly claimed to use virgin blood to keep her skin young - she wanted to remain beautiful for her husband. Inevitably, this led to rumors that the countess was a vampire. Perhaps the most notorious legend about Bathory is that she bathed in her victims' blood. The acts she committed ranged from driving needles through her servants' lips and fingernails to leaving her victims naked in the snow, dousing them with water and letting them freeze to death to covering her victims with honey, tying them up and leaving them to be attacked by ants and bees. Bathory's Crimesīathory had a penchant for torturing young girls in particular - historians posit that she was bisexual. What's agreed upon is that Bathory practiced most of her crimes in his absence and that the crimes got worse after he died in 1604. There's speculation that Nadasdy may have taught his wife new torture methods, while other researchers believe he was ignorant of her actions. A soldier, he spent most of his time away from home. One may have been her husband, Ferencz Nadasdy, and others were members of her court.

Accounts describe her penchant for inflicting pain on others and claim that she worked with accomplices. This story underscores two major aspects that may have influenced Bathory: exposure to incredible violence and her family's condoning attitude toward it. Young Elizabeth is said to have seen a captured thief being sewn into the stomach of a dying horse and left to perish. From an early age, she witnessed her father's officers torture the peasantry who lived near her family's estate. She also seems to have suffered from fits and outbursts of rage - possibly even epilepsy. She was well educated, at the time a rarity for girls, and could speak several languages. Elizabeth Bathory, the woman who came to be known as the "Blood Countess," was born into Hungarian nobility in 1560.
