Time for some history. Personally, I’m not a fan of this subject. But this particular story got me hooked. Enjoy!
A woman named Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1614) believed that beauty was very important. She would do anything, even cruel things, as long as her actions could make her beauty imperishable.
As the daughter of the most famous and rich royal family in Hungary at that time, Bathory needed to always look beautiful and charming. However, when she turned 40 years old, Bathory realized her beauty starting to fade. Her skin showed signs of aging resembling wrinkles and black spots.
These changes are very common for woman her age. But, to Bathory, she couldn’t accept that. In her perspective, her beauty had to remain in any way that could be done.
One day, a housemaid accidentally pulled Bathory’s hair while brushing. This made her very angry and slapped the poor housemaid in the face. Blood came out of the chaste virgin’s nose and a few drops fell into Bathory’s hands.
Oddly, as bathory saw the virgin’s blood, it was as if she was possessed and she started believing that the blood emitted a light of ‘youth’. She instantly ordered to of her workers to tie the girl’s hands above a bath tub and slit her wrists.
After the bath tub was full of the virgin’s blood, Bathory immediately went in and bathed in the in it. From that very day, she was sure that the secret of youth that she had been looking for was discovered, a virgin’s blood would make her young eternally.
As a result of that particular belief, all the girls that worked for her were murdered. As if that was not enough, she also invited girls to work in her palace and they were turned into victims as the girls before.
Not satisfies with only bathing with blood, she also drank the victim’s blood, in her perspective it was for inner beauty. Soon, Bathory felt that the quality of the village girls were very low, she started targeting on noble girls.
The disappearances of these girls soon began to spread and captured the attention of many noblemen and family of the royal. An investigation was done upon these disappearances and soon was lead to Bathory as a suspect.
On the 30th of December 1610, King Mathias directed an invasion into Bathory’s place. They were instantly stunned in the view of the horrifying situation in that palace. A pale faced girl was lying on a dining table. Whilst another girl was still alive but her wrists had been slit and her body was tied to a pillar in the bathroom. Dozens of other victims were also found in other rooms in the palace, waiting for their turns to be murdered.
A further investigation was made in the basements. Over 50 bodies were discovered. Many were already starting to rot. Given this evidence, Bathory and four of her workers were arrested. They were sentenced to death except for Bathory. Because of her royal status, she had immunity to the law. Instead, she was punished jail in her own room for the rest of her life.
Slaves were commanded to close all the doors and windows in Bathory’s room with walls. What was left was only a small hole to put through food and drinks every day. However, this case wasn’t closed just yet. The police were still investigating and gathering over 300 witnesses including palace guards and saved victims from 1610 until 1611.
According to all witnesses, normally Bathory would kill her servants with beating, burning, letting them starve, slitting wrists, biting the face, arm, and other parts of the body. The most shocking thing was, in Bathory’s 32 paged diary that is now keeped in the Hungary national archives in Budapest, at least more than 650 girls have been a victim, of her obsession for beauty.
The amount of these victims had angered many citizens. These inhumane actions have brought up many questions about why the woman would do such a brutal thing. If the reason was just to maintain her attractiveness, this belief was very muddled and a waste of time.
Could it be that her actions were effected by a devil or could she be mentally disordered? In the end, many people believed this widow whose husband passed away in the age of 20 was disturbed or crazy.
In the year 1614, exactly 4 years after Bathory had been imprisoned, she was eventually found dead in her locked room with her face to the ground. However, even after her death, this mysterious women was still remembered as the “Blood Queen. Her habits of drinking blood even gave her the nickname “Vampire”. In these modern days, Bathory is still labeled as the most cruel serial killer in the history of mankind.
(KP)
Ahhh.. If only History could always be this interesting, maybe I could actually get more than a C. Still, I personally Think Bathory was possessed. What do you think?
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