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More than 400 years have passed since the death of the Hungarian aristocrat "Bloody Countess,” said to be the most prolific female serial killer in history, but the truth remains unsolved.
Elisabeth Báthory is said to have tortured and murdered up to 650 young women and girls in her castle on a steep mountaintop in what is now Čachtice in western Slovakia, willing to bathe in the blood of her victims for her beliefs. This gave rise to a terrifying legend. It will help her stay young.
Rumors of Báthory’s cruelty spread throughout the Kingdom of Hungary in the early 17th century, and after a royal investigation, four of her servants were found guilty of murder and brutally executed. The Bloody Countess was arrested and confined within the walls of the castle until her death in 1614.
A painting by Elisabeth Bathory seen at the Draskovic Museum in Čakhtice, Slovakia, on Sunday, October 20, 2024. Bella Zandersky/AP
The spooky story of Bathory has captivated imaginations and sparked speculation for centuries, spawning books, movies, television series, and local legends. But some researchers have questioned whether she was truly responsible for this alleged act of barbarity, and that she, as a wealthy and powerful woman in late Renaissance Europe, was a victim herself. This suggests that he may have been a person.
“Was Bathory a serial killer who tormented and tortured 650 young women just for pleasure?” British author and academic Anushka, who recently published a novel about a wealthy countess. -Bailey asked. “I’m pretty sure it’s what we call a stitching job in England.”
Mr Bailey, author of The Bloody Countess and associate professor of arts and creativity at the University of Cambridge, said the common narrative of Bartley as a serial killer was unsupported by the available evidence and that ‘women as monsters ”, he said.
She believed that Bathory was not a murderer, but a subversive who posed a threat to the kingdom’s power structure, especially given evidence that she taught many young women to read and may have owned a printing press. He argues that he may have been a person. she lived there.
Countess Elizabeth Bathory de Ecsed (August 7, 1560 – August 21, 1614) was a countess of the famous Hungarian aristocratic Bathory family. She is considered the most prolific female serial killer in history, although her number of murders is debated, and she is remembered as the “Bloody Countess.” Apic/Bridgeman via Getty Images
“You have to remember, these were the times of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, where people were being burned at the stake for their heretical beliefs.”Printing presses began to flourish throughout Europe. gave people access to a much wider range of information, and this was considered extremely dangerous,” Bailey said.
"That's enough. Whoa, wait a minute. Let’s pause here and investigate.”
Báthory was born into an aristocratic family in 1560 and married Ferenc Nádády, a wealthy Hungarian nobleman, in 1575, and the couple controlled major wealth and land throughout the kingdom. Nadadi was a prominent military figure and a key figure in regaining control of much of Hungary’s land that had been occupied by the Ottoman Empire.
But after Nadadi’s sudden death in 1604, Báthory inherited his land and wealth, leaving him with “a Jeff Bezos-style fortune,” according to Bailey.
Baillie and other scholars point to her fortune and position of power as potential motivations for other influential figures of the time to destroy her and usurp her wealth.
Ms. Bathory’s refusal to remarry after her husband’s death and her work in educating young women “should be a wake-up call to those in power,” Ms. Bailey said.
Skepticism about Bartley’s guilt is not limited to academic circles, and the question may remain polarizing in the Slovakian village of Čachtice, where the atrocity is said to have taken place. Uncertainty about Mr Bathory’s burial location has also generated speculation. She is believed to have been buried in a crypt beneath a local church, but there are rumors that her body has since been moved and the church has not allowed an exhumation.
A local museum dedicated to the Countess of Čachtice, a group of tourists and villagers climbing the rocky hill to the castle above the town, is reminded of the power that the Countess’ legend still wields over the region. It’s proof.
But local farmer Ivan Piska said the power of Báthory’s story may be diminishing as generations pass.
“There are legends about Elisabeth Bathory, and relatively bloodthirsty legends about the girls she tortured and killed,” he said. “Older people believe these stories, but younger people may not know much about them.”
Bailey believes that popular culture has had an unwarranted fascination with the most gruesome and violent stories for centuries, and that history has often stigmatized women in power.
With a “counter-narrative” to Bartley’s story, she said she hopes to provide a measure of justice for her and all others that history may have unfairly condemned.
“She deserves better and we all deserve better,” Bailey said. “Will justice for Bathory 500 years from now mean ‘she didn’t do it’? Or will justice for Bathory actually cancel out the monster trope for all women and all men? ”
