Erzsébet

Legend has it that Erzsébet slapped one of her maids after the latter pulled a little too hard on her hair while combing it. This blow left a drop of blood on Erzsébet's hand. As the drop slowly crept down her skin, Erzsébet noticed that the blood made her skin look much younger and more vital. This gave her the idea that the blood of young virgins gave her the key to eternal youth.

In the following years, she tortured and murdered more than 600 young girls for the purpose of bathing in and drinking their blood. This earned her the nicknames “Blood Countess” and “Countess Dracula.” When Palace Count György Thurzó invaded Báthory Castle in 1610 by order of the king and arrested her, Erzsébet was saved from the death penalty by her family's good name. She was locked up for life in a few rooms of her castle. Her four principal servants did receive the death penalty.

Báthory's trial was supported by many gruesome testimonies. However, much of the testimony came from her heirs who obviously benefited from her death. Some maids, by the way, testified that there were never any murders. Indeed, torture of domestic servants by the wealthy was commonplace at the time. Indeed, there is even evidence that Erzsébet did not torture the young girls, but offered them medical assistance. And the massacres were no more than herbs that colored the bath water red.

The fact remains that Erzsébet was condemned and died in solitude. But was she really the bloodiest serial killer of all time? The truth died with her in the rooming house.