Erszebet Bathory
Countess Erszebet Bathory or “The Female Dracula” was born into a wealthy Transylvanian family in Nyirbator on 7 August 1560. Her uncle Stefan Bathory was the king of Poland. When she was four or five, Erszebet suffered violent seizures and it is believed that these may have contributed to her later behaviour.
On 8 May 1575 in Varanno she married Count Ferenc Nadasdy, not long after giving birth to a bastard child who was fathered by a peasant. As a wedding gift Nadasdy gave her his home Cachtice Castle, a country villa and 17 villages.
The count was often away fighting in wars against the Ottomans so Erzsebet was often left alone. Bored, she took several lovers and also, thanks to her maid Dorothea ‘Dorko’ Szentes, began an interest in the occult.
In 1585, she gave birth to a daughter Anna, followed by Ursula, Andrew, Katherina and in 1598 her only surviving son, Paul. On 4 January 1604 her husband died aged 47 and the countess began inflicting torture on young girls. She was aided in her evil pursuits by Dorko, Illona Jo, Katarina Benicka and Janos “Ficzko” Ujvary.
She had a blacksmith build a cylinder cage with long metal spikes inside. A busty young girl would be chosen from among her seamstresses and forced to get into the cage which would then be hoisted.
Dorko would stab the girl with red hot pokers. As the unfortunate girl tried to escape being burned she would impale herself on the spikes, much to Erszebet’s sexual pleasure.
With her husband out of the way, Erszrbet’s behaviour knew no bound and it believed that up to 600 young women – many of them with large breasts – died at her hands. Another favourite pastime was to burn the girls’ genitals with candles.
It was in 1602 that rumours first began to spread about what was happening behind the walls of Cachtice Castle. However it was not until 1610 that something was done.
Erszebet Bathory was never formally tried because it would have caused too much scandal. Juraj Thurzo, the Palatine of Hungary, went to the castle on December 30, 1610 and arrested Bathory and four of her servants.
She was placed under house arrest but her servants were questioned on 2 January 1611 and then tried at Bytica on Monday Bytca on Monday 7 January. Dorko, Jo and Ujvary were found guilty and put to death. Dorko and Jo had their fingernails ripped out before they were thrown on fire. Katarina Benicka was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The countess was not convicted of any crime but ordered that she be walled up in her owned castle – all the doors and windows were bricked over, with just small aperture for food to be given.
On 21 August 1614 Erszebet Bathory was found dead.
(Source: 501 Most Notorious Crimes 
