Elizabeth Báthory

Elizabeth Báthory

Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (Báthory Erzsébet in Hungarian) is recorded as being one of the most prolific serial killers in history, as documented by her entry in the Guinness Book of Records, and is estimated to have brutally tortured and killed between 80 and 650 young women between 1585 and 1610. She was imprisoned in 1610 within Csejte Castle, now in Slovakia, where she remained immured in a set of rooms until her death four years later. The gruesome tale of Elizabeth Bathory has become part of national folklore and the subject of numerous plays, books, and movies. She is often compared with Vlad III the Impaler of Wallachia, on whom the fictional Count Dracula is partly based, and has become known as The Blood Countess. But in recent years, the truth behind these tales has been brought into question and some scholars now argue that Elizabeth Báthory was no murderer, but rather a strong woman turned into the victim of political betrayal.

Update this biography »
Complete biography of Elizabeth Báthory »