Famous Serial Killers , Elizabeth Bathory

Elizabeth Bathory born August 5th 1560 may quite possibly have been the most prolific female serial killer in the history of the world. She is credited with having killed over 600 young women. She killed them to get their blood to bathe in as she believed that the blood of the young women would keep her young forever. She was a Countess in the Bathory family and lived in what is now Slovakia.

She is also known as the Bloody Countess and as the Bloody Lady of Cachtice. In the region today where she once lived she is known as Countess Dracula. It is said that she would bathe in the blood of virgins thinking that if she did that she would remain forever young.Many people at the time made the claim that she was a vampire.

It was after her husbands death that she and four people who helped her with her evil ways were arrested and charged with the death and torture of hundreds of young women. Several witnesses that testified at her trial said that she was responsible for the deaths of over 600 young women most of them virgins. And many of them as young as 12.

It was in Cachtice Castle in present day Slovakia where Elizabeth Bathory was bricked up into four rooms with only a small hole to pass a bucket and food in and out. She lived for four years in her prison before she died on August 21 1614. When she died the small hole was bricked up and was not opened again until the castle was badly damaged in the Second World War. Her skeleton was removed from the castle and she was buried in an unmarked grave in the castle yard.

Elizabeth Bathory was convicted of the murder of 80 young women and her four associates were convicted as well. She was forced to watch as they had their fingernails ripped out , and then they were thrown alive into a fire where they burned to death  before being bricked up in Cachtice Castle. The only thing that spared her life was the fact that she was of Royal blood. So she was ordered walled up in Cachtice Castle for the remainder of her life. She lasted for four years. She was never again allowed to look at herself in a mirror because of her crimes and her lust for youth by bathing in the blood of her victims. It is said that the authorities at the time made sure their was nothing in her rooms that she could see herself in and her guards were deaf and mute. It was ordered that she was never to hear human speech again. It has long been the rumor that she died screaming and trying to dig through the castle walls with her hands.

It is said that Elizabeth Bathory was one of the cruelest serial killers of all time as most of her young victims faced severe torture before they were killed and their blood was drained for the Countess to bathe in. It is said that she would bite the flesh off of her victims faces , genitals and other body parts. And she tortured her victims with large needles that she would heat red hot in a fire. There was testimony given at the trial of the Countess that she had a book that listed the names of over 650 of her young victims but the book was not found. If so then she truly was the most prolific female serial killer in the history of the world.