I am so thankful that we live in a time of forensic
technology to help bring justice to those who commit heinous crimes, and
exonerate those who are innocent. Not so long ago, this wasn’t the case, and
even as recent as World War II and a few decades beyond, someone could be
incarcerated for someone accusing someone else of a crime.
Whether it be an
accusation reported to the Nazi Gestapo or accusing your neighbors of being
communists, these were some hard times for the innocent. This type of accusation
resulting in someone being incarcerated or even killed goes back throughout
history, and with no way of any other definitive evidence able to be gained,
there were likely many innocent people persecuted, and even killed.
Now, don’t get me wrong, throughout history there have been
some truly evil people who walked among us. These people created some of the
most heinous scenarios and have found a place of infamy in history. This has
been proven time and again with the likes of Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein,
Osama Bin Laden, and most recently, ISIS.
But, what if there were some that
gained infamy for being evil actually had never done any of the things they are
feared for? What if there were conspiracies that impacted these people in such
negative ways for history to remember for all time? That may in fact be the
case with my newest story for History’s Mysteries.
From 1585-1609 in Hungary there was a woman who would become
Guinness Book of World Records most infamous female serial killer of all time.
Traditional historical references show that this woman was potentially
responsible for the murders of 650 victims. That would average to about 27
victims per year, over two per month!
Through the testimony of over 300
witnesses and skeletons and cadavers found, as well as the report that she was
caught in the act of torturing another victim right before being arrested.
Seems fairly open and shut, but what if the facts aren’t completely accurate?
Born on August 7, 1560, Elizabeth Báthory (Erzsébet Báthory),
grew up at Ecsed Castle in Hungary. She was the niece of a Hungarian nobleman
named, Stephen Báthory who was King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and
the Prince of Transylvania. Throughout her early life she became very educated
and had all the perks of being a privileged woman.
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| Elizabeth Báthory |
When Elizabeth was eleven-years-old, she was engaged to
Ferenc Nádasdy who was the son of a baron. They eventually married when
Elizabeth was fifteen-years-old, though Elizabeth refused to give up her last
name. 4,500 guests attended their wedding on May 8, 1575 at the palace of
Varannó, and she moved with her new husband to Nádasdy Castle where she spent
much of her time alone while her husband was studying abroad in Vienna.
By 1578, Elizabeth’s had become the chief commander of the
Hungarian troops and went to war with the Ottomans. She was alone again at the
castle over a fiefdom and had to handle all of the business and estates.
Through this she was responsible for the Hungarian and Slovakian people and
even provided medical care for many of them. She would risk her own health to
take care of the ailing and was able to nurse many back to health.
She
practiced medicine and even surgeries and this is a possibility to some of the
reports of death attributed to Elizabeth. There is even conjecture that she
performed abortions and this held a great embarrassment and those women
wouldn’t come forward when Elizabeth was arrested. She was even reported to go to the aid of
women who were destitute, and one that had reportedly been raped.
Needless to say, Elizabeth ran the kingdom most of the time
while her husband was either away studying or fighting wars. Her husband became
disabled in 1603 from an unknown illness and died on January 4, 1604. In his
will, he gave his heirs and Elizabeth the kingdom and castle and entrusted this
to György Thurzó. Now, remember this last name as it will be important later in
this story.
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| Depiction of Elizabeth Bathing in Blood |
She was even reported to take the daughters of lesser gentry
under the guise of teaching them etiquette and killing them as well. Reports
were coming in of witnesses seeing the mutilated bodies, burial sites, and two
witnesses even stated they had seen her torturing young girls.
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| György Thurzó |
Soon after his appointment, he assigned two notaries to get
witness statements between 1610 and 1611, and they came in with 300 witnesses.
On December 30, 1610, György Thurzó arrested Elizabeth and
four of her servants on the suspicion of torture and murder of adolescent girls
from the village. According to early reports, when they went to arrest
Elizabeth and her servants, they saw one girl who was already deceased, one
that was close to dying, and another girl imprisoned.
Initially, Elizabeth was
confined to her castle under house arrest. King Matthias II wanted her to be
convicted and sentenced to death, but György Thurzó stepped in and stated that
may not be the best idea at the time.
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| Csejte Castle where Elizabeth was imprisoned |
On January 2, 1611, the trial of Elizabeth and her servants
began. Many witnesses gave testimony, evidence was presented of body parts, and
every one of Elizabeth’s servants testified against her, save one. The numbers
of Elizabeth’s victims ranged anywhere between 50 and 650, with the final
number being somewhere around 80.
Her servants were found guilty and their
executions were carried out shortly after. Two of the servants were tortured
and then burned at the stake, while the other was beheaded and his body burned.
Elizabeth was remanded to solitary confinement at her castle and one night she
told the guard that her hands were extremely cold and he told her not to worry
about it, and the next day, August 22, 1614, Elizabeth was found dead in her
cell. She was buried in a local cemetery
but this caused an uproar, and she was dug up and re-interred in her family
crypt where she was born.
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| Elizabeth's Gravestone |
So, here we are 403 years later and most believe the reports
of the infamous Elizabeth Báthory. Through history, Elizabeth has been dubbed
the Blood Countess or Countess Dracula due to her supposed infatuation with
blood and using it to rejuvenate herself. There are some theories that some of
her supposed actions led to some of the lore for Dracula. Elizabeth has become
the monster of legends and folklore, literature, and movies have touched on
this lore as a way to scare people. Did Elizabeth actually torture and kill all
these girls, or was she set up?
A theory has been emerging for years about this exact
question. It has been posited that Elizabeth was merely the victim of political
power-grabbing and was the cannon fodder for some to gain lands, money, and
power. It is conjecture that György Thurzó was paramount in Elizabeth being
found guilty and effectively stripped of power and good notoriety and likely
vilified her throughout history.
In a previous story I stated that history
is written by the victors, well who could argue with 300 witnesses and reports
of heinous crimes? Elizabeth sure couldn’t as she had been discredited and
imprisoned in solitary confinement.
There is also potential religious conflict
with the Catholic faith and the spread of Protestantism being spread by
Elizabeth that could have contributed to accusations being made to discredit
Elizabeth. We have seen in the past how political and religious convictions can
entrap people and effectively take them down, could this have happened to
Elizabeth? Another fine example of History’s Mysteries.
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