Lets have some facts now then.

Perhaps the most famous name that springs to mind when we think of vampires is Vlad Dracul.Other wise known as Count Dracula,Vlad the Impaler and a few other names too.
But for now we will look at another figure that is probably more famous than even The Count himself.
A noblewoman born in Hungary in 1560.
We will take a look at none other than 'The Bloody Countess' herself.
Elizabeth Bathory.
Born into a powerful family who owned more than enough land in Transylvania did she really stand a chance of leading a normal life?
Take into consideration the fact that a few members of her family were mentally insane,perverted and at least one member who was known to be a devil worshipper.
Did this contribute to the life she lead?
Let us look at the events in question.
In 1575 she was married to Count Ferencz Nadasdy.He was 25 and she was 15.
Once married they took up residence in Castle Csejthe.A mountaintop castle found in north west Hungary,which loomed over the village of Csejthe.
Count Nadasdy spent weeks and even months away from home fighting the Turks.
Being a fearless warrior and great fighter helped earn him the nickname 'Black Hero of Hungary'.
It was during the long lonely periods seperated from her husband that the Countess began her numerous affairs with young men and her obsession with her beauty.
During one affair she even ran away with a lover but soon returned where she knew she was best off.She returned to the Count who forgave her and welcomed her home.
But the Count returned to his wars and the Countess develpoed more 'extra marital' interests.Namely that of visiting the estate of an Aunt.One Countess Klara Bathory.
Klara was an open bisexual and it is rumoured that Elizabeth was 'introduced' to this side of herself too.It is unclear as to the exact details of these events but people have their suspicions.
Around this time a maid of the Countess,Dorothea Szentes,introduced Elizabeth to the Black Arts.Dorothea was an experienced witch and taught Elizabeth the ways of the Occult.Such rituals included the sacrifice of animals including horses,chickens and various other animlas.
Now introduced and getting well versed in the Black Arts Elizabeth's obsession with sadism and her own beauty began.
Her obsession grew stronger with one event.
Elizabeth gathered a little group together to help her in her reign of terror.
This group was made up of a maid,Anna Darvula,rumoured to be Elizabeth's lover,a nurse she had known for some years Iloona Joo,Johannes Ujvary her manservant and her Black Arts tutor and maid,the afore mentioned Dorothea Szentes.
With this murderous group now in effect the Countess devised her plans to help her pleasure in sadism.
In the years that followed the Countess tortured and killed many maidens for her own pleasures.Their deaths providing her with the means to satisfy her sadisist tendancies..
Various means were employed to inflict pain upon these innocent young girls.
They would be stripped naked and whipped by the Countess.Whipped on their fronts so the Countess could watch the effect of the pain on the girls faces.Also she would slash their bodies with knives,jab them with needles(especially in sensitive areas such as under finger and toe nails,arm pits and various other places).
She derived great pleasure from the pain she inflicted upon these girls and this sadism continued for many years.
The real turning point that turned her obsession into a quest to remain youthful happened after Count Nadasdy died in 1600.

After the Counts death things took a turn for the worse for the young girls.
The Countess moved her mother-in-law(who she hated) out of the castle and she was now free to persue her sadism without her husbands or mother-in-laws interference.
Her blood obsession closely followed.
One day as a maid had finished brushing Elizabeths hair,Elizabeth inspected it.She was less than pleased with the results.Angered at the girls lack of ability she struck the maiden.The blow connected with the girls face,Bathory was holding scissors at the time.The result was that the Countess was sprayed with blood.Upon washing the blood from her hands she examined the skin that had been covered and felt it was softer and more youthful in apperance.Being as she had just turned 40,and time had been very unkind to her,this belief was a desperate grasp at gaining the youthfulness she once held so dear.This was to be the start of the reign of the 'Bloody Countess'.
With this belief firmly planted in Elizabeth's head the murderous group she had gathered now had their work laid out before them.
Their goal was now to keep the Countess in blood supplies for her lust for youthful looks.
Make up was not good enough anymore for Elizabeth.She needed more.Blood was the answer.or so she believed.Being as many religions believe that blood is life,the Countess believed that it was the life and means to a youthful apperance.
With the help of Johannes and Dorothea she had the girl held over a vat.Her arteries were then cut and the three waited as the blood drained from the girl.Once the girl was dead Elizabeth bathed in the blood from her body.Her persuit for youth through young girls blood had begun.
In the next ten years that followed the Countess murdered and tortured many young girls.Elizabeths murderous posse employed young girls from nearby towns and villages as maids and help.The young girls not knowing that a fate far worse was to await them.The torture proceeded as before but now with meaures to ensure the blood was saved for the Countesses looks.The torture was never quick either.The Contess made sure that it lasted weeks,sometimes even months.Long,slow,painful deaths.The Countess even indulged in a new pleasure.Sadism and persuit of youth combined.Cages were hung in a room and the Countess would stand naked under them.The cages contained young girls who were stabbed with spikes and various implements to make them bleed.The Countess then indulged in blood showers as the maidens bled to death,or worse,survived for yet another such ordeal.The Countess indulged in these practices for many years.
Then in her quest for youth she began to get fussy.The blood from peasant girls was not enough anymore.She needed noble girls to feed her obsession.A mistake as these girls would be missed.People in the village of Csejthe were already beginning to talk about the rumours of the castle.So were the neighbouring villages.These rumours worked their way steadily to the Hungarian empire.By which time they had grow from rumours to facts with circumstantional evidence.
Upon hearing these rumours and investigating the rumours the empire found that these girls had indeed gone missing and all had been rumoured to work in the castle.
The Emporor ordered Count Coyorgy Thurzo,Elizabeth's cousin,the governer of the area,to raid Castle Csejthe and find out if the rumours were true.
On the night of December 30th 1610,the castle was raided by Count Thurzo.Upon entry the troop were mortified.There in the main hall was a young girl.She was lying dead on the floor,drained of all her blood.They also found a girl w who had had her body peirced but was still alive.The troop listened to her stories of utter horror and investigated the castle further.Making their way to the dungeon they found girls in cells.All placed there until their the Countess wanted more blood.Some of the girls had already been tortured and were placed there til their time was near again.Upon further investigation they found between 30 and 60 girls below the castle.

In 1611 a trial was held.Elizabeths four accomplices were brought to trial and sentenced to death.Each death penalty was passed according to the part played in the crimes.
During the trial a report was found at the castle which placed the deaths in the region of 630-660 girls.Records had been kept to their crimes!!!!!!
Also Erzsi Majorova was sentenced to death in her part.She took the bodies from the Countess and disposed of them for a fee.
It also came to light in the trial that there were rumours the Countess had bitten young girls to obtain blood and that she drank it.
As Elizabeth was of noble blood she was not allowed to have the death sentence by law.
Instead they passed a sentence some might think of as much worse.
She was allowed to live.Although her existence til death was to be lived walled up in one room of the castle.With only a space for food to be passed to her,a few slits for air and absolutly no contact with the outside world.
In 1614 one of Elizabeths jailers saw that her food had been untouched.
Upon investigation they saw that the Countess was lying face down on the floor,dead.
Finally the reign of the 'Bloody Countess' was over.She had carried out her crimes in that castle and had paid for them there too.
The documents from the case were opened many years later but were found to be incomplete.Pieces were missing.
And so the 'Bloody Countess' has gone down in history as the most sadistic and warped vampire to ever walk the earth.
So I say again.......seeing as her family had a history of mental problems was she merely twisted or was it in her genes?
Does it strike you as even weirder when I tell you that one of her relatives,a Prince Steven Bathory,was a commanding officer who helped Count Vlad Dracula claim the throne to Wallachia just over 100 hundred years before she was born?
Coincidence or fate?
I will let you decide.

Death Tower

The City Below the Castle