Elizabeth Bathory, was she really bathing in the blood of women she brutally murdered and raped? Is this myth?

Question

I am fascinated by this sanguine story of a female Vlad the Impaler.

Answer 1

That is the rumor. Why would you be fascinated by that?

Answer 2

Elizabeth Bathory, as far as i have read, found that bathing and drinking the blood of young girls kept her young.

She started a Young Girls school and brutally murdered the girls and, bathed and drank the blood.

Evencually she was obviously found out.

But yes, it was based upon fact.

Answer 3

http://bathory.org/ is a great site for information on the Countess. I too am very much into her. There will never be a way to properly see if she bathed in blood or not, due to the fact that it was so long ago, however witness testamony says that she at least rubbed it into her skin on at leats one occusion. The major rumor is this. One day while having her hair brushed, a servant girl, tugged to hard on Bathroy's hair, angered and in a fit of rage, Elizabeth slapped the girl so hard, it drew blood, which landed on her hand, she noticed when she did this, that the skin looked more vibrant, and full of life....thus came the blood baths....so it is said. There is an all Czech fairytale as well of a young girl, who use to bath in virgin goats milk and it kept her youthful looks.....as well.....She was never formally charged however off the record, they found a journal of Elizabeth's siting the rape/murder and torture of over 650 girls.... Hope that helps.

Answer 4

As far as I'm aware its one of those stories that is based on fact but perhaps over the years has been embellished to a certain extent. I know I saw an old Hammer Horror film with her character in it - obviously they didn't show the rape but some soft focus seduction and of course the bathing in the blood. The women had to be virgins of course. There is something very fascinating about having a female who is so strong and has such appetites.

Answer 5

My understanding is that she didn't commit rape on her victims--but the rest is, to the best of my knowledge, true, even though it might have become exaggerated over the centuries.

The bare bones:  she did bathe in the blood of young women in order to retain her beauty.  

It's alleged that she DID make sure they died painfully (and probably slowly), but that could be an embellishment--although I strongly suspect that anyone loopy enough to think she could preserve her looks by bathing in blood would have a few more screws loose as well, so it's by no means out of the question.

Answer 6

Lizabeta Batory was a cousin (3rd or 4th removed if i recall correctly) of Vlad the Impaler. She was married to a powerful and respected prince, hence she got away with things for so long. Her major-domo introduced her to ritual magic, and she became obsessed with staying you, and thought she saw a patch of skin on her hand look younger after blood was spilt on it. She then had he major-domo recruit young girls from all around the area, killing them and bathing in they're blood. given who her husband was, and his relation to the throne, they could not just kill her outright or storm the castle. what they did instead was to brick the castle up, leaving only a small gap so they could put food through occasionally.

Answer 7

It is very much true. I find her interesting too.

Answer 8

The ruling classes always took advantage of their subjects .. and so I venture to say that it could have happened ..  but sometimes people exaggerate these things .

Once upon a time I saw a movie made by Pier Paolo Pasolini .. I think it was called "The 120 days of Sodom" where one of the stories was about Elizabeth Bathory . A very erotic and shocking (not to me) movie .

Answer 9

She was accused of such atrocities, however, there's a good likelyhood that she wasn't all she was cracked up to be, as people tended towards paranoia of the time.

Answer 10

No.  I thought that she bathed in perfume?  I know she loved to be spoilt and would send out her men to slaughter people so she could drink their blood.  And she used to get off on dead carcasses, I think she was a nycropheliac (i think thats how you spell it) - a person who liked to have s*x with dead people.  She was sick as!

Answer 11

Erzsebet(Elizabeth) Bathory, AKA the Blood Countess. !560-1614. She killed approx 612 young women and bathed in their blood in the hopes of staying young. Because of ties to the royalty she could not be put to death. Instead her punishment was to be walled up in her rooms. It is said she went mad.