Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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Caution! Today's article is not necessarily suitable for children!
The Fall Of The "Blood Countess" ...!
On December 29, 1610, Count Georg Thurzo von Bethlenfalva ...
... with a troop of soldiers led by him and an angry crowd ...
... the castle of Čachtice (then Hungary, now Slovakia) ...
... where the early widowed Countess Elisabeth Báthory von Ecsed lives ...:
The order to do so came from "at the top", namely from King Matthias II of Hungary (and at the same time Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire) himself!
During the search of the property, Count Georg Thurzo and his people found their worst fears confirmed: Countless corpses, body parts and prisoners (all girls) were found!
Countess Báthory, who was already popularly known as "Blood Countess" at this time, is said to often bathe in the blood of young women who had recently been killed in order to keep herself young ...
The countess is arrested immediately.
Again on the orders of the King of Hungary, the countess is not simply cut back a head, but there are due legal proceedings against her and four of her helpers in the city of Bytča (now Slovakia).
The first trial is against the wet nurse of the count's children, Helena Jó, their caretaker Johannes Ujváry, the laundress Katharina Beneczky and the chambermaid Dorothea Szentes.
A fifth accused can no longer be brought to justice: the servant Anna Darvula was killed in the storming of the castle.
All of the defendants initially give full testimony voluntarily, but are then "questioned" again under the torture in order to "check" their statements:
The logs show that Countess Báthory lured many young girls to her castles in order to torture them naked to death in many ways ...:
According to the statements, Báthory and her assistants practiced the following torture methods:
Shackles, beatings and whipping to death, cuts with scissors, stabs with needles, burns with hot iron and water, pouring water over the frost, burning oil paper between the toes, slaps in the face and knife wounds.
Dorothea said she knew about 36 girls killed.
Another witness stated that, to her knowledge, over 80 girls were killed in the Countess's castle.
The punishments of the four defendants are correspondingly drastic:
Dorothea and Helena have their anterior phalanges cut off and both are then burned alive.
Johannes is beheaded and his body is then burned at the stake.
Katharina gets away with her life, as she is partially relieved, but remains under lock and key for life.
Then there is the main trial against the "Blood Countess" herself. The obvious can no longer be denied!
And although King Matthias II demands a death sentence, he does not get it - after all, the countess is indeed a cruel murderess on many occasions, but also from the nobility, which played a not insignificant role at the time.
She is spared mutilation by the executioner and the subsequent execution, but not a life sentence.
She is kept imprisoned in one of the tower rooms of her castle until her death - but it is a legend that she was actually walled up there!
Elizabeth Countess Báthory dies in her cell on August 21, 1614 - a few days earlier she had made her will ...:
Die "Blutgräfin wird am 25. November an der Kirche zu Čachtice beigesetzt.
There are many people who say that there would have been neither a trial nor a verdict if the "blood countess" - as at the beginning of her murderous career - had only attacked simple girls from the population.
Only when she began to kill noble young women did the authorities take action ...
Today - I found out when researching her on the internet - the Countess Báthory in the Sado Maso scene seems to enjoy a similarly stimulating reputation as Dracula does among vampire fans.
Her castle exists up to today, but is now in ruins ...:
In any case, the horror story is being marketed comprehensively for tourists in her home country ...
The Fall Of The "Blood Countess" ...!
On December 29, 1610, Count Georg Thurzo von Bethlenfalva ...
... with a troop of soldiers led by him and an angry crowd ...
... the castle of Čachtice (then Hungary, now Slovakia) ...
... where the early widowed Countess Elisabeth Báthory von Ecsed lives ...:
The order to do so came from "at the top", namely from King Matthias II of Hungary (and at the same time Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire) himself!
During the search of the property, Count Georg Thurzo and his people found their worst fears confirmed: Countless corpses, body parts and prisoners (all girls) were found!
Countess Báthory, who was already popularly known as "Blood Countess" at this time, is said to often bathe in the blood of young women who had recently been killed in order to keep herself young ...
The countess is arrested immediately.
Again on the orders of the King of Hungary, the countess is not simply cut back a head, but there are due legal proceedings against her and four of her helpers in the city of Bytča (now Slovakia).
The first trial is against the wet nurse of the count's children, Helena Jó, their caretaker Johannes Ujváry, the laundress Katharina Beneczky and the chambermaid Dorothea Szentes.
A fifth accused can no longer be brought to justice: the servant Anna Darvula was killed in the storming of the castle.
All of the defendants initially give full testimony voluntarily, but are then "questioned" again under the torture in order to "check" their statements:
The logs show that Countess Báthory lured many young girls to her castles in order to torture them naked to death in many ways ...:
According to the statements, Báthory and her assistants practiced the following torture methods:
Shackles, beatings and whipping to death, cuts with scissors, stabs with needles, burns with hot iron and water, pouring water over the frost, burning oil paper between the toes, slaps in the face and knife wounds.
Dorothea said she knew about 36 girls killed.
Another witness stated that, to her knowledge, over 80 girls were killed in the Countess's castle.
The punishments of the four defendants are correspondingly drastic:
Dorothea and Helena have their anterior phalanges cut off and both are then burned alive.
Johannes is beheaded and his body is then burned at the stake.
Katharina gets away with her life, as she is partially relieved, but remains under lock and key for life.
Then there is the main trial against the "Blood Countess" herself. The obvious can no longer be denied!
And although King Matthias II demands a death sentence, he does not get it - after all, the countess is indeed a cruel murderess on many occasions, but also from the nobility, which played a not insignificant role at the time.
She is spared mutilation by the executioner and the subsequent execution, but not a life sentence.
She is kept imprisoned in one of the tower rooms of her castle until her death - but it is a legend that she was actually walled up there!
Elizabeth Countess Báthory dies in her cell on August 21, 1614 - a few days earlier she had made her will ...:
Die "Blutgräfin wird am 25. November an der Kirche zu Čachtice beigesetzt.
There are many people who say that there would have been neither a trial nor a verdict if the "blood countess" - as at the beginning of her murderous career - had only attacked simple girls from the population.
Only when she began to kill noble young women did the authorities take action ...
Today - I found out when researching her on the internet - the Countess Báthory in the Sado Maso scene seems to enjoy a similarly stimulating reputation as Dracula does among vampire fans.
Her castle exists up to today, but is now in ruins ...:
In any case, the horror story is being marketed comprehensively for tourists in her home country ...
