Elizabeth Bathory was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of Hungarian nobility. Although the number of murders is debated, she has been labeled the most prolific female serial killer in history.
Known as “The Blood Countess”, she reportedly murdered over 650 young girls between the years 1585 and 1610., draining them of their blood and bathing in it in order to achieve eternal youth and beauty. She inflicted severe beatings, burning or mutilation of hands, biting the flesh off the faces, arms and other body parts, freezing or starving to death, sexual abuse, and the use of needles against the girls (many of whom were daughters of peasants) as forms of torture.
After her arrest on December 30th, 1610, she was found guilty in the murders of 60 servant girls. As punishment, she was confined to a single room in a tower with no windows and a single locked door containing a small slit where food and water could be pushed through. After four years of confinement, she was found dead in her room on August 21st, 1614.
