Countess Elizabeth Bathory

Deaths
Approximately 650
Period Active
Late 16th Century, early 17th Century
Method / Characteristics
Torturered and murdered young virgins from her village. Peasants would be suspended in a cage above the countess and impaled on spikes, so that she could shower or bathe in their still warm blood. She believed this would restore her body to youthfulness. Some of the peasants were kept alive and “bled” on a regular basis; chained to dungeon walls, these girls would be whipped, or have ropes tied so tightly around limbs that it caused a torniquet effect – when the vein was opened, blood would spurt out so hard it often hit the opposite wall.
Fate
Elizabeth was eventually found out and locked in a room in her own castle. She eventually died in that room in 1614.