August 7, 1560 - Elizabeth Báthory
The case against this Hungarian noblewoman remains one of history's most debated criminal proceedings, poised between a documented record of mass atrocity and a plausible political conspiracy orchestrated by powerful rivals. What is not disputed is the scale of the allegations: testimony from over 300 witnesses, physical evidence at the time of arrest, and accusations spanning two decades of violence against girls and women in her household. Whether the proceedings reflect genuine criminality or targeted destruction of a noble family's influence, the historical record made her a permanent fixture in European folklore — her name synonymous, however contested, with predatory aristocratic power.
From Wikipedia
Countess Elizabeth Báthory of Ecsed (Hungarian: Báthori Erzsébet, pronounced [ˈbaːtori ˈɛrʒeːbɛt]; Slovak: Alžbeta Bátoriová, 7 August 1560 – 21 August 1614) was a Hungarian noblewoman and alleged serial killer from the powerful House of Báthory, who owned land in the Kingdom of Hungary (now Slovakia). Báthory and four of her servants were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and women from 1590 to 1610. Bathory and her cohorts were charged for 80 counts of murder and were convicted. Her servants were put on trial and executed, whereas Báthory was imprisoned within the Castle of Csejte (Čachtice) until she died in her sleep in 1614.
According to scholars such as Michael Farin, the accusations against Báthory were supported by testimony from more than 300 individuals, some of whom described physical evidence and the presence of mutilated dead, dying and imprisoned girls found at the time of her arrest. Other scholars suggest that the accusations were a spectacle to destroy her family's influence in the region, which was considered a threat to the political interests of her neighbours, including the Habsburg empire.
Stories about Báthory quickly became part of national folklore. Legends describing her vampiric tendencies, such as the tale that she bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth, were based on rumours and only recorded as supposedly factual over a century after her death.
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