From Cosmopolitan · Lydia Venn · · 1m 40s
Was Elizabeth Báthory really a serial killer?
Netflix's Monster dramatizes the legend of a 16th-century countess, but historians debate whether she was a murderer or a victim of political slander.
In brief
Netflix's Monster dramatizes the legend of a 16th-century countess, but historians debate whether she was a murderer or a victim of political slander. Elizabeth Báthory existed and was imprisoned for murders, but scholars question whether the gruesome details, including bathing in blood, were real crimes or fabricated…
Netflix's Monster features Báthory
In Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, a maid tells Lizzie about a 16th-century Transylvanian countess obsessed with beauty who allegedly bathed in virgins' blood.
Báthory was a real person
Elizabeth Báthory lived from 1560 to 1614 in Transylvania, now part of Romania. She was born into a wealthy family and exposed to violence from childhood.
Her husband taught her cruelty
At fifteen, she married Count Ferenc Nádasdy and moved to western Hungary. Her husband encouraged torture of servants, which she watched, enjoyed, and participated in for years.
Killings escalated after husband died
After her husband died in 1604, Elizabeth continued torturing but expanded her victims to include nobles. The king launched investigations into the high death toll at her castles.
She was imprisoned, never convicted
Elizabeth was arrested and imprisoned for murdering eighty women, though some claimed the number was closer to six hundred. She was never convicted and died in prison in 1614.
Scholars question if she was framed
Some historians believe the reports were political slander by family members who wanted her imprisoned so they could seize her land and fortune.
The blood bathing claim lacks proof
There is no historical evidence that Elizabeth actually bathed in the blood of virgins, despite this being the most famous part of her legend.
The key point
Elizabeth Báthory existed and was imprisoned for murders, but scholars question whether the gruesome details, including bathing in blood, were real crimes or fabricated to seize her wealth.
