Haunting History of : The Čachtice Castle Slovakia , Čachtice, Slovakia It stands on a hill featuring rare plants, and has been declared a national nature reserve for this reason. The castle was a residence and later the prison of the Countess Elizabeth Báthory, who is alleged to have been the worlds most prolific female serial killer.She was known as the “Blood Countess of Cachtice”. Although she was never convicted of any crime, Elizabeth Bathorys family declared her a menace to their name, and she was walled up within her bed chamber, with only small slits for ventilation and the passing of food left open. After three years, a guard looking through one of the slots saw the infamous Blood Countess lying face down on the floor of her chamber, dead. Elizabeth died in Castle Cachtice on 21 August, 1614. The bulk of her estate was divided, according to her will, between her children. She was taken from the castle and buried at her birthplace at Ecsed. She was to have been buried at Cachtice, but the local populace would not hear of such a woman being interred in their parish, let alone on consecrated ground. While the views of the peasantry would have been of little matter, it would perhaps be feared that Elizabeths grave would be desecrated, bringing further insult upon the family name. Elizabeth Bathorys Crimes It was in her husbands absence that Elizabeth is reputed to have begun torturing young servant girls for her own pleasure, although this may in fact have been a pastime to which Ferenc himself introduced her to. Her accomplices at this time were Helena Jo, her childrens wet-nurse, Dorothea Szentes, also known as Dorka, a peasant woman of noted physical strength alleged to be a witch, and Johannes Ujvary, also referred to as Ficzko, a manservant sometimes described as a dwarf-like cripple. Among the activities attributed to Elizabeth in this period were beating her maidservants with a barbed lash and a heavy cudgel, and having them dragged naked into the snow and doused with cold water until they froze to death. In January 1604, Ferenc Nadasdy died of an infected wound, reportedly inflicted by a harlot whom he refused to pay. Elizabeth transferred herself to the royal court at Vienna with almost unseemly haste, and took to spending much time at her castle at Cachtice (pronounced Chakh-teetsay) in north-west Hungary (now Slovakia). Here she took up with Anna Darvula, described as the most active sadist in her entourage, and, like Dorka, alleged to be a witch. Darvula was also said to be Elizabeths lover. This was the period in which Elizabeth is said to have committed her greatest atrocities, under the guidance of Darvula. It is also at this time that legend tells us that she discovered, on striking a servant girl who accidentally pulled her hair whilst combing it, that blood appeared to reduce the signs of ageing on her skin. The popular version of events tells how Elizabeth took to bathing in the blood of young girls2, although of the various horrific eye-witness accounts of her crimes, none describe these blood baths. Elizabeths proclivities went largely undetected - or at least ignored - until around 1609. In fact the Lord Palatine of Hungary, Count Cuyorgy Thurzo, probably knew of her activities much earlier. He was her cousin however, and to protect the family name took no official action, although he may have tried to have Elizabeth confined to a nunnery. In 1609 however, Darvula died, and Elizabeth seems to have taken up with a new accomplice/lover, the widow of one of her tenant farmers, named Erszi Majorova, and it was perhaps at Erszis instigation or encouragement that Elizabeth turned her hand against a number of girls from families of noble blood but little wealth. The Downfall of Elizabeth Bathory The deaths of peasant girls might be overlooked, but the murder of nobles, even those of such limited means as those Elizabeth selected, could not go unnoticed. The King of Hungary ordered her arrest, and Count Thurzo moved quickly to save the family as much face as possible by affecting her capture on his own terms. On 30 December he led soldiers in a night raid on Castle Cachtice; as it was Christmas, the Hungarian Parliament would not have been in session, allowing the Lord Palatine to act unhindered. This raid supposedly found a dead girl in the hallway, and many other victims dead, dying or awaiting torture in cells. Dorothea, Helena and Ficzko were arrested, along with Katarina Beneczky, a washerwoman newly entered into the Countess service. Erszi Majorova escaped capture in the raid but was later also arrested. Elizabeth herself was held but not taken away with her associates. In January 1611 Elizabeths accomplices were subjected to two hurried show trials, in which they gave evidence, almost certainly extracted under torture, and were convicted of their heinous crimes in a matter of days. In the second trial, another servant named as Zusanna gave evidence of the existence of a register, in her mistress handwriting, which recorded over 650 victims who had died at the Countess hands over the years. This evidence was shaky as the register was never actually produced, but it was enough to convict the servants. Helena Jo and Dorothea Szentes were named as the foremost perpetrators and sentenced, as witches, to have the fingers which had dipped in the blood of Christians torn out with red-hot pincers, and then to be burned alive. As a lesser offender, Ficzko was decapitated before his body was burned alongside the two women. On 24 January, Erszi Majorova was also sentenced and executed. Of those tried, only Katarina Beneczky escaped the death sentence, exonerated by her fellow defendants and also by the testimony of Zusanna. Elizabeth Bathory was present at neither trial, and was convicted of no crime. However, when she attempted to flee, her cousin had her confined to the castle at Cachtice, although her family stubbornly refused the Kings demands that she be tried for her crimes. While he was probably shocked by the extent of the Countess deeds, the Kings desire for justice was almost certainly in part due to a large debt incurred against Ferenc in his lifetime. Elizabeths conviction would have allowed the King to not only write off that debt, but also to seize the Nadasdy lands, and those held by Elizabeth as a Bathory. Consequently, the Bathorys must have brought all of their considerable influence to bear to keep that from happening. From the Horses Mouth - Testimony of Elizabeth Bathorys Crimes The following are examples of the testimony of the servants recorded at the trial of Elizabeths accomplices. ... a 12-year-old girl named Pola somehow managed to escape from the castle. But Dorka, aided by Helena Jo, caught the frightened girl by surprise and brought her forcibly back to Cachtice Castle. Clad only in a long white robe, Countess Elizabeth greeted the girl upon her return. The countess was in another of her rages. She advanced on the 12-year-old child and forced her into a kind of cage. This particular cage was built like a huge ball, too narrow to sit in, too low to stand in. Once the girl was inside, the cage was suddenly hauled up by a pulley and dozens of short spikes jutted into the cage. Pola tried to avoid being caught on the spikes, but Ficzko manoeuvered the ropes so that the cage shifted from side to side. Polas flesh was torn to pieces. One accomplice testified that on some days Elizabeth had stark-naked girls laid flat on the floor of her bedroom and tortured them so much that one could scoop up the blood by the pailful afterwards, and so Elizabeth had her servants bring up cinders in order to cover the pools of blood. A young maid-servant who did not endure the tortures well and died very quickly was written out by the countess in her diary with the laconic comment She was too small... At one point in her life Elizabeth Bathory was so sick that she could not move from her bed and could not find the strength to torture her miscreant servant girls... She demanded that one of her female servants be brought before her. Dorothea Szentes, a burly, strong peasant woman, dragged one of Elizabeths girls to her bedside and held her there. Elizabeth rose up on her bed, and, like a bulldog, the Countess opened her mouth and bit the girl first on the cheek. Then she went for the girls shoulders where she ripped out a piece of flesh with her teeth. After that, Elizabeth proceeded to bite the girls breasts. - From Dracula was a Woman McNally, R VIDEO HERE > Serial Killer - Elizabeth Bathory Full Documentary https://youtube/watch?v=kO-8V82WH1Q Ultimately, we can never really know the causes and motivations of Elizabeth Bathorys actions. We can only look back on the case of the Blood Countess, and wonder at the brutal culture and the extraordinary circumstances that might have created such a monster among monsters. VIDEO HERE > Castle of Erzsébet Báthory, Čachtice Slovakia https://youtube/watch?v=YLEGBBiJGlg Čachtice was built in the mid-13th century by Kazimir from the Hont-Pázmány gens as a sentry on the road to Moravia. Later, it belonged to Máté Csák, the Stibor family, and then to the famous Bloody Lady Elizabeth Báthory. Čachtice, its surrounding lands and villages, was a wedding gift from the Nádasdy family upon Elizabeths marriage to Ferenc Nádasdy in 1575. VIDEO HERE Slovakia - Cachtice [Countess Bathory] Castle https://youtube/watch?v=V51MUr0nStk Originally, Čachtice was a Romanesque castle with an interesting horseshoe shaped residence tower. It was turned into a Gothic castle later and its size was increased in the 15th and 16th centuries. A Renaissance renovation followed in the 17th century. Finally, in 1708 the castle was captured and plundered by the rebels of Ferenc II Rákoci AKA Francis II Rákóczi. It has been in decay since. bbc.co.uk/ Photo art https://facebook/historyhaunted? Photo 2 by Jacomoman78Main tower at Cachtice Castle, Slovakia Photo 3 by Radovan Bahna Photo 4 by Vladimir Meciarhttps://flickr/photos/45067121@N07/5382171568/ Photo 5 castle_cachtice_by_eugen77-
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 13:03:22 +0000
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