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Welcome to the Serial Killer Podcast. The podcast dedicated to serial killers. Who they were, what they did, and how. I am your Norwegian host, Thomas Weyborg Thun. Underneath the moonlight of old Hungarian skies, buried in the blood-drenched earth, these barren lands of ice...
She was an evil woman with an evil old soul, piercing eyes emotionless, a heart so black and cold. Elizabeth, in the chasm where was my soul? Forever young, Elizabeth Bathory, in the castle of your death. You're still alive, Elizabeth. Her pact with Satan, her disposal of mankind, her acts of cruelty and her lust for blood.
Makes her one of us. Our ancient countess Was refused her desire's will To bathe in pure fresh blood. She'd peasant virgins killed. Elizabeth, in the chasm where was my soul? Forever young. Elizabeth Bathory, in the castle of your death. You're still alive, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, in the chasm where was my soul?
Forever young, Elizabeth Bathory, in the castle of your death, you're still alive, Elizabeth. I usually try to keep pop culture out of my podcast, but the lyrics you just heard me read was simply too good to pass by. They are from the song Elizabeth, by the excellent rock band Ghost. We are not finished with our dear Lady Bathory.
And last week we left her story just as one of her accomplices was finished telling a gruesome account of one of her many gruesome torture sessions.
Before we continue our tale from 17th century Austria-Hungary, I would like to apologize for some of my pronunciation in the latter episodes. Three names I managed to say as if they were English, which of course they are not. They were Michael, Janus and Jacob. The correct way of speaking these names is of course as follows.
Mikael, Janos and Jakob. This episode is, thanks to you, dear listener, 100% sponsored ad-free. It is financed solely by my very loyal patrons, who are helping to produce the show via Patreon. As I have mentioned in the last couple of episodes,
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Feel free to post reviews, comments or questions there. Imagine, if you will, dear listener, that you stand in the Hungarian Crown's court, listening to Benedict de Sao tell of what he saw the noble Lady Archibald Bathory do in her secluded torture chamber. Perhaps the wind is howling outside the thick stone courtroom walls.
and the crowd around you is dead quiet, as Benedict continues. Another girl, this one also very young, perhaps no more than thirteen years old, was subject to Lady Bathory's rage. As she was kneeling on the cold stone floor of Castle Tetchy, Hershebet pierced her lips on two sides with needles, thus fastening her mouth shut.
when the whimpering girl pressed her tongue out to try to speak the countess pierced that too this was by this time no rare occurrence but a frequent scene benedict de seo became used to he had lost count of how many young maids were stripped naked and then tortured either until they passed out or until death his testimony went on and i quote
The girl, accused of sewing too slowly, or making long or clumsy stitches, was stripped naked and made to stand before the countess. The countess held either an iron bar or a heavy cudgel in her hands, as she paraded past the shivering, sobbing servant. "'Hold out your hand,' she commanded. Wincing, the girl obeyed, only to have the hand struck hard.
If she screamed and pulled her hand back, the countess would demand, Hold out your hand and keep it out. If the girl shook her head or begged for mercy, the countess would fly into a rage and pummel her. Eventually, the hands and fingernails would be smashed and beaten repeatedly until they became swollen, infected and broken.
The lady then threw needle, thread, and fabric at the girl. "'Sew, you whore!' Unable to raise her hand or move the broken fingers, the sobbing girl cried for mercy. The countess now turned to me and her attendants who were standing nearby. "'What a useless, spoiled whore she is! She can't even sew!'
Then, in a rage, she began shoving the needle into the girl's arm repeatedly, straight up to her shoulder. When the girl tried to crawl away, the Countess immediately went for her whip or crop, flogging her over and over. The limits of Countess Bathory's creativity knew no bounds when it came to torture.
One of the ways she made her young maiden servants suffer was to deny them drink. When they were very thirsty, almost passing out, she pretended to be merciful. She would proclaim the girl would have water to quench her thirst. The only problem was that the only way the girl would be allowed to drink was if she squatted naked on the stone floor, cupped her hands beneath their bottom,
Urinate into it and drink the urine. Another favorite method of torture that Archibet enjoyed was anything related to fire. And here I feel I must caution my dear listeners. I usually don't offer so-called trigger warnings, but the following section is very graphic. And if you are sensitive to descriptions of sexualized violence...
The next few minutes might not be for you. Causing pain using fire and heat is both cheap and very effective. The pain caused by burning is probably the most extreme pain, aside from being flayed alive, a human can experience. And Ershabed knew to utilize that fact to its fullest.
Again, Benedict would explain to the court how the lady tortured her servants. A wide fire-iron, the sort used to shovel coals in the fireplace, was heated up until red-hot. Archibet would then, as the young girl was tied down with her arms stretched out, press the red-hot metal down upon the girl's arms until they were burned to smoke and ash.
The same girl, after being woken up after passing out from the shock and extreme pain, would be stripped completely naked and her legs spread to each side. A smaller, rounder fire iron was then heated up until glowing red and then forcefully shoved deep into the girl's vagina before being ripped out, bringing chunks of flesh with it.
On one occasion, Benedek continued, while traveling in the direction of Bratislava, along with two female attendants in her coach, Ferenc Zemte gave Lady Bathory two potato Pugacci to take along. The mistress gave these to a young German girl to hold. The girl ate one without permission, and—
When the countess asked for it, could therefore no longer present it. As a result, the mistress heated the other until it was very hot, and then shoved it, nearly flaming, into the girl's mouth. She continued to torture the young girl until she finally breathed her last. End quote.
It is no surprise that Benedict de Sao gave the longest and most elaborate testimony of all the witnesses, expressing remorse over what had happened. De Sao was also close enough to the Countess to try to persuade her away from her actions. He said that he had begged her to stop the killings for fear that she would be arrested. Her reply, essentially, was that she was above the law.
By late 1610, he had finally reached a breaking point. At fifty years of age, De Seo had seen enough, and was ready to resign. It was Imre Megieri, however, who urged him to stay on for just a few more weeks, until the countess was arrested. Megieri evidently knew of the plan to apprehend her sometime after Christmas. During this time,
Countess Bathory also hired local tradesmen and practitioners, including carpenter Nicolaus Christian, craftsman Adam Polio, doctor and plaster-paver craftsman Ambrosius Borbelli, and the apothecary known as Martinus.
Although well educated and versed in the sciences of the time, Ershabed Bathory had always been fascinated by the occult, often seeking out the services of local peasant women trained in folk medicine and the black arts. Some of these occult arts were quite legitimate. Many of these Slovak peasant women, so-called forest witches,
were trained herbalists who could offer effective healing medications in a time when doctoring or barbering consisted only of battlefield medicine leeching amputations and extractions with iron tools
Other forest witches or town alchemists, however, provided drugs, poisons, magical spells, incantations, oracles, and divining devices that fascinated the countess. Once, servant Janosz Zluha was ordered to go into the town of Tirnau and visit the apothecary shop of Dr. Martinus, the local pharmacist.
He was given orders from the administrator of Castle Cheche, on behalf of the Countess, to pick up an order of antimony. In small doses, antimony was used to make cosmetics, and also valued as a medicinal folk remedy. In large doses, however, it was highly poisonous. When Dr. Martinus learned of how much antimony was desired,
He refused to fill the order. Janos Zluha now had to provide a letter of authority from the castle administrator, and only then would the pharmacist comply. He did so grudgingly, however. Tell your mistress, he warned, that one in possession of such a drug could kill a hundred people if he wanted to. It's that time of the year. Your vacation is coming up.
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Visit BetterHelp.com slash SerialKiller today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash SerialKiller. As girls died, and the clergy increasingly resisted or refused proper burials for them,
The Countess' accomplices and other castle staff sought to hide the bodies by burying them in secret, and often at night, frequently in the local cemetery, but in other places as well, including gardens, drainage ditches, grain and coal bins, and fruit pits. In regards to allegations of torture, the four remaining accomplices, as well as clergymen,
testified uniformly that Anna Darvoli had been particularly sadistic in life. She, in fact, had taught the other servants how to torture the girls. Janusz Ujvari claimed that she would bind the girls' arms and hands behind them so tightly that the hands would turn deathly pale.
the victims would then be beaten repeatedly up to five hundred times in some cases until they died dorotia shentes was also particularly cruel cutting off girls hands or fingers with scissors
It was also claimed that Ilona Yeo was so cruel herself that she had specifically been brought from Sarvar to Sece to continue her quote-unquote work there. Any misdeed of duty was an excuse to brutalize or murder the young servant girls.
If brushwood was not bundled, or the countess's garments not properly ironed, if the fire was not set for the night, or obligatory sewing and mending not completed by ten p.m., if aprons were not set straight, or head coverings out of place, the offending girl would immediately be taken out for torturing.
In some cases, girls could be tortured ten times in one day. Sarvar Castle warden Benedek Biserdi spoke of torturing sessions that went on for over six hours.
It is clear that the domestic supervisors of female servants, particularly Anna Darvoglia and Dorotia Shentesh, performed a great deal of heavy disciplining, and that in the years immediately preceding their arrest, Ilona Yeo and Janos Uzhvari would come to assist on a regular basis as well.
As for how much torturing Countess Erzsébet Bathory herself performed, the witnesses' responses varied. In their initial testimony, the primary accomplices tended to blame each other, or, conveniently, Anna Darvoglia, who by then was dead. As they warmed up to the interrogation, however, they began to implicate the Countess directly.
They stated that she either commanded them to perform the beatings, or would perform them herself. Her accomplices stated that she would order Janusz Uzvari to strike the girls in the face, over and over, and would then order them locked up in the coal-house, to be starved for a week. The countess also ordered girls to be submerged in freezing water or doused with water,
Outside, in the winter weather, most died from this treatment. Anna Darvoglia, who had been described as taking particular delight in torment, and the one who taught the countess and others how to torture servants, suffered a blinding stroke and became incapacitated probably around the year 1609.
At this point the countess turned more and more to Erzi Mazurova, the forest witch for advice. In witness testimony this woman was referred to as the Lady Steward or House Mistress of Mieva, indicating that she held a close position to the countess.
As the lady steward, she would have been given authority over the four remaining accomplices who ran the lady's staff of domestics. It does not appear, however, that she actually lived at the court of Tseche, but rather made appearances only when summoned, traveling approximately ten miles from Miava to get there.
no doubt the four accomplices continued with their day-to-day operations as usual the lady steward's title simply ensured that they could not interfere with her work if summoned by the countess to perform a magic ritual or administer a spell
One wonders what the professional staff must have thought about the appointment of this uneducated and disreputable peasant to such a high position at court men. The local clergy was certainly shocked. Not surprisingly, such dealings with the forest witch may ultimately have contributed to the Countess's downfall. When politics and diplomacy failed her,
Countess Bathory turned to black magic. Hershey Mazurova suggested that Countess try more drastic measures. The blood of noble girls would have a more powerful influence than that of commoners. Hershey began supplying her with spells, potions, and magical cakes as well.
It may be that the countess had to resort to a fresh supply of noble girls, since the peasant stock was quickly drying up. As rumors continued to spread about the disappearance of girls, parents began hiding their daughters when the countess passed through town.
Offers to work at the castle, whether for high wages, promises of marriage, or large payouts to the family, were increasingly being refused. Erzsébet's helpers had to go out farther now and work harder to secure a steady supply of new female staff members, in some cases traveling as far as Vienna.
They also began to engage a network of locals to help them. The payoffs worked. Later trial testimony would incriminate both nobles and commoners alike who participated in the procurement of girls, and the list of accused male and female girl catchers was long. Lady Anna Velike, Lady Judith Pogan,
the lady zhel erzi mazharova dorotya shentesh janos fikshu ilona yo nagi the wives of janos giorgi and istvan zhabu daniel vass the countess's daughter katalin drugeth de
the widow Kioce, and the wives of Janusz Barzoni, Janusz Liptaj, Miklos Kardos, and Baltasar Horvath. Need new glasses or want a fresh new style? Warby Parker has you covered. Glasses start at just $95, including anti-reflective, scratch-resistant prescription lenses that block 100% of UV rays.
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It has taken quite a bit of research to find all the dates, names and details from this fascinating time in history. Next week, we continue and we'll see how the Countess started an academy of etiquette, a sort of boarding school for young girls of noble birth. So, as they say in the land of radio, stay tuned. I have been your host, Thomas Weyborg Thun.
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