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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. The music you just heard was from the introduction music of the greatest radio show ever produced, Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre.
It was from the show's dramatization of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Since our dear Erzsbet Bathory, by many, is believed to be one of the main influences of Stoker's vampire classic, I thought it apt to include the Mercury Theatre intro to the Serial Killer podcast's final episode in her saga.
This is episode number 8. So, if you haven't listened to the other 7 episodes in this series, please do so before listening to this one. This episode is, thanks to you, dear listener, 100% sponsored ad free.
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feel free to post reviews, comments, or questions there. And so it is, dear listener, that everything comes back to the beginning. As the famous song lyric goes, we are back where this epic tale began, alongside Palatine Thurso and his men, by Castle Setche, on the 27th of December, 1610.
The same day that Thurso set out towards Cheche, his young wife, Countess Ershabet Jobour, sent a letter to him. The letter reads as follows. My lovely soul, dearest, as you requested, I sent a kitchen maid. They say that she is still the same, but whether it's true or not, only God knows.
well whatever commandment has been broken then it is very likely that after this it will easily be done and it is possible that these people provide false testimony against them who knows what is at the castle they say that she does the beating flogging herself with her hand
and if she had to meddle and if she were surely then it could have been thoroughly investigated as your grace commanded i will be taking care of matters here with all my might my lovely soul my beloved and my lord the night before the palatine arrived to apprehend the countess bathory she was well aware that the net was closing in around her
She was desperate, and along with one of her few friends, the mistress of Miava, she went out into the clear night with a scribe. The scribe was ordered to transcribe the following spell. Help, oh help, you clouds! Help, clouds! Give health! Give Ershibet Bathory health! Send, oh send forth, you clouds, ninety cats!
I command you, leader of the cats, that you hear my command and assemble them together from wherever they may be, whether they are on the other side of the mountain, beyond the water, beyond the sea, that these ninety cats come to you, and from you should go straight into the heart of the king Machias, and also the heart of the Palatine."
In the same way should they chew to pieces the heart of the Red Megiri and the heart of Moses Jiraki, so that Erzsabed Bathory shall not suffer any grief. Holy Trinity, so it is done." Spellcraft and dark magic did little to help Lady Bathory.
As we remember from episode one, when Thurso's men entered Cheche Manor that night, they found the bodies of dead or dying girls strewn about, all having suffered from torture, beaten, flogged, burned, and stabbed. Within a few hours, additional bodies and victims would be found within the castle itself.
At least thirty known witnesses, townspeople and servants of Thurzo, arrived to take part in what was clearly a long-awaited spectacle. The manor-house located in town was thoroughly searched, and then the party of armed men escorted the countess up the hill to Castle Sece. She was accompanied by the whole crowd.
Witness testimony from those present revealed what happened next. The procession went directly to the castle keep, the central fortification containing both main tower as well as dungeon. A search for bodies began, and the group immediately found what they were looking for.
While the countess stood by watching, in silence, the men came upon the body of a dead girl. According to such a castle provisor, Michael Hervoith, a coat was placed over the body, and it was taken out on a cart. The men gathered about to inspect the dead bodies down in the dungeon more closely.
Her voice reported seeing cruel injuries to the victims' cheeks, shoulder-blades, and hands, with large wounds inflicted along with severe burns. Their flesh, he alleged, had been torn out with pliers. The men soon found another girl, who had terrible wounds, but who was still alive.
When asked who cut her, she said the woman named Catalin had ripped out the black and blue marks and the festering flesh with pliers. The lady Nadasti, i.e. Ershibet, had joined in and beaten her with her fists so severely that her right arm and hand was destroyed. An older woman, who was still alive, was also found.
Her feet had been bound together because she had refused to hand over her daughter to the lady widow Nedasty. Erzsébet was led back to her manor house while the men continued their search of the castle. She gave a statement in which she maintained her innocence, claiming any wrongdoing was the sole activity of her servants. The four servants apprehended with her—the three old women and Fickshaw—were held overnight.
The next day they were taken in chains to Bytcha for formal proceedings. On the 30th of December, Lady Widow Nadasti was taken back up to Castle Setche and formally imprisoned there, while her accomplices, now held in the prison of Bytcha, had their confessions tortured out of them before the trials began.
As her servants were tortured and confessing in Bytcha, the Countess was imprisoned deep in the very same dungeons at Castle Setche, where she had tortured and killed so many young girls. The local priests, who up until then had been her servants, went to her to offer consolation and to make sure she didn't commit suicide.
According to one of the priests, the following occurred. Immediately upon seeing the priests, however, the countess flew into a rage. "'You priests are the cause of my captivity,' she spoke furiously in Hungarian. Reverend Zacharias immediately apologized to her in Hungarian. His apology calmed her down momentarily, to which she then said to him—'
"'You might not be at fault, but the pastor of Sece is. Reverend Zacharias had obviously dealt with her before. He spoke softly, as if to calm a lunatic or wild animal. Your Grace should not believe this. I can prove with witnesses that it is so,' she said."
At this point, Reverend Ponikinush, who had managed to catch up with the conversation through his interpreter, declared, "'I have preached God's word, and if it caused your grace to examine your conscience once, I have nothing to do with it, because I never named you.' The countess replied testily in her native Hungarian, "'Then you, you will die first.'
"'Then, Mr. McGeary, you too have brought all this trouble upon me, and are the cause of my arrest.' "'What?' she said. "'Don't you believe me that, because of this situation, a revolt will soon take place? The Hajduk, who have already gathered beyond the Thais River, have written to me yesterday that even the Prince of Transylvania will avenge my wrong.'
Pony Kanush remained silent as this was spoken. According to him, his interpreter did not relate everything that she said in Hungarian. However, the pastor noted that the countess now wished to send off letters, and that she called for a night. She said nothing out loud, and no one questioned her as to what she was doing.
Ponika Nush thought the man whom she called was someone from her entourage. The fact that she could still summon servants, send secret messages, and make threats made him very nervous. Meanwhile, the countess continued to accuse the priests of being the sole and unjustified cause of her imprisonment, maintaining her innocence.
Reverend Zacharias attempted to change the subject. "'Do you believe that Christ was born for you, died and rose for the forgiveness of sins?' She shot back. "'I also know Peter Faber. Faber was a Catholic priest and co-founder of the Jesuit order who worked to bring Protestants, such as these ministers, to the Roman Catholic Church.'
what she said would have been insulting to them immediately reverend zacharias gave her the holy bible and asked her to read it in prison to which she retorted i need it not meanwhile still stewing over her past remark ponikinoush demanded
"'I want to know who has caused your grace to have so much contempt for me by claiming that I am the cause of your detention.' She turned to him and said flatly, "'I will not tell you.' Her temper suddenly flared. "'Now you have angered me!' She leveled her gaze at Reverend Zacharias as well. "'And soon both of you will have angered me!'
"'I do not wish to anger you,' Pony Canoosh persisted. "'I only wish to clear myself of the accusation of having been the reason for your detention. "'I have been a mistress and mother to all my staff,' she snapped back. "'I have never been treated right, neither in the small nor the large, by either of you.'
Pony Canoosh immediately insisted that she think well of him because he prayed to God for forgiveness of her sins. She looked at him for a moment, and then said in her most patronizing way, "'To ask God for the salvation of someone else, especially in a special case, is a good work.' Meanwhile, Pastor Nikolaos Barotius,
who had been present on the night of the raid, who had seen the dead or dying girls for himself, and had heard from the still living that they had been forced to eat their own cut-out flesh. He stood by in silence while she went into another rage. "'You nefarious and wicked priests are the cause of my captivity!'
but i gave my brother gabor bathory a message and you'll soon have realized that you and your children will regret my fate your grace barocheus suddenly spoke up do not despair but rather kindly accept this call to repentance and partake of holy communion
Her face fell for a moment. It looked almost like a pout. "'How could I do this when all of you are my enemies?' Barosha said gently. "'Your grace is surely aware of what all has already been discovered here, and what terribleness has been confessed, under torture, by your old women and the servant Fishko.'
Her expression suddenly hardened again. "'I will not admit to anything,' she flared. "'Even if they torture me by fire.' "'So then,' Baroche said, somewhat confused, "'after considering all of this, you still stand by your statement that you are innocent, and that only the old women committed these horrendous deeds?'
"'Yes,' she declared. "'I stand firmly by it and nothing else.' "'Then why?' he wanted to know. "'Did you allow your old women to do such things?' Her answer shocked all of the priests. "'I did it,' she said, "'because even I myself was afraid of them.' "'It's that time of the year. "'Your vacation is coming up.'
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But it's good to have some things that are non-negotiable. For some, that could be a night out with the boys, chugging beers and having a laugh. For others, it might be an eating night. For me, one non-negotiable activity is researching psychopathic serial killers and making this podcast. Even when we know what makes us happy, it's often near impossible to make time for it.
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Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash serialkiller today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash serialkiller. In a document dated the 28th of July, 1611, Notary Andras of Karestur,
dutifully recorded the testimonies of 224 people, court officials, servants, administrators, townspeople, clergy, and nobles, from all throughout Aershebet's vast holdings. The king also received a report of the testimonies given under torture by the countess's four accomplices. In sum,
Their assaults, unfortunately, were not what anyone wanted to hear, including King Matthias. In a shocking turn of events, these witnesses laid bare the putrid, dirty laundry of not only the Countess, but also the outwardly illustrious Batharina d'Asti families and neighboring nobility, in no uncertain terms.
hungary's beloved war hero ferenc nadasti was exposed as a villain who brutalized servants taught his wife bizarre torturing games and covered up her murders
Personnel from Ershabed's court and towns, respected squires and nobles, were accused of assisting in the murders by procuring girls, in some cases their own relatives, engaging in a cover-up or turning a blind eye. As the allegations continued to pour out, suddenly Imre Megheri was on the defensive.
he and young paul nadasti had to lobby intensively now to protect their own staff against accusations of complicity or cover-up the king was beyond astonished as much as he wanted to implicate heresbet bathory he could not risk such terrible evidence against hungary's national war hero or against so many of its other nobles
that would raise the ire of too many desperate he called another tribunal of witnesses to be certain of the testimony besides tsetchen the worst offences seem to have occurred at the bathory nadasti holdings at sarvar kereshtur and lochenhaus
Matias quickly ordered Deputy Notary Moses Jiraki to summon key witnesses from those particular holdings. Twelve were called, with the report completed on the 14th of December, 1611. Those testifying came from the nobility, and supposedly held the highest credibility.
Among them were star witnesses, including court officials Benedict de Sao and Jacob Gilvasi, the two men who had rare permission to witness the countess and her accomplices in action. To the king's dismay, these witnesses repeated exactly what had been said about the shameful goings-on. No mistake had been made.
At Thurso's repeated urgings now, the king finally conceded. Countess Bathory would not be brought to public trial. Relieved, Thurso immediately brokered a clever deal. In light of the evidence, he recommended a sentence of perpetuis carceribus, or perpetual life imprisonment, rather than the death penalty.
However, he included a caveat to please King Matias. Legally, it would be as though Countess Ershabed Bathory never existed. Matias's debt to her would be immediately cancelled, and a small portion of her lands would cede to him.
Also, any documentation regarding the Countess, including all legal records of the incriminating proceedings, would be sealed. Finally, by order of Parliament, the name of Archibald Bathory would never again be spoken in polite society. King Matthias agreed to the terms.
As a result, the Bathory and Nadastey reputations, including Ferenc's national honors, remained intact. Sarvar passed to Paul Nadastey, and Ershabet's son-in-law were appointed permanent administrators of her other estates until Paul came of age.
The lands of Protestant nobles were temporarily preserved against undue Catholic advances. And in 1612, the following year, King Matthias was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. For everyone, the news was good, except for Countess Erzsibet. Stone masons arrived shortly thereafter to carry out her final sentence.
she was never to be let out of confinement most likely she remained below in the dungeon of the castle keep she was walled in with only a single space left between the bricks large enough for the passage of food supplies and excrement likely during the first few months after imposition of her final sentence she received visitors
Her daughter, Katalin, for instance, who brought supplies such as candles, parchment, ink, and favorite food items. As her sons-in-law, Counts Drugeth the Homonai, and Zrinyi, assumed full responsibility for administering her estates, there must have been at least a few visits in which they or their representatives inquired after details.
We also know that Georgi Thurso's wife, Ershabett Jobour, paid more than a few visits in January of 1612. Each time that Countess Jobour visited, however, she left with more than what she came with. She was systematically raiding Countess Bathory's coffers, including her jewellery.
The plundering was so bad, in fact, that the Lord Chief Justice, Count Sigismund Furgach, writing on behalf of the Supreme Court of Hungary, finally ordered Georgi Thurso to put a stop to his wife's pilfering. Slowly, the visits diminished, and people began to forget about the Countess. No longer in charge of the estates, her importance faded.
Of course, she continued to write letters, protesting her innocence and demanding an appeal, but no one answered. It is said that when supplies of parchment ended, she began writing on the walls. While by no means an ideal living condition, the Countess did have enough food, water, and air to survive. In her fifties now, she would still live another two and a half years behind the wall,
at an already advanced age for the time how she spent those last years is hard to say likely she no longer enjoyed the amenities of a full staff and had to eat the same food as the small crew assigned to guard her and maintain the property
For a noblewoman, accustomed to lavish feasting, the simple fear of commoners must have been both insulting and revolting to her, at least initially. It is also likely that, without the benefit of any ladies-in-waiting, the very act of dressing and undressing herself would prove a nightmare for this noble who probably never had to do it herself.
and perhaps did not even know how also given the complexities of sixteenth and seventeenth century female clothing the elaborate rare tying drawstrings of both her dress and corset would have been impossible to undo without assistance
Had she been imprisoned in one of these elaborate gowns, the ghastly possibility arises that she might never have been able to remove it after being walled into the dungeon. Eventually, however, Erzsabit herself knew the end was coming. We know that she had no great affection for her sons-in-law, as matters currently stood.
upon her death both men planned to assume permanent control over the sizeable properties they were administering on behalf of her son and two daughters thus on the thirty first of july sixteen fourteen three weeks before she died two priests from the eshtergom bishopric imre agrienshi and andras
arrived at Castle Setche by her request to witness and notarize an addendum to her last will and testament in order to keep property and wealth away from her sons-in-law. Erzsébet's attempts to keep property away from Georgi Drugueth the Homonai were likely in vain. A little less than three weeks later,
On Thursday, the 18th of August, 1614, sixteen-year-old Paul Nadasti transferred one-third of the dominion of Setche and Bekoff over to him. Three days later, on the night of Sunday, the 21st of August, 1614, Countess Erzsébet Bathory was concerned about her poor circulation.
She told her bodyguard, Look how cold my hands are. Her attendant told her that it was nothing, and that she should simply lie down. With that, she put her pillow under her legs, and then began singing with a beautiful voice. She died two hours after midnight, apparently in her sleep. Erzsébet was buried at a church in Tcheche.
some say in a crypt beneath the church, while others claim the local cemetery, on the 25th of November. It is said, however, that the residents soon began to complain that the infamous lady was lying under holy ground and demanded that she be removed. Erzsibet's remains were thus supposedly taken back to the Bathory family estate in 1617.
Where she lies today, however, is something of a mystery. On the 7th of July, 1938, the crypt at the Tseche Church was excavated, but the Countess's tomb could not be found. In 1995, the family crypts at Nier Bator were opened, but no remains of the blood Countess was found there either.
Castle Setia is a ruin, but still stands today. And perhaps, if you go there on a starry moonlit night, maybe you'll see a cat's green eyes looking back at you from its darkened, ruined halls. Don't worry. Put out the lights and go to sleep. It's all right. You can rest peacefully. That's just a sound effect. Over there in the shadow, see? It's nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing at all. I think it's nothing.
But always remember, ladies and gentlemen, there are woo-woo's, there are vampires. Such things do exist. And with those words from my idol, Orson Welles, our tale of Archibald Bathory, the most prolific female serial killer of all time, comes to an end.
No other female killers come close to her depravity and evil acts. And let us hope none ever will.
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