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Have you ever wondered what the secret to eternal youth is? Have you ever dreamed of not aging and staying young forever is? Well, you’ve come to the right place!

As dark Folklore would have it, there was once a woman who figured out that the secret to staying young was by… bathing in the blood of virgins.

Once again let’s give it up for the one, the only, Elizabeth Bathtub Bathory.

Early Life: Before the blood spill, the birth of a noblewoman.

Elizabeth Bathtub Bathory was born on August 7, 1560 in Nyírbátor, Royal Hungary, and spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle. Elizabeth’s father was Baron George VI Báthory of the Ecsed Branch of the family and brother of Andrew Bonaventura Báthory, who ruled as Voivode of Transylvania.

So, Elizabeth was raised as a Calvinist Protestant, and she learned many, many, languages; Latin, German, Hungarian, and Greek. Since she was born in a privileged noble family, she was endowed with wealth,education, and a prominent social rank.

At 13, Elizabeth was engaged to 18-year old Count Ferenc Nádasy, from another influential Hungarian family. Together, they had four children.

The couple moved to Sárvár, in Western Germany, where Ferenc schooled his wife in torture…(?) I’m sorry, but, what the fuck?

Apparently the Nádasy Castle had become the site for a plethora of atrocities. For Elizabeth’s pleasure, Nádasy had a girl restrained, lathered in honey, and ravaged by insects..

Yeah let’s just wrap this up because…what.

While her husband was away, Elizabeth took the time alone to allegedly kidnapping young girls, especially if they were virgins. Because she believed that by bathing in their blood, she would remain young and beautiful. Spoiler; it did not work.

In 1694, Elizabeth’s husband Ferenc passed away. Oh no, how devastating. According to the hot, juicy rumor mill of the 17th century, this was when Elizabeth’s reign of terror began. According to various witnesses, Báthory would beat and starve her victims as well as cut off their fingers and Jab them with needles.

You’d think with someone with such a high and noble powerhouse like Elizabeth would have left some trace behind to counter the accusations that were made against her. Think about it; Elizabeth using the blood or virgins to bathe would be super, super, messy. It’s like that would require a lot of effort and help from servants in the castle.

If the servants were being brutally slaughtered, I would imagine at least one witness would make it out to live and tell the tale of what happened inside the walls of that castle.

It wasn’t until women from noble families began to disappear that focused the attention to Elizabeth and her bloody shenanigans. Her cousin György Thurzó, Count of Palatine of Hungary was ordered by Matthias, the King of Hungary, to investigate.

It was later found that Elizabeth had tortured and killed more than 600 girls with the assistance of her servants. On December 30,1696, Báthory and her servants were arrested. The servants were put on trial in 1611, and three were executed.

As for Elizabeth herself, she was never tried. Instead she literally got grounded in her own castle as “punishment” for her alleged bloodbath ( get it?) until her seat in 1614 at the age of 54.

And that is the legend of Elizabeth Báthory. So clearly bathing in the blood of virgins, allegedly did not work seeing as how Elizabeth did get older and eventually died.

This legend is such a very silly one, but it’s one of my absolute favorite 17th century tales. We honestly have no real proof that Báthory actually committed these crimes, or if they were fabricated. I feel like for the sake of a creepy urban legend, I myself debunk it.

And that’s a wrap on this crazy folktale. I hope you all enjoyed this short but fun read!

Until next time, L.W. 💙