Here is someone in history who just snapped one day. This is the story of someone trying to stay forever young by bathing in the blood of young servant girls. She feared aging and felt that the blood would keep her young. Here is a link to her web site if you want more.

http://bathory.org/

Here some books about her as well.

Countess Dracula: The Life and Times of Elisabeth Bathory,

The Blood Countess by Tony Thorne

Dracula Was a Woman: In Search Of the Blood Countess of Tranylvania by McNally

The Blood Countess by Andrei Codrescu

Frostmourne wrote:The Blood Countess by Andrei Codrescu

I read that one about three years ago. There is some really sick stuff there. Its not greatly written, but it was interesting for a read.

She didn't just snap one day.

She was always batshit crazy.

ophelia wrote:She didn't just snap one day.

She was always batshit crazy.

I have to respect that. Anyone can "just snap one day" but it takes a badass to be, as you so succinctly put it, "batshit crazy" from day one.

Then again, inbreeding as it was (and *cough* is to this day, at least in some locales) probably had something to do with it.



...Oh, and remember kids: If you read it online, it must be true!

*goes and writes a bible dedicated to himself*

I definitely remember her story. I read it when I was in third grade at Norwood Elementary. It had a very detailed account, woodcuts and all, also Vlad the Impaler and others. Find THAT in a gradeschool library these days.

That's so goth.

TheInfiniteMonkey wrote:I definitely remember her story. I read it when I was in third grade at Norwood Elementary. It had a very detailed account, woodcuts and all, also Vlad the Impaler and others. Find THAT in a gradeschool library these days.

They burned all those books on the playground long ago, I'm sure.

Two extras I know.

One is the theory that Bram Stroker based Dracula more on the Bloody Countess then Vlad. Vlad didn't have a reputation for blood rituals, Bathory did. Vlad wasn't a Count but Bathory was. Stroker probably missed out on a lot by not presenting Dracula as a woman. Well that and not making a tighter written story.

And secondly.....What if the lady was just a lady? Copied from Winkipedia

"More than 300 people were interrogated before her death between 1611 and 1614. Despite several interventions by the Hungarian king, a regular trial never took place and the case remained open. The reason for this might have been that the palatine Thurzo did not want a trial against a member of the high gentry (with which he was reproached at the time). Moreover, Elizabeth’s nephew Gabriel Báthory was the ruler of Transylvania and Thurzo did not want to get into troubles with Transylvania. And finally, Thurzo’s properties were adjacent to those of Elizabeth and Thurzo was interested in her properties.

Many scholarly sources mention the strong possibility that she was falsely convicted by the political opponents of the family, mainly because the Báthory family owned large areas of land and were wealthy. The existing historical documents show lack of investigation, omitted evidence and decisions kept in tight local political circles. Some of the most dramatic charges against her, that of Satanism and vampirism, are thought to have been either deliberate falsehoods or folklore that grew up around an unliked figure. Some people claim that the vampire legends could have been exaggerations of actual medical help provided for peasants; at that age it was very unusual that a noble cared about the health of her servants, and bloodletting was practiced by medical authorities for many years. Modern supporters of the vampire legends attached to her life are either unaware of or choose to ignore historical documents and letters that would possibly ruin the otherwise dramatic tales."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bathory

A little bit of lazy writing...who are those "some people claim that the vampire legends could have been exagerations" anyway? Something worth mulling over in any event.

I got this Elizabeth Bathory action figure for Danielle a few months ago. It's made by Mcfarlane Toy's and the pictures on there don't do it justice.