she was a hungarian countess who is alleged to have murdered hundreds of young virgin women to bathe in their blood supposedly to keep her youthful looks... if i remember correctly she's the inspiration for disney's "sleeping beauty"...

Also known as the Blood Countess, she is considered the most horrific female serial killer of all time, and the most infamous serial killer in Hungary. She tortured and murdered people, mostly young girls, so she could bathe in their blood, thinking it would keep her forever young. She is idolized by vampire wannabes to this day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory http://hjem.get2net.dk/the_cellar/bathory.htm http://bathory.org/

I wouldn't say that her crimes were alleged as she was tried (January-February 1611). Found guilty (along with several members of her household) and sentenced to death. . .however, she was not executed but walled up inside her own castle where she died 3 years later. From (an excerpt) http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/bathory/countess_1.html The Crimes: The hearing grew more gruesome by the day, as more people added their own tales of horror and how many dead bodies they had witnessed. Finally, it was over. Based on the skeletons and cadaver parts found, as well as witness reports, Countess Báthory and her cronies were convicted on 80 counts of murder. In a second part of the trial, a newly discovered register was entered as evidence that included in Erzsébet's handwriting the names of, and small details about, more than 650 females, according to some accounts. The suggestion, which could not be proven, was that she had kept track of her victims and had actually killed that many. The formal charges remained at 80, although Penrose says that King Mathias indicated in a letter to Thurzo during the hearing that he knew of at least 300 victims Bio: Countess Erzsébet Báthory was a member of a powerful family from an estate at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains. Gordon Melton says she was the daughter of George (Gyrögy) and Anna Báthory, born in 1560 (or 1561). During this time, Hungary saw numerous battles between the Ottoman Empire and Austria's Hapsburg armies. The Báthorys were Protestant, a new religion at the time, and Erzsébet was raised on Ecsed, an estate in Transylvania. When she was 11, her cousin Stephen became prince of Transylvania, and he planned to unite Europe against the Turks. Yet battles on several fronts exhausted his resources. Stephen was known for his savagery, and scholars have cited him, among others, as evidence of derangement in the family lineage. Erzsébet was not an easy child, nor was life easy for her, despite being a member of the privileged class. She suffered from fits, and exhibited uncontrolled rages that may have indicated a brain disorder associated with increased aggression. Others have pointed to the possibility of epilepsy. She was also promiscuous, getting pregnant at the age of 14 by a peasant and having to be sequestered to avoid scandal on her betrothal to an aristocrat. At the age of 15, she married Count Ferencz Nádasdy, a great warrior who was often away from home. Thus, they joined two powerful political families with strains of madness running through them, both renowned for cruel behavior. Báthory's aunt, a distinguished lady at the court, was reputed to be a lesbian and witch. An uncle was an alchemist and devil-worshiper, and her brother was a reprobate around whom no woman or female child was considered safe. To make matters worse, her nurse from childhood, Ilona Joo—one of those arrested in 1610—was steeped in the practice of black magic that reportedly required the sacrifice of children for their bones and blood. In True Vampires of History, Donald Glut (echoing Penrose) says that as Erzsébet grew older, she practiced witchcraft and carried a parchment (Penrose says the shriveled caul of a newborn child) on which was inscribed an incantation for protection. Accordingly, she called to the deity Isten for help, health, and long life. "When I am in danger," this parchment supposedly said, "send ninety-nine cats. I order you to do so because you are the supreme commander of cats... order ninety-nine cats to come with speed and bite the heart of King Matthias... And keep Elizabeth safe from harm." Erzsébet moved into the castle Sarvar and learned how to run a great estate. While her behavior toward servants is legendary today, it was not uncommon among aristocrats to exercise their power in brutal beatings and even death for those they considered lesser beings. Erzsébet enjoyed power and had a vicious impulsiveness that only strengthened in an environment with no accountability for aristocrats. By many accounts, she was also a petty and vain narcissist. She changed her clothing five or six times a day and spent hours admiring her legendary beauty in mirrors. She used all manner of oils and unguents to preserve and whiten her skin. No one denied her whatever she wanted and she demanded continuous praise.

Perhaps and albeit accusations it was a politically invented one? King Mattias did not have to repay a large debt for which he lacked sufficient funds after she was found guilty. Who knows. Tales spread and over so long a time fancy stories can grow wild. Gossip, fire-side scary stories. Most population even nobility could hardly read or write at the time, although she was well educated and mastered 4 languages. Think about tales of Jesus, who was actually a believing Jew (Yehoshua, in Hebrew was his name, and he looked brown and Mediterranean not a blond European as portrayed in church paintings in Europe.) who never invented a new religion only wanted to help the destitute, the poor and those suffering under the heavy tax burden the conquering army of Roman empire sucked from the population. They tolerated him until he got it into his mind to be the king of the Jews. This was an outright threat to ruling classes and to Rome, who had no interest in unrest in their colonies. In todays terms we'd view him as a political party. Back then there were none. Since he was a problem he was gotten rid of. Exterminating undesireables is a habit performed to this day. Think: airplane crash. 20 passengers on board, one or all happen to be returning from some high-level scientific or military meeting. No radio station reports it suspicious... 400 years after his death the cult was finally permitted to exist and no longer be persecuted. The dying Roman empire had finally realized the idea of a god was so powerful... Rome could live & rule for ever via religion, so they repackaged Jewish religion, changed the resting day to sunday, gave new content to old stories and renamed Jewish holidays and so on and unlike the Jews, they forced people to convert, so that they'd grow in numbers real fast and control the population. Most religious Christians to this day do not even know Jesus was a believing Jew. That his last meal was the "Seder" fest, the first festive meal on first night of Passover - easter in the new version. Passover is a holiday for which Jews throughout their European history were blamed at murdering christian children to drink their blood or make traditional holiday bread from their blood- yet blood is a religiously forbidden thing for Jews to eat... Such is nature of tales and propaganda. Bloody inventions or cruelty- Typical European noble practice as it seems... Most people are dumb sheep and do not research nor ask the person involved (when they know the target of the gossip) but believe what their TV, politicians, neighbor, classmate, teacher or preacher has to say. After a few circulating rounds of rumors it becomes a "known truth". So who knows if she really was so horrid or not, yet website after another enjoy a good gloating detail gossip of horror and sadism, as plenty love reading this stuff. sick. From wikipedia: The trial process included intimidation and torture and did not follow modern judicial standards. She was also accused of witchcraft and pagan rituals, which at the time were believed inherently malevolent and classified as serious criminal offenses in their own right, rather than as mere evidence used to demonstrate guilt of (an)other crime(s), as in modern courts. László Nagy has argued that Elizabeth Báthory was also victim of a conspiracy,[9] a view opposed by others.[10] Nagy argued that the proceedings were largely politically motivated. However the conspiracy theory is consistent with Hungarian history at that time. The case of Elizabeth Báthory inspired numerous stories during the 18th and 19th centuries. The most common motif of these works was that of the countess bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain beauty or youth. This legend appeared in print for the first time in 1729, in the Jesuit scholar László Turóczi’s Tragica historia,[12] the first written account of the Báthory case. At the beginning of the 19th century, this certainty was questioned, and sadistic pleasure was considered a far more plausible motive for Elizabeth Báthory's crimes.[13] In 1817, the witness accounts (which had surfaced in 1765) were published for the first time,[14] demonstrating that the bloodbaths, for the purpose of perserving her youth, were legend rather than fact. Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally have concluded that the theory of Elizabeth Báthory murdering on account of her vanity sprung up from contemporary prejudices about gender roles. Women were not believed to be capable of violence for its own sake. The legend nonetheless persisted in the popular imagination. Some versions of the story were told with the purpose of denouncing female vanity, while other versions aimed to entertain or thrill their audience. During the 20th and 21st centuries, Elizabeth Báthory has continued to appear as a character in music, film, plays, books, games and toys, and as well to serve as an inspiration for similar characters.