Today marks the end of Women’s HERSTORY Month and I’ve saved the best for last. “Countess Dracula” is one of the most infamous women in history. Thought to be the most prolific female serial killer in history, was she another victim of a witch-hunt?

Báthori Erzsébet was born in Royal Hungary on August 7, 1560. Her father was Baron George VI Báthory of Ecsed and her mother was Baroness Anna Báthory of Somlyó. Through her mother, Elizabeth was the niece of Stephen Báthory, Prince of Transylvania. Born into a privileged noble family, she was endowed with wealth, education, and a prominent social rank. As a child, Báthory had multiple seizures that may have been caused by epilepsy. At the time, symptoms relating to epilepsy were diagnosed as falling sickness and treatments included rubbing blood of a non-sufferer on the lips of an epileptic or giving the epileptic a mix of a non-sufferer’s blood and piece of skull as their episode ended.

On May 8, 1575, Bathory married Count Ferenc Nádasdy which resulted in combining land ownership in both Transylvania and the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1578, Nádasdy became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Ottomans leaving Elizabeth to manage their business affairs and the family’s multiple estates. She gave birth to five children. Before dying in 1604, Ferenc Nádasdy entrusted his heirs and widow to György Thurzó, who would eventually lead the investigation into Báthory’s crimes…

Countess Báthory was accused of killing 650 young women, supposedly bathing in their blood in an effort to sustain her youth. Although 300 witnesses testified against Báthory, none were victims or eyewitnesses of the torture. Many have questioned the truthfulness of these claims arguing that the accusations were politically and/or religiously motivated.

Not only are the accusations against Bathory false but the countess was a religious subversive, a book printer and book smuggler and a radical feminist who used her vast wealth and castle home to educate vast numbers of young women and girls.

This made her a prime target for a 17th Century witch hunt.

“I mean, who has the time in one lifetime to, one by one, kill 650 young women?” asks Dr Bayley. “I mean she would have been a busy girl.”

“Bathory is in a sense the first female self-publisher that we have on record.” This, she says, would have given Bathory immense political power. “And that’s arguably why she needed not only to be shut up, but erased from the history books and, where not erased, turned into a bogeyman.”

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Báthory and four of her servants were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and women from 1590 to 1610. She and her servants were put on trial and convicted. The servants were executed, whereas Báthory was detained at her Čachtice Castle home in what is now Slovakia until she died in 1614 at the age of 54. The location of her body today is unknown but believed to be buried deep in the church area of the castle.

So, once again, we have an intelligent and educated woman who provoked fear in the hearts of men who did not want to see their power usurped. Subsequent writers of history and fiction alike often identified vanity as the sole motivation for Báthory’s crimes (Because beautiful women are all dangerous femme fatales, right?). Nonetheless, in spite of the “evidence” provided during her trial being suspect, the concept of Countess Báthory as the Blood Countess continues to this day – she is especially beloved in the Heavy Mëtal genre of music. (Quelle surprise.)

• Tragica Historia (1729) – by László Turóczi, is the first written account of the Báthory case.
• The Blood Countess (1995) – a novel based on the life of the author’s (Andrei Codrescu) real-life ancestor, Elizabeth Báthory.
• Dracula the Un-dead (2009) – written by Dacre Stoker in which Elizabeth is the main antagonist and cousin to Count Dracula.
• The Countess (2010) – an historial novel by Rebecca Johns.
• Countess Dracula (1971) – movie starring Ingrid Pitt as the title character.

• Immoral Tales – 1973 film with Paloma Picasso as Elisabeth Báthory.
• The Countess – 2009, starring Julie Delpy as “Erzsebet Bathory”.
• 400 Years of bloody Countess – The secret behind the secret – 2014 documentary.
• Castlevania: Bloodlines – 1994 video game in which a character based on Báthory, “Elizabeth Bartley” appears as the main antagonist.
• Ragnarok Online – video games in which “Bathories” are witch-like enemies fought on the 4th basement floor of Clock Tower.
• Nightlife – role-playing game where Báthory appears as a Vampyre NPC living under the alias Lisa “Blood” Bath.
• The Countess is featured in McFarlane Toy’s 6 Faces of Madness series.
• Báthory was also made as a doll in the Living Dead Dolls series.
• Countess Báthory (Báthoryčka) – a 1994 opera by the Slovakian composer Ilja Zeljenka.
• “Elisabetha” – song by Gothic metal band Darkwell.
• Erzebet (2009) – album by Russian black metal band Messiya which they dedicated to her.
• “Countess Bathory” – song on Venom’s 1982 album Black Metal.
• “Beauty Through Order” – song by Slayer from their 2009 album World Painted Blood.
• “Elizabeth” – song by progressive symphonic metal band Kamelot composed of three parts – “Part I: Mirror Mirror”, “Part II: Requiem for the Innocent” and “Part III: Fall From Grace”, from their 2001 album Karma.
• The Swedish black metal band Bathory take their name from Elizabeth, and mention her in some songs, one being “Woman of Dark Desires”.
• Dutch black metal band Countess take their band name from Elizabeth’s title. They also covered Venom’s song “Countess Bathory”.
• Mexican heavy metal band Erzsebeth take their name from her and released a concept album about her named La Condesa Inmortal in 2007.
• American Gothic metal band Erzebet take their name from her.

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“I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw.”

The Oklahoma schoolgirl who went on to become an outlaw herself, “Bandit Queen” Belle Starr shattered the boundaries of stereotypical female behavior – and we applaud her for that!

Myra Maybelle (“Belle”) Shirley was born on February 5, 1848 near Carthage, Missouri. Her mother, Elizabeth “Eliza” Hatfield Shirley, was a distant relative to the Hatfields. (Yes, those Hatfields.) Belle received a classical education and learned piano, while graduating from Missouri’s Carthage Female Academy, a private institution that her father had helped to found. (Ah yes, an intelligent and sharp mind appears to be the hallmark of any woman who dares challenge the status quo. But I digress.)

According to the book Belle Starr by Burton Rascoe (Random House, 1941), the “Shirleys were regarded as ‘rather common,’ because they had no slaves.” While in school, Myra was “irregular in attendance” and was regarded as “rather wild” by teacher Mrs. Poole.

Belle always harbored a strong sense of style, which fed into her later legend. A crack shot, she used to ride sidesaddle while dressed in a black velvet riding habit and an ostrich feather-plumed hat, carrying two pistols, with cartridge belts across her hips.

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Early on, Belle’s brother, Bud, was a big influence, teaching her to ride and shoot guns. When the Civil War began, Bud became a guerilla fighter for the Confederacy while Belle supposedly engaged in espionage. After the death of her brother the Shirley clan moved to Texas. Eventually, Belle Starr hooked up again with her old Confederate raider pals, including Frank and Jesse James and Cole Younger.

When she decided to settle down she married James C. Reed on November 1, 1866. Two years later, she gave birth to her first child, Rosie Lee (nicknamed Pearl). After James (who by then was wanted for numerous crimes, including murder) was killed by an undercover lawman, Belle continued a favorite pastime: stealing horses. In 1880, she married a Cherokee man named Sam Starr. She learned ways of organizing, planning and fencing for the rustlers, horse thieves and bootleggers, as well as harboring them from the law. Belle’s illegal enterprises proved lucrative enough for her to employ bribery to free her colleagues from the law whenever they were caught. Nonetheless, a cycle of criminal charges for both Belle and Sam Starr continued until Sam’s death in 1886.

On February 3, 1889, two days before her 41st birthday, Belle was ambushed and killed. Legend says she was shot with her own double-barrel shotgun and her murder officially remains unsolved. Belle’s daughter, Pearl, operated several bordellos in Arkansas from the 1890s to World War I.

The iconic Belle Starr has inspired plenty of Wild West legends that have kept her legacy alive.

• “Belle Starr” – Woody Guthrie song.
• Belle Starr (1941) – big-budget film in which Gene Tierney played the title role.
• Montana Belle (1952) – Jane Russell portrayed her.
• Maverick – TV series starring James Garner in which Jean Wiles played Starr in the episode “Full House”.
• Storybook Squares (1977) – a knockoff of the game show Hollywood Squares where Florence Henderson appeared as the famous outlaw.
• The Legend of Belle Starr – historical novel by Stoney Hardcastle.
• Sissy Spacek wrote the song “Some Small Crime” about Starr.
• The Long Riders (1980) – Pamela Reed portrayed Belle Starr.

All images remain the property of their original owners. All rights reserved.