Was Elizabeth Bathory's story exaggerated ?

by Vicious00

I'm wondering how true the story about her is. It must be very hard to know the real truth since she was a noble woman. I can imagine the rumors in those times must of been blown out of proportion both due to the hate of the common folk towards the noble family and also various superstitions of the time.

However if she was indeed guilty, i can imagine with her status it would of been quite easy to cover up some evidence or even dismiss some crimes such as a noble family member killing a peasant wouldn't of been considered a crime.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows of some real facts that point to the fact that she is guilty of all her horrific crimes.

mikedash

There is always more to say, but quite a few questions about Bathory and her alleged crimes have been asked here before, and you might like to review some of those threads while you wait for fresh responses to your query. Two of the most thorough, both with u/orangewombat, were

Floating feature: You've heard that Elisabeth Báthory (1560-1614 C.E.) was a seductively beautiful bisexual siren, a butcher, a vampire, a cannibal, a demon. She is history's first documented female serial murderer, and she's also the most prolific serial killer of all time (of any gender). If you know one thing about Báthory, it's that she tortured 650 virgin girls to death and bathed in their blood to preserve her eternal youth. If you know a second thing about Báthory, it's that modern "scholars" allege that the crown subjected her to a "show trial" -- a corrupt, misogynist monarch's cash- and land-grab -- that deprived an innocent woman of her life, liberty, and property.

Everything you know is wrong.

And there's also the (slightly more focused)

Was Elizabeth Bathory really as bad as she is popularly described?

Both quote extensively from original documents which, it needs to be said, are pretty graphic in places.