On this day, Dec. 26, in 1610, the bloodthirsty crimes of
Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory were uncovered. Bathory,
who was born in Transylvania, is possibly the most prolific
serial killer in history and has been compared to Vlad the
Impaler of Wallachia, on whom the fictional Count Dracula is
partly based. Bathory stuck needles under the fingernails of
servant girls, bit off flesh from her victims, forced one girl
to cook and eat her own flesh. Bathory believed that human blood
would rejuvenate her skin. After members of the royal class
began to disappear, King Matthias II ordered an investigation.
Bathory was suspected of hundreds of killings and found guilty
in the death of 80 people. The "Blood Countess" was imprisoned
in a bricked-in room and died four years later. - Scott McCabe