013 Erzsébet Báthory: Monster or Myth

The Blood Countess—Monster or Myth?

Throughout this series, we’ve seen how women were rewritten—turned into seductresses, sorceresses, rebels, and villains. Their power was dangerous. Their defiance, unforgivable.

But what happens when even that isn’t enough?

What happens when the story doesn’t just punish a woman…
It monstrifies her?

Before we turn toward the women who managed to resist being rewritten altogether—those who held power and shaped their own myths—we need to stop at the darkest transformation of all.

Erzsébet Báthory.

The moment a Bad Girl becomes something far more terrifying:
A Boogeywoman.

Erzsébet Báthory stands at the crossroads between the women we’ve explored and those in this bonus section.

Unlike many of history’s so-called ‘bad girls,’ she wasn’t rewritten as a seductress, sorceress, or political threat—she was turned into something even more infamous: a monster.

Her legend is soaked in blood—hundreds of victims, grotesque torture, and the most infamous detail of all: the claim that she bathed in the blood of virgins to preserve her youth.

Over time, this accusation transformed her from an alleged serial killer into something even more chilling—a vampire.

But what does it mean when history takes a woman and turns her into a creature of the night?

(If history is written by the victors, what does it say when they rewrite women as monsters?)

Power, Beauty, and Blood—The Ingredients of a Monster

Báthory was a woman with wealth, influence, and an iron grip on her lands at a time when noblewomen were expected to be seen, not feared. After her husband’s death, she held control of vast estates, managed soldiers, and wielded authority that made powerful men uneasy.

Her fall was swift and brutal.

Accused of the murder and torture of over 600 girls, she was arrested, sealed inside her own castle, and erased from history as anything but a monster. The stories of her alleged crimes grew darker over time, feeding into one of history’s most grotesque transformations: 

Báthory the Countess became Báthory the Vampire.

Much of the evidence came from servants under duress, with confessions extracted through torture or recorded years after the fact—hardly a reliable record of justice.

(Because a woman with unchecked power must be punished—but making her a monster ensures no one will ever sympathize.)

The Birth of a Blood Myth

The idea of blood as a source of power—especially for women—has always been laced with fear and taboo. Menstrual blood, virginity, and youth are deeply tied to folklore, making it no surprise that Erzsébet’s legend took a supernatural turn. The accusation that she bathed in blood to stay young was not recorded during her lifetime—it emerged centuries later, when vampiric folklore surged in Eastern Europe.

(Somehow, men drinking the blood of Christ for eternal life was sacred, but a woman using blood for youth? Pure evil.)

Some theories suggest this transformation into a vampire was not just about horror—it was about control.

• Báthory’s story was weaponized against powerful women. By turning her into a literal monster, history ensured she would be remembered not for her rule, but for her supposed savagery.
• Her legend reflects male anxieties about female vanity and sexuality. The idea of a woman consuming the life force of the young to maintain beauty is a sinister exaggeration of society’s obsession with youth.
• She became the ultimate femme fatale—desirable, deadly, and eternally feared. Instead of a ruler, she became a warning: this is what happens when a woman becomes too powerful.

Even today, powerful women are punished for refusing to age, soften, or step aside. The headlines may have changed, but the hunger to turn them into cautionary tales remains the same.

(Because what’s more terrifying than a woman who refuses to age, lose power, or apologize for either?)

Why Do We Turn Women Into Vampires?

Vampires represent something primal: seduction, power, and the fear of being consumed.

And historically, women who refused to conform—who were too sexual, too ruthless, too independent—were often recast as hunters rather than hunted.

Báthory’s transformation into a vampire echoes other stories of women rewritten into monsters:

• The Sirens – Powerful voices turned into deadly temptation
• Lilith – The original demonized woman, accused of preying on infants and men.
• Medusa – A victim turned into a literal horror, her gaze made deadly.
• La Llorona – A grieving mother recast as a vengeful ghost.

(You’ve met them all in this series—voices too dangerous to be heard, bodies too unruly to be honored, power too unsettling to be left unpunished.)

When men take power, they become heroes. When women take power, they become villains. But if women refuse to be erased, they become something even more fearsome—legends.

In the end, Erzsébet Báthory may have been guilty of terrible crimes—or she may have been a victim of political sabotage.

But her greatest crime, in the eyes of history? 

Being a woman who held power, and refusing to give it up.

And so, they did what they always do. They didn’t just kill her. 

They made her a monster.
But monsters don’t beg for forgiveness.
They haunt the halls of history—unapologetic, undead, and unforgettable.

(But maybe, just maybe, that’s the kind of monster we should be learning from.)

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Always,
Your Trusted Friend 🖤

Cawley, Laurence. “Cambridge University Academic’s Quest to Clear Elizabeth Bathory’s Name.” BBC News, BBC, 28 May 2024, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-69057709. 

Elizabeth Bathory – The Blood Countess Documentary

Velton, Sonia. “Features.” Historia Magazine, The Historical Writers Association, 2 May 2024, http://www.historiamag.com/vampire-or-victim-the-real-countess-bathory/.