"The Worst Woman Who Ever Lived?" Elizabeth Báthory

She spoke four languages, owned more land than the King of Hungary, and may have tortured and murdered up to 650 young women over 25 years. When they finally caught her, she was so powerful they couldn't even put her on trial - so they bricked her up inside her own castle and left her there until she died.

In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods tackle Elizabeth Báthory - the 16th century Hungarian countess considered the most prolific female serial killer in recorded history, and the first true villain Bloomin' Legends has ever covered.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

🏰 The Blood Countess – how one of Europe's most powerful noblewomen allegedly used her wealth, land, and total impunity to torture and kill for over two decades

🐴 The most horrific execution ever? – as a child, Báthory witnessed a man sewn alive into a dying horse with his head left poking out, and it may have shaped everything that followed

🩸 The blood-bathing myth – did she really bathe in the blood of virgins? Almost certainly not — that detail was invented by a Jesuit writer over 100 years later

🤴 Too powerful to punish – why the King of Hungary wanted her gone, how her downfall was probably motivated by debt, and why she never stood trial

🧱 Bricked up alive – her final punishment: walled into a room in her own castle with no doors, no windows, and no sunlight for three and a half years until she died

If you love true crime, dark history, serial killers, medieval horror and comedy, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.

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Produced by Ben Fairclough

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