Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory

by Craft, Kimberly

  Second: Since that time, how many girls and women has she killed?

  Answer: He does not know of women, but girls, he knows 37, while he was with her. In addition, when the Lord Palatine traveled to Bratislava, they buried five in a pit and two in the small garden under the eaves. A girl who they found there and she placed before them, and two others were taken to Leszetice in the church, where they buried the same; they brought down the same from the castle, because Mrs. Dorkó (Dorottya Szentes) killed them.

  Third: Who were those which they killed, and where?

  Answer: He does not know to whom the girls belonged.

  Fourth: How were those, the same women and girls, enticed and brought to the court?

  Answer: Six times, the declarant went looking for girls with Mrs. Dorkó; they attracted them with the promise that they would either marry a merchant or that they would be brought somewhere as a chambermaid. The now-deceased girl was brought from a Croatian village beyond Rednek; the girl worked for (the Lady) for a month, and then they killed her. Others who looked for girls, along with Mrs. Dorkó were: The (wife of) Janós Barsony, residing in Taplanfalva next to the Gyöngyös, except for once at Sárvár, they found a Croatian woman living with Mátyás Otvos, across from Janós Szalay. Also, (the wife of) Janós Szabo brought girls, even her own, who was also killed, and though she certainly knew it, she still gave more and brought them. The wife of György Szabo gave (the Lady) her own daughter at Csejthe, who also was murdered, but she did not bring anymore. The (wife of) István Szabo, however, brought many there. Mrs. Ilona brought enough. Ms. Katalin never brought any, but only buried those murdered by Dorkó.

  Fifth: By what torture and what manner did they kill these poor (unfortunates)?

  Answer: The same were tortured as follows: the arms were bound were Viennese cord (woven cotton?); when she lived at Sárvár, Anna Darvolia tied their hands backwards, they were deathly pale, they were beaten until their bodies burst. On the soles of the feet and the flat of the hands, these imprisoned women were given 500 strikes in a row; they learned this torturing first from Darvolia, and beat the same so long, until they died. Dorko cut with the hands of the girls with sheers, which at Csejthe is no different.

  Sixth: Who were the instruments of this torture and murder?

  Answer: In addition to these three women, is one from Csejthe, Mrs. Ilona, (wife of the one) called the Bald Coachman, who also martyred girls. The woman herself pricked them with needles when they were not finished with their stichery. If they didn’t take off their hair covering, if they did not start the fire, if they did not lay the apron straight: they were immediately taken to the torture-chamber by the old women, and tortured to death. The old women burned them with the curling iron and she herself the mouth, the nose, the chin of the girls. She stuck her fingers in the mouth and tore it apart. If they were not finished with their needlework by 10:00 p.m., so were they also brought into the torture chamber. They were taken to be tortured even ten times in a day, like sheep. Sometimes there were four to five girls standing naked there, and in this way they had to sew or knit. The Sittkey girl was killed, because she had stolen a pear; in the same way, she was tortured and murdered in Piastány with an emaciated old woman, and Ilona. The milliner Modli from Vienna was killed at Keresztúr.

  Seventh: Where were the dead bodies buried or where were they were taken? Who hid the same corpses and where were they buried?

  Answer: These old women hid and buried the girls. He, Confessor, had himself helped bury four here and in Csejthe, in Leszetice two, one in Keresztúr, and also one in Sárvár; the others were buried with singing at the three last-named places. When the old women murdered a girl, they were given gifts by the Lady. She herself even tore the girl's face and scratched it all over. Then, the tortured girl was made to stand in the frost and splashed with water by the old women; also, the Lady herself poured water on her until she froze and died. When she was here at Bitcá, she was ready to depart when one of her girls escaped to Ilava, but was brought back, put up to her neck in water, and doused; she died afterward at Csejthe.

  Eighth: The Lady herself also tortured and murdered? And how did she torture the poor (ones) and kill them?

  Answer: When she herself did not torture them, she transferred them to the old women who tortured the girls, whom they put in the coal storage for a week without food, and whoever gave them something to eat in secret was immediately punished.

  Ninth: In what sort of places at Csejthe, Sárvár, Keresztúr, Beckov and elsewhere, were the poor (ones), tortured and killed?

  Answer: At Beckov, the same were tortured in the chamber next to the (wash)-kitchen; at Sárvár, this happened in the interior of the palace, where not everyone had access; at Keresztúr, in the toilet area; at Csejthe, in the kitchen. Even while we were traveling, she tortured the girls in the carriage, and beat them and stuck them in the mouth with needles.

  Tenth: Who, of important people, knew or saw the same deeds of the Lady?

  Answer: The Courtmaster Benedikt Deseö knew best over the others; however, no one ever heard him say anything about the Lady. Also, the other servants knew about it in general, even the riff-raff. A certain “Obstinate István,” now beyond the Danube, who recently left the Lady’s service, knows everything better than even the witness; he also talked freely with the Lady, and carried several dead bodies away but, where? The witness does not know.

  Eleventh: For how long have they known or learned of, that the Lady began committing these cruel deeds?

  Answer: She had tortured the girls even during the lifetime of the late Lord, but not so often murdered them, as now. The poor Lord had spoken to her about it, but did not forbid it. But when the woman, Anna Darvolia, came to her, she (Anna) killed the girls, and also the Lady became more cruel. Something like a pretzel was kept in a box, with a mirror in the middle, before which she prayed for two hours. - Item: The Mistress of Miava made some sort of water in the morning, and at approximately four clock the lady bathed in a baking trough, then she poured the water in the creek. She wanted to bake two cakes in the trough, of which she wanted to poison both the King, the Lord Palatine and Imre Megyeri. But these gentlemen became aware of it and bested the Lady with the physical; because once they had eaten the first baked item, they all got stomach aches, and so she dared not permit the second backed item to be prepared.

  Second: Ilona Jó, widow of István Nagy, testified on the above points in order, as follows:

  Regarding No. 1: She lived ten years with the Lady and was the nursemaid for the three girls and also Pál Nádasdy.

  2: She does not know the number of victims, but she has killed enough.

  3. She does not know of which families they were; but she knows two Sittkey women; then a sister of Gregor Jánosi; also, two noble girls were brought to her from Vécsei, also two from Cheglét: the one she killed, the other is still alive. Also, the Lady Szell had brought a girl, and one was also brought from Poland. The (wife of) Janós Bársony also brought a large, tall girl, the daughter of a nobleman, from where Janós Poliani lived; she was also killed. In sum she knows fifty or more who were murdered.

  4. The (wife of) Janós Szalay, then (brought) a Jewish and a Slovak woman to live at Sárvár. The (wife of) Janós Szalay also brought two or three girls, although she knew that the same would be killed, but the one named Chiglei is still alive. She went away with Janós Bársony and remained there, but the (wife of) Janós Barsony herself brought a noble girl from south of Poland. Stablemaster Dániel Vas brought many around; the Lady Homonnay looked for girls but found none, except for a little one from Vécsey.

  5. Also she herself brought girls when the Lady ordered it, but Darvolia in particular murdered the same; she put them in cold water all night, bathed and beat them. The Lady herself heated a key, and then burned the hand of a girl. She also did the same with coins when the same were found with them and did not give them to the Lady. In addition, she herself murdered the Lady Zichi, along with
an old woman, at Ecséd. At Sárvár, she killed the Lord’s sister (translation mistake: it was a sister of Ilona Jó) - which he saw with his own eyes - in the summer stripped naked, covered with honey, and made to stand the whole day and night in great pain until she fell sick and dropped to the ground. The Lord punished her, lighting oiled papers between the toes, which would make her stand up even if she was half dead. István Szabó brought enough girls from the Verpén area, for gifts, the rest for payment. One (girl) was given a petticoat, the other a little winter skirt. Also, the (wife of) Balthasar Horváth, who lives in a village near the monastery, has brought many girls. Szilvásy, as well as the Court Master, have seen that the Lady herself tortured the girls, stripped naked, and made to stand before them. Dorkó cut the swollen bodies of the girls with a pair of scissors, and once, when the Lady allowed it, the servants here gave the girls mouthclamps. She threw the girls to the ground naked and beat them so violently that one could scoop handfuls of blood from her bed, and ashes had to be strewn. In a village near Varannó she also killed one of them, and left the Declarant behind in order to bury her. She herself stuck a knife into the girls, and beat them and tortured them in many ways.

  6. After Darvolia went blind, the women Dorkó and Kata beat the girls, as well as the Declarant, so long as she was healthy.

  7. She does not know where the corpses are now buried, but they were first carried to a wheat shaft. The women Dorkó and Kata took five corpses to Sárvár during the day with singing and also buried them at Keresztúr accompanied by (ministry) students.

  8. She herself, the Lady, beat and tortured the girls so much so that she was covered in blood, even having to change her shirt, and the bloody wall had to be washed. When Dorkó beat the girls, the Lady herself stood nearby.

  9. Overall, anywhere she went, she looked immediately for a place where they could torture the girls. In Vienna, the monks even threw pots at the window when they heard the frightened cries. Also at Bratislava, Mrs. Dorkó beat the girls.

  10. Namely, Balthasar Poki (Poby), IstvánS Vaghi, the Court Master, and all officials and servants knew of the atrocities; also Kozma knew about it.

  11. She does not know when they Lady began committing these cruelties, because by the time the Declarant had come to her, she had already begun the same: but Darvolia had instructed her in cruelty and was her confidante. The Declarant knew and saw that she burned the genitals of the naked girls with a burning candle.

  The third, Dorottya Széntes, the widow of Benedikt Szócs, confessed on the following, above-asked questions in order:

  Regarding No. 1. It has been five years since she has been with the Lady. Mrs. Ilona lured her to the castle with beautiful words that she would be taken on by Lady Homonnay.

  2. She knew of approximately 36 young women and sewing girls killed by the Lady.

  3. From which families they came and to whom they belonged, she does not know but, rather, said the same as the above, that they came from many places.

  4. The (wife of) Janós Szalay, the (wife of) Janós Bársony, and the Widow Keöcsé living in Dömölk. The (wife of) Janós Liptay brought some to Csejthe. She confessed the same way in all matters as the previous two Declarants.

  5. Consistently she admits what the two previous Declarants had confessed, with the addition that the Lady also tortured the girls at Chian, and that if the Declarant would not beat the same, then (the Lady) would do it herself with a club, like a chair leg. She stuck the lips of the girls together with needles and also tortured them in this way. When the Lady was sick and could not beat anyone, she ordered the Confessant over to her (the Confessant had dragged the victim onto the bed) and bit a piece out of the face and the shoulder. She pricked the girls through their fingers with pins, and said: “If it hurts the whore, then she can pull it out”; if she did so, the Lady would beat her again and cut off the finger.

  6. Soon, they were all helping the Lady with torturing, first one and then the other, along with the Declarant herself, because she forced them to do it.

  7. Within a week and a half, five girls died at Csejthe, which they stacked one on top of the other in the storage room. She then went to Sárvár, and Kata dragged the same, right past the house staff, into the wheat pit. Confessant was with the Lady at Sárvár at the time. The remaining corpses, which they could not hide, were often publicly buried through the Preacher. The servants, along with Kata, carried one to Leszetice and buried it there.

  8. The Lady herself beat the girls -- in general, the Confessant testified the same as the previous two.

  9. In regard to the places of torture, she said that the Lady tortured wherever she was.

  10. She said the same as the others.

  11. She does not know when the Lady began her cruelties, because she was only with her for five years.

  The fourth: Katalin Beneczky, the widow of Janós Boda, confessed on the previously-asked questions as follows:

  1. It has been ten years since she has been with the Lady; the (wife of) Valentin Varga, mother of the current pastor at Sárvár, had appointed her to be a washerwoman at the palace.

  2. Since she was a washerwoman, she doesn’t know how many were murdered; she believes, however, that during her time with the Lady, it could be fifty that the Lady killed.

  3. She does not know from which families or from where they came, because she did not bring any; she knew only the Sittkey women.

  4. In all matters, she said the same as the others. The (wife of) Janós Liptay brought a girl, and she adds: that (the wife) of Miklós Kardos also brought two, such that she dared not even go into the village; however, the woman, Dorkó, brought in the most, and she brought in all of the ones that are now dead.

  5. Continues identically with the foregoing, with the addition: that after Darvolia became blind and the two previous female Confessants had fully learned how to torture, the same forced this Declarant to perform beatings; indeed, the woman, Ilona, had them carry on with beatings until they were tired. Also, the women forced her into the beatings, constantly yelling at her and screaming: “Hit her! Hit her! Harder!” The girl who has now been found dead was so terribly beaten that, when she was already half-dead, Lady Nádasdy went inside and also started beating her, so that by 11:00 p.m., she had given up the ghost.

  6. Mrs. Ilona was the most wicked in her bragging; even though she could do nothing by her own hand, she received permission from the Lady to control Sárvár. The Lady Nádasdy even married two daughters of the same and gave them 14 beautiful gowns. She was above all others an advisor (to the Lady). Mrs. Dorkó beat the girls and also the Declarant when she was forced to do so; she herself was beaten when she refused to do it and once spent the entire month in bed because of the beating suffered. Once, when the Lady Zrínyi came to Csejthe, she sent her entire staff of housegirls, along with Dorkó, up into the castle, where Dorkó kept the girls in strict captivity like criminals, washing and making them bathe in cold water and then forcing them to stay outside, naked, for entire nights. “May the thunder,” she said, “slay anyone who gives them something to eat!” She guarded the same so strictly that neither the castle steward nor anyone else could feed them. But when the Lady wanted to travel to Piastány with Mrs. Zrínyi, she sent the Declarant up to see if one of them could go with her; she found all of them having fainted from lack of food, and said to the Lady, when she returned: "Not a single one is in a position to travel with Your Grace. " The Lady clapped her hands together; she was very angry with Dorkó and said that this should not have happened. The girls were brought out and died in a room of the castle. Because both the Lady and Dorkó beat them, and now that they had gone without food, they had to give up the spirit. A young lady from Dömölk, who was with the Declarant in a coach, died on the journey from Piastány to Csejthe. This girl had already collapsed at Piastány, but was propped up again and beaten by the Lady.

  7. Two of the dead girls were buried in Leszetice. The rest was as the previous. Regarding five girls, of who
m Dorkó knows are dead because she was with them, she stacked them one on top of the other under the bed and threw oakum (a kind of tar) on them. Nevertheless, they brought food every day as if they were still alive, no matter how long things were different. Then the Lady went to Sárvár and ordered that the Declarant break up the floor and bury them there; she did not do it, however, because she was too weak. The poor corpses remained in this way such that a foulness was given off, and it caused such a stench in the manor that one also felt the same. Now the Declarant did not know what she should do, so she buried all of the bodies, by God’s will, in a wheat pit with the aid of Bulia, (and) the servantwomen Barbara and Käte, who were together with Dorkó daily and when they died. At night they buried the same. Dorkó herself even had a corpse buried under the eaves, which the dogs dug up, and which was seen by the servant of Lord Zrinyi. This one was then buried in the wheat pit, which was now filled with these five bodies. At Csejthe, where she had been only a short time, eight were killed.