The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers by Michael Newton Read Free Book Online Page B

Joe’s had fallen into decadence by the mid-16th century, the alligator pond. (The smell, Ball normally explained, royal bloodline marred by incest and epilepsy, with was due to rotting meat he used for ’gator food.) later family ranks including alcoholics, murderers and Another local was so terrified of Ball that he packed up sadists, homosexuals (considered criminally deviant at his family one night and fled the state, without a word the time) and Satanists.
    of explanation.
    Though physically beautiful, Erzsebet was clearly the In September 1937, worried relatives reported Min-product of polluted genetics and a twisted upbringing.
    nie Gotthardt’s disappearance to authorities in Elmen-Throughout her life, she was subject to blinding dorf. The missing 22-year-old had been employed with headaches and fainting seizures—probably epileptic in Ball before she dropped from sight, but under question-nature—which superstitious family members diagnosed ing the tavern keeper said that she had left to take as demonic possession. Raised on the Báthory estate at another job. Police were satisfied, until another wait-the foot of the brooding Carpathian Mountains, Erzse-ress—Julia Turner—was reported missing by her family.
    bet was introduced to devil worship in adolescence by Ball’s answer was the same, but this time there were one of her Satanist uncles. Her favorite aunt, one of problems with his story, since the girl had left her Hungary’s most notorious lesbians, taught Erzsebet the clothes behind. Joe saved himself by suddenly remem-pleasures of flagellation and other perversions, but bering an argument with Julia’s roommate; Turner had young Erzsebet always believed that where pain was been anxious to get out, he said, and Ball had given her concerned, it was better to give than to receive.
    $500 for the road.
    When Erzsebet was barely 11, her parents contracted Within a few short months, two other women joined her future marriage to Count Ferencz Nadasdy, an aris-the missing list; one of them, Hazel Brown, had opened tocratic warrior. Their wedding was postponed until up a bank account two days before she disappeared, Erzsebet turned 15, finally solemnized on May 5, 1575.
    then “left” without retrieving any of the cash. Texas The bride retained her maiden name as a sign that her Rangers entered the case, compiling a roster of Ball’s family possessed greater status than Nadasdy’s clan.
    known employees over the past few years. Many were The newlyweds settled at Csejthe Castle, in north-found alive, but at least a dozen were permanently western Hungary, but Count Nadasdy also maintained missing, along with Joe’s second and third wives. Ball other palatial homes around the country, each complete stood up well under questioning, but his elderly handy-with a dungeon and torture chamber specially designed man cracked, reporting that he had helped Ball dispose to meet Erzsebet’s needs. Nadasdy was frequently 14

    BÁTHORY, Erzsebet
    nipples of her victims, sometimes ramming needles beneath their fingernails. “The little slut!” she would sneer, as her captive writhed in pain. “If it hurts, she’s only got to take them out herself.” Erzsebet also enjoyed biting her victims on the cheeks, breasts, and elsewhere, drawing blood with her teeth. Other captives were stripped, smeared with honey, and exposed to the attacks of ants and bees.
    Count Nadasdy reportedly joined Erzsebet in some of the torture sessions, but over time he came to fear his wife, spending more and more time on the road or in the arms of his mistress. When he finally died in 1600
    or 1604 (accounts vary), Erzsebet lost all restraint, devoting herself full time to the torment and sexual degradation of younger women. In short order, she broadened her scope from the family staff to include nubile strangers. Trusted employees scoured the countryside for fresh prey, luring peasant girls with offers of employment, resorting to drugs or