Nightmare Anthology: True Chills and Twisted Legends

This is a true life story. 

• Year: 1600s

• Country: Hungary

• State/Region: Near modern-day Čachtice, Slovakia

• Place: Csejte Castle 

1ST PERSON POV -- KLARA

My hands shook terribly as I carried the silver tray down the nearly dark corridor, feeling its edges cutting into my palms. 

I've been at Csejte Castle for only a month, but the air here always felt suffocating, like somethings hid in the walls themselves. 

The Countess's summons never went well, especially at night.

"Move faster, girl!" one of the guards following me snapped.

His voice bounced off the stone walls and I increased my footsteps, managing to murmur, "Yes, sir." 

I could feel my heart thud with so much dread, I could barely breathe as I approach her chamber doors.

I've heard the whispers among the servants. 

Girls disappearing. 

Screams in the dead of night. 

Bloodstains that never seemed to agree to be washed out. 

But I couldn't afford to leave—not with my family starving back in the village.

The guard pushed open the heavy oak door, and I stepped inside. 

The smell hit me first: iron and… decay. 

It's scent so thick I could taste it on my tongue.

But as I looked around, I saw nothing decaying.

Maybe it was the new black ash powder, a trader gifted me yesterday.

"Ah, Klara," that smooth voice that could only belong to the Countess, Elizabeth Báthory, came through.

She stood by the fireplace with her silhouette against the licking flames and turned to glance at me.

Her lips curled into a smile that didn't really reach her eyes.

"You've been here long enough to know the rules, haven't you?" she asked.

"Yes, my lady," I whispered, bowing my head to avoid direct eye contact, hearing her laugh.

Good. Then you'll know not to question what you see tonight."

—----------

It was night yet I couldn't sleep. 

The Countess made a mistake, I didn't see anything instead I heard.

Screams, just like the other servants warned me about, began after I returned to the servants' quarters. 

They were high-pitched and sounded so desperate that I shivered, goosebumps breaking out all over my skin.

All of us maids were huddling together, scared, shuddering, some were praying, muttering words I couldn't understand.

"What is she doing to them?" I whispered to Anna, a girl who had been here longer than me.

Anna shook her head, her eyes were filled with tears. 

"You don't want to know."

But I really wanted to.

—------

The next evening, I was summoned again, this time, to the dungeons.

The air felt cold as I went down the stone steps, hearing faint sounds of chains clinking ahead. 

Two guards walked on either side of me, showing me the way. 

"Do not speak unless spoken to," one of them growled, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

When we reached the bottom, the scene before me made me almost loose my supper.

Girls, teen girls by the looks of it, were chained to the walls. 

Blood ran down from fresh cuts on their arms, pooling on to the floor.

The Countess stood in the center of the room, dressed in a deep red gown that looked just like the stains on the floor, holding a thin dagger.

I could see it's blade glinting from the several touches that hung from the walls of the dungeon. 

"Ah, Klara," she said, turning to me. 

"You're just in time to help. Guards stay by the door and watch."

My feet were rooted to the ground were I was, "M-my lady?"

"Take that bucket," she ordered, nodding toward a wooden pail filled with dark, liquid.

Shaking I picked it up. 

"Pour it into the tub," she instructed again, gesturing to the claw-footed bathtub with ornate carvings in the corner of the room.

When I got closer to it, I saw that the tub was already half-fillied with thick blood, already congealing. 

It was disgusting and again I almost lost my food that was in my stomach but I wondered. 

Who's blood is this? 

What was going to happen to me? 

As I tipped the bucket, pouring the blood into the tub, it splashed about, staining my servant clothing

She smiled, looking satisfied "Perfect."

Stepped forward, she lifted her gown over her head. 

I turned away, but she barked, "Look at me, Klara. Do not be shy."

Reluctantly, I faced her. 

She stood naked, and without waiting any longer, stepped into the tub, sinking into the blood. 

A sigh left her lips. 

"Do you see?" she said, twirling her fingers through the red liquid. 

"This is the secret to eternal beauty. Their youth becomes mine."

I could barely breathe, my vision was starting to blur. 

She leaned back into the warm bath, running her hands over her body, starting from her face, like she was possessed, making sure every inch of her skin was covered in blood.

As she dipped her hand to scoop more of the blood, she frowned, pulling her out and throwing away what she found. 

It fell a few feet away from me and as the guard picked it up to throw it away, I saw what it was.

It was a hair pin, the very one the Countess' personal handmaid always wore no matter how dirty it was.

"Fetch me another bucket."

Hurrying with my hand pressed mouth, I stumbled out of the dungeon.

The next day, I learned that Anna was missing.

Then I found her in the dungeon, limp as two guards dragged her toward the tub.

"Anna!" I screamed, rushing forward, but one of the guards shoved me back.

"No! Please!" Anna cried, struggling, kicking but nothing worked.

SHE watched, smiling and picking at her fingers. 

"Klara I hope you're paying attention."

"Let her be!!!" I clawed at the guards and bit the arm of one of them.

He punched me in my stomach and grabbed me by my hair.

"Careful now, do not ruin her face."

They held me there, eventually having to lay me on the floor tied up.

I couldn't move, so I tried screaming.

This angered the Countess so she picked something from brought a chopped off hand to my face.

I tried backing away, but the guards held me down.

"Your scream is the loudest so far. Don't worry your time will come. Open up now."

Struggling was useless, she stuffed the hand into my mouth, pushing it till it hit the back of my mind.

Gagging as the fresh blood from the dismembered hand, seeping down my throat, I shook terribly on the floor, almost convulsing.

There was nothing I could do but watch as they tied Anna to a chair. 

The monster of a woman approached her, holding her favorite dagger in her hand.

"You have such lovely skin," she said tracing the blade along Anna's cheek.

Anna sobbed, her tears mixing with the blood that dripped from her wounds on her cheeks.

She must have fought a lot before I was brought here.

Anna shook her head, crying more, "Please…"

"Shhh. It's an honor to die for me. I will wear your beauty well."

She carassed Anna's face and kissed her forehead as Anna began to choke and breath very fast, deeply.

"Please! Please!! Pleassssse!!! Oooookaadhhhbn!!!!"

The first cut along Anna's arm was merciless and deep with the blood pouring into a waiting bucket. 

The Countess stretched out her hand and a guard placed an axe in it.

She struck it down, harcking at Anna's arm by her shoulders.

"Arghhhhhhhhh!!" 

She hit down again.

"Afhh hhaaaaaaaaa!!!"

'Stop it please!' I screamed mentally as SHE landed the axe again on Anna's shoulder blade.

The arm fell off and blood gushed out of it pouring into the bucket the Countess held up to the gaping hole.

"Wonderful!," she crackled, bending her head to taste the blood fresh from its source, drenching her entire body in the process.

"You have sooo much blood on you." 

"Heelp," Anna's voice was weak and even I couldn't make a sound.

"The more pain you feel, the more young and beautiful I will become," SHE raised the axe high.

"Honour your Countess!" 

—

I was next.

Once she was done bathing, I knew she would kill me as well.

That night, I told myself I would escape or die trying.

But before I could act, the soldiers arrived.

They stormed the castle, with their horses and their shouts mingled with the screams of HER victims.

I could here one of the soldiers demand, "Where is she?"

There was a shout and then…

"Check the dungeons!"

They got in and found the Countess in the middle of her eternal youth and beauty routine.

Her hands, face and entire length of her body were stained red as she bathed in the tub of blood. 

"Seize her!" the captain commanded.

SHE screamed, thrashing as the soldiers dragged her from the tub. 

"You fools!" she shrieked. 

"You do not understand! I am above you all!!"

Her naked, blood-soaked body was a horrifying sight, making her look like a red monster— the monster she was—, as they bound her hands and marched her out of the castle.

—------------

It's been four years since she was arrested and confined to her room but she was never tried, owning to the noble blood coursing through her veins.

Rumors has it that the King was forced to investigate and act because the nobility threatened to upseat him.

That was why I survived that day.

She's dead now, but I still see her face in my dreams, her wicked smile and her blood-stained hands.

Even now, as I write this, I can feel the effects of her cruelty still with us in Csejte Castle. 

She's gone and her beauty is dust to the earth now, but her evil will never be forgotten.

Not by any of us, especially those of us that survived.

May the souls of all those she tomented and killed, even Anna, Rest In Peace.

 ---

Elizabeth Báthory, born into nobility in 1560, lived in the magnificent Csejte Castle. 

History remembers her as one of the most 'prolific' female serial killers.

And her need to bath in the blood of young ladies to remain young forever earned her the title: "Blood Countess." 

The early 1600s was known as her reign of Terror.