Further re Countess Elizabeth Barthory -- though she
is sometimes included in popular books on vampires,
it's not really accurate to say she was 'accused of
vampirism', if by 'vampire' one means an undead being
which emerges from its grave to suck blood. She was by
no means dead! What she was accused of was arranging
to have peasant girls abducted and wounded (not, as
far as I remember, killed) so that she could wash her
face in their blood. She tought this would preserve
her youthful beauty. The whole thing may have been a
put-up job by her enemies. Two of her servants were
tortured, supposedly confessed, and were either killed
or died under tyhe torture, She herself was never
brought to trial, just made a prisoner in one of her
own castles. There's a very melodramatic and (I'm
told) unreliable book by a French author, called 'The
Blood Countess', which has been translated into
paperback some years ago. I think I've seen something
better, but can't remember where. Do you want me to
hunt? I may not be able to get to a library for some
while, having sprained my ankle.
Jacqueline
--- steve ash <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I have a distant memory of a Persian Countess,
> married
> to a Russian Count I think, being accused of
> vampirism, but can't find the source or details. I
> think it may have come from Montague Summers, but a
> swift perusal of his works has failed to find
> anything. Anyone?
>
> On a related not I've often read John Keel claim he
> has seen 'portraits' of medieval vampires, but have
> no
> idea what he's on about. Anyone?
>
>
>
>
>
>
___________________________________________________________
>
> Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC
> calling worldwide with voicemail
> http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
>
___________________________________________________________
NEW Yahoo! Cars - sell your car and browse thousands of new and used cars online! http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/
|