The Bathory Legend.: Cachticka Pani

It has been said that Elizabeth Bathory was the model for Bram Stoker’s
nineteenth century novel “Dracula”. There is no doubt that Stoker heard
the legends that have been thrilling audiences for centuries before
writing his famous book in Dublin in 1897. Countess Bathory and Count
Dracula are alike in so many ways, except she actually lived at the turn
of the seventeenth century in Hungary. Her bloody tale is far more
terrifying because it was real.

Stoker developed the theme of isolation when he wrote “You must not
be alone; for to be alone is to be full of fears and alarms.” Bathory’s
victims were often innocent young girls, stolen from their families and
trapped alone and defenseless, but they were also her serfs and the
community surrounding her castle, the ruins of which exist today in the
real village of Cachtice, Slovakia.

Cachticka Pani has been a bestselling novel in Slovakia for almost
as long as it has been in print. It has been translated into Czech,
Hungarian, Polish, German, and now for the first time, English.
This story brings to life a poignant period in European history when
the value of the life of the common serf fell to its lowest point and
the powers of the nobility to do evil were at their greatest.

The author Jozo Niznansky, a popular Slovakian adventure writer,
presents his readers a vivid description of what life during the time of
Elizabeth Bathory must have been like. He used authentic historical
documents to bring the incredibly evil and frightening legend to life.
His novel has it all. It is loaded with facts, chills, mystery, horror, adventure,
intrigue, and is also a beautiful love story.