Vampires and economics

The PBS series Secrets of the Dead just had an episode titled Field of Vampires. The summary is below followed by an excerpt from the transcript. There is a part there about a woman who was accused of being a vampire. A king owed her money. Once she was convicted he no longer had to pay the debt. So he had an incentive to order the investigation in the first place. That part is highlighted in red.

"In 2022, a terrifying discovery: a female skeleton dating from 1650, buried with a sickle across her neck and giant padlock on her toe—double protection to keep her from rising from the dead. All the evidence points to her being buried as a vampire... and she’s not alone, with more than 50 deviant burials around her. Who was she and what did these burial rituals mean?"

"High above the village of Cachtice, in what is now Slovakia, is Cachtice Castle.

 Just before the woman in Grave 75 was born, in the early 17th century, this castle was home to a woman later dubbed "Countess Dracula."

 Local historian Marian Imriska has lived in the castle's shadow his entire life.

He knows its dark past better than anyone.

-This is the home of Elizabeth Bathory, otherwise known as the blood countess.

-Stories of Bathory's alleged crimes have been passed down through generations.

-The legend is saying that Elizabeth tortured over 650 young girls, and she killed them.

And she was drinking the blood to gain the power of the young girls.

-But before any accusations were made, Elizabeth had been one of the most loved and respected members of the community.

-She was a really inspiring woman because she was really educated.

She was meeting with all kinds of people here on the castle, with teachers, with philosophs, or with alchemists.

So, for my opinion, she was a one of the most impressive women in the whole world.

-Things began to change after her husband, Count Ferenc Nadasdy, died in 1604.

Rumors soon began to spread about the widow Bathory, living alone in her castle.

-People started to tell stories about vampires and about that Elizabeth is actually a vampire, and she's leaving the castle to frighten the people from the village.

And the priests started to tell these crazy stories about Elizabeth.

-Encouraged by Bathory's enemies, it wasn't long before these horrific stories took on a life of their own.

According to some accounts, Countess Bathory even bathed in the blood of her young victims.

 Few people ever visit this place.

It's in these very tunnels that Elizabeth is said to have tortured and killed hundreds.

But can these lurid tales be trusted?

Behind much of the "evidence" was a man who had a lot to gain from denouncing the so-called "blood countess."

In 1610, King Matthias of Hungary ordered a secret investigation into the stories about Elizabeth.

He also happened to owe Bathory a huge amount of money.

-Investigators came to these tunnels and discovered all about torturing the girls.

The investigators were asking the servants what they did to the young girls.

-The servants were arrested, tortured, and then put on trial.

All were found guilty.

Three were burnt alive and another beheaded, then burnt.

Elizabeth Bathory was condemned to house arrest.

-She was imprisoned in the castle.

She could walk around the castle but never leave the castle at all.

 -The countess died in this room on August the 21st, 1614.

 But today, some historians have suggested that Elizabeth Bathory was less a vampire and more a victim of malicious gossip.

-Elizabeth was one of the most powerful women in that time, and, for sure, the people or the other counts were frightened of this power.

-She was female at a time of rampant misogyny.

She was intelligent, she was clever, and perhaps, most importantly of all, she had powerful enemies, including the King of Hungary, who owed her money.

And those things combined made her a very viable target for a political attack, which, in this case, was obviously accusations of the most scandalous and shocking and violent sort.

 -Once she was convicted of the crimes, King Matthias's debt was conveniently written off.

Elizabeth Bathory shows how fear and the suggestion of vampirism could be powerful weapons that could bring down anyone in the 17 century and feed a hysteria across Europe about the threat of the undead."