 SPOILER: Mrs. Bathory (Monika Malacova (qv)) who bathes in virgin  blood is based on a real woman. Elizabeth Bathory was the "Blood  Countess" of Hungary who struck terror throughout that region in the  late 1500s and early 1600s, and is said to have killed more than 600  young female servants and peasants throughout her life. The legend  that she bathed in the blood of virgins in order to retain her  beauty, however, has since proven to be fictional.