The History Channel told the story of Elizabeth Bathory as this:
A maid accidently pulled her hair while brushing it, she slapped the maid across the face and a few drops of blood fell onto her hand. Bathory rubbed it into her skin marveling that the skin looked younger and fresher where the blood had soaked into her skin. Her partner in crime was, for lack of a better term, her Butler. They concocted a plan to send word to all the towns and villages under her leadership that she was starting a "finishing school" for young women. She wanted to make sure she only got virgin blood as that was the purest. Thus all the young, single women wanted to come to the castle so they might better themselves and attain a better suitor. What they found out was the there was no such school and the maidens were kept against their wills. She would, as stated above, torture and torment these women before she slit their throats of decapitated them and bathed in their blood. She was basically the only royal bloodline in that area of the country but when the King heard of her exploits, he put a stop to it, but not before 600-800 young maidens had been put to death. She was of royal blood therefore she could not be killed outright, so the King was forced to confine her to one room in her castle...and there she stayed until her death. Her accomplice, I assume, was killed for his role in the slayings as he was not a noble. So, this woman was definitely a serial killer. She had no remorse, no conscience and no moral code. While she may have been mentally ill, she most definitely was criminally insane. She liked what she did, she reveled in it. She enjoyed seeing the terror in those maidens' eyes, knowing she was going to kill them. As for the comparision someone made between her and Vlad the Impaler....I would gladly take my chances with Vlad then with this psychotic murderess!
