When people research the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s infamous villain, the name Vlad the Impaler almost always comes up. Renown for his cruelty and the number of his victims which number in the tens of thousands, Vlad was also called Dracula, his patronymic (a component of a personal name based on the name of one’s father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. Dracula literally means ‘son of the dragon.’)

But Vlad may not have been the only inspiration. Based on certain components of Dracula’s background and character, it can be safe to hypothesize that Bram Stoker was also inspired by the legends of the most prolific serial killer of all time: Countess Elizabeth Bathory.

Born in 1560, Elizabeth Bathory was a noblewoman, and a member of one of the most powerful Hungarian families of the time. So powerful in fact, that they were more affluent in both money and…