December 29

At times it seems as if people have lost the ability to age gracefully. Strategies to turn back the hands of time are published daily in the various media. Plastic surgery, liposuction, hormone therapies, medicines, creams, and salves beyond measure appear on the market constantly. Some people, principally women, starve themselves almost to the point of death to make themselves, at least in their minds, beautiful. A seemingly limitless number of diets are published to help people already under-weight lose even more weight. Unfortunately, a few people cross the line and actually do starve themselves to death. An exception is a 17th century member of minor nobility, Countess Elizabeth Báthory. She believed that she had discovered an efficacious beauty regimen, though perhaps she took it a tad too far. On the 29th in 1610, she was arrested on charges of murder. It seems that since 1585 she had been in the practice of acquainting herself with an unknown number of young women, torturing and then killing them so that she could bath in their blood. By her own estimation, the number of her victims was in excess of 650. As a result, the dear countess was placed under house arrest, a condition in which she would remain until her death on August 21, 1614.