Dracula In 1983, McNally additionally suggested that Stoker was influenced by the history of Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who allegedly tortured and killed between 36 and 700 young women. It was later a commonly believed rumor that she committed these crimes to bathe in their blood, believing that this preserved her youth. Báthory's castle was also located in the Carpathian Mountains, just as Dracula's, albeit in a different region. In her book "The Essential Dracula", Clare Haword-Maden suggested that the castle of Count Dracula was inspired by Slains Castle, at which Bram Stoker was a guest of the 19th Earl of
William Bathe time he enjoyed the favour of Queen Elizabeth I, to whom he presented a harp of his own design. The Queen made him a number of grants of land, thus adding further to the extensive Bathe holdings: but royal favour ceased after 1598, on the discovery that William had entered the priesthood. The decision of a third Bathe brother, Luke, to become a priest as well did nothing to restore the family to favour (under the name Fr Edward Bathe, Luke became a prominent member of the Capuchin order). Apart from the religious issue, the close friendship between Hugh O'Neill,