The Blood Countess of Cachtice: Elizabeth Báthory — Monster, Myth, or Misogyny?
Hey hey, my lore-loving fiends — tonight we’re heading back to 16th-century Hungary, where leeches were skincare, torture was trending, and one noblewoman’s beauty routine allegedly involved… her staff.
Elizabeth Báthory — better known as The Blood Countess — has been called history’s most prolific female serial killer, accused of torturing and murdering hundreds of girls to preserve her youth. But how much of it is true… and how much was cooked up by jealous nobles, political rivals, and a patriarchal empire that didn’t love a woman with her own money and opinions?
In this full-bodied (and occasionally blood-soaked) deep dive, we unravel the legend — from her aristocratic upbringing and dark castle years, to the sensational trial that never was, and the centuries of myth-making that turned her into the world’s most infamous vampire countess.
Was she a monster? A myth? Or just a woman whose story bled out of control?
Pour a glass of red — preferably cabernet, not chambermaid — and join host Dayna Pereira for a hilarious, horrifying, and historically accurate descent into the legend of Elizabeth Báthory.
Primary Sources:
• The Trial of Erzsébet Báthory (Hungarian State Archives, 1611)
• Letters of György Thurzó to King Matthias II (1610–1611)
• Jesuit tracts: Tragoediae Epistolae de Crudelissima Bathoryana (1729)
Secondary Sources:
• McNally, Raymond T. — Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania (McGraw-Hill, 1983)
• Craft, Kimberly L. — Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory (2009)
• Penrose, Valentine — The Bloody Countess (Creation Books, 1996)
• Nagy, László — A History of Hungary (Corvina, 1998)
Pop Culture & Media:
• Countess Dracula (Hammer Films, 1971)
• The Countess (Julie Delpy, 2009)
• American Horror Story: Hotel (FX, 2015)
• Castlevania (Konami Series)
You’ve heard of haunted dolls, cursed mirrors, and demons that slide into your DMs — but few haunted objects have ever captured the world’s attention like the Dybbuk Box.
A simple wooden wine cabinet turned viral nightmare, this thing went from folklore-inspired hoax to a full-blown paranormal phenomenon involving Ghost Adventures, Post Malone, and the internet’s collective fear of “what’s in the box.”
In this episode of Loreplay, Dayna Pereira dives deep into the origins of the Dybbuk legend in Jewish mysticism, the true story behind Kevin Mannis’s eBay listing, and the chaos that followed — from Jason Haxton’s museum hauntings to Zak Bagans’s on-camera meltdown and the infamous Post Malone curse.
We break down the folklore, the fear, and the fine line between cultural myth and collective psychosis — because when enough people believe in something, even the internet can make it real.
Mannis, Kevin. Original eBay Listing for “Haunted Dybbuk Box.” (2003, archived on paranormal-collector forums and Wayback Machine)
Haxton, Jason. The Dibbuk Box. Truman State University Press, 2011.
Ansky, S. The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds. (1914; English translation, 1926)
The Jewish Virtual Library. “Dybbuk (Dibbuk).” JewishVirtualLibrary.org
Zak Bagans. Ghost Adventures: Quarantine — Episode 4, “Dybbuk Box: The Opening.” Discovery+, 2020.
Bagans, Zak & Haxton, Jason. Interviews via Las Vegas Review-Journal (June 2020).
Post Malone on Late Night with Seth Meyers. NBC, Oct. 2018.
Snopes.com. “Was the Dybbuk Box a Real Jewish Relic?” (2021).
LiveScience. “The Science of Haunted Objects and the Nocebo Effect.” (2022).
Haaretz. “The Real Story of the Dybbuk and How Pop Culture Got It Wrong.” (2019).
Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dybbuk_box
Hey hey, my lore-loving weirdos… grab your lanterns, your lace bonnets, and your emotional support gin — because tonight, we’re heading back to 1803 London, where a ghost panic got so real it ended with an actual murder trial.
Before the Tube, before streetlights, and definitely before therapy, the sleepy village of Hammersmith found itself haunted — not by one restless spirit, but by a whole lot of mass hysteria.
It started with an elderly woman scared literally to death near the churchyard… then a brewer’s servant named Thomas Groom who got hands-on with the ghost (and lived to tell the tale)… and a pregnant woman whose brush with the apparition nearly sent her into early labor.
Cue the fog, the fear, and a full-blown neighborhood patrol of armed ghost hunters.
One of them, Francis Smith, set out to catch the phantom — and instead, shot a very real man named Thomas Millwood.
Welcome to one of England’s strangest true crimes — the first time someone in court tried to argue:
“I thought it was a ghost.”From hysteria to homicide, from gossip to the Old Bailey, we’re unraveling how superstition, fear, and a good old-fashioned case of “maybe don’t shoot the undead” turned London upside down.
So grab your torches, charge your crystals, and let’s step into the fog… because this is Loreplay: where haunted gets hot and bothered with history.
📜 Show Notes & Sources
🧩 The Real Story
📚 Primary & Historical Sources
💀 Loreplay Deep Dive Topics
🔮 Fun Facts
In 1950s England, tragedy struck the Pollock family when their two young daughters, Joanna and Jacqueline, were killed in a horrific car accident. A year later, Florence Pollock gave birth to twin girls — and that’s when things got weird.
The twins, Gillian and Jennifer, began recalling memories, places, and experiences they couldn’t possibly have known. They recognized landmarks in a town they’d never visited, talked about “their other lives,” and one even bore the same birthmarks and scars as her late sister. Was this the most compelling modern case of reincarnation — or a story shaped by grief, coincidence, and a father’s desperate need to believe?
In this episode of Loreplay, we head across the pond to Hexham, England, where science, spirituality, and straight-up spooky collide. We’ll dig into the documented accounts by psychiatrist Dr. Ian Stevenson, the skepticism that followed, and the unnerving details that still stump researchers today.
Grab your tea, maybe light a candle (or an incense stick, if you’re feeling metaphysical), and prepare for one of the strangest tales of déjà vu the afterlife ever wrote twice.
🔍 Show Notes & Sources:
(For listeners who love a good rabbit hole — these are the primary and reputable sources used in the research for this episode.)
When the hangman fails, history gets juicy.
This week on Loreplay, host Dayna Pereira dives into the true, twisted, and totally unbelievable 18th-century story of Maggie Dickson — the Scottish fishwife who was hanged… and then walked away alive.
From the gallows of Edinburgh’s Grassmarket to the birth of her legend as “Half-Hangit Maggie,” this episode blends dark history with gallows humor (literally). You’ll learn how a young woman’s secret, a botched execution, and a very loose understanding of “death” turned her into one of Scotland’s most enduring folk heroines.
Was it divine intervention? A medical fluke? Or just the universe saying, “Not today, Satan”? Grab a pint and find out why this ghost story isn’t about death at all — it’s about defiance.
Tune in to Loreplay — where haunted gets hot and bothered with history, and the dead don’t always stay quiet.
Primary Historical References
Supplementary Reading & Tourism Sources
Music & Sound Credits (if applicable)
🔗 LINKS
🎧 Listen to all episodes at loreplaypod.com
📸 Follow @LoreplayPod on Instagram & TikTok
🍺 Visit Maggie Dickson’s Pub, Grassmarket, Edinburgh — and toast to the woman who refused to stay dead.
In this episode of Loreplay, Dayna Pereira dives deep into the real-life horror story that inspired The Exorcist. Forget the spinning heads and pea soup—this is the true 1949 case of Roland Doe, the boy whose alleged demonic possession terrified priests, shook the Church, and changed how America viewed exorcisms forever.
From Cottage City, Maryland to St. Louis, Missouri, follow the chilling (and occasionally ridiculous) journey of a family haunted by unexplained scratches, flying furniture, guttural voices, and a bed that wouldn’t stop shaking. Meet the real priests behind the ritual—Father Albert Hughes, Father Raymond Bishop, and Father William Bowdern—and discover how one terrified teenager became the blueprint for Hollywood’s most infamous horror film.
Was it true possession, psychological trauma, or the most dramatic case of grief-fueled chaos in suburban history? Dayna unpacks it all with her signature mix of dark humor, history, and sass in this must-listen deep dive into the original exorcism that started it all.
Show Notes / Sources:
Episode Title: The Amityville Horror: Haunted House or Hoax?
What really happened inside the most famous haunted house in America? In this episode of Loreplay, host Dayna Pereira digs into the chilling story of the Amityville Horror—where true crime meets the paranormal.
First, we revisit the shocking 1974 DeFeo family murders that left six dead inside 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. Then we dive into the terrifying claims of George and Kathy Lutz, who lasted only 28 days before fleeing the house in fear. From swarms of flies in winter, to walls that oozed slime, to a demon pig with glowing eyes, the Amityville haunting became one of the most infamous paranormal cases in history.
But was the Amityville Horror real—or the ultimate haunted house hoax? We’ll explore the books, movies, court cases, and investigations by Ed and Lorraine Warren, skeptics, and reporters that turned this Long Island murder house into a global phenomenon.
If you love haunted house stories, true crime murders, creepy paranormal encounters, and spooky legends that blend fact with fiction, this episode is for you.
📚 Sources for Show Notes
West Virginia, 1966. Four terrified teenagers tear down a dark back road in a Chevy Bel Air with something massive chasing them through the sky — glowing red eyes, a ten-foot wingspan, and a story that would forever haunt Point Pleasant. Over the next thirteen months, dozens of locals reported the same winged figure, strange lights in the sky, prophetic dreams, and even creepy Men in Black knocking at their doors. And then, in December 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed, killing 46 people and cementing Mothman’s place in American legend.
In this episode of Loreplay, your host Dayna Pereira dives deep into the Mothman flap — from the Scarberry and Mallette chase to Marcella Bennett’s porch-side nightmare, to John Keel’s “high strangeness” theories. Was Mothman a bird, an alien, a government oopsie with wings, or a harbinger of doom? Buckle up, buttercups — we’re making deep eye contact with West Virginia’s sexiest cryptid.
Show Notes
What you’ll hear in this episode:
Sources & References:
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In this chilling episode of Loreplay, host Dayna Pereira dives deep into the terrifying urban legend of the Black Eyed Children — the mysterious paranormal figures with solid black eyes who knock on doors and beg to be let inside. From journalist Brian Bethel’s 1996 encounter in Abilene, Texas to spine-tingling reports in Portland, Oregon, Vermont, and the UK, we explore the most infamous Black Eyed Kid stories that have fueled decades of fear. Listeners will hear how these eerie children are tied to legends of demons, vampires, changelings, ghosts, alien-human hybrids, and government experiments, and why the rule is always the same: never let them in. We also unpack the rise of creepypasta, the explosion of TikTok horror videos, and how thousands of people online swear the Black Eyed Kids are real. Are they paranormal entities, energy parasites, or just an internet-born myth that refuses to die? Join us for a spooky, sassy, and laugh-out-loud funny exploration of one of the internet’s most enduring pieces of paranormal folklore.
Whether you’re a fan of creepypasta legends, obsessed with TikTok urban myths, or just love haunted history mixed with comedy, this episode of Loreplay has it all: terrifying encounters, bizarre theories, and Dayna’s signature comedic take on the world’s weirdest lore. Subscribe, share, and remember — when the knock comes, don’t let them in.
Site Sources
Step inside one of America’s strangest and most haunted mansions—the Winchester Mystery House. Built by Sarah Winchester, the widow of the heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune, this sprawling, bizarre labyrinth in San Jose, California is filled with staircases that lead to nowhere, doors that open into walls, and enough ghostly legends to keep paranormal investigators buzzing for over a century.
In this episode of Loreplay, Dayna Pereira dives deep into the history, heartbreak, and haunted lore behind Sarah Winchester and her endlessly expanding Victorian mansion. Was she cursed by the spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifle? Or was she simply a grieving genius with too much money and not enough therapy? We’ll unravel the facts, the myths, and the sheer chaos of the most famous haunted house in California.
For this episode, we drew from historical accounts, scholarly resources, and paranormal folklore archives:
In this episode of Loregasm, we explore:
🔗 Sources & References
Welcome to Loreplay—the comedy-paranormal podcast where haunted history meets hot takes. In this episode, host Dayna Pereira dives deep into one of America’s most infamous ghost stories: The Bell Witch of Adams, Tennessee.
From John Bell Sr.’s mysterious illness to Lucy Bell’s eerie protection, and from Kate Batts’ petty neighbor drama to the witchy shenanigans that terrified Andrew Jackson himself, this story has everything: curses, poltergeist activity, demonic sass, and enough Tennessee gossip to fuel a century of spooky sleepovers.
With a mix of historical research, folklore, and laugh-out-loud commentary, we unpack why the Bell Witch still haunts our imaginations today—and why she’d absolutely run a chaotic TikTok account if she were alive now.
Whether you’re here for the true crime-style timeline, the paranormal chaos, or just the comedic meltdown of a host who relates way too much to a vengeful spirit, you’re in for a ride.
📚 Sources for Loreplay Episode: The Bell Witch
👉 Keywords: Bell Witch, Tennessee ghost stories, haunted history podcast, paranormal comedy, Loreplay podcast, American folklore, John Bell, Kate Batts, Bell Witch Cave, haunted Tennessee, spooky legends, ghost podcast, paranormal podcast funny.
Do you love spooky—but not like emo, turn it into your entire personality spooky? Do you make jokes at wildly inappropriate times just to cover up your crippling social anxiety? Then Loreplay might be for you.
I’m Dayna Pereira, your tour guide down a rabbit hole of lores, myths, ghost stories, and haunted history. But like, make it fun. Some of these tales you’ve definitely heard before, some you definitely haven’t—but I promise you’ve never heard them like this.
Check out Loreplay—where haunted gets hot and bothered with comedy, and their foreplay… is Loreplay. Subscribe, rate, and review—because validation from strangers on the internet is the only thing keeping us podcasters going.. Loreplay drops September first.. and what better way to kick it off then covering the doll that is definitely going to kill off Matt Rife. So Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts