The Bloody Duchess

The real-life story of a hereditary noblewoman Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova, who due to her cruelty went down in history as a bloody lady and can be considered the first and the most prolific Russian serial killer. In 1764, she was sentenced to life imprisonment for numerous murders and tortures over her serfs. According to official data, the landowner executed 139 people; almost all of them were women. Early widowed, the sadist became a hostage to fits of rage, during which she brutally beat her own servants for the slightest fault, especially preferring logs as a weapon. The queen Catherine II put an end to this tyranny by sending the murderer to the monastery prison, where she spent 33 years until her death.