The 10 Most Ruthless Women in History

Elizabeth Bathory, born into the noble Bathory family in Hungary, is considered one of the most infamous women in Hungarian history. Known as the 'Blood Countess,' she had a gruesome obsession with torturing and killing young women. Her brutal methods included slashing, burning, mutilating genitalia, drowning in icy water, and starvation. Historians record that she tortured and killed over 650 girls, using their blood for bath rituals in a belief that it would preserve her youth.

Ranavalona I, the Queen of Madagascar, was infamous for her bloodthirsty reign. Over her 33 years as monarch, she was responsible for the deaths of approximately 75% of the population, believing that these people were plotting against her. Millions died from imprisonment, starvation, warfare, and brutal torture under her rule.

Valeria Messalina was the third wife of Emperor Claudius. Obsessed with power, fame, and wealth, she orchestrated cruel schemes to eliminate her rivals. Her methods included blinding, deafening, and beating her enemies to death. She was sentenced to death at the age of just 48.

Katherine Mary Knight became the first woman in Australia to be sentenced to life imprisonment for her brutal and horrific crime. After a violent dispute, she murdered her partner, stabbing him multiple times, skinning his body, cooking parts of it, and serving the meat to his children, asking them to eat their father's remains. She was given a life sentence with no possibility of parole.

Belle Gunness was a notorious serial killer in American history. She murdered numerous victims, including two husbands and several lovers who had wronged her. Her methods included poisoning food, crushing heads with meat grinders, and locking people in rooms to starve them to death. In a fit of rage, she even strangled her own child. She was sentenced to life imprisonment at the young age of 32.

Isabella, the Queen of Spain, is considered one of the most brutal women in history. She established the Inquisition tribunal, overseeing the expulsion of 150,000 Jews from Spain. Those who refused to convert were tortured, executed, or burned at the stake.

Mary I, Queen of England and Ireland, was infamously known as 'Bloody Mary.' After ascending the throne, she was determined to restore Catholicism, personally burning 300 people alive whom she deemed heretics or conspirators. Upon marrying King Philip II, she adopted new, gruesome methods of torture and execution, including starvation, dismemberment by wolves, blinding, and amputation. She died at 42 due to illness and exhaustion.

Lu Zhi, known as one of the most ruthless women in Chinese history, began her reign with a vengeance. Once in power, she eliminated several of Emperor Liu Bang's favored concubines. Her brutal tactics included amputations, blinding, eardrum punctures, poisoning to render victims mute, and starving them in pigsties. She also ordered the execution of the sons of her rivals.

Irma Grese served as a guard at Nazi concentration camps, most notably at Bergen-Belsen. She took pleasure in watching the suffering of prisoners, often using her large hunting dogs to maim and torment them. Grese also supervised the suffocation of prisoners in cramped rooms by releasing poisonous gas. At the young age of 22, she was executed, becoming the youngest woman ever executed under 20th-century British law.

Myra Hindley, along with her husband, committed a series of kidnappings, rapes, and brutal murders of five teenagers. She filmed the horrific acts to relive the suffering of her victims. Hindley was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. She passed away in 2002 while serving her sentence, due to illness.