Elizabeth/Erzébet Bathory has maintained a staggering reputation, for someone who’s been gone for centuries. But there are few bloodthirsty legacies that are more dramatic than Bathory’s - or maybe not? You know the name, you may have even heard the theories. Was she a vicious serial killer? A scapegoat by the male nobility? Or maybe something else...

Happy Summerween, everybody! Here’s a special bonus episode I did with the lovely Clare Winkler a little while ago. Share with a friend, enjoy, and keep an eye out for season 4!

Support the show

Official Website (sources, artwork, shop, etc)

Follow on Instagram & TikTok

Join our Discord

(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

Time to wrap up the Babysitter & the Man Upstairs, now focusing on the symbolism within the urban legend. Who is the man upstairs, and why is he even there? We also go back to a few crimes in the 40s and 50s that certainly fanned the flames of the story, if not outright creating it.

After this, we’ll have 1 more episode in our season on urban legends.

True crime #1 starts: 7:52

True crime #1 ends: 9:15

True crime #2 starts: 20:04

True crime #2 ends: 33:17

TW: sexual assault, murder, child assault, child murder

Support the show

Official Website (sources, artwork, shop, etc)

Follow on Instagram & TikTok

Join our Discord

(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

We owe a good deal of Halloween as we know it to the babysitter and her terrifying night of phone calls. On today’s episode, we cover versions of the legend itself, track the history of babysitting, and follow the effects of a turbulent society — all to understand how we ended up with the Halloween classics that we watch today. All that and more, on the third Halloween of Back Away Slowly.

The Sitter (1977)

Support the show

Official Website (sources, artwork, shop, etc)

Follow on Instagram & TikTok

Join our Discord

(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)