Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a countess in Russia. The name of the countess was Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova, but was called Saltichikha.
Saltichikha, who belonged to the Russian family, was born on November 3, 1730, but in 1757 this traditional lady changed so much that she will be described here later.
Let’s do a little digression on the background story first. Darya’s last name was Ivanova, and her family was well connected in the upper echelons of Russia at the time. At a young age, Darya Gleb married a Saltykov who did not know his own language.
When Darya was 26, Gleb died, and she became the richest widow in Moscow. Among those who fell to Darya was Troitskoe, a beautiful village not far from Moscow, where the Countess lived with her two young sons. Under his heel were more than 600 mercenaries.
The countess became the richest widow in Moscow at the age of 26.
Around the same time, this wealthy countess became a bloodthirsty and ruthless killer.
Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova
A young lover
Before Darya’s husband reunited with her fathers, she herself hadn’t attracted much attention, but it was noticed that she seemed depressed most of the time. She was very religious and had given a lot of money to churches and monasteries.
One fine day, Darya met a young and handsome man, Nikolay Tyutchev, and they started a relationship. Then the face of the Countess, who had felt alone, and also felt that age was passing on her, cleared up.
But Nikolay wasn’t all he saw as soon after Darya discovered he had met another, younger and better woman, as they had secretly married.
Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova
An angry and despised widow
Now Darya has simply moved on and nearly left the insecure lover Nikolay dead. He escaped with his life, and the young couple fled to their relatives in Moscow. They probably felt they weren’t far enough from Darya because they didn’t wait for the invitation and left the country. It was clear Darya couldn’t let his anger get the better of them from now on.
The despised widow had to find an outlet somewhere, and she didn’t look far. Many of Darya’s tenants have now begun to resent his wrath, especially women. The younger the women, the more the Countess hated them.
No mercy was expected from Darya who considered all women as her rivals.
Bruises and broken bones
Even the women’s children were not spared Darya’s boundless hatred. She tortured children and pregnant women to death by beating them. Bones were broken and women and children were thrown naked into a home. Darya poured boiling water over his victims and it seemed his imagination for torture knew no bounds.
The men seemed saved as Darya, almost by accident, only killed three of them. However, they were also exposed to torture and above all risked losing the women and children they loved. The story goes that a tenant lost three of his wives, one after another, over time.
Daria’s torture was unimaginable.
torture and death
It was hard to dismiss her anger at Darya and her cruelty and what might make her angry. For starters, she seemed happy to throw firewood at the maids, and maybe the reason was that she wasn’t happy with the way they were doing their jobs, cleaning or otherwise.
The Whip to the Ceiling Not all of the women and girls of Darya’s mercenary ranks survived.
Then Darya’s wickedness went to another level and she took the whip and tortured girls and women to death. She seemed to derive great pleasure from unbridled physical violence.
Sure enough, news of the frequent deaths at Daryu’s mansion reached the authorities and the tenants filed complaints. The only thing that those who complained was punished for themselves, because the countess was well connected with the authorities.
Dyflissa in the monastery was the prisund of Darya.
Catherine the Great takes the reins
In the summer of 1762, two tenants, Sakhvely Martynov and Ermolay Ilyin, escaped and reached St. Petersburg. Ermolay Ilyin was the same mercenary who lost three wives to Darya’s cruelty as mentioned earlier in the article.
They manage to share their grievances with Empress Catherine II, affectionately nicknamed Catherine the Great, who does not hesitate to have the matter investigated. That same year, Darya Saltykova was arrested and detained for about six years while authorities investigated what was happening in her home.
Without regret
The investigation was difficult for officials as Daryu tenants were too scared to speak out, but investigators did not give up. It was immediately clear that Darya was not mentally ill, but she did not repent of her actions, and not even the one priest who was supposed to get her to confess to her crimes got a word out of her.
From Darya’s entire face, it was clear that she was convinced that she would not be punished. In the end, Darya was charged with the murder of only 38 women and girls.
In fact, it was the investigators’ conclusion that Darya had killed 139 people, including three men, by various means over a period of six to seven years. The youngest victims were girls aged 10 to 12.
Daria especially hates young and beautiful women.
notorious monastery
Darya’s trial was open, as Catherine the Great wanted to emphasize that law and justice were important to her. In the end, Darya was found guilty of 38 murders, although there were thought to be 100 more.
Ivanovsky Monastery. Dyflissa in the monastery was the prisund of Darya.
However, Catherine the Great had a problem on her hands because the death penalty had been abolished in the country in 1754 and she, who had just taken the reins of government, needed the support of the aristocracy. The result was that Darya Saltykova was sentenced to life in the Ivanovsky Convent in Moscow, which was in fact notorious because it was often used as a prison for upper-class women who had come to the attention of the secret service for undesirable acts. political opinions or crimes. They were then sent to the monastery on the pretext that they were mentally ill. The monastery benefited from this role, with relatives of the women in question sending generous donations.
eternal darkness
After the audience, the Countess was taken to Red Square, where she was whipped and mocked. Around her neck hung a sign that read: This woman tortured and murdered.
Then Darya was taken to the monastery, and the stay there was not a bed of roses. She was given a windowless dungeon in the bowels of the monastery and was watched 24 hours a day. Food was brought to her and she was allowed to enjoy the tira of a lit candle while she ate, but after the meal, darkness has returned.
Daria in her later years.
In prison. Darya Saltykova received a severe sentence.
The judgment also stated that it was permissible to take her out of the dungeon so that she could attend mass, but in such a way that she would not set foot in the church. Eleven years passed like this.
33 years of isolation
In 1779, Darya Saltykova was moved to one of the monastery buildings, and the new dwellings had windows. But Darya was gone at the end of the story. She spat at people passing through the window, cursed them and used a stick.
Darya died in her cell on November 27, 1801, aged 71, after being in solitary confinement for 33 years.
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