Darya Saltykova

I’m so sorry peoples, I took an unplanned hiatus which then lasted longer than it should of. But I’m back and ready to get back into this. So, I thought I’d start with the horrible tale from Russia – the Countess Darya Saltykova. 

So Darya Saltykova was born in 1730 into the Russian nobility and as far as anyone could tell there wasn’t anything special about her. She was just like every other Russian noble woman. However, she would go on to murder at least 138 at her estate in Moscow. So maybe not.

When she was young, she married Gleb Saltykov and had two sons – Theodore and Nicholas. During her marriage to Gleb, people said that Darya was a pious woman who was a little gloomy at times. She was known to donate money to churches and monasteries, like the good noble she was. Though when she was just 26, Gleb died leaving Darya the wealthiest widow in Moscow. She inherited two properties – a property in Moscow and an estate near Moscow called Troitskoe. She moved into Troitskoe with her two sons and over 600 serfs. 

Darya met a very handsome Nikolay Tyutchev and because she was very lonely, she began to have an affair with him and it seemed to lift her spirits a little. But this was not to last as Darya soon found out that Tyutchev was having a love affair with a girl and they had been secretly married in church. Darya was beyond furious and in a fit of rage tried to kill both her lover and his wife. However, she was unsuccessful and the pair managed to escape. 

This was just the beginning of Darya’s spiral into murder and chaos. She began taking her anger out on her female serfs – the younger they were the more Darya hated them. It was almost as if she was taking her anger out on them for what happened with Tyutchev. She gave no quarter to her “rivals” – beating them, breaking bones, pouring boiling water on their bodies and other vicious tortures. 

There was a rumour that a priest was called to the Saltykova estate to deliver the last rights to a dying pregnant woman. It was obvious that the woman had been beaten and stabbed. There were claims that her pregnant belly had been trampled by Darya. Though most of her victims were female, there were three male victims. They had been tortured in three different ways, but Darya claimed it was accidental. One of the male serfs lost three wives, one by one to the crazed mind of Darya. She had no explanation just that she would become angry for no reason. 

Between me and you - I think she has a screw or two loose. But with her being a member of the upper class and having connections in the royal court – all the complaints about the deaths fell on deaf ears. In 1762, two serfs Ermolay Ilyin and Sakhvely Martynov (the man who lost three wives) fled from the estate to bring a petition before Empress Catherine II in St. Petersburg. The Empress ordered the College of Justice to begin an investigation into the claims of torture and murder. Empress Catherine decided to try Darya publicly. 

Darya was arrested in 1762 and was held for six years, while evidence was collected. Though this turned out to be harder than investigators thought, as most victims and witnesses were too afraid to come forward. Throughout her six-year incarceration, Darya never spoke of the deeds she carried out – even a priest couldn’t get her to talk or confess. It was as if she was sure she would escape any sort of punishment. 

When the College of Justice finally presented their evidence, they had questioned witnesses and looked into the records of the estate and officially counted as many as 138 deaths. Darya was found guilty of killing 38 female serfs by beating and torturing them. Darya was spared the death penalty as it had been abolished in Russia in 1754, so the Empress was unsure of how to punish Darya. 

On 2nd October 1768, Darya was sentenced to life imprisoned in the Ivanovsky Cloister. Before she was taken to the cloister, Darya was chained to a platform in the Red Square for an hour. During this time, Darya had a sign around her neck that read “This woman has tortured and murdered”. 

Her sentence at the Cloister was for her to be kept in a dungeon in chains and in darkness. A wooden room was built especially for Darya and there she stayed under 24-hour supervision. One of the nuns would bring food and a candle, though after meals the candle would be taken away and Darya’s world would be plunged into darkness once again. And this was her life for 11 years. Now I’m no expert, but even I can tell that this would affect anyone's mental state. 

In 1779, Darya was transferred to a different building at the monastery. This room was a little nicer – it contained a window. Once Darya had a window, she would shove a stick through the window at passer-bys and spit at them. This is where I think the results of Darya’s solitary confinement were realised. 

Darya Saltykova died in her sell in November 1801, aged 71. Though some documents state she died in 1800. She was incarcerated for 33 years and never admitted to what she did. She was buried in the Donskoy Monastery necropolis, next to her relatives.