It is now one of the world's largest toy
manufacturers (revenues - c. $5 billion annually, a third of which in
Barbie sales). More than 1 billion Barbies were sold by 1996. Mattel
commemorated this event by manufacturing a "Dream Barbie".
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~tsawyer/barbie/barb.html
http://www.barbiecollectibles.com/whatshot/barbiehistory/index.asp
http://www.mattel.com/our_toys/ot_barb.asp
Bathory, Erszebet
If you think that today's serial killers are unsurpassed, try this for
size:
In 1611, Countess Erszebet Bathory was tried - though, being a
noblewoman, not convicted - in Hungary for slaughtering 612 young
girls. The true figure may have been 40-100, though the Countess
recorded in her diary more than 610 girls and 50 bodies were found in
her estate when it was raided.
The girls were not killed outright. They were kept in a dungeon and
repeatedly pierced, prodded, pricked, and cut. The Countess may have
bitten chunks of flesh off their bodies while alive. She is said to
have bathed and showered in their blood in the mistaken belief that
she could thus slow down the aging process.
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