The modern vampire story was born – in suitably oral circumstances – inside a villa overlooking Lake Geneva rented for the holidays on the night of 17 June 1816, when the weather was unusually wet and the atmosphere unusually tense. The birth coincided with that of Frankenstein, and their paths were destined to cross over the next two hundred years many, many times. (Frayling, 2016: 13)

‘We will each write a ghost story,’ said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to. There were four of us … I busied myself to think of a story – a story to rival those which had excited us to this task. One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror – one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart … Many and long were the conversations between Lord Byron and Shelley, to which I was a devout but nearly silent listener. During one of these, various philosophical doctrines were discussed, and among others the nature of the principle of life, and whether there was any probability of its ever being discovered and communicated … Perhaps a corpse would be re-animated … perhaps the component parts of a creature might be manufactured, brought together, and endued with vital warmth. (Shelley, 1968: 9–11)