Most people think of Irish writer Bram Stoker as the man who created the vampire story. But 80 years earlier, stuck in a villa on Lake Geneva by bad weather, bad boy poet Lord Byron and the still unknown Percy and Mary Shelley and a young English physician, Dr John Polidori, began a competition to see who could write the best horror story. Mary Shelley created Frankenstein and Polidori created The Vampyre – the first published vampire story in English – a gothic tale which established the blueprint for the seductive aristocratic blood sucker that we are familiar with today. But when it appeared in print, it had Byron’s name attached to it and despite its enormous popularity and wide influence on other writers, Polidori earned almost nothing from it and died a broken man. In this historical documentary I explore the tragic life of John Polidori and the background to his enduring creation – The Vampyre. Finding Out More Polidori’s original story is only 15,000 words long and can downloaded for free, along with his other works. It was widely adapted into plays and operas and Heinrich Marschner’s version of the tale is available on YouTube. Ken Russell’s film Gothic, entertaingly depicts the extraordinary events that led to the writing of the story, although he portrays Polidori as a bit of a buffoon. I’ve added these to my Amazon Store Page. Academic References Finger, S., and Stiles, A. (2013). Lord Byron’s physician: John William Polidori on somnambulism. Progress in Brain Research, 205, 131-147. Petrain, D. E. (2010). An English translation of John William Polidori’s (1815) medical dissertation on Oneirodynia (somnambulism). European Romantic Review, 21(6), 775-788. Viets, H. R. (1961). " By The Visitation Of God": The Death Of John William Polidori, MD, In 1821. The British Medical Journal, 2(5269), 1773-1775. Copyright Disclaimer The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible. Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you. Images Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons Internet Archive The Wellcome Collection Music Anton Reicha - Wind Quintet Op. 91 No. 3 in D major - 4. Allegretto -The Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet CC2.0 Anton Reicha - Wind Quintet Op. 100 No. 4 in E minor - 1. Adagio The Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet CC2.0 Christian Sinding - Rustle of Spring, Pracchia -78 PD. Missing persons Jeremy Blake CC0 Hand in the Dark Underbelly and Ty Mayer CC0 Cosmic nightmares Jimena Contreras CC0 The Sax of Ancient Terror Jimena Contreras CC0 Frightmare Jimena Contreras CC0 Anton Reicha - Wind Quintet Op. 88 No. 3 in G major - 2. Andante The Soni Ventorum with Marshall Winslow. CC2.0 Mozart String Quartet No. 15 In C Major "Les Dissonances" K465. Quatuor Mosaïques CC0 Claude-Paul Taffanel: Andante Pastoral et Scherzettino. Alex Murray (flute) and Martha Goldstein (piano) CC2.0 Claude Paul Taffanel - Wind Quintet in G minor -Andante -The Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet CC2.0 Antonio Vivaldi- Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "L'autunno" (Autumn) John Harrison — Violin - Robert Turizziani — Conductor - Wichita State University Chamber Players Video edited by Manavi Sakunika and produced by Graeme Yorston and Tom Yorston