SUPERNATURAL STORIES
CREATED DURING
THE SUMMER OF 1816
Lord Byron's
"Fragment of a Novel"
Not only was it Byron's idea for the group to travel to Lake Geneva and stay at the Villa Diodati over the Summer of 1816, but he also was the catalyst that prompted the creation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," as well as being the inspiration for John Polidori's "The Vampyre."
June 17, 1816
Also known as "A Fragment," Lord Byron's text is credited as being the first English text to include a vampire theme. This unfinished story also provides the inspiration for John Polidori's novella "The Vampyre."
Written in epistolary form the unnamed narrator recounts his journey to the East with his companion Augustus Darvell, an elderly man. Due to his old age, the journey proves to be too much for Darvell and ultimately leads to his death. Although unfinished, John Polidori suggests that Byron had intended to make Darvell alive again, thus becoming a vampire.
Villa Diodati
"Fragment of a Novel" Recorded by Emma Hignett
This short, 12 minute, audio recording recites Byron's "A Fragment."