(1) INTRODUCTION: "Villa Diodati"

The Villa Diodati is a mansion in the village of Cologny near LAKE GENEVA in Switzerland, notable because Lord Byron rented it and stayed there with his personal doctor John Polidori in the summer of 1816.

Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley, who had rented a house nearby, were frequent visitors.
The group was also joined by Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, with whom Byron had had a love affair in London.

Because of POOR WEATHER, in June 1816 the group famously spent three days together inside the house reading horror stories.
“We will each write a ghost story”, Byron suggested imperatively.

Thus began a competition to see who could come up with the scariest tale. The rest of their holiday seemed dedicated to this endeavour.

Two of those stories became milestones of the Gothic horror genre: "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley and "The Vampyre", the first modern vampire story, by Polidori.

Thanks to poor weather, it turned out to be a night to remember...