John William Polidori

John William Polidori (1795–1821) is credited as the creator of the modern vampire story and the fantasy subgenre. Polidori received his degree as a doctor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and soon afterward, he became the personal physician of writer Lord Byron. One night in 1816, Polidori, Byron, Mary Shelley, and Percy Shelley decided to write ghost stories together. On this night, Polidori’s classic novella The Vampyre was conceived. The story was published anonymously without Polidori’s permission in New Monthly Magazine, but he later took credit for the work. Polidori spent his later years deeply depressed and fell into debt from gambling. It is rumored that Polidori committed suicide at the age of twenty-six. His revolutionary treatment of vampire as a romantic figure continues to inspire writers in the romantic and horror genres.