In 1816, Mary Shelley began writing the first draft for what would be her most famous and chilling tale. Why did she do it? She was given a challenge.
In the summer of 1816, Mary Shelley and several other writers, poets, and family vacationed in Geneva, Switzerland. What brought them there would lead to one of the most influential pieces of literature.
What led them there?
The story of “Frankenstein” came from fading candles during a dark and stormy night, sure. But it truly began with a volcano. A volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia filled the air with ash and dust, even affecting people in Europe. The volcanic eruption ended up being considered one of the most dangerous eruptions ever, killing over 100,000 people in its aftermath.
The summer following this catastrophic event, the warm agricultural climate didn’t return. Europe was foggy and cold. Famines and epidemics were released. At least a million people are understood to have starved in effect of the eruption, while many millions died of the following Cholera pandemic.
This time of great hardship was well-known for influencing the writers and poets of the time to write their darkest, most impactful works. “Frankenstein” being one of them as it has been adapted many times.
This dark season brought Mary Shelley, her husband Percy Shelley, their child, Mary’s stepsister Claire, and Lord Byron, who joined in coincidentally. This group of writers and poets was not ready for what would come of this vacation in Geneva, Switzerland.
A Petrifying Holiday
The weather on Lake Geneva was no better than the rest of the continent and the group spent the majority of their trip inside, cowering against the stormy, foggy summer. The initial combination of people, gossip, weather, and tension set up an interesting holiday from the start. Mary’s stepsister, Claire, was pregnant with Lord Byron’s baby. Byron himself wasn’t even supposed to be there with them but he abruptly decided to leave town trailing gossip and debt in his wake.
At the house, its inhabitants had almost nothing better to do than talk late into the nights reading and writing poetry. Percy and Lord Byron cultivated an intense relationship surrounding each others works. The group would sit through thunderstorms and discuss galvanization theories, how a body could be reanimated after death. Although Mary Shelley never directly added to these conversations, it would plant a seed and lead to her writings.
As the season continued, tensions rose in the vacation home. Conflicts came between the couples and some people were becoming depressed after staying inside for so long.
So, they did what any group of people would do: they read morbid stories and poems and discussed psychological horror.
Finally, one stormy night the group sat in darkness as Lord Byron posed a challenge: to write a better ghost story than anything they had previously read.
Percy started working right away on “The Vampyre” , a novella influenced by Lord Byron’s work that would later become well known. Mary Shelley struggled at first. She wanted to write something but she needed a starting point. She hated how hard the challenge was for her.
Finally, one fateful night, Mary Shelley had a vision. A cacophony of thunder across the lake and wind through the trees she saw an illusion, a man lying still suddenly came back to life through the use of heavy machinery.
The idea was born.
In 1818, the book was published. “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” went on to revolutionize pop culture and literature for good. Influenced by the hubris of her company during that holiday and the discussions of horror and galvanization, the book became a major part of the science fiction genre.
What happened after?
“Frankenstein” would include major figures for the Halloween season. To this day little kids paint themselves green and walk through the streets with bolts sticking out of their necks. To this day more adaptations are being made. In August 2025 a new adaptation was released. In the past movies such as the original 1931 “Frankenstein” and a different approach, “Young Frankenstein”, a comedy spoof of old-fashioned horror films has been released to do the original story justice.
The story, even past its 200-year anniversary, has stood the test of time and remained a best seller.
As for Mary Shelley herself, she became an influential author, having written the book between the ages 18 and 20. However, only a handful of her journals as well as “Frankenstein” are still read today. Her identity is surrounded in mystery as it’s rumored that she kept her dead husband’s heart as a symbol of her love, and a souvenir of his untimely death.
She lived a long life, tending to her garden and writing. Unfortunately, not all of the party wound up so lucky. Besides Claire and Mary, who lived past 50, the others all met unfortunate ends that fit the vacation they shared. Percy Shelley drowned in a sudden storm at age 29, Polidori, Lord Byron’s doctor committed suicide only a few years after the story’s publication. Lord Byron took Claire’s daughter, Allegra, away and sent her to be educated at a convent. She died at age 5. Byron himself died after having a fever.
Her gory tale is one that seems only that much spookier during the Halloween season. She took a challenge and wrote something revolutionary from it. We can all learn a thing or two from Mary Shelley… Although I wouldn’t recommend carrying a dead guy’s heart around.
The next time you read a science fiction story, thank Mary Shelley and all of the rain that hit Geneva, Switzerland in 1816.
