The Vampyre

The Vampyre is a short story written by John William Polidori and first published in 1819. Christopher Frayling wrote that it was “the first story successfully to fuse the disparate elements of vampirism into a coherent literary genre.” The work quickly became a popular success, exploiting the public’s penchant for gothic horror and transforming the mythology of the vampire from a creature of folklore to an aristocratic fiend preying on society.