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1:10

Welcome to Unexplained Extra with

1:12

Me Richard McClain smith, where

1:15

for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories

1:17

and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't

1:20

make it into the previous show. In

1:22

last week's episode, A Man of Wealth

1:25

and Taste, we traveled with the enigmatic

1:27

Count of Saint Germain, who seemingly

1:30

strange inability to age has left

1:32

many questioning if he'd somehow discovered

1:35

the secret to immortality. It's

1:37

one of those stories that, on first hearing,

1:40

leads you immediately to suspect it all must

1:42

have been fabricated. And yet

1:45

Saint German was very definitely a

1:47

real person whose existence

1:49

was attested to by a number of esteemed

1:51

individuals throughout the eighteenth century,

1:55

such as the mystery surrounding the man

1:57

in the excitement to fill in the gaps of who he might

1:59

have been and where he came from.

2:02

His story has only gotten more and more

2:04

strange. In truth,

2:06

I could have filled an entire episode just

2:09

listing the many avenues are neglected

2:11

to go down in telling his story. Some,

2:14

such as infamous occultist Madame Blavatsky,

2:17

champion Sant German as a master adept

2:20

high up in the Rosicrucian order, unparalleled

2:23

in his knowledge of ancient esoteric truths

2:26

and secret rites. Others,

2:29

as the episode's title implied, believe

2:32

he was, or rather is, nothing

2:34

less than the devil. The

2:37

author, Chelsea Quinn Yabos San

2:39

German cycle historical novel series

2:42

portrays the Count as a vampire born

2:45

in the Carpathian Mountains in twenty one

2:47

nineteen BC. Indeed,

2:50

with his reportedly refined manner, aversion

2:53

to eating food, and his elegant

2:55

sartorial style, not to

2:58

mention being a count, it

3:00

isn't hard to see where she got the idea from.

3:03

Interestingly, however, although

3:05

the notion of vampires existed during

3:07

San German's time, or at least

3:10

the time he is most prominently associated

3:12

with, the eighteenth century, his

3:15

characteristics were not ones that would have been

3:17

associated with them.

3:19

It wouldn't be until one turbulent night

3:22

in the summer of eighteen sixteen that

3:24

the idea of a vampire as a suave

3:27

and sophisticated operator, as

3:29

opposed to the foul smelling wretch it

3:31

had previously been thought of, would

3:33

first be conceived. It

3:36

was a night that has since gone down in horror

3:38

history as the night that spawned

3:41

not one but two of

3:43

the genre's most affecting and enduring

3:46

creations. On

3:54

April fifth, eighteen fifteen, Sambawa

3:57

Island in Indonesia was rocked

3:59

by acious explosion equivalent

4:02

to the detonation of an eight hundred megaton

4:04

nuclear bomb, blowing the top

4:06

from Mount Tambora in the north of the

4:08

island. It was five

4:11

days later, just after seven pm,

4:13

that the island's residence watched in horror

4:16

as three giant columns of flame

4:18

burst from out of the volcano, merging

4:21

together in a hellish fountain of molten

4:23

rock and fire. The

4:26

column of flame was seen raging

4:28

unabated for the next hour, until

4:31

the sheer density of matter spewing

4:33

from the mountaintop completely obscured

4:35

it from view, and

4:37

then the stones started to fall, Giant

4:41

rocks of pumice, some the

4:43

sides of a fist, raining down

4:45

across the island as local villagers

4:47

tried in vain to run for their lives.

4:51

This was followed by a violent rush

4:53

of hot air that swept down the mountain,

4:56

destroying everything and anything in

4:58

its path. By

5:00

the time, the largest volcanic eruption

5:02

in thirteen hundred years had finally

5:05

dissipated. Ten billion

5:07

tons of igneous rock had been expelled

5:09

into the atmosphere, and Mount

5:11

Tambora was more than a kilometer

5:14

shorter than it had been before. Seventy

5:17

one thousand people are thought to have died

5:19

as a direct result of the eruption, but

5:22

the effect on the world's climate was

5:24

only just beginning. Within

5:28

months, due to the volume of ash

5:30

ejected into the atmosphere, the

5:32

planet found itself in the grip of a volcanic

5:35

winter, causing temperatures

5:37

to plummet and setting in motion

5:39

a vicious cycle of endless storms

5:41

and flooding. By the

5:44

following year, the world seemed to

5:46

be experiencing some terrifying affliction

5:48

of biblical proportions, with

5:51

red snow falling in Italy and

5:53

candles having to be lit by midday,

5:55

such was the lack of sunlight. By

5:58

the afternoon, evens

6:00

had fallen silent. As

6:03

Lord Byron said of that most ominous

6:05

year, known as the Year without Summer,

6:08

I had a dream which was not all

6:11

a dream. The bright sun

6:13

was extinguished, and the stars did

6:15

wander darkling in the eternal space,

6:18

rayless and pathless, and

6:20

the icy earth swung blind

6:22

and blackening in the moonless air.

6:26

In May eighteen sixteen, Byron

6:29

twenty eight at the time and his personal

6:32

physician, twenty one year old John

6:34

Polidori, were en route

6:36

to Lake Geneva in Switzerland to

6:39

rendezvous with another group of fellow travelers

6:41

from England, for whom

6:43

all was not well. Never

6:53

was a scene more awfully desolate. The

6:55

trees in these regions are incredibly large

6:58

and stand in scattered clumps over the

7:00

white wilderness. The vast

7:02

expanse of snow checkered only

7:05

by these gigantic pines and

7:07

the poles that marked our road. No

7:10

river or rock encircled lawn

7:13

relieved the eye, so

7:15

wrote then eighteen year old Mary

7:17

Godwin, as she and her boyfriend

7:20

Percy Shelley, along with their four

7:22

month old baby William, slowly

7:25

made their way through the mountains to Lake

7:27

Geneva. But

7:29

it wasn't just the landscape that was weighing

7:31

heavily on her mind. Only

7:34

the year before, the couple's

7:36

first child, Clara, died

7:38

a few weeks after her birth, having

7:41

been born two months premature. Not

7:44

a day went by that Mary hadn't

7:46

thought about her Mary's

7:49

travel sickness, and Shelley's struggles

7:51

with mental illness at the time did

7:53

little to lighten the mood. The

7:56

trio were joined on the trip by Mary's

7:58

stepsister, eighteen year old Claire

8:01

Claremont. It was in

8:03

fact Claire's idea to meet with Byron,

8:05

whom she knew was also keen to meet Percy

8:08

Shelley, a new kid on the block

8:10

whose work he greatly admired. For

8:13

her part, Claire had hoped to use

8:15

the meeting to rekindle the brief romance

8:17

that she and Byron had shared a few weeks previously.

8:22

Having eventually arrived at the Hotel D'angletaere,

8:25

the group were joined by Byron ten days

8:27

later, announcing himself with characteristic

8:30

flare by pulling up just after

8:32

midnight in a grand Napoleonic

8:34

carriage. The

8:37

following day, with the women

8:40

expected to entertain themselves, Byron

8:42

and Shelley spent the morning getting

8:44

to know each other as they danced and probed

8:47

around each other's egos. By

8:50

the end of the day, having established

8:52

themselves as firm friends, the

8:54

pair decided to leave the hotel and rent

8:56

houses near by instead. Despite

9:00

each renting a property, the incessant

9:03

rain eventually forced them all into

9:05

Byron's place, a large,

9:07

grand porticoed house on the edge

9:09

of the lake known as

9:12

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10:32

One night, with the newly acquainted

10:34

friends forced to find ways to pass

10:36

the time indoors, Huddling round the

10:38

fire as the endless thunderstorms raged

10:41

outside, Byron suggested

10:43

they take advantage of the atmosphere and

10:45

read ghost stories to each other. After

10:48

a few evenings reading from Phantasma

10:50

Gorriana, a collection of German

10:52

horror stories, Byron eventually

10:55

board of the game and suggested they

10:57

try something else, challenging

10:59

them all to come up with the horror story

11:01

of their own to share. And

11:04

so it was, under the flicker of candle

11:06

light, with the thunder rolling

11:08

off the mountains and violent stabs

11:11

of lightning flashing into the room, the

11:14

group set about penning their

11:16

latest masterpieces. Percy

11:19

attempted something inspired by his childhood,

11:22

while Byron composed a story written

11:25

in the form of a letter describing a

11:27

journey taken by the narrator while

11:29

in the company of a strange man named

11:32

Augustus Darville. As

11:34

the journey progressed, the man appeared

11:36

to become weaker and weaker, until

11:39

finally he succumbed to whatever illness

11:41

had been ailing him. Byron

11:44

had intended to have him rise again as

11:46

a vampire, but neglected to

11:48

finish the story, while

11:50

Polydori tried something involving

11:52

a skull headed lady that was roundly

11:55

regarded as a miserable effort. As

11:58

for Mary or though she tried her best

12:00

to come up with something that would, as she

12:03

put it, speak to the mysterious

12:05

fears of our nature and awaken

12:07

a thrilling horror, in

12:09

the end she had nothing. It

12:18

was a few nights later, as lightning

12:20

flashed and the wind and rain continued

12:23

to whip unceasingly at the windows,

12:25

the talk eventually turned to the nature

12:28

of life and the contemporary fascination

12:30

with galvanism, the use of electricity

12:33

to stimulate muscle movement. Although

12:36

it was mostly the men who talked among themselves

12:39

all the while, Mary sat

12:41

listening quietly as talk moved

12:44

on to whether it might even be possible

12:46

to bring a dead body back to life through

12:48

such methods. It

12:50

was for her an especially difficult conversation,

12:54

bringing back memories of the night her baby

12:56

died, and although dreams she'd

12:58

had since of her and Percy

13:01

sat by the fire with the child

13:03

in her arms, hoping that if only

13:05

they could warm her up, she might yet

13:08

come back to life. When

13:11

Mary's head finally hit the pillow that

13:13

night, her face lit up

13:15

by the lightning as it flashed through the curtains.

13:18

With thoughts of her dead daughter flooding

13:20

her mind, there would be little chance

13:22

of sleep, and so

13:25

she lay eyes closed, listening

13:27

to the rain lashing down as

13:30

a vision slowly came

13:32

to her. A pale

13:34

student of the unhallowed arts, kneeling

13:37

beside a thing he had put together, A

13:40

hideous phantasm of a dead man

13:43

stretched out, and then,

13:45

on the working of some powerful engine,

13:48

slowly it began to show

13:50

signs of life and stir

13:52

with an uneasy, half vital

13:54

motion. Rising

13:57

from her bed, Mary grabbed a pencil

14:00

and began to write. It

14:03

was on a dreary night of November that

14:05

I beheld my man completed, and

14:07

with an anxiety that almost amounted

14:09

to agony, I collected instruments

14:12

of life about me, and endeavored

14:14

to infuse a spark of being into

14:16

the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.

14:20

The first words of the as yet unnamed

14:23

Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein

14:29

or the Modern Prometheus, was first

14:31

published on January the first, eighteen

14:33

eighteen, when Mary was twenty

14:36

years old. The book,

14:38

however, was published anonymously with

14:40

a forward written by Mary's then husband

14:43

to Percy Shelley, leading many

14:45

to suspect that Percy was in fact

14:47

the true author. Such

14:50

an arrangement was common among publishers

14:52

of the time, fearful of the public's

14:54

response to authors who were women. When

14:57

Mary Shelley as she was then known, eventually

15:00

had her name added to the book, it

15:02

had become so popular that it no longer mattered,

15:06

despite a number of critics doing their best

15:08

to disparage what they now suddenly perceived

15:11

as its many feminine infused

15:13

flaws. To day,

15:15

the book is widely regarded as a landmark

15:18

in not only Gothic literature, but

15:20

science fiction too, and is

15:22

among the most influential novels of

15:24

all time. Though

15:32

many have pointed to the death of Mary's

15:35

child and indeed those darkling

15:37

atmospheric nights spent at Lake Geneva

15:40

as key inspirations for the novel, The

15:43

tale of a creature so callously created

15:46

and then abandoned also shares

15:48

parallels with Mary Shelley's own complicated

15:51

childhood, with some speculating

15:53

that the death of Mary's mother in childbirth,

15:56

celebrated writer and women's rights

15:58

activist Mary Wolston Craft had

16:00

inevitably left Mary angrily

16:02

pondering her own sense of abandonment.

16:06

Though Mary would go on to establish herself

16:08

as one of the most revered writers of all time,

16:11

life did not get any easier. A

16:14

third child, Clara, born in eighteen

16:16

seventeen, died the following year

16:18

from dysentery, then in

16:21

eighteen nineteen. The next year, Mary

16:23

and Percy's son, William, also

16:25

died from malaria.

16:28

Though the couple's fourth child, also

16:30

named Percy, would go on to survive

16:33

childhood. Only three years

16:35

later, his father and Mary's husband,

16:38

an undoubted genius in his own right, drowned

16:41

in the Gulf of Spezzia off the

16:43

coast of Italy. He was twenty

16:46

nine years old. As

16:48

for Lord Byron, he died two years

16:50

later in Greece at the age of thirty

16:53

six of suspected sepsis,

16:55

while helping to fight for Greek independence

16:57

against the Ottoman Empire. In

17:00

fact, within only eight years

17:02

of that year, without summer or

17:04

three of the men that shared the trip with Mary

17:06

and her steps as Declare were

17:09

dead. In eighteen

17:11

nineteen. Having tidied up the scraps

17:14

of Byron's vampire story, his

17:16

physician John Polydori, decided

17:18

to take a stab at reworking it, retitling

17:21

it the Vampire and reimagining

17:24

its lead as the suave and the charismatic

17:26

Lord Ruthven, a thinly veiled

17:28

impression of Lord Byron himself. Polydori's

17:32

creation would become the template for almost

17:34

all vampire stories that followed, most

17:37

famously Browmstoker's Dracula.

17:41

Unlike Mary, however, he would

17:43

not live to enjoy the success of his creation,

17:45

dying by a suspected suicide in

17:48

eighteen twenty one years

17:51

later, Mary returned to the Villa

17:53

Diodati on the edge of Late Geneva,

17:56

saying of her return there that she

17:58

felt like a companion of the dead, for

18:01

all were gone, even my young

18:04

child. Storm and blight

18:06

and death had passed over and

18:08

destroyed all. But

18:11

something had lived, something

18:13

that she'd brought to life one dark

18:15

and stormy night many years before,

18:18

that would eventually outlive them all. A

18:22

wondrous story that remains

18:24

today as thrilling moving

18:27

and influential as the day

18:29

it was born. Please

18:33

note Unexplained will be taking a short break

18:35

next week, but will return on

18:37

Friday, January first,

18:39

twenty twenty one. If

18:42

you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help support

18:45

us, you can now do so via Patreon.

18:47

To receive access to add three episodes,

18:50

just go to patron dot com, forward

18:52

slash Unexplained pod to sign up,

18:54

or if you'd like to make a one time donation,

18:57

you can go to Unexplained podcast dot com

19:00

forward Slash Support. All donations,

19:02

no matter how large or small, are greatly

19:04

appreciated. Unexplained, the book

19:07

and audiobook, featuring ten stories

19:09

that have never before been covered on the show,

19:11

is now available to buy worldwide.

19:14

You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and

19:16

Noble, and Waterstones, among other

19:18

bookstores. All elements

19:20

of Unexplained, including the show's music,

19:23

are produced by me Richard McClain smith.

19:25

Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you

19:27

listen to podcasts, and feel free

19:29

to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas

19:31

regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps

19:34

you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share,

19:37

you can reach us online at Unexplained

19:39

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