The True Horror of Frankenstein

Everyone knows Frankenstein — a mad scientist who builds a monster from corpses.

But the story didn’t start with lightning… or laboratories… or even horror. It started with

a nightmare. In 1816, a young woman named Mary Shelley stayed at a villa near

Lake Geneva with her husband and a group of writers. A volcanic eruption the year before

had filled the skies with ash, turning the world cold and dark. People called it

“the year without a summer.” It felt like the end of the world. Days were dim.

Nights were freezing. Thunderstorms never stopped. To pass the time, they challenged

each other to write the scariest story they could imagine. Mary couldn’t think